Island in the Sun - Part 2

Of course, it didn’t rain all the time we were there and we were able to go back to Brown Lake another day and appreciate it in the sunshine! You can really see how the tea tree colours the water and it was a much more relaxing swim this time, although we were serenaded continually by some very loud frogs and toads!!

Having managed to survive the waves on Deadman’s Beach, in spite of getting completely dumped on more than one occasion, it was a relief that Salini suggested going to Cylinder Beach which she insisted would be a lot calmer. After a nerve wracking climb over the rocks to get to the beach (we later discovered there were actually some steps we could have gone down at far less risk of falling off!) I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the water was beautifully flat and perfect for swimming, although sadly half the beach had disappeared as the tide was coming in. So I was happy to go for the best swim of my time on the island until I got to the point of feeling a searing pain on the back of my knee and realised that I had been stung by a jellyfish!! I don’t think it was a bluebottle but it did really hurt!

The lovely calm Cylinder Beach!

Ouch!

Trying not to make too much of a fuss, I got out of the water pretty smartish to inspect the damage and to get advice about whether or not you really should get someone to wee on jellyfish stings to take the pain away! I was relieved to hear that all the Australians thought this was unnecessary and once MZ had stopped laughing at the fact that it was typical that it was me to get stung out of everyone there and had taken a picture, I was able to sit down and nurse the pain! In case you were wondering, vinegar was prescribed by everyone as the cure, but as we didn’t have any I just settled for iced water. I managed to survive the experience and by the next day the sting had virtually disappeared and as I hadn’t at any point fallen into a poison induced coma I thought I came out of it pretty well!!

As MZ mentioned, the sea in Straddie does seem to contain a lot of wildlife! We were even informed of the fact that you can be bitten by sea lice, another bug I’d not heard of but thankfully we managed to avoid these! We did however see loads of dolphins whilst we were there, big pods of them would swim offshore on most days, and we got up early one morning to go on a beautiful walk round the Gorge before breakfast (it was so hot it was impossible to lie in past 7.00am!). We even saw a turtle swimming and came across some more kangaroos! Michelle of course managed to continue to recklessly ignore any warning signs and went right to the edge of the cliffs but the views were spectacular!

Note that she has gone past the sign!

Our enjoyment of our time on the island was increased by making new friends and meeting up with old ones again. For a few days we were joined at our beach house by a lovely couple called Danny and Sarah Ang, a welcome addition, particularly for Brad as he was able to have another guy to do ‘guy things’ with and who didn’t make him watch period dramas or chick flicks with! It also meant that we had two guys to do the bbq and the annoying jobs like taking the rubbish out! They managed to arrive at our place without any mishap, which can’t be said for our old friends in the form of Hayley and Neeka!

Brad and Danny do 'man' things!!!

To give them their due, apparently they had actually checked when the ferries were running over to the island but they had been sadly misinformed and what should have been quite a straightforward journey over to see us on xmas day, ended up including a 4 hour wait at the ferry terminal as they decided not to run any ferries over the whole of the lunch period! During that time poor Hayley got a little sunburnt and by the time they got to us they were just grateful to have arrived, as the whole journey had taken them 8 hours! However, a bottle of cold bubbly later, things were looking a lot better and it was great to be able to see Neeka and to settle back into reminiscing over old times.

It was sad to say goodbye to Neeka and Straddie the next day, but who knows, maybe we’ll all be back there for a reunion tour next year!!!

The Beach House gang

Farewell! Until next year...