Percy Islands

Thirsty Sound Bay

Bottle #3, 

Thursday morning and we are off to Stanish Bay – Thirsty Sound for our dreaded fuel run.  Unfortunately even with both tanks and all Jerry cans full we still don’t carry enough to get us all the way to Mackay, stopping at a few islands on the way.  So we have to stop at Thirsty Sound.  Only problem being, Thirsty Sound does not have a marine fuel pump.  Oh well, not a lot we can do about it.  So we motor along past Cape Townsend for a couple of hours, dropping our bottle number 3 at the tip of the Cape. 

First of the fuel runs

Andrew syphoning fuel.

Into Thirsty Sound which is a little bay inlet with a town of only about 100 locals. If you were visiting here by car, it is a good few hours drive off the main highway to reach, so probably not a place you would really visit.  We quite liked it, even though it seemed quite oldy worldly.  We pull into the harbour and drop anchor.  Its not suppose to be a very comfortable place to stay overnight as the wind seems to come through the bay, but we don’t have a lot of choice.

Thirsty sound boat ramp at high tide, this went down another 10 meters at low tide.

So 1300 hours we load the first 5, 20 litre Jerry cans into the tinny and motor them into the boat ramp that is now at semi low tide.  We tie the tinny up and walk the 500 yards to the servo.  Once there we start filling up the Jerry cans and an elderly gentleman by the name of Barry, stops his 4wd and asks us if we would like to borrow his car to take the Jerry cans back to the boat ramp.  We couldn’t believe our luck.  He asked us how many runs we would have, so we told him probably 5 and it would take a few hours.  He then said to us we could borrow his car for the afternoon until we had done what we had to.  He really was a blessing in disguise.  We did 5 runs back and forth to the servo and into the tinny and into the big boat carting 435 litres of fuel. We would tie the tinny up at the ramp and as the tide was going out, by the time we got back to it, we would be pulling it a good 100 meters in shin deep mud and sharp rocks.  It was a painstaking job even with the use of a car so we are not sure how we would have managed without it as it still took us a good 4 hours to do. We were very very lucky that day to have come across someone so trustworthy, friendly and willing to help.  We were very appreciative to him and had a good chat afterwards.  He had been coming to the area for the last 19 years camping and fishing so was well known around the town.

We did a small shop at the local store, had a drink and bowl of chips at the pub then tired watched a DVD and headed to bed for an early start tomorrow.

Morning in Thirsty Sound

Whale, slapping its tail

Hunter Island

Woke up to a misty morning, it is very airy looking out to sea with a slight fog covering. Made a coffee and then enjoyed drinking that as we headed over to The Duke islands which were part of a cattle station so you used to be able to see cattle, horses and deer. We chose Hunter Island to visit so this is where we anchored for breakfast for an hour.   As we are now so laden with fuel, it was a slow trip over at 20 km an hour, as we just could not get Mingo onto the plane.  Was a good trip with no swell and very clear skies so could see all the islands in front of us. 

Hunter Island was a small island, but a really great spot as you could anchor the boat about 7 meters from the beach, as it was fairly deep.  We didn’t stay here for long but would be great to spend a few days as you could anchor the big boat and swim to the island.  We then had a quick motor around a couple of the other Duke islands to have a look and saw another whale on the way, then headed over to “The Percy’s”. 

Chris the view from the A Frame into Middle Percy Bay

Andrew at the A Frame, Percy Island

Chris on a swing in the A frame

Andrew reading the plaques.

The Percy’s are very famous islands.  History goes that The WHITE family bought the Middle Percy Island in 1921 and built a homestead and ran a sheep station on the island until 1964.  An Andrew MARTIN then bought the lease in that year and started catering for boaties by building an A frame that consists of an little brick BBQ area, a shower (bring your own water), a dining table and chairs, hammock and then over the years boaties have been encouraged to make a sign of their own and hang it in the A frame.  He also built a tree house and planted a number of coconut trees along the beach.  Unfortunately Mr. MARTIN passed away in 2003 and left 15% of the island to his cousin Cathy who now resides on the island in the homestead.    There was a big court case over the last couple of years where Cathy was actually granted her 15% of the island and this apparently cost her an amount in the 6 figure values.   The other 85% of the island is owned by the Parks and Wildlife.

Chris in the clear water of Whites Bay

We arrived at “Middle Percy island” late morning and found an absolutely spectacular spot called “White Bay”, where we anchored.   Wow it is breath taking.  The beach with white sand, the water clear to at least 6 meters, with sand on the bottom and just pristine.  We truly feel like we are in heaven.

