Hinchinbrook Eco Experience Cardwell Walking Tours

The 2 Great
Walks of Hinchinbrook Island

Beach, Bays & Mountains - The 2 walks – Approx
5 hrs - Depart Cardwell
We call this the Mini Thorsborne Trail and it’s one
of our favorite historical, fauna and flora walks.
Whether it’s from lack of time, age, fitness,
injury etc, we can’t all experience the total Thorsborne Trail. By doing the
Mini Thorsborne Trail, we can still experience and embrace its natural beauty
and a feel of ownership of the Island.
We depart from Hinchinbrook Cove in Cardwell and we tell you
about the damage from Tropical Cyclone Yasi in 2012, the traditional owner’s
history and usage of the area when first settled, otherwise we can leave from Lucinda and run down the channel,as we cruise towards the most
north eastern tip of Hinchinbrook Island, Cape Richards and disembark at the
sandy beach at Macushla Cove, which overlooks Gould and Brooke Islands.
Beach
This the start of our first walk, A 1 hour round trip to North
Shepard Bay, where we cross the over island to the beautiful white sandy beach
and walk up to Cape Sandwich. It’s an easy walk and you can enjoy amazing
scenery with great diversity in flora. You’ll see mangrove forests, Melaleuca,
Pandanus, Comesperma, Blue Banksia and Sundew. Keeps.
In fauna, Orange Footed Scrub Hens nest in the area and Imperial
Pigeons, Honey Eaters, Stone Curlews, Rainforest Kingfishers and Mahogany
Gliders frequent the canopy. There’s a chance you’ll also see the island’s
marsupials, Melomys, Bandicoots and Agile Wallabies.
Missionary Bay
Once back on the vessel we
cross into Missionary Bay, one of largest and most diverse mangrove inlet
systems in Australia. Missionary Bay is a marine wonderland and you may see
feeding Dugongs and Turtles on the seagrass beds and Snubfin River Dolphins.
We’ll also tell you why it’s called Missionary Bay and some of its past
history.
Jurassic Walk
We then enjoy another 20 min cruise down the serpentine shaped
creek to our next destination, the end of Creek 7, the location of the famous Ramsay
Bay Pontoon and disembark the boat and start to walk the boardwalk. This is
especially exciting, as this is the start of the world famous Thorsborne Trail.
We follow the boardwalk for about 200m through the mangroves and lowlands to
the sand dunes and the beach at Ramsay Bay. We then walk the beautiful beach to
the rocks near the base of Nina Peak, with The Thumb and Mt Bowen (1121m)
shadowing above you. It is an amazing mountain scape and you realise how
untouched and pristine Hinchinbrook Island is.
You can then then walk inland through the rainforest and dappled
light to the little creek at Black Sand Beach, which is one of the kayak beach
camping sites. Relax under Pandanus Palms, or explore the beach, then walk back
to the boat at Creek 7. You will have experienced one of the 8th wonders of the
world, and a true wonder of nature.
Hectate Point
From Creek 7, we then cruise along the Hinchinbrook Island
shoreline for about 30 minutes past Hectate Point, the site of the old failed
Page Family sawmill, established in the 1880’s, then dismantled in 1887, when
the family moved to The Haven while heading back to our original departure point
at Cardwell, we disembark and say our goodbyes and you can head back to your
accommodation.