Moreton Island Expedition - October 2009

Our plan is to walk from the bottom to the top of Moreton Island, along the surf side, and then move along the northern beach, and catch the barge back. The walk was inspired by the three sailors in 1824, that shipwrecked on the island, and with the help of the local natives, made it back to the mainland. Their names were Thomas Pamphlet, Richard Parsons, and John Finnegan. You can find Pamphlet's narrative at the below website. SEQ History

Itinenary
Friday
Depart - Coopers Plains - 5:55am
45 mins in Car
Arrive - 3 Emmett Drive, Cleveland 6:40am

Depart - Cleveland - 6:55am
30 mins on Water Taxi
Arrive - Dunwich - 7:25am

Depart - Dunwich - 7:25am
30 mins in Bus [Tell driver to drop us midway for connection bus to Amity Point]
30 mins in Connection Bus
Arrive - Amity Point - 8:25am

Depart - Amity Point - 9:30am
20 mins on Kooringal Trader
Arrive - Reeder's Point (Kooringal) - 9:50am
Kooringal to White Rock via Rous Battery (13km)

Saturday
White Rock to Eagers Creek (10km)

Sunday
Eagers Creek to Blue Lagoon via Mt Tempest (11km)

Monday
Blue Lagoon to North Point (8km)

Tuesday
North Point to Bulwer - 2:45pm (10km)

Depart - Bulwer - 3:30pm
75 mins on MiCat
Arrive - 14 Howard Smith Dr, Port of Brisbane - 4:45pm
Picked up by car.

Travel Journal
Friday 9 October 2009
5 minute sleep in. Albran breakfast. Good traffic. Water taxi. $10.00 Fare. 30 minute car trip. Got a good look at Peel Island.

Dunwich. Gravesite is old school. Caught bus driver's name. Shane. Amity Point. Water blue like the sky. Kooringal Trader a four car barge. 30 minute trip. Saw a cute blonde, a sea turtle, and a dugong. Stood where they lit a fire. Can see Amity Point clearly. Not too far away. The water is wild with sand bars everywhere.

We came across a beach full of dead trees, fallen over like old elephant skeletons. The tide coming in made a game of chasie in between waves. Sometimes having to climb sand dunes. Knee deep in loose sand. Found a turtle on the beach and we said hello. But found it dead and decaying. This island is wild. Untouched. Polluted with bottles from distant countries and ages. I love it here.

1:00 pm
Coming across a little water estary that leads into a big one, the current running back towards its mouth we come across a school of whiting. Not wasting the opportunity, Camden started using the spear. The elastic came undone, so with many unsuccessful throws, one resulting in a tree, he speared a whiting. In the spirit of the moment I made a spear, but was not straight or long enough. So I borrowed Camden's as he cooked the fish. I developed a low angle spinning technique. With many misses, I throw into a school of fish and speared one. We have stopped for lunch and will now have to power on and get 10km done.

6:30pm
13km now. At Rous Battery. Turns out in the heat of the moment of making my spear I dropped my knife, never to be seen again. After a funny dance at the mouth of Mirapool we set into a good pace along the flat wide sandy beach. To the left we could see the Little Sandhills that were actually quite big. It looked like something out of the Saharra. Rous Battery, made of cement, has two buildings underground. There were about 5 rooms altogether, dark, scary, but awesome. Surprised it's so intact. We are camped here now instead of another 4km to White Rock. Due to soreness and the good bore water supply we can top up in the morning. Food wise I'm great. Full [tummy] all the time. The pack is getting lighter.

8:00pm
There is a rat. Almost expecting me to feed it. It's the size of a rabit. I better check on my rations.

Saturday 10 October 2009
6:20am
I slept with no mattress. Alittle hard but OK. The grass made the floor soft. We can see clouds not too far in the distance. Rain is pouring from them. The air is so clear we can see a thousand little bumps on the horizon. From the swell of course but nothing we had ever see before. Will pack the tents soon. Warm up and stretch before getting to it. 13km is our goal.

6:30am
My first poo. Not cool.

8:30am
Almost at White Rock when we come across a rock in the water that looks like a whale. To our surprise the fin moved. It was roughly 6 metres long. Its fins looked 4 metres. A square 4 inches in diameter missing from the top. It lay motionless in the shallow water. Eyes closed. Flinching with each wave. Mollusks still on it's fin. Blood running from the mouth. I touch it. It feels like thick rubber meat. I want to hug it. I want it to come alive again. But it won't. The sun pears through the clouds. I dry my feet and on my way to White Rock.

