TRIP to11 July 2014
NGRUPAI - HORN ISLAND, WAIDENE - THURSDAY ISLAND
It was an early start to the day as we had to be on the old wharf by
8:15am today for our trip with Cape York Adventures to Ngrupai or better known
as Horn Island and Waidene - Thursday Island.
As there were 23 of us doing the trip they split us into two
groups. We were in the small group of 7
on a small boat whilst the others were all on the bigger boat.
What strikes one whilst
making the crossing is that there are just so many islands here. Between New Guinea and Queensland, Australia
– within 200km range there are 157 islands of which 18 are inhabited.
We made our way past several
islands including Prince of Wales and Possession Island named by Captain Cook. As we were travelling along Horn Island we saw a crocodile in front of the mangroves.
Horn Island has a very
interesting museum. We took our time
learning about the forgotten Australians who had defended our country against
the Japanese during WW2 from here.
It is not far from here to
Thursday Island. It is a small island –
only 1 square km in size with 3,600 inhabitants. It was a very clean and tidy place. It felt like a tropical island.
We visited the cultural
centre that had been built by a chinese man.
It has a great display of artifacts from the region. We then went to the Torres
Strait Island pub or the Top of Australia pub for a delicious lunch of fish and
chips.
From here Frank our taxi driver took us around the island. He was not only entertaining but very knowledgable and passionate about his home land.
From here Frank our taxi driver took us around the island. He was not only entertaining but very knowledgable and passionate about his home land.
We went to the lookout and
fort. It is hard to believe but the fort
was built to defend Australia from any possible invasion by the Russians in the
late 1800s. It was an interesting fortification with three canons. Only one canon had ever been fired and that
was when a vessel had failed to identify itself. After the canon shot it identified itself as
a friendly vessel.
We then went to the local
cemetery. There were many Japanese
buried here who died as a result of suffering from the bends as pearl
divers.
We then had some free time and went back to the cultural centre to take in more of the exhibition. Along the way we came across a very interesting sign.
We then had some free time and went back to the cultural centre to take in more of the exhibition. Along the way we came across a very interesting sign.
The ride back on the boat
was horrendous. We had sea-ruugations
instead of corrugations. It was roughish
and it was bump , bump, bump over the waves.
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