It seems whenever paddlers get together to go peddling it piddles. It did just that today, repeatedly. The impeccable timing ensured we had a fresh dousing at the outset of each leg of today's bay bike ride.
A crew of 13 caught the passenger ferry
direct to Russell Island. This turned out to be a good decision as the service was fast, friendly and efficient with no stick or hassles with the bikes. As soon as we disembarked it was 200m beeline to the cafe for a delicious coffee and hatch a plan while the rain fell lightly. The decision was to meet back at the shelter overlooking the beach at 1pm for lunch then catch the
1:25pm ferry onto Macleay
Island.
On Google Earth it is only 10km to Lion's Park at the southern end of Russell Island. However what was not as apparent is that is one hill after another with no alternative waterline route. By the time we pulled up under the shelters at the park it must have
been close to the top of a full tide as the permanent survey marker was marooned in concrete a foot off shore. A sad looking Gallipoli Pine languished in a protective cage. The shelters were in good condition, barbeques very clean and there was a kayak size beach making this a place to visit again, by water.
The flat dirt track heading away from the park held more interest than the reverse pull up the final promontory. Turns out this is a great short cut which Brian missed out on in his hurry to get a head start up the hill. At 11am we paused for Remembrance Day then whizzed off to get a downhill run up for the next lug. An attempt to follow the waterline around the western side of the island was kyboshed by the lack of a road. They have advance planned this island with years of dozing and tree clearing to get anyway near the 'street map'. After slewing down a sandy gravel track we ended up back on the main road. Now the heavens really dumped their load. It was raining enough to turn the bike lights
on for upcoming cars. There was no signage to RQYS but we followed best guess and after a (slightly) more gentle undulating ride came across the entrance to the grounds. This is a beautiful location and with its manicured lawns, entertainment marquees, nothing could be further from the more dominant feral aspects of the island.
We arrived at the park next to the ferry terminal thoroughly drenched and squelching. The only shelter was taken by beer cans and people with kids with no intention of moving on. So Plan B, lunch at the cafe. This little cafe does a great casual meal and is well worth a visit.
The ferry across to Macleay was an impressive, fast and well laid out twin hull cat which had been added to their fleet in 2007. As soon as we were in the saddle guess what - yes down it came. Here we split with our six heading up the hill, then up and down some more to get to Pat's Park at Potts Point. The newly completed flagstaff was surrounded by instant lawn and there were fresh floral wreaths at the foot of the cenotaph. Moving on we followed the bus route around the western side of the island. This took us past some impressive homes with a magnificent outlook. Macleay Island is much prettier than Russell and looked more developed with regards to infrastructure. The ride down to and across the causeway to Perulpa Island will have to be another day as we were
running low on time and leg
power.
Back at the passenger ferry shelter Dave bought across a box of chips from the takeaway cart. The claim that it sold the greatest hotdogs in the world has been supplanted by the vote that it
sells the greatest hot chips in the world - they are yum and hot hot hot. Our numbers had diminished by two and while a few of us were still keen to explore Lamb Island (having been told that it had no hills) a decent downpour soon hosed those ideas away. Lamb and Karragarra together with Perulpa Island are for another time.
The passenger ferry ride back to Redland Bay was surprisingly quick, smooth and deliciously dry. The odometers clocked 40km for the day which was rounded off by coffee and icecream at the shop. Thank you Dave for suggesting this one for the calendar. Maybe we need to head out to Wivenhoe.
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Passenger ferry to Russell Island
Photo by Tom
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Strategic planning
Photo by Tom
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Caniapa Passage
Photo by Tom
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Leaving Lions Park - southern Russell Island
Photo by Tom
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Short cut
Photo by Tom
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Short cut
Photo by Tom
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Observing Remembrance
Photo by Tom
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Delicious lunch
Photo by Tom
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Waiting for Russell Island passenger ferry
Photo by Tom
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Heading to Macleay Island
Photo by Tom
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Perulpa Island
Photo by Tom
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Macleay Island ferry shelter
Photo by Tom
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Back on the mainland
Photo by Tom
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