If this is Friday it must be Thursday.....

A day trip to the islands was the order of the day today, Thursday Island or TI as it is known here. There are also a Tuesday Island, and a Wednesday and a Friday Island, but no Saturday, Sunday or Monday Islands. They like their long weekends here. In all of the 36 populated islands there are only 8500 people, the bulk of which are on Thursday Island. It is tiny- just 3.5square km, and has no water of its own, relying on rainwater and supplies piped under the sea from it’s much larger neighbour, Horn Island, where the local airport also resides.

Because of its safe harbour, and being on an almost direct route through the Torres Strait, the island became the administrative and commercial centre in 1877. The whole area reminds me very much of the Carribean, including the climate.

In 1868 pearls had been discovered close by, and the pearling industry was the mainstay of the region until the 1930s, when demand fell because of the manufacture of plastics. There are still some cultured pearls produced nearby.

The island is known for it’s turtles, who nest in the east of the islands, for many years they were food for the natives here, but are now protected.

Green hill Fort is one of the few points of interest, it was built in 1868 when there was a perceived threat from the Russians, who never arrived. There are three six inch guns there, each of which is aimed along one of the channels that might have been used for invasion. The views are superb, we saw about twenty islands from there, including mainland Australia in the far distance.

The cemetery contains many gravestones that are a little different from those we see at home. Most of them contain a potted history of the occupant, and make interesting reading. In another area there are over 700 Japanese pearlers buried, it was an extremely risky business diving in the 19^th century, and life was cheap.

The Anglican Cathedral, the smallest in the world, has very distinctive architecture, and contains many relics of the wreck of the steamship Quetta, which struck an uncharted rock in 1890 and sank in 3 minutes with the loss of 133 lives.. The church was built in their memory and named All Souls.

There is little more to the island other than the one main street which has an interesting old Post Office, and many Government buildings. There is also a pie shop there which we are told has lovely crayfish pies but unfortunately they had sold out by the time we got there!

75 minutes on a fast ferry brought us back to our camp site, we really are very comfortable here, back in our own element. We elected to have a little kitchen area, a ‘hut’ as they call it here, with our own toilet and shower, well- almost our own, the occasional interloper gets in. Last night we found green frogs and lizards in there.

The lizards are ok- they mop us the flies and spiders, but the green frogs, while harmless in themselves, attract snakes and we can do without them!

Anyway, all good things must come to an end, tomorrow we move down the peninsula, slowly this time, there are many things to see on the way, and we will be going off the main road to see them. Who knows what adventure we will have next?