Turtlehead Island, Part 3

--3-8 April 2011--

Left:  Pinctata maxima with natural blisters and Torres Pearls silver-gray pendant

Ok, so where were we?!  I suppose I ought to kick this blog off with an apology for my virtual disappearance act.  Time flies, etc…that’s all I have to say about that.  Rather than listing even one reasonable or imagined excuse, I’d rather jump right in and get on with the recapping of my awesome April.  I’ll do this in a few posts so this won’t be painfully long, but realize now that I’m starting where I left off, 3 weeks ago, way up in the Torres Strait….

Above: CB keeps vigilant watch for crocs and dolphins; After observing how much Rusty loves to catch fish, CB took it upon himself to catch us some dinner!  Unfortunately his fish wasn't what we had in mind....but he was SOOO pleased with his guitarfish.

Mostly I just want to share my fun photos from the last part of my wonderful stay at Torres Pearl farm.  Back in February I had tried to use Everytrail.com as my main photo-sharing tool, but the website is just too darn slow, and it sucked up all my $5/hr internet time, ouch!  So this bloggy-wog is about to get heaps more photographic.  Prepare yourself. ;) 

Above:  Bronwyn (dripping with Torres Pearls) and me at Turtlehead Island.  Below:  Now that's my idea of decoration!  Years of desceased pearl shells decorate the campus, framed in their own culture baskets; My island house is surrounded and perfumed by these native Frangipani (Plumeria) flowers!  Ah, I love the tropics!

 


















 Above:  Just before sunset, we got a treat of a full double rainbow that stretched right across the river mouth and over the mangroves.  I was too close to even get the whole arc in one shot!; With a full, double rainbow to the East and an imaculate sunset to the West (below), which way would you stare??

The last bunch of days I spent at Turtlehead Island were filled with more great food and company, and some rush to get Rusty’s fantastical no-plan working raft near completion.  Getting things done on a remote tropical island, especially working on the water itself, takes so much more work than imaginable.  There’s the planning for tides, rain, winds and waves, and then there’s got to be meals and smoko (snack time) fitted into the day, and of course sunset-break time.  A couple of days we got so far as to carry wood plancks to the wharf before running for shelter to play scrabble and uno.  I’m sure that by the time I’m writing this, that magnificent raft is complete and upriver, ready to support heaps of pearl farm labor.  However, by the time it was time for me to depart back to the mainland, we had assembled only a portion of what would become an impressive roof and walls.  Not much marine science knowledge necessary for these tasks, but now I do feel quite confident that if I ever become stranded on a deserted island, I could and would make a survival raft which would make Bear Grylls darn proud!...not to mention rafts of more entertaining value, if the occasion called…

Above:  Grotty approves of our work so far on the pearling raft, once it's proven river-worthy.    

Right:  It has grown substantialy since last week,  but we've got heaps more work to do!  This ain't no simple leisure raft!  This is a serious working vessel!

When the afternoon heat and the low tide found a happy arrangement, Bronwyn and I took to walking the beach and mangroves to find amazing treasures; or, at least, entertaining animals and artifacts, including corals, seashells, flotsam from crashed planes, boats and autos.

Above: This lucky anemone just had a nice mud-crab lunch!  I'm jealous of it's good taste in prey, but am also amazed at this beautiful, plate-like mouth, covered with purple and green shag-carpet-like tentacles.  Brilliant!

 Below:  Hmm, now I'm thinking maybe this anemone is an upside-down jelly?  I still haven't been able to find this "bushy" anemone in an ID book yet...and ideas from my Cnidarian-ologists? 

Below:  No, it's not plastic mesh, it's the remains of a spectacular soft coral (I think...if anybody can identify this 2 ft-wide basket-like skeleton, I'd be much obliged); Upclose image of what I'm provisionally calling a "basket coral" skeleton.   

 















Below:  Basket ferns form the border between the mangrove thicket and the proper rainforest.; One brave lone mangrove sapling dares to take on the tides way out on the beach.  A tenacious tree!

When it was time to pack up and head back to “civilization” (although I felt much more civil way out here than in any of the mainland cities, esp. Cairns, where I often felt quite uncivil toward tour hawkers at times!), I got the treat of a second leisurely boat ride back up the Middle and Jacky Jacky Rivers to Bamaga, dodging rainclouds through the pristine mangrove wilderness.  Did OPRAH get a private tour through THIS magnificent countryside, with her own personal driver?  I think I win!  We didn’t spot any crocs on this ride, but since the tide was so much higher, we whizzed through the narrow channels.  Check out the video at the end!

More fantastical sunsets over the Cape York Peninsula from the wharf.   





 Below:  Biology and Physics create a beautiful landscape:  soldier crab sand-balls gather between the sandy ripples at the beach.

Right:  The Bamaga airport.  Note the lack of airplane and other living souls.  Cue Casablanca music.

Because of the tides, I arrived at the “airport” a good 2 hours before the other 15 passengers (and the airplane).  Ever seen one of those black-and-white movie scenes with the tiny train station out in the sticks, in the pouring rain, deserted except for the one pitiful individual who’s got nothing better to do?  Well that wouldn’t be far off from the reality (except that I know how to fall asleep practically anywhere, thus solving my entertainment wants).  And then, as if on cue, a man walked in out of the rain.  Was he dangerous?  Was he a handsome cinematic hero (going with the black’n’white drama, here, bear with me).  It was destiny, indeed.  But alas, no.  He was neither of those exciting plot options.  He was, in fact, a SkyTrans corporate exec  from Cairns, who took pitty on the fact that I had all the appearances of a desolate, possibly homeless backpacker, with my sweaty work clothes and my inappropriate use of the small wooden bench as a siesta nook.  With all the gallantry such an occasion could allow, he smiled and handed me nothing less than a SkyTrans baseball cap, pulled elegantly from a big plastic sack.  Ok, you probably thought this was leading up to something important, but you KNOW how much I LOVE free stuff!!  It is my most beloved baseball cap, ever. ;)

Zooming through the mangrove wilds of Cape York Peninsula's Middle and Jacky Jacky Rivers towards Bamaga from Turtleahead Island