2:30pm
About 9km in, a dead pelican or albatross washed up on the beach. The pain in my shoulders is severe. Almost to the point of collapse. Tomorrow we hike Mt Tempest and return back to Blue Lagoon. I will carry just enough water to drink. I may even tip out the metho and notes to lighten my pack. I'm trying to stay positive. My muscles will only get stronger.

6:00pm
Getting dark now. Kookaburras singing song. Four on a branch looking out at the roaring sea as the day goes to sleep. The needle-leaf branches play tricks on my mind dancing in the wind. The red glow of the fire keeps me warm, as I lay on the hay-like grass. I stretch my muscles and groan. Bending out the latic acid. There are now five kookaburras on the one branch. Will they accompany us through the night? I smell. A foul stench. I'm dirty. I'm sticky. I'm not really in the moment. One with nature that is, I'm fighting it every step of the way. But the walls are breaking down. Suddenly I'm not surviving this place. But blending and working with it. The waves, trees, sun, grass, sand are things that are consistent and that, in a way, care for me.

Sunday 11 October 2009
6:36am
Rain clouds. Light spits of rain. About to hit Mt Tempest. Juggling water supply. Right arm sore. 2 Ibuprofen. 2 Panadol.

8:57am
Top of Mt Tempest. This island's beauty is beyond compare. Like a time capsule of nature. Gum trees twisted like wild storm clouds. Squiggles on trees like a preschool presentation. Humidity 99%. Black boys spiking my skin. Rich smell of a open eucalyptus forest. The sun heats the land. Bugs engulf the area. We see a wild pig and piglet scrounging for food. Skink lays in the sun. Simply beautiful.

1:45pm
Pain. Outta pain. At Blue Lagoon. The water a Godsend. We are on the pedestrian side. There is a beautiful shrubbery. There are so many different types of ants. Some so big we could spit roast and eat. It's not suitable to camp where we are. But the pain of going the whole way round is too much. So we will put on our crocs and hope to get to other side. I'm just concerned about the depth.

4:45pm
Crossing was a breeze. It's crowded here. But we have a nice little spot, near the waves, away from everyone, and a fire pit. I'm setting up my tent right now. I've just eaten two packs of noodles and had a little lie down. I had a shower earlier (cold) but it was nice to be clean again. I had the luxury of a toilet (with toilet paper). My clothes are washed and drying on my makeshift clothesline (rope). I'm positioned under some kind of wattle. There are 10 or so birds that remind me of a colourful Willywagtail. With the roar of the waves, I think I may go to sleep early tonight. All up we did 19.9km, and climbed the tallest sand dune in the world. Quite an achievement.

7:50pm
Going out to the beach. We watched perfect surf peeling to the left (North). A 4wd full of teeniebopper girls pulls up. the old bloke driving goes, "You boys see the whale around 'ere?" I said, "Yer, it's about one k south of White Rock."
And off he went. I felt like a tough local. After that we began talking about the historic treo & what happened. I pulled out their narrative. I thought it amazing that what they were talking about was just over the hill. That creek that was just up there. Once again in the stars amaze us. There so many and clear. The sea rores in the background. I unpack my mattress. Set up my sleeping bag. Blow up my clothes drysack (pillow) and head to sleep.

Monday 12 October 2009
6:30am
Not leaving the tent door open the tent condensation built up and now I'm drying my tarp. If I had left the door open it would have been cold enough to keep sleeping bag on, thus I would have stayed warm. Still, I'm well rested. Feeling sore but still able to do today. It's only about 6km or so.
The birds are well to it, flying over head, eating necture off a bottlesbrush looking plant. One of them sounds like something off a speed racer in Star wars. The nut of the bottlebrush like flower is in the thousands. The trees are numerous as well. I went looking for paperbark tree to make some bush tea from the leaves. But found none.
Last night I made Con [Camden] and I some coffee. We chatted by the camp fire. Were greatful it didn't rain at all and so slept this morning. We dry our tents. Light a fire and get on our way.

8:30am
I've had three run ins with the same huntsmen. The last was it was hiding in my garters. Pulling them off the tree, it landed on my head. Not noticing until it crawled onto my ear. I flicked it off. It looked disappointed, and with a sigh, it climbed the tree again. The first was last night, I moved Con's hat. Thinking something bad was going to happen as a result (just a feeling), I hung Con's hat on the spider's home. Con got a big fright. The second was it was hiding on my tent and when I unpack it and hung it to dry, it surprised me. I flicked it Con's way, but kharma got me, hence the third encounter.

7:30pm
Today was great in the sence we achieved what this whole trip was for. We sat at Spitfire Creek and read the journal of Thomas Pamphlet. It was amazing. I could see him running and drinking the water till he threw up. I could see the sandhills provided them with no wood or shelter. I saw where they hid from the woman (and baby) in the thick foliage. I saw the fresh waterhole where they first met with the aboriginals. I was reading what they talked about and it was right there! We also reached North Point. The northern most point of the island.

