Location: Lizard Island, North Queensland

Weather: Blue skies with very few clouds. 26°c

To see where Lizard Island is click - View Larger Map

In order to keep a promise to myself I dragged my tired body out of bed as first light broke the horizon just after 6am – I’d wanted to climb to the top of Lizard Island’s highest point, Cook’s Look, to view the lay of the land from up high. Bre’s bruised ankles have meant she’s been pretty incapacitated for the last few days and in no fit state to accompany me up to the heady 368m peak.

A little frustrating to say the least, I’ve been packing away great food for the last few days and have had no way to burn it off yet – even the dinghies here have engines here not oars! So a little heart pumping exercise is what’s needed.

There’s a steep little path which follows the saddle of the hill leading to Cook’s Look and as I set off up it realised it was a bit tougher than I’d expected; I hadn’t brought any running shoes with me and slipped up the steeper parts, ran straight into a couple of great big spiders webs and was always racing the clock – aware that we had to be at the airport later that morning.

The track’s supposed to be a 2-3hr round trip. I knew I could beat that as I’d be running rather than walking and after 45mins had arrived at the top just as the sun was breaking through the clouds on the horizon giving me a delayed sunrise. At the top of the path there’s a cairn of rocks, an information board and a plaque marking the highest point on the island.

It was here that in August 1770 Captain James Cook, the English explorer, stood after mooring The Endeavour off Lizard Island. He’d come ashore to gain a better view as he was having difficulties in navigating the reef. In his words:

Before I quit this Island I shall describe it. It lies as I have before observed about 5 Leagues from the mainland, it is about 8 miles in circuit and of a height sufficient to be seen 10 or 12 Leagues. It is mostly high land very rocky and barren except on the NW side where there are some sandy bays and low land which last is covered with thin long grass, trees, the same as upon the mainland. Here is also fresh water in two places, the one is a running stream with the water a little brackish, the other is a standing pool close behind the sandy beach of good sweet water. The only land animals we saw here were Lizards and these seemed to be pretty plenty whence occasioned my naming the Island Lizard Island. The inhabitants of the mainland visit this Island at some seasons of the year for we saw the ruins of several of their huts and heaps of shells etc.

The plaque mounted on the trig point at the very summit of the island shows the distance to destinations around the planet, London being 14,600kms away. It must have been a very, very long sail home for him and his crew.

I made it back to the Pavilion in just under a hour and a half and woke Bre for our final breakfast, headed across the island to the Research Station with, our guide and the general manager of the institution, Tanya. We explored the research station and found out some really interesting facts about a new discovery relating to the Mantis Shrimp, one of the deadliest killers in the ocean.

This little chap grows up to 25cms, buries itself in a horseshoe shape in the sandy bottom and waits for a fish to swim by. Now there are two types of Mantis, the Spearer and the Smasher. Our friend, who’s still hiding in the sand, has an extendible arm (much like that of a Preying Mantis – hence the name) with a series of barbed spikes along it. As the prey approaches he extends his arm faster than a .22 rifle shot spiking the fish and retracting it back into the hole to digest.

The Smasher is even more impressive in my mind, his arm has a bulbous end to it rather than spikes, much like a bashing ball. With this and the same amount of force he smashes his way into shellfish to extract his fleshy prize. The shock force generated by something this small is incredible and actually creates a two-fold smash on its target – the initial one from the air bubble which is directly in front of the of the leg and the second from the leg itself. This thing moves so quickly it creates its own light and they can’t be kept in glass aquariums as they can smash their way out! Amazing.

That afternoon we said a sad farewell and took a small plane from Lizard back to Cairns, relaxed for an hour desperately trying to find some internet access in order to get a blog posted, then headed to Cairns Seaplanes terminal ready to board our flight out to Green Island – our location for the next couple of days activities.

There’s some amazing yachts and boats moored up here in the marina and I’m green with envy at the lifestyle some of these guys must lead – yes even I can be envious sometimes ok! Our pilot for the flight doubles up as the boathand, he loaded us up into the RIB and took us out into the open water and the mooring pontoon where our De Havilland seaplane was awaiting. This is a classic machine; it looks the part with its monster exhausts, it sounds the part as soon as the starter button is pressed, the engines roaring to life with an explosion of noise and a rumble which goes through into your core. I love flying and especially in these smaller more personal planes where you can feel the heat, smell the burnt fuel and chat with the pilot – the adrenaline levels were up.

