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Updated on:
Wednesday November 19, 2008 |
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Welcome To The Fitzroy Island "Road Test"
What a fantastic day weather wise to
go over to Fitzroy Island for the day and laze around on the beach, have a swim
and do some walking in the rainforest.
Full compliments to the staff & crew
of the Fitzroy Flyer during registration and processing of passengers.
This normally arduous and time-consuming but necessary procedure was pleasant
and informative. The ride on the catamaran departed as scheduled and took only 55 minutes
and the Skipper gave a comprehensive but "humorous" overview of the safety
procedures & equipment. The water was smooth and clear it reminded us
of a mirror! We saw a pod of dolphins off of the island and it set the
scene for a perfect day!
We headed straight for the kiosk to get a
refreshing hot cup of coffee before deciding what we would do first. We took the walk
up to the secret Garden first and came back via Nudey beach. We did take drinking
water with us which is the best thing to do because the walks do take a fair bit
of physical effort and
by the time we got back to the bar/kiosk area for a bite to eat we were hungry
and needed a well deserved rest. The birdlife on the walks is very good and
definitely worth having your camera with you, especially if you are into bird
watching.
 Nudey
Beach has a lot of coral rubble, but there are parts of the beach that does have
sand, so be sure to take a towel. The water was beautiful, crystal clear
and warm, around 25 C, and not too many other swimmers. We were there to
catch some sun, have a swim and relax after the walk.
After an hour of
sleeping/swimming/reading, we headed back to the bar for some drinks. The
prices are quite reasonable compared to nearby Green Island, but like most
islands it is expensive compared to the mainland. We recommend that families
pack a picnic lunch for the kids and buy them a drink/ice cream or two when
there.
We spent spent lunch sitting by the
pool which is open for all day trippers to use, before heading off on the longer
walk to the lighthouse. We stopped to have a good look at the accommodation
facilities on the way, take a few photos and had another swim about 250 metres
from the jetty where there are some patches of good sand and was great to swim
with the variety of fish that seem to enjoy the company in the water.
We encountered quite a variety of birdlife along the way, especially the White
Sulphur-crested cockatoos that are strangely very friendly and will allow you to
get quite close for taking photos if you do it slowly.
We stayed the whole day and caught
the last boat back to Cairns around 5:00 pm. There certainly appeared to be some
very tired people on board on the way back indicating all had a very productive
trip - some people did catch too much of the sun and we were pleased we used
plenty of block-out and drank plenty of water.
Overall, Fitzroy is a great place to go to
escape the rigours of daily life if you are a local and a great place to go to
explore as well as relax if you are a visitor to our region. It was great
to have that feeling of freedom/isolation that you can only get when you are on
an island - even though you may be with 100 or so people - for a short time you
feel like a millionaire.
For a little extra cost you can go snorkelling,
diving, sea kayaking, hire a sailing catamaran, you name it there is plenty to do.
This is one of the great attractions of this trip is that you are in complete
control of what you want to do for the day and how fast you want to do it. You can
do as little as you want or hit the jetty running when you arrive. It's totally
up to you.
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