Thursday ISland

Was lucky enough to visit Thursday Island today for a grand total of about 40 minutes.

We took a 6 person fibreglass boat from Badu in the morning that one of the docs from TI had "chartered" for a return journey. $150 worth of fuel definitely beats $350 for a 15 minute plane ride (did I mention flights are really expensive here?), and I decided to tag along.

The ride over is pretty hectic. The crystal turqouise waters of the Straits conceal a maze of shallow lying reefs, sandbars and semi-formed islands that require a lot of twisting and turning to get through safely.

It was a good opportunity to see some local knowledge in action too. These guys have been travelling the waters their whole lives and  know exactly where every potential obstacle will be and how best to avoid it in accordance with the given conditions.

 Rugby teams from all the outer islands travel to TI this way every weekend for their weekly matches. Their day consists of a 2-4 hour boat ride, rugby game, dinner with friends and family, then a two hour return journey in complete darkness which apparently isn't a problem because they "just know where to go". Add to this a stop half way on one of the uninhabited islands to sink some cans (dodging some crocs while they're at it) before a drunken final leg of the journey around midnight.

Given the complexity of navigating through these waters, this all seemed equal parts ridiculous and impressive. Nonetheless, the boys here are all taught to drive a boat from an early age; George's 12 year old nephew navigated our return trip largely on his own, so I guess it just becomes second nature like anything else.

Anyways, TI seemed pretty nice and compared to Badu.... absolutely HUGE, I mean there's at least 3 supermarkets and 4 entire pubs on the island... crazy! I know. I was all set for a chicken schnitzel parmigiana with chips and salad and a pint for lunch (I'd sort of built the idea up in my head a lot the past week), but after dropping off the doc and walking to the shop, George seemed ready to head back already. I was trying to drop hints at sticking around for lunch, saying things like "I've heard the parmy at the hotel grand is GREAT", but he seemed pretty stoked with his two hot dogs from the deli and was already heading back to the wharf.
Dejected, I gave up, shut up and just had to settle for the shitty hot dog.

All the same, a great experience and a great way to see a different angle on one of the mose beautiful and unique places in Australia.

This turtle is probably here to symbolise how much the locals love hunting and eating turtles. They're meant to taste pretty good.