Very steep sand dunes

Andrew snorkeling around Mingo

  We anchored up amongst two other boats and funny enough its boats we have been bumping into on the way, a mono hull sailing boat 36 foot called “Verve” with Kerry and Toni and a sailing catamaran, 38 foot “Third Wish” with Bruce and Linda on board.  We jumped into the tinny had a quick motor around to their boats to say hi then headed around Middle Percy to the west side.  The water so blue and so clear and we could see coral and coral fish and turtles below, it truly is wonderful.  We motored around looking in awe onto the island and seeing the largest, smoothest sand dunes, that would be great to slide down on a toboggan and straight into the water below.  They were at a height of 30 meters so very steep, but the idea sounded fun.  We kept motoring around slowly the 10km’s half way round the island, taking in every breath taking part that we could see.  We kept looking at each other saying, it’s amazing, its beautiful, how can somewhere be so nice.  We have already seen a lot of pretty nice places but this really is the best so far.  If you ever get a chance to visit Middle Percy Island it is definitely not a trip wasted.  We can’t explain it, as there is so much beauty here. You have to stop and look and listen and even pinch yourself to make sure your not dreaming as it really is a dream island and we feel like we are now travelling in a picture perfect postcard, but this is what this trip is all about.

We motor onto the West Bay beach on Middle Percy and pull the tinny up.  There are about 5 other big boats anchored in the harbour, but no people about.  I think we could only see 2 other couples on the island in the distance, which was nice as it felt like we were here alone.

A very Happy Andrew

Andrew really is in his element now, he told Christie it’s been a dream for along time to come to Percy islands and he is now here.  We are so happy that we are sharing this experience together and loving every minute of it. 

"Tree House"

  Walking onto Percy Island and heading towards a row of palm trees and the A frame structure that is covered with plaques from other boaties, long and short ago visitors to the island who have left their mark.  It really is a special place and to be able to read other peoples plaques and know they felt how we do right now being able to be lucky enough to visit such a spectacular place.  We spend a good hour in here reading and walking round and wrote our own little message in the visitor’s book.  We then see another structure about 300 meters up a hill so have a walk to see what it is and are invited by a lady “Robin” into the “Tree House”.  This was built amongst the trees and really is very basic, but how wonderful to live in a tree house. Robin and her husband have been living here for 6 months now and helping Cathy run the up keep of the island.  She showed us around the tree house and we have a good chat looking out into the bay.  As we walk away we are wondering how we could ever get the opportunity to come here for 12 months to live.  Who knows, we can dream and dreams sometimes do come true. 

Andrew at Lagoon at low tide

Drinks on the beach at Whites Bay

We go for a walk down to what’s known as The Lagoon, it’s a nice little area but is low tide at the moment so doesn’t look to spectacular, with 3 boats in there high and dry.  Back to the tinny and motor around to Mingo at Whites Bay and for a swim in the cool, crisp water.  Kerry and Toni then motor over to us and say they are having drinks on the beach at 5 so we accept the invite and at 5ish, we head over there with them and Linda and Bruce and another boatie by the name of John who is on a 40 foot catamaran called “Dream Weaver”.  A very pleasant evening sitting on the beach in lovely setting with great company watching the sun go down and listening to the light waves washing up on the beach.  Life is great.

The following morning we are up and lazing about the back of the boat having a coffee. Christie reading and Andrew working out our next port of call.  Have a bit of a chat with the others and find out where everyone is heading next.  They all head off quite early but we decide to stay anchored at Whites bay for the day and go for a walk around this side of the island to see what it has to offer.

Chris at the start of walk to The Homestead, overlooking White Bay.

Our surfboard sign to the Homestead

So 1000 hours on Saturday 18^th August we pull the tinny up onto the beach and see an arrow with 2.5km to Homestead so we clamber 30 Min's up the rock hill to see another sign at the top saying To the Homestead 2.5km – with a little red and white sign shaped as a surf board, we follow the surfboards and walk for a good 2 hours following these to the Homestead (so much for being 2.5km) amongst some pretty rough terrain including rocks, cutting grass, jungle vines and a lot of cobwebs and spiders ewww, all up hill.  We were exhausted by the time we got to the homestead and knew we still had another good 4 km walk to get back to the A frame to hang Mingo’s sign.   Phew it was tiring and we were once again walking in our Japanese safety boots along the long grass.  

Our blue plate plaque in the A Frame.

The Homestead

Picking a lemon to quench thirst

At the Homestead, unfortunately Cathy was not around, but we had a wander around the outside and met the guard dog, chickens, billy goats, peacocks and the sound of a tractor.  Was all pretty cool.  We then followed the rocky and muddy Billy goat track for another hour and a half down to the A frame where we proudly hung our Mingosoasis sign.  We then looked around for another 40 minutes and were so tired and not looking forward to the 6.5km trek back to Whites Bay.  Since being such a warm day we had run out of water before half way back, so were quite happy to come across a huge lemon tree.  We picked one and oh the sour juice was so refreshing.  Finally back to Mingo at 1600 hours and what a relief to sit down and have a drink.  But what a great day and definitely worth the walk and sights.

Us at The Lagoon on Middle Percy Island