Morning Tea on Goods Island

Had trouble deciding where to take the boat this morning.  When we saw Dwayne's Uncle & cousins at the boat ramp on their way to Hammond Island, he suggested Goods Island - a 15 min boat ride North-West of T.I.  So off we went, only to find the normally deserted beach speckled with visitors.  Some locals were camping in one the the corrugated iron shacks, others were strolling up to the far end of the beach past the shipwreck, and a group of Qld Health families were gathering under the sea almond tree, waiting for the rest of their party to arrive via charter boat for some bush walking.  

We were collecting our girls and gear ready for departure when one of the bush walkers climbing out of the charter boat strolled up the beach towards us smiling and waving...it was Rosie, the daughter of Jayne's work colleague, Fiona, from the Gold Coast!  A totally random meeting on an uninhabited island in the Straits - how weird!  Rosie had arrived on T.I. a few days ago to be the nanny for a Qld Health family.  She knew that we were living on T.I., and had even read this blog before travelling here, but decided not to contact us before hand, hoping to bump into & surprise us --- she sure did!  Finding her in the IBIS supermarket or Uncle Frankie's Cafe would have surprising enough, but on Goods Island - totally random!

I called her mum, Fiona, that arvo to let her know & have a laugh about it...sorry Fiona - I should have thought to take some photos of your adventurous daughter conquering Far North Queensland!  I only thought to take this shot as we left in our boat...

I know you can't see Rosie, but she is there - under the tree - on the beach - smiling as always!

Here are some more photos of our morning spent on Goods...

Milly, Evy, Dwayne checking out the ruins of an old shack

Shack on Goods

Milly found a log she carried around all morning...shack, coconut palms and beach in background

Pandanus and Coconuts

Daddy and Evy - Shipwreck in water in background

Goods Island looking towards Friday Island

Our first family camping trip

2 nights on Prince of Wales Island in the June-July school holidays...

     When we went back to Brisbane in the Easter holidays, we bought our boat & lots of camping gear.  These holidays, we stayed on T.I. for the full 2 weeks & filled our time with local activities.  2 nights camping on P.O.W. was the highlight!
     We asked permission from Tanya & Dirk Laifoo (their daughter is in Milly's prep class & they are P.O.W. locals) & set off the first Monday of the holidays with enough supplies for 2 days, but ready to bail after 1 if necessary!  We went to Little Butter Tin beach on advice from other camping families - it's a close trip form T.I., has a lovely sheltered North-facing beach & plenty of sandy flat areas or tents.
     Setting up camp was extremely challenging - the tide was very low & poor Dwayne made many trips loaded with heavy gear across the wide mudflats between the anchored boat & the beach, while I supervised the girls & put up the tent.  Next time - we'll definitely arrive & set up during high tide!

     We spent the rest of the day playing in the tent & on the beach, eating dinner with sunset views & sitting by a campfire.  We showered under a tree beneath the stars and enjoyed the bright light of the full moon in the evening.  

     Dwayne & I slept terribly - constantly worried about the boat, which was anchored far from shore because of the crazy low tide.  We checked it was still there 100 times during the night & for a while thought it was floating away & that we would need to flag down a passing boat in the morning...
     ...but the boat was still there in the morning, & as the tide slowly came in during the day, we kept pulling the boat closer in, eventually anchoring it right by the campsite - phew!  
     We found our groove the second day.  We walked & did yoga & rested & found shells & collected firewood & enjoyed time as a family.  By sunset the girls were rolling in the sand  - it was like sharing a tent with 2 pieces of sandpaper!  We slept very soundly the 2nd night & were so happy we'd stayed.

     We left after breakfast on the third day while the tide was high.  The ocean was as smooth as glass all the way back to T.I. - beautiful & calm.
     We parked the boat & trailer, washed our hands & headed immediately to Uncle Frankie's Cafe for 4x thickshakes, 2x choc chip cookies, 1 cappuccino & a serve of raisin toast - fantastic!  
     Felt like champions - an empowering camping experience!

Second uplift arrives!

Teacher's belongings are transported, or "uplifted", at the expense of Education Queensland when relocating to the Torres Strait.  A family gets 30m3 (1 container) of furniture, clothing, food & personal belongings transported when first relocating, then we can apply for a "second uplift" for essential items not included in the first uplift.  We were lucky enough to have our second uplift approved for the transport of our boat - we bought it in Brisbane when we returned for the Easter holidays.  We then filled the boat with newly purchased camping gear, fishing stuff, a few clothing items, toiletries, gardening gear & lots & lots of groceries!

We packed everything into the boat & strapped it all down with a boat cover.  It was picked up by the transporters in Brisbane in the last week of April...but didn't arrive here till the 27th May- 1 month later!  It got as far as Cairns, then the transporter company called us to say they would not transport the boat with it's contents, they would send the boat empty & send the contents separately... 

