Thorsborne Trail, Hinchinbrook Island

Last Sunday my friend Maren and I began our hike of the Thorsborne Trail, a 32 km (20 mi) trail on Hinchinbrook Island, 1-2 hours north of Townsville. It was actually pretty complicated to actually get to the island, so I'll begin my story with our journey to Lucinda, QLD.

Saturday night was a special farewell dinner paid for by Butler, so the whole group of us got together for a fancy dinner in town.

Some of my closer Butler friends at the dinner

Maren and I had a 7:30 AM Greyhound bus to catch the next day; however the city buses didn't run until 8AM. It is an expensive cab ride from Uni to town ($30-$50), so as poor college students we decided to use our bus day passes from the dinner to take the LAST bus on Saturday to the bus stop and wait/sleep there until 7. This last bus was at 3:30AM. So after the dinner, we headed home of a few hours of sleep, got our stuff, and spent the next few hours at the bus depot (there were a few other backpackers doing similar things, so it was perfectly safe). We arrived in Ingham, QLD and got a shuttle to Lucinda, QLD, where we took a "ferry" (actually a little tin boat) to the island. The boat just pulled right up to the shore and dropped us off (no dock) and set us free! We felt like we were on Survivor. Two other people, a couple, took the boat with us, so we ran into them frequently throughout the trip.

We hiked the trail in four days, three nights, although the last day was not a very far hike to the pickup point. It was GORGEOUS. The first two days had tons of beautiful swimming holes scattered along the trail, which was a welcome relief from the heat. There were rivers, waterfalls, rainforest, regular forest, beaches, mountaintops - basically every ecosystem we could think of that didn't involve snow.

The trail was relatively flat with a few areas of elevation gain, however it had a lot of difficult parts. There were TONS of river crossings (usually shallow), so our feet were usually wet. At one point, we had to cross a huge swamp - we tried to hop from dry island to island, but always ran into places where it was impossible to cross without entering the swamp. We would have to step into shin-high murky water in crocodile territory (there were warning signs at places where crocs were known to inhabit - none at the swamp but still possible!). A large portion of the last day involved rock hopping around a bay covered in boulders.

We didn't have all the right gear for the trip, since mine is in the US, so we had to improvise. We borrowed a tent, but had no sleeping bags/ sleeping pads, so we slept with cotton sheets on the floor of the tent - very uncomfortable and hard. We didn't have a stove, so our food was limited to that which didn't need heating up. We took loaves of bread from our dining hall and bought peanut butter and jelly, along with granola bars and mixed nuts. My loaf went moldy at around Day 2, so I had to pick off mold spots until it was just unbearable, and then ate Maren's bread. Delicious! My boot also fell apart on Day 3, so I had to tie it together with a piece of my sheet.

On the last day, we met another, nicer ferry at the other end of the trail, which took us back to Cardwell, QLD, where we caught a Greyhound home. As soon as we got on the ferry, it started to POUR - we just beat the bad weather! It rained the rest of the night and into the next day. We were lucky that the bulk of our hike was beautiful weather. When we arrived in Townsville, I felt like a real local as I explained to a backpacker how to get to the hostel in town. After a quick stop at Maccas (what Aussies affectionately call McDonald's), we were safe and sound in our beds!

Overall, it was a great hike!! We saw tons of wildlife (lizards, birds, sharks - see below) and the scenery was great.

Me on top of a peak

At the top of a waterfall/cliff overlooking a bay - note Maren for scale

At Zoe Falls - the waterfall is a lot taller than this picture makes it seem, and the pool at its base is perfectly crystal clear

Swimming at Zoe Falls

Treacherous swamp crossing

HUGE spider! I don't think this guy is poisonous, but still terrifying!

One of our campsites, right on the beach

Boulder hopping

Shark things - there were tons of these along the coast, we think they are bottom feeders

One of many lizards

Now I am buckling down and studying (right now, writing this post to procrastinate) since I have finals in the next two weeks. Then, goodbye Townsville! Where did the time go??

For more pictures of my hike, check out my facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071229&id=1479180374&l=f92fc74f6f