The Whitsunday Diaries - Day 2

Day 2:

July 18, 2010

This morning we awoke to butterflies – hundreds of indigo and black fairies fluttering through the sky, welcoming us into a new day.  It was magical, like stepping into the pages of a storybook. 
And then our quiet breakfast was, quite literally, crashed by two massive lizards lumbering through the rainforest and onto our campsite.  They stopped to blink at us, apparently annoyed with our intrusion upon their territory.  (And, let’s face it, we were on their turf.)

After breakfast, we packed our gear and paddled 5km up Whitehaven Beach to a shallow, sandy inlet, where the water was warmed to perfection and stingrays skated about.  I wish we could have stayed all day, but we were scheduled for Henning Beach that evening, so we shoved off. 

This is when the hard work began.  The passage from Whitehaven to Henning turned out to be much more challenging and exhausting than imagined.  We battled the wind, strong current, and choppy water for five hours, reaching our destination just as the sun dipped below the horizon.

So now, we’re lying in darkness on the shores of Henning Island, too exhausted to move.  Our arms are rubber and our backs ache.  Boiling water for our dehydrated meals even seems too daunting a task.  Eventually, our hunger will win and we’ll prepare the food.  But, at this moment, we just need to rest.  It’s going to be an early night.