The contents actually beat the boat, arriving here on the 22nd May.  There was a mountain of unpacking to do...groceries that wouldn't fit in the pantry...an overflow of nappies...new camping gear to store...it was just like Christmas!  We really made good use of the chance to ship groceries for free - I had bought about $1000 worth of dry goods from Coles & Woolies while back in Brisbane - so we won't need to do an online grocery order for quite some time!!  Highly recommended!

7 packs of nappies & 1 of wipes - yoo hoo!   

2 boxes of toiletries...

Some of the stuff that won't fit in the kitchen cupboards - it lives in a box on top of the pantry!

Atop another kitchen cabinet - more dry goods that won't fit in.  There are 4 drawers full of food in Milly's bedroom too!

P.S. I have 21 boxes of cereal in my kitchen at present!  Happy days.

Happy 2nd Birthday Evy!

New umbrella...

A garbage truck from Milly!

Opening presents with Grandad & Grandma via Skype.

Playing at the Montessori "Strait Start" kindy in the morning...

A few of her favourite activities are : washing up her dirty dishes + opening and closing different containers and purses to take shells in and out.

Birthday sweetheart...

Blowing out her candles with Milly after school...

Well... Evy turned 2 today!  We opened presents before breakfast, took Milly to school then went to Strait Start kindy at the school for a morning of play & Montessori activities.  We had a cake from See Hop bakery for afternoon tea when everyone got home.  We are having a little party with some of our T.I. cousins on Saturday morning with pass-the-parcel, craft and a home made butterfly-shaped cake that Evy chose out of a cookbook.

Picnic and Bike Ride

Lovely weather today...so we went for a bike & scooter ride down to Front Beach for a picnic morning tea.  Jayne towed Evy in the trailer behind her bike, Milly scooted & Dwayne brought up the rear on his bike.

We ate our morning tea on the shady grass beside Engineers Wharf & enjoyed looking out over the sea to the huge cruise ship anchored in Port Kennedy. 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of cruise ship tourists were walking along Victoria Parade so there was plenty of people watching to do, then we peddled & puffed our way back up the hill to our place - Dwayne had to tow the trailer home, Jayne ran out of steam on the upward slope!!

Milly's 5th Birthday...

Happy Birthday Milly!

Friday 8th March was Milly's 5th birthday!  She woke us full of excitement at 6.30am to open her presents from family on our bed with Evy looking on eagerly.  Dwayne gave her "TinkerBell and the Secret of the Wings" DVD & a mini Cinderella doll.  I gave her a mermaid ornament bought here at the "Col Jones" newsagency / little-bit-of-everything-store & a set of felts with a girl that can be changed into a mermaid.  Evy gave her a Rapunzel doll...that is the absolute favourite!


Opening presents together in the morning



Milly's mermaid present from Mummy



Grandma & Grandad skyped us at 7am to watch Milly open her presents from them - a wooden dominoes game, a picture book, some new clothes & a nightie.  The girls had a chat to them before we got ready to send Milly to school - which was a real challenge as the rain was absolutely torrential!  It had poured down all night & was still going strong in the morning, making the trip to the classroom with 2 kids, Milly's trolley school bag & a container of cupcakes very tricky.


Opening presents with Grandad & Grandma on skype

After school we met Dwayne at the "See Hop" mini supermarket for Milly to choose some afternoon tea.  We had lamingtons and pringles, washed down with a frosty fruit iceblock - how wholesome!  We ate in the park overlooking Bayo Beach then walked to the post office to check our PO Box...there were 2 cards for Milly which made her very happy, especially as the one from Great-Grandma had $20 in it!


Iceblocks by the beach for arvo tea

We had a party on Saturday morning...
Guests arrived at 9am in their dress-ups.  Because she was turning 5, Milly could invite 5 girls from her Prep class.  They decorated paper party bags with stamps, stickers & glitter glue & cardboard crowns with stickers & jewels.  Heidi, the local face painting lady, worked wonders on the girls' cheeks and forearms with her rainbow colours & we played pass-the-parcel.  The kids gobbled up fairy bread, fruit and cheezels for morning tea & then played "pin the palm tree on the island" (my version of pin the tail on the donkey).  Milly opened her gifts, we celebrated with a princess cake & it was all over by 11am!


Milly gets har arm decorated with a mermaid

 

Pass the parcel

Opening gifts

 

Birthday greetings

  

Milly & her school friend Evie



Ashlyn's facepaint





The cake!



Party girls...



More presents...

 

Evie gets painted

Tas & Mia decorating party bags

Time for cake...



Milly & Evy both had a lovely morning & Milly felt very special with all the attention & her lovely presents.  Evy slept for 2 1/2 hours for the first time in weeks & we went for a family stroll along the beach & through the park in the afternoon.  What a fantastic day - happy birthday to my little sugarplum!

Evy at the end of the festivities...

The birthday girl!