Nov 6, 2010: Fraser Island, Kingfisher Bay

We awoke Sunday to beautiful blue skies, and as we were having coffee in the cockpit, we noticed that while re-anchoring Sat. night we got real lucky!  Less than 50 feet away from our new spot was the edge of the sandbar marking the edge of the island.  Whew! Thank goodness we didn't move any closer or at low tide we would have ended up on our side.

Late morning we went to shore for a visit to the Kingfisher Bay Resort.  Gigantic biting flies began attacking us as soon as we beached the dinghy. Of course we did not bring our repellant. We swatted our way up the road past the ferry wharf, the swimming pools, bar and restaurant for day guests to the Kingfisher Bay Resort where we looked into tours and had a nice lunch.  We booked the 4WD bus tour of the island for the next day and then went for a hike up to the lookout.  The island is completely lined with fences to keep the dingo's away.  They seem to be a problem here.  We maneuvered our way up the path, noting how absolutely beautiful it is here.  At the top we had an even better perspective of how close we had come to anchoring in the shallows, but man is it a lovely view!  As we were making our way back down the trail, I slid off the side of one of the steps, and as my foot torqued I heard a loud crack!  Something gave way in my ankle that sounded like a twig being snapped in two.  Down I went.  I sat on the ground for several minutes until the shock and pain subsided, then Frank helped me up and assisted me down the pathway back to the pools and restaurant where we relaxed and had a few cool drinks and swatted flies.  We noticed that the wait staff all had big welts on their arms and legs.  I guess they are used to the bites.  I put my foot up for a while and then we set off to head back to Destiny.  It hurt like the devil by the time we got to the dinghy, which was a disappointment because the tide had gone out…way out.  We had about a 150- yard hike/drag to get to the water's edge.  Even with our new wheels, the bottom was so silty that the dinghy just sank to the axels.  We struggled for about 100 feet before a nice man on shore and his wife offered to lend us a hand.  The effort just to get the dinghy just out to the water took nearly 45 minutes.  We got back on the boat in time to greet the arrival of our friends on "Wind Pony" and "Endangered Species".  Rick and Robin popped over for a visit and while they had a cool beer, I propped up my swollen foot.  I guess this is my year to get knocked around!