Horn Island Adventure

Well I have had my first adventure! On the 15th of August I spent two nights on Horn Island with two other grad nurses (the old new grads, me being a new new grad). After a late shift on the Thursday I did the housework on Friday morning and then met up with one of the other girls to catch the ferry over to Horn that evening. The other grad was already on Horn as she is doing her elective at the Public Health Centre (PHC) there. We all stayed at the nurse educators house and played with her dog and the kitten she is fostering - so cute! That night we went to the pub and I had a fish burger and chips for dinner. Was really well cooked, but could have done with some more chips. :)

Waiting for the ferry

Still waiting

Sunset

So much cuteness!

 The next morning we packed up the ute with very basic camping gear (just the tent and a bowl and set of cutlery between us) and headed off to explore the island. We took some dirt roads and found the remnants of a plane crash. Then we kept driving and found a beach and some bunkers from the war. I think you can do a tour of Horn Island, so I am sure that there would be heaps of information available on the history of Horn and its involvement in the war.

Plane wreck

Off-road

The first beach

Dog was loving it!

Hermit crabs (big one of the right and top small one). The top
one was trying out new real-estate (the middle small one) but
it wasn't the right fit, so he didn't move in.

In the bunkers

After walking around at the first beach for a bit we headed on to another beautiful spot. I walked down to the rock pools and explored them a bit before climbing back up a fairly steep hill to sit on some rocks and enjoy the view. Then had to do some rock-climbing to get back to the car, which was a bit frightening. Almost got stuck a few times, but in the end I made it out alive! We then went and explored yet another beach (no photos from this one) and had braved a quick dip in the water - also survived that!

 

Still loving it

 

Giant clam

Lots of seagrass - no dugongs spotted though

Coral

Sea cucumber



By this stage we were all very sunburnt. I did bring some, but of course forgot to apply :/ We headed to our camping destination for the night - Cable Bay (the only name I know). First we had lunch and then set up the tent and organised wood for the campfire. Then it was time for a bit of an explore and another swim once the tide came in. The water wasn't particularly deep, only just enough to cover us lying down but it was refreshing enough :) That night for dinner I made toast over the flames and had cold bolognaise as we hadn't brought any cooking utensil - as I said, very basic.

Once it got dark we were happy just chatting around the fire, which was burning nicely but then all of a sudden the dog ran off towards the beach barking at something. Well that freaked us all out, so we decided to go to bed at about 8.30pm. It was a pretty rough night sleeping on the hard floor. I did have a camp mattress but it wasn't very comfortable and my pillow and the sunburn didn't help make things more comfortable. My heart was racing pretty much all night imagining what every little noise was. The dog kept barking and growling at things, so of course this didn't help settle the nerves. At one point a large flashlight was shining into the tent - it was from a boat on the water, not someone coming to attack, thank goodness! And then the moon was shining straight in, and it was bright too. When we had first gone to bed it was cloudy, but within about 40 minutes it had cleared up and the stars were magnificent, so that was a positive :)

Our pretty little campfire :) ready to go

 

 

Exhausted after a big day

The next morning we packed up fairly early and headed back to the nurse educators home. I had a late shift at the hospital, so wanted to be back by at the latest 12, so I could get ready for work. I was OK working that shift, but the next morning I had slept so soundly that I slept through my alarm and woke up at 6.50, when I started work at 7am... It's a good thing I live so close to the hospital, as I still managed to get to work on time!