We swooped in low on our approach to Green Island, banking sharply gave us a chance to see the extensive reef below, rays and turtles darting away for cover from the incoming shadow sweeping across their watery world. With a controlled landing splash we touched down on the warm, crystal clear ocean and taxied towards another white sandy beach – the sun again dropping like a fiery ball towards its watery grave for another night.

Green Island is unique to the Great Barrier Reef in that it’s the only sand based coral cay on which a tropical rain-forest survives, it also houses a 5-Star luxury resort with 46 chalets and considers itself to be one of the most ecologically operated resorts in Australia.

I was about to dive under the skin to find out more; it’s a field which really interests me, as my background’s in engineering and having been to a lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in London discussing the subject, I was particularly interested in finding out more about their claims. But before I got a chance to visit the operations side of this outfit I had a couple of appointments with some other essential service providers on the island – the Lifeguards and the Park Ranger.

Tasmin and Travis take the daily boat across from the mainland and ensure that the beaches here, the only Great Barrier Reef island to have patrolling lifeguards, remain safe. I spent the morning learning their routines, practiced using their surf rescue craft (brilliant fun!) and sat in the tower learning how to spot a person in distress. Their job is tough enough on a quiet day but when the beach has 1,400 people on it as it does during the Chinese New Year celebrations it really is a full time job with each of them performing numerous rescues everyday even though this is a sheltered part of the Australian coastline. I take my hat off to you two, your knowledge of the ocean and first aid is superb and I wish I could turn a hobby into a job…oh I have!

Ben, the Park Ranger, is another person who patrols the island, he’s lived here for the last two months with his young family and ensures that the conditions associated with running a resort within a national marine park are kept to, that the visiting hoards know how to respect the islands unique rain-forest and beach conditions and that they also stick to the boardwalk which runs from one end of the island to the other.

He’s a wealth of knowledge about the indigenous trees, plants and animals on the island and coming originally from Tasmania is used to a very different climate up here in tropical north Queensland, one he loves. Another great contender for the book I’d love to produce called “I’ve got the Best Job in the World” – there must be at least 15 people I’ve met already on this trip who’ve told me that, which is such a good thing! Any publishers out there?!?!

End of day location: Green Island

Distance covered: 250kms

Sunday 12th July 2009

Location: Green Island, Queensland – just off Cairns

Weather: Cloudy with light rain, clearing in the afternoon. 26°

To see where Green Island is click here

Being a self sufficient island is a key to why Green Island’s unique. The team here produce all of the island’s freshwater requirements using a desalination plant which drags salt water from the ocean through a pump at the end of the jetty. The system allows around 40,000 litres of potable water a day with a storage tank which holds somewhere in the region of 700,000 litres – enough to supply the island for nearly a week just in case something goes seriously wrong with the machinery.

I headed to the Operations Department to see the system and Mike, the head honcho, invited me to dive with his team to the inlet for the ‘De-Sal’ system at the end of the boat jetty – my first experience of the work which is needed around the island in order to keep this place running. We grabbed our dive kits and headed to the steps at the edge of the jetty, lowering ourselves into the clear blue waters. Following Brice and Eric with wire brush at the ready we gathered around an inlet pipe which towered from the seabed to the surface and was in need of a damn good clean; time to earn your crust Ben – we set to work removing the algae and other marine life clinging to its surface and after ten minutes had returned the aluminium to its original shiny self.

This sort of algaeic build-up puts additional pressure on the input pumps and at a cost of $5000 each you can’t afford to let that happen! Job done we returned to dry land. Brice and Eric will be back as usual every two weeks to clean it again.

Another integral part of the island is Marineland Melanesia, a fantastic attraction and one of my favourite visits so far on the trip. George Craig and his family have run this awesome  place for a number of years and its really a reflection of George’s personality that filters through the place. Showing his life as THE original crocodile hunter from the 1950’s through to the modern day with croc’s of various ages and sizes including the infamous Cassias – a true monster at 18’ 6” who lazes around during the winter in his green pool. We were lucky enough to be there for his once-a-week feed and boy can this beast move.

Little note for any aspiring Australian language buffs out there – Freshwater croc is a freshie, saltwater croc is a saltie. Simple hey.

