Well that was unexpected!

A last minute decision has seen us head over to Hinchinbrook Island to tackle the Thorsborne trail over 4 nights. After a little favour from Brad the tour operator from Hinchinbrook Island Cruises who lent us his backpack. All Annie had to do was tie our two day packs together and we were off.

Heading out of the harbour I thought Brad was taking the piss and was trying to scare a couple of Mexicans when he said the dinghy had a slight leak. Five minutes later when he put the boat on idle and pulled out the foot pump we realised this wasn’t the case. After repeating this three more times and not having the band from the ballroom of the titanic start up we made it over an hr later.

Annie turned skipper on the way home when the boat still had a leak.

We did the same as the croc sandal gang, but only had one night at Zoe Bay.

Most people who do the trail over 4 nights spend two nights at Zoe bay. We thought we would follow the lead of a bunch of blokes who have done it the last 8 years and written a blog about it. Despite the fact they hike in crocs and they should be put down for that reason they seemed to know what they were talking about. Day 1 saw us walk a monstrous 4.5km to Nina bay with a trek up Nina peak included. Walking up hills with heaps of gear is what we had been doing lately anyway. Just this time we left the bikes at home.We could have saved ourselves a sweaty ring and stopped a quarter of the way up the peak and taken some pics there because it was the same view as at the top, just not as high. After getting into camp I set off up a dry creek in search of some water. It soon turned into up shit creek because I wacked my way through the bush for a km to come back empty handed. After seeing the look of disappointment in Ana’s eye that I failed as a provider she took off bladder in hand. Sitting around waiting for the Gypsy to return I had the words of what every man hears at home “you do nothing around this place” ringing in my ears. So I decided to spruce the place up a little bit. I added a letterbox, footpath and outdoor dining area to our little pop up tent home. Annie came back with water and we didn’t have to eat in the drizzle that night. We had both kicked a goal.

Day 2 saw us doing a slightly more strenuous 6km to Banksia bay. Not many people camp here because there are no toilets. After smelling the toilet on the first night I would much rather shit in a hole that I have dug myself anyway! Coming here proved to be a pretty good choice, we had the whole beach to ourselves. Well almost there was a couple sleeping out in their yacht offshore waiting for the winds to die down. They had sailed from Darwin.

After this day banksia bay will be forever known as engagement bay! Annie popped the question and I said yes. This is how it went down. While I was reading my book in the shade working on my moon tan. I could see the Gypsy was up to no good in the bushes fiddling around. Next minute she lays next to me with two rings she had made herself and asks to marry me. I was pretty taken aback and thought she was kidding at first. Then the “ oh shit this is serious” thought happened and I quickly said yes. What surprised me the most is the ring fit perfectly on my stupid sausage fingers! I love you Annie and can’t wait to keep having adventures together.

A lot of leaf went into making that ring.

Now with that out of the way let’s get to one of my favourite pastimes. Ripping the piss out of full kit hiking wankers. That’s what we encountered on day 3 at Zoe bay. Arriving shortly after us into camp was 3 blokes in their 50’s looking like they were on their way to an Indiana Jones dress up party and had got lost. Head wanker and Captain Personality gave off the vibe he was out in the bush not wanting to hike but looking for a safe place to relocate the bodies he has in his backyard. Now I know it’s not nice to pigeonhole or put labels on people but while I’m at it I’m pretty sure this Indiana Jones/Fred West wannabe harmed kittens as a child. When I looked down after our enthralling chat I noticed he had crocs on. That’s it I was done.

Old Fred might have had the last laugh though, because after dinner I started looking at our tent and how close I had set it up next to the crocs warning sign and the river. That proved to be quite an unpleasant sleep for me that night. Every splash from the river I thought it was a crocodile coming to bite my head off. I finally comforted myself with the thought “don’t be silly there is no croc big enough out there that would fit your head in its mouth” and fell asleep. Turns out Annie had a rougher night than me. She got eaten by midgies during the night and woke looking like she had ran out of places to jab a needle in her arm so decided to turn her legs into pin cushions.

Annie taking a dip at the bottom of Zoe falls

Atop of Zoe falls on the morning of day 4 you could see why people spend two nights here. The view from the natural infinity pool over Zoe bay was breathtaking. It was too good not to take a dip. After taking it all in we were off. It was a tough slog through open heathland and bush to get to Mulligan falls. We enjoyed the lush rainforest of the previous day much more. Coming down into Mulligan falls we got a pretty good view of Sunken Reef Bay and Magnetic Island off in the distance. That’s been a highlight of this hike, all the different types of environments we have come across and the different views we have encountered. The next one better than the last. Arriving at Mulligans we got to pitch our tent only a hundred metres from the falls. That’s were we spent the rest of the afternoon, swimming and laying on the rocks. It’s always good to wash the gunk off at the end of the day.

Time for a dip.

One thing that we haven’t been good at on this hike is food. It’s been absolute shit! After 4 days of rice we cooked at the caravan park before we left mixed with olive oil, chilli powder and a can of beans on top in a wrap for lunch, morale was low. Dinner didn’t help change that. It was 2 minute noodles with half an onion. One thing we didn’t fuck around with on the last night was the midgies and mosquitoes. We had been ass raped for days by these little pricks and we were not going to take it anymore! Our dinner attire that night had us looking like we were off to the snow. With a mosquito coil burning out the front of our tent it was the best night sleep we had.

The morning of the final day saw me continue with my plan of waking early and trying to be the first punter into the toilets of death before any of the other evil dark agents had. Sadly, I failed on the final day. As I approached the turd layer I heard a grunt and a few moments later the evil bog lord walked down the stairs grinning and said to me “she is all yours champ”. I had been defeated.

Well there is always breakfast, and another serving of oats and a teaspoon of jam sent spirits soaring. Annie really treated me on the last day. I got to eat the last wrap with nothing in it.

The last days walk consisted of a 5km beach run to George Point where we are getting picked up by boat and taken back to Cardwell. Having arrived 2 hrs too early that’s where we are sitting now on a picnic bench. Dreaming of a beers and a bbq and celebrate our engagement. It was a good call coming over to Hinchinbrook. The Thorsborne Trail didn’t disappoint!