Beside it just being grassy and the school camp going on, it's a lovely place. Especially down at the beach. At the moment there are strong NW winds. Standing on Heath Island I could see sand getting whisped away like smoke from a jet engine. The sun sets over the water. While us two blokes dig around the water edge looking for bait. Heath Island is almost like a sandbar that covers the whole beach. I'm tired now. I just had a bad toilet experience and can't get rid of the smell. I even went skinny dipping in the cold dark water. The wind is so strong right now my tent is voilently shaken around. The breeze is nice, and a new experience it is. I had Thai Green Curry for dinner tonight. That was good. But what a day. Reaching the top, seeing a historic area, and enjoying this beautiful island.

Tuesday 13 October 2009
6:30am
It rained last night. I had to quickly grab my backpack and put it under the tarp. The rain has created a rich smell in the air of eucalyptus oil, sand and rotting bark. There's something about it that excites me and makes me anxious to start the day. Like the morning of Christmas or my Birthday.

7:45am
Were at the North West Point of the island. There's a fresh water creek here. The wind is so strong that I feel like were in the artic. Powering through. There are dead trees that I tried to get around only to be hit by a wave.

9:00am
I was wrong. 2km later we hit the mouth and just now I think we've hit the NW. The wind is so strong the trekking poles move and I can barely stand to write. Salt spray is on my sunnies. Making it hard to see. Spit won't clean them. I only [hope] the westside is calmer.

11:55am
We're waiting at the Bulwer. Been here since 9:30am. waiting to board the MiCat. Weve seen dolpins and hump back whales jump out the water. The MiCat blokes are loading FL bins on and off. They will wave us down. In the mean [time] we sit here thirsty, admiring the beautiful view. The wrecks are 200 metres to the south. The water blue, bright blue with little waves.

2:00pm
On the MiCat for over an hour now. The cafe isn't open but the crew is eating the food. All I want is a Coca Cola. Sigh... I looked out the window and saw a humpback whale flicking it's tail in the air. No more than 100 metres from the beach. I find it hard to imagine these giant majestic beasts living in the water so close to us.

With the NW winds being so strong the MiCat has had to move to Tangalooma as a pick up point. We are now overlooking the wrecks. They're like a picture of the industrial world. Quite impressive actually. A useful find for ships that are now out-dated.

We're all getting sleepy, hungry and anxious to be home. The trip will take long and will get us back there around 5:00pm. (1 1/2 hrs). As the expedition comes to the end I feel great with what we achieved. We pushed ourselves to limits we thought we weren't capable of. And we're all the better for it. Even when exhausted I know I can, and will, keep going. All that's left to do is the cleaning of the gear. Sand is everywhere. On my shoes, clothing, backpack, tent, sleeping bag, mattress, inner liner, trekking poles, cooking gear. Sigh. what a job!

2:35pm
There's an old man 5 rows in front of me that looks like Michael Douglas.

4:00pm
Severe storm warnings. Worse they've seen in 3 years. The barge trip is fine though. Quite beauitful to begin with, it was rocky though. Now rays of sunlight are piercing through the clouds lighting up patches of sea. The MiCat is now full of european backpackers. All younger girls. We can now see St.Helena Island to our left. Thinking of doing the ghost trip there. Hopefully, will see the sand bar that wraps around Green Island. Although the tide appears high. The rain pours down in three sets in the distance.

Conclusion

Here's the GPS info.Moreton-Island-Oct-09.xls

Kooringal to Rous Battery - 12.8km
Rous Battery to Eager's Creek - 13.1km
Eager's Creek to Blue Lagoon via Mt Tempest - 18.9km
Blue Lagoon to North Point - 9.9km
North Point to Bulwer - 11.6km

TOTAL - 66.3km

I remember starting out and seeing this little black mountain on the horizon, not even joined to the main island. That mountain was North Point. In poetic terms, our North Star and objective. I couldn't imagine walking to it. It just looked so far. But each day it came closer. At first the mountain joined to the rest of the island, and then we could make out a little light house on it. And at the end of four days I could count the windows of the lighthouse and see the people up there.

Going from the southern tip to the northern most point made for quite an achievement. I feel proud, like I've completed something off the bucket list. I think I will bring that to all of my hikes in the future. I was a little disappointed in the amount of 4wd drives there. But there were little treasures on the island that not many people (4wd) knew. I think next time I'll hike the Rous Battery track also and try to stay on the calm side (west) of the island. Just so I could fish more, snorkle, and spear fish. I'd also stay in the one place for a day and not hike every day.

Overall it was great. I'm so glad I did it.