January 8, 2005 - Sawmill Harbour, Cid Island (The day we saw the kookaburras)

After our hike, we sailed due east on a beam reach about 5km to Cid Island. We flew - it took us less than an hour, and we ate lunch on the boat. Here's our anchorage at Sawmill, which they say is the safest all-weather anchorage in all the Whitsundays. No time to snorkel here, we just took in the sunset.

It poured rain all night, enough to almost fill up the dinghy. The wind has definitely shifted all the way to the SE now. It started kicking up during the rainstorm in the night, but the anchor somehow stayed secure.

Maybe we should have thought about this earlier, but just wondering: What happens if the mast of your sailboat gets hit by lightning? Doh! 

South Molle in our wake as we head over to Cid Island. 

The peak of South Molle. 

South Molle has a high peak, inexplicably called "Spion Kop." It offers a dramatic view of
most of the islands in the Whitsunday Group. We walked a total of 5k up and down the mountain. This shot was taken about halfway up, looking north. Goldfinger is 3rd from the left in the harbour.

We also ran into a family of kookaburras having some sort of severe conflict. We watched from below as they engaged in loud, boisterous fisticuffs in the gum trees. What is wrong with these birds? We found different tribes of kookaburras having similar family disputes all around the island, each group screaming like idiots.

On the mountain we ran into a Crocodile Hunter sort of guy. He was leading a sailboat charter of teenagers. He climbed the mountain barefoot - faster than the rest of us. The kids thought he was nuts. We listened to a lot of his rap, though, and learned a lot. For example: 1) South Molle was the first resort on an Australian Island, back in the 20s 2) South Molle is rare because it has all 5 types of forest habitats (tropical rain forest, sub-tropical rain forest, grasslands, pinelands, and bush).

We watched the Croc Hunter eat these little green ants he found building a nest on a tree. Quote: "You boyte off their bums and they taste loyke a tart citrus loyme. If you chop off 15 of their bums and put them in your morning tea, you have the best bush tea you ever tasted."

Thanks Crock Hunter. We'll remember that next time we're stranded on a desert isle. Oh yeah - and he had a huge tattoo of a mawndaree on his back.

Today was a great day, maybe the best of the entire trip. The wind has shifted to the SE, but
it's still manageable at 10-15 knots. So we left early and sailed on a close reach about 10km to South Molle island (pronounced "Mall"). This shot is taken from South Molle looking north - the island in the front is called Mid Molle, and the one behind is called North Molle. (Got that?)

We had to pay $22 Australian to dock here, but it was worth it. This gave us access to all the facilities of the island resort, including the wilderness hikes. We could have used the tennis, golf and pool too if we liked. Higher priorities: we chose to use the shower facilities instead.