George’s numerous expeditions around the Pacific have brought some incredible gems back into Australia  – he loves to collect tribal art and carvings and has hundreds of examples filling Marineland which really adds another element to the experience. I had a real personal interest as during my trip round Africa last year I collected loads of artefacts too…one day I’ll have a cluttered, unique workshop like George!

Having dived a few different places in the world using SCUBA the idea of using the Seawalker system which is on offer here on Green Island didn’t have a load of appeal initially – you know been there done it. Bre and I had the chance to try it out and after a short safety briefing and kit issuing session the boat led us out to the pontoon where it was all set up.

From the pictures I’d seen these things are a cross between a spaceman’s suit and a diving bell and offer the chance for unqualified divers to explore the underwater marine environment. They’re pretty ungainly suits out of the water weighing in at 42kgs but once they’ve been lowered onto your head and you drop into the ocean all of a sudden it becomes the window to a new environment and a great new experience. The clear perspex bowl gives you 270° visibility and an incredible zoomed-up view of everything around you and without the slightly claustrophobic feeling that a standard diving mask offers. Takes a little bit of getting used to though; if you tilt your head forward the water level raises inside the suit, if you breath hard you can feel the air pressure force bubbles out around you but you can maintain a full conversation…..with no-one but yourself, remember that underwater ‘no-one can hear you scream!”

After 20 minutes exploring the sea floor, the coral reef and the numerous fish which come up to investigate the feeding bottle, the experience had won me over – this gives people without dive certification, maybe without the intention of ever diving, the chance to experience something very unique and different to snorkelling. It’s a real opportunity to see the ocean floor close up.

Green Island’s a well managed little place you know, I expected a heck of a lot more evidence of human interaction and development and even though there’s a few passenger carrying vessels dropping up to 1,600 tourists on the rain-forest covered island a day their impact is very low. Well managed walkways, recyclable waste management and the desalination system all ensure this continues and the management company, Quicksilver, have ambitious plans for future environmentally sound projects that just need a little more incentive from the government before they can become realistic. There’s potential to make Green Island a shining light in the world’s eyes and be a place where new green, environmentally-friendly technologies can be tried and tested as there’s certainly enough sunlight and wind power to make it happen here.

As the sun started its daily descent into the ocean we started our return to the mainland, this time not by air but across the ocean instead. Ten minutes into our crossing I was out like a light, the smooth harmonic motion of the vessel sending me into an immediate trance like state. I awoke with drool on my shoulder – how embarrassing.

After a few days island hopping we were back on the mainland making our way north for the first time to Palm Cove, one of the friendliest places we’ve been to yet. We checked into the Angsana Resort & Spa rather later than planned, dumped our bags in the room; a huge one this time big enough for a football team, then raced down to the beachfront to meet a very amusing bunch of locals.

Barbara Thomson had gone to great lengths to make us feel welcome, Bre and I arrived at the beachfront expecting a couple of people and a dying BBQ due to our lateness, but it appeared that all the locals had turned out! A roaring fire, personalised welcome signs, around 20 of the local tourism representatives and their families and more amazing food all supplied by the local hotels and deli.

There were even a couple of German guys; Stefan and Alex – great story here. Alex had applied for the position of Island Caretaker when the advert went worldwide back in January, being unsuccessful in getting the post, he and Stefan had decided to travel to Australia anyway and are currently travelling in a 4WD up the coast towards Darwin. They’d seen the BBQ, being good chaps dropped in to see what was going on and stayed on to meet Bre and I and were very jealous but also damn good sports.

After devouring probably the biggest prawns I’ve ever seen there was one more surprise left – a flick of the spotlights exposed a beach cricket pitch all setup ready for a tongue-in-cheek England v Australia game. Of course there was the traditional sledging, especially following England’s antics in the opening Ashes test a day prior to our little gathering.

We’ve been to lots of social appointments since arriving here in Queensland and enjoyed so many different peoples’ company it’s been hard to pinpoint a particularly favourite engagement until now. Palm Cove has a special place in our hearts and when we get a chance we’ll head back to visit this remarkable little piece of heaven.

Sleep and getting enough of it has been the issue recently. Once the extremely full itinerary is complete I then have to think about producing a decent report on the day and before I go to bed having the interactions, experiences and achievements logged so that everybody I meet has a fair bite of the cherry – not an easy task I can tell you.

I slept very well…..until five hours after my eyes had closed anyway.

