We had only one thing on the agenda for this day, which meant we could have a very lazy morning. We slept in, we lounged around, we read our books, we watched TV. We had lunch, then caught the bus to Horseshoe Bay.
Still with some time to kill before our tour, we strolled along the beach for a bit. A little peckish still, we stopped in at Noodies cafe for a bowl of nachos – and a frozen strawberry margarita for Eva.
With full bellies and with Eva slurring her words we walked down the beach to meet Craig, our tour guide from Magnetic Island Sea Kayaks. We found him on the beach with two sea kayaks ready, and with Brenda, another tourist who we would get to know very well by the end of the evening.
A quick explanation of how the kayaks work* and life-jackets distributed, we pushed off for an informative paddle around the bay (and just outside the bay in the slightly rougher ocean).
To say Craig is knowledgeable and interesting is to undersell the experience completely. Half Indigenous, he has a unique understanding of the land, the sea and the many peoples of the region. He told us really interesting stories of his life growing up on Palm Island, his strict Nan**, and the difficulties of integrating into a Western school. He told us of the history of Palm Island, the 14 language groups that now inhabit the islands, and the dark brutality of colonisation. So much of what he told us felt either very personal or very sacred to the Indigenous population that I actually don’t feel comfortable sharing much of it here. I strongly recommend you do the tour if you ever get the chance.
Half way through the paddle, we pulled up on the beach near a rocky outcrop, where Craig showed us various native plants that were either edible or medicinal, and then took us to the boulders. He explained that usually he would have to do a full smoking ceremony before welcoming people onto the rocks and showing the cooking sites, but recently he has been given permission by the Elders to do a shorter, more streamlined ceremony for us. This involved collecting certain types of coral and shells from the beach, and what I gathered were quiet requests to the spirits for their blessing and protection. I have to stress that this in no way felt performative or ‘something done for the tourists’ – it seemed a genuine sacred ritual that he believed in and took very seriously. It was humbling to experience.
Throughout the tour Craig would point out birds and wildlife that were significant to the Indigenous peoples of the area, how the activity of some birds could show if there was a cyclone approaching, or where there was food or danger. He knew even the names and ages of numerous birds, something he learned to keep track of back on Palm Island. He told us how to spot sea turtles in the water, by looking with the sun to our backs and spotting the water reflecting off the backs of their heads when they come up to breathe. But we didn’t see any (well, we each think we may have seen one, but only just).
When the tour finished up we all went our separate ways. Being dinner time, we decided to grab fish’n’chips and eat them on the beach. It was quite peaceful, sitting at a picnic table while gentle waves crashed on the beach, boats floated not far away in the bay, and Mars, Venus and the moon all looked down on us. Also watching us were two bush-stone curlews, who had forgone their blood-curdling screeches in favour of a stealthy patrol around us. There were no kookaburras around, thankfully, so our chips were safe.
Our dinner finished, we hopped on the bus to come back to our accommodation. We sat down and who should be on the bus in the seat opposite us but Brenda, our fellow tour member. She was again very friendly and talkative, telling us all how much she also enjoyed the tour, and how she’s on a 4 month roadtrip and how Covid made her take her naturopath business online which meant she could live on the road. Brenda was very friendly and talkative.
Back at our accommodation we relaxed and had a quiet night of TV watching, before going to bed early in preparation for the next day – the Forts Walk.
Footnotes
* A new experience for me, none of the canoes or kayaks I’ve been in before have had rudders controlled by foot pedals.
** An Elder who still goes spear-fishing every day, at the age of 92.