Daytrip to Prince Of Wales Island

What a great day!

Dwayne's cousin Marita, partner Benji & 2 girls Shauna & Josie invited us out on their boat for a day on Prince Of Wales (P.O.W.) Island to take a bushwalk, visit a waterfall, swim in a freshwater pool

& enjoy a picnic lunch.

Benji organises the boat and anchor on arrival at P.O.W. Island while the girls swim...

Evy and Dwayne.

 After a 30-40min boat ride between Thursday & Friday Islands & following the coast of P.O.W. for quite some time, Benji pulled us in to a lovely white/grey sandy beach.  Plenty of other boats were moored there too - probably 20, & everyone commented they'd never seen it so busy!  We had a little splash around in the  ocean while the boat was unpacked.

Milly and Shauna.

Evy and Mummy take a dip on a beach of P.O.W.

There were 2 tin roof, cement floor shacks above the beach where we left our gear & headed off along a track through the bush towards a waterfall and swimming hole.

Scenery on the walk...

Milly following the group through the bush to the waterfall.

Crossing a creek.

A 15min walk that included creek crossings, jumping puddles (it was overcast & showery), climbing over logs & untangling Milly from vines ended at a picturesque freshwater swimming hole beneath a waterfall flowing over a wide bank of rocks.  No worries about sharks or crocs here - yippee!  

We had a float around while it rained & some others in the group climbed this waterfall & walked on to another above it - apparently much more beautiful with an even better swimming hole - but the climb was too tricky with our littlies in the wet.

Swimming at the first waterfall.

We headed back to the beach shacks & enjoyed a picnic lunch & more ocean swimming till about 2.30pm.  All 4 girls had naps in the boat on the way back - though I don't know how - it was a bumpy ride...must have been the soft laps they were all snuggled into!

Josie and Evy enjoying lunch!

Josie, Evy, Milly and Shauna ~ picnic lunch on P.O.W. Beach.

Thank you Marita, Benji, Shauna & Josie for a lovely day exploring your islands!

Update on the cost of groceries here vs shipping them form Cairns...

Well, after many days of research, I can now report --- my Coles grocery order shipped from Cairns WAS cheaper than buying here! 

I collected my Coles order from the Seaswift barge on Monday this week.  It came in 11 boxes & with a very thorough inventory of everything I had ordered, their unit prices & totals.  So I visited our IBIS supermarket each morning this week with that inventory list & wrote the local prices next to the Coles prices.  This morning I tallied it all up & here are the results...

Coles
Groceries $512.73 + Coles delivery fee $20.00 + Seaswift shipping $142 = TOTAL $674.73

IBIS
Groceries = TOTAL $842.91

Wow! That's a difference of $168.18.

Now, I'm not saying it's worth doing every weekly shop with Coles online - it's too time consuming & a lot of work to pick up all those boxes of groceries ...but I do think a big monthly Coles shop will be entirely worth it, especially considering many of the things I bought are not available at all here on Thursday Island.  For example - my vegetarian "Quorn" sausages & mince, kids yoghurts in squeezie pouches, vol au vent pastry cases for making tuna & corn pies, lamb mince, lamb sausages, tinned Mexican beans for tacos & nachos, sliced deli chicken, scones, 100 & 1000's biscuits for the kids, croissants, kids chicken noodle soup tins, etc... plus many of the things that are simply in the brand we prefer or buy because they are the cheapest.  For example - there's no "cheap brand" laundry soaker, tinned tuna, free range eggs, corn chips, liquid stock, chocolate blocks, ice cream, crumpets, dips, tampons or yoghurt.  Of course, not all of these things are essential to life on earth - but they do provide variety...and let's face it... pure happiness at meal times.  We could say they are essential for maintaining one's own sanity!  

I have discovered "Grocery Run" online shopping too - they ship anywhere in Australia for a maximum of $11 postage & have some cheap deals, but don't do fridge, freezer, fruit, veg, meat...just pantry, bathroom & cleaning stuff.  So, will probably do a monthly order with them too.   

And...I do completely intend to support the Islander Board of Industry and Service (IBIS) supermarket in-between my big Coles orders. 
:-) 

Arrival of our first grocery order from Cairns!

Our first Coles grocery order arrived on Thursday Island today!  Hooray!!  We ate beautiful, fresh food for dinner tonight!

Anyone who is new here spends a lot of time discussing / asking / researching options for procuring food...it's a time-consuming hobby!  Of course, a good range of things is available at the IBIS supermarket in Douglas St, but everything is expensive because it's been shipped here from Cairns & there's no competitor supermarket.

So, I had a go at a coles online order...I set up a shopping list on colesonline.com.au & an account with Seaswift freighting company before we moved here.  Then after much "to-ing and fro-ing" about whether or not is was worth paying the cost of the freighting, decided to give it a try - because I figure you can't make your mind up till you've tried it yourself!  

Some long-term residents here do fortnightly or monthly orders with coles, wholesale butchers or green grocers in Cairns, others just do there groceries here every week...so there's no one definative answer.

