We spent our last months in Australia sailing north along the east coast before heading west to Darwin. From Townsville up the coast to Thursday Island, we visited memorable spots and met cool people. We stopped in fun cities and beautiful islands, our Far North Queensland highlights.
About Far North Queensland
Far North Queensland, or FNQ, is the sprawling but not very populous region north of Townsville. Its biggest city is Cairns, and it is best known for The Great Barrier Reef, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and a UNESCO heritage site.
Off the mainland coast of Far North Queensland are many islands in the Great Barrier Reef, some of which we were lucky to visit.
Stops in Far North Queensland
Our visa run gave us a bit of a reprieve but we were still on a timeline. So, when we left Townsville, we sailed every day until we got to Cairns. We spent one night each at Orpheus Island, Hinchinbrook Island, and Mourilayn Harbour. Our anchorages at Orpheus and Hinchinbrook were beautiful and unspoiled, and we briefly went ashore on Orpheus for a quick walk to find a geocache. If we had time, we would have stayed longer at each.
CAIRNS
Once in Cairns, we were able to take a breather and focus on boat jobs. While not all the boat jobs were successful (broken fridge), we did replace the scuba tanks which went overboard when we got hit by the big wave.
Cairns is a great city, with excellent restaurants and fun breweries, friendly relaxed people, and lovely outdoor attractions. It’s an ideal place to be stuck doing boat work.
After Cairns we did three day jumps with brief overnight stops at Low Isles, East Hope Island, and Cape Flattery. At Low Isles we went ashore to see a little lighthouse, but we didn’t dawdle and left early each morning for the next destination.
lizard island
Another of our Far North Queensland highlights was Lizard Island. This was the first place in a long while where we could swim and snorkel in the ocean, which was glorious! Since Townsville, we enjoyed summer weather, but we had to worry about crocodiles in the water. The resort at Lizard Island has eliminated the threat of crocs so we swam and snorkeled to our hearts’ delight.
Lizard Island was a stop-off for Captain Cook and his crew. We walked in his footsteps up to the highest point, called Cook’s Look, where he spotted the best path through the reefs surrounding the island. It was a challenging hike but we went on a clear day and were rewarded with spectacular views.
We also enjoyed cocktails and dinners at the resort. Another benefit of stopping at Lizard was meeting up with other cruisers and finding buddy boats to ride with all the way to Indonesia! All of that makes Lizard Island one of our Far North Queensland highlights.
The Top of Continental Australia
From Lizard Island we sailed north with overnight stops at Stokes Bay and Ninian Bay in Cape Melville National Park. The forecast was for high winds but it was perfect for our needs, and we sailed fast towards the top of Continental Australia at Cape York.
We didn’t stay overnight at the Cape York anchorage, but stopped for a few hours to walk to the geologically significant site. This is a challenging place to visit, a long drive from any city. After all our time in Australia, we couldn’t pass by without seeing it.
thursday island and horn island
Our last stop in Far North Queensland was The Torres Strait islands. Our time sailing the Pacific Ocean from Panama through Australia took 3 years. Yes, we are slow. From Townsville to the Torres Strait was approximately 660nm and took us one month, including the two weeks we were in Cairns. That is farther than sailing from Charleston, SC to New York City.
In the Torres Straits Islands we anchored off Horn Island, but the real draw was Thursday Island, a quick ferry ride away. On Thursday Island (T.I. for short), we hiked to the old fort, an important outpost during WWII. We also explored the cultural museum and visited the Northernmost Pub, in between provisioning.
Thursday Island is the most populated of the 17 of 274 small islands which comprise the Torres Strait Islands. It has a large indigenous community, a couple of pubs, a supermarket, and some very friendly residents. Unfortunately, again, we couldn’t swim because of the crocodiles in the water. All we could do was look at it and ignore the sweat pooling everywhere.
Australia will always hold a place in our hearts. We met wonderful people, saw a lot of beautiful places, and sailed to many of them. Our highlights of Far North Queensland are just some of the memories we will hold onto as we sail west into Asia.
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