End of day location: Palm Cove

Distance travelled: 90kms

Monday 13th July 2009

Location: Palm Cove is here

Weather: Clear blue skies all day, 30°

Another dawn was about to be witnessed but this time from the very different surroundings of a sea kayak…and what a way to do it. Johnny from Palm Cove Watersports collected us, the bleary-eyed couple, (how could he have missed us!) and drove us to the end of the sandy beach where another new experience was waiting – Sea Kayaking. Bre and I did have a quick go at this back in the UK but in much narrower, longer kayaks designed for pro’s and to say we found it difficult would be an understatement – we wobbled about like total first timers and SO nearly went over a couple of times.

These however were very different, wide and stable and open to the water – well when the water’s so warm you can afford to get wet can’t you! As a group of 15 we headed out towards the ever-lightening horizon, paddling towards Double Island in the distance – its outline just becoming visible through the darkness. As our paddling became synchronised, our speed increased and before long we’d entered the shallower water surrounding the island, a retreat for the rich and famous at somewhere in the region of $30,000 a night!

The silence of the morning was only broken by the occasional mis-paddle and a distant splash as we startled one of our underwater friends resting in the shallows. Turtles and rays frequent these shores and in the early light it was a little unnerving passing through an area known as Shark Alley, mistaken identity and paranoia taking over.

Once we’d had a light snack on the beach the group headed back to the mainland, we dried off said our goodbyes and returned swiftly to the hotel – I was about to start a big day- one I’d been looking forward to ever since hearing about it a few weeks back.

Mike Horn is a French-speaking South African on a mission, in fact on the journey of a lifetime….another one that is. In the past he’s been happy to walk the length of the Amazon…and then swim it – that’s right, all the way from source to the ocean. So this guy likes a challenge just as I do, but he’s been doing this sort of thing for a while and I’m just trying to get into it – so you can see why I was so intrigued by the entire project.

Mumm Champagne, a company I worked for in the UK from 1997 – 2005, are sponsoring the expedition and together with Mike have organised a number of exclusive lunches, prepared by some of the world’s finest Michelin chefs at remote locations around the planet. The last was conducted on an iceberg, the next in the Gobi desert – I’d been lucky enough to be invited to join Mike on a remote sand cay on the Great Barrier Reef, 25kms from the mainland.

Awaiting us on the beach was the Skysafari Robinson 44 helicopter, a bright yellow, super-sleek machine. We climbed aboard, the heart racing once more, Bradley fired the rotors up to speed and swept us away from the shore at speed, north towards our destination, Undine Cay. I adore flying in helicopters, you’re sitting there under a high-speed motor, feeling the vibration, and bracing yourself for the G-forces as you turn sharply, and being so close to the vast bowl-like glass area – the visibility puts you almost on the outside of the machine.

In the distance the cay appeared tiny and as we got closer it was tiny. No more than 100m long and only 10m wide the only obvious object on it, the bright red yacht-sail marquee housing our lunch table and kitchen area where our chef for the day, Mauro Colagreco was hard at work preparing an elegant lunch for Mike, myself and 18 journalists from around the globe.

Pangaea, Mike’s house, office and transport for the next three years, an aluminium-hulled, ice breaking yacht, came into view an hour later and from it it two zodiac dinghy’s, just after anchoring up. For the next four hours we sat at the table, chatted, laughed and shared experiences, all the while in awe of the achievements Mike has made – something I can only aspire to and it was great to hear his views on some of my future projects and ideas. His personal invitation to join him at some stage over the next 36 months is too hard to refuse -  now it’s just finding the right time.

Our beautiful lunch was over far too quickly, the yacht departed and soon after our bright little chopper arrived back at the cay, spraying sand across the horizon before whisking us back up into the blue yonder, over the reef where Steve Irwin so tragically lost his life and then home to Palm Cove.

Arriving fashionably late, Bre and I raced along the beachfront, as fast as her still-injured feet could carry her, to our finale and climax of the day – a couple’s treatment at Sebel Reef Spa. Exfoliation, scrub and mud packs – I’d had an aggressive experience the time before involving a scrubbing brush and slight sunburn and so entered the room a little gingerly, scared to be abused in such a way again! This was a whole load better, a really relaxing experience….I do have one complaint though – I used to have engineers hands, rough, tough and hard. I could now rub a silk handkerchief across my hands without even raising a thread….how the mighty have fallen.