I had originally expected my order to arrive here last Friday, & was so disappointed when I realised I'd missed the cut-off times for delivery to the Cairns wharf...so we had a 'skinny weekend' where we continued eating a restricted diet for a few more days while waiting for it's Monday arrival. 

Dropped in to the TI wharf Monday morning to see if anything was ready - told to try again at 3pm.  Took the girls with me after school pick-up & our freezer & chiller goods were ready, so took those & madly rushed to carry heavy boxes to our downstairs fridge/freezer & unpack everything before it melted while the girls whinged & got in the way!  Went back to the wharf at 4.30pm & collected the dry goods & Dwayne helped me unpack those.  Happy days! 

Wow - our freezers, fridges & pantry look so much happier now!  We all enjoyed chicken breast, cheese, cream cheese & fresh salad, on wraps tonight...ahhh!

Jayne doing a happy dance in the driveway with her coles groceries sent from Cairns!

My pantry is now happy - but not as happy as my stuffed-full fridges & freezers!

Will take my coles receipt down to the IBIS this week & compare prices - see if it really was worth all the effort??  Keep you posted!

Day trip - boating and fishing

Stan, Sonny, Milly and Evy - 9/2/13.

Stan's family is from Hammond so he & Cassie were very knowledgeable guides & expert pilots.  They pointed out fishing & crabbing spots, WW2 huts used by Australian Forces to watch for Japanese invaders, the burial site of a female Japanese fighter pilot, & the fantastic catholic church.  It was built by hand by Stan's father & grandfather from local rock.  Beautiful scenery.

Hammond Island.  
Catholic Church on hilltop and houses on beachfront.

Hammond Island from the boat.

Once we circled Hammond past lighthouses and shipwrecks, we stopped in at a lovely natural beach on Goods Island looking back towards T.I.   The amazing sand is made from millions of bits of shells...

We swam...

We fished...

We enjoyed the amazing scenery...

And then came home by midday for lunch.

Thank you so much Stan, Cassie & Sonny for sharing such special places with us!

(P.S.  This time, our ocean swim did not require a trip to the chemist - Jayne knew to shower the girls thoroughly at home with medicated soap, soak Milly in a bath with some dettol added, & give her a dose of antihistamine!!)

The Ahmat Family Blog.

The view from our front verandah towards Horn Island to the South East.  January 2013.

Positivity Party

Friday 8th February, 2013

Jayne organised a "Positivity Party" tonight for some ladies on Thursday Island.  It was her birthday on Tuesday & she wanted to get some people together for a stretching session, some deep breaths, some nibblies, a chat...& some positive energy!  Moving has been pretty tough...

Jayne invited some teachers who had just moved to the Island too, along with some new friends made since arriving, then found the local personal trainer / hair dresser, massage therapist, beauty therapist, Tupperware representative & nail technician (...yes - who would have thought all of these fabulous people exist in such a small community!!)

We all met at 7pm in the Primary School's library.  We swapped old magazines, stretched, ate & drank, exchanged phone numbers & info, networked & chatted...

Thank you ladies!
What a great, positive night!

Angela & Cassie D

Alice & Bev

Cassie M & Jane

Kate (tupperware), Sammy (personal trainer), Lorraine (massage therapist)

Kids Activities on Thursday Island...

Kids Activities on Thursday Island...

Some of the activities we have done with our kids in these first 2 weeks are:

* Swimming in the ocean at Bayo Beach.
There were no locals swimming at any of the beaches, so we were a bit hesitant to go in – especially with the “Danger – Crocodile” signs on each beach, but the people at the Shire Office had assured us it was quite safe at Bayo…and it was so hot…and the water so inviting, we decided to at least paddle in the shallows.
Milly broke out in horrible, blistery, bubbly fungal patches on her arms, legs and back a few hours later – so the trip to the beach was partnered with a trip to the chemist!  5 days of daily claratyne doses, special medicated soap in the shower & lots of savalon seemed to fix it up…it will be a little while before we try ocean swimming again!
Swimming at Bayo Beach, Thursday Island.

* Swimming at the Sports Complex Pool.
This one is easier – no one gets fungal!!  The shallow end of the big pool has shade cloths and so does the little, shallow toddler pool off to the side.  Cool water and a little breeze – all good!

* Exploring shops in Douglas Street.
There is a selection of shops to visit – a newsagency, a dress & fabric shop, a hardware store, the IBIS supermarket, the post office, a pearl gallery, a few cafes, the NAB bank, a bakery & a corner store.
Exploring Douglas Street.

* Eating out.
We’ve had morning tea at Uncle Frankie’s cafe, Dwayne’s birthday dinner at the restaurant at the Jardine Motel & Jayne’s birthday dinner at the Grand Hotel’s restaurant.

* The Library.
This is run by the Shire Council & is great.  Air conditioned; opened during the week & on Saturday mornings; kids toys to play with; kids books & DVDs to borrow…
Milly and Evy at the library, Jan 2013.

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