I have to apologise to anyone trying to follow this blog.  I have had a lot happening this month with health and injury issues and I am also trying to get a brief holiday.  I ptobably won;t post now until the first week of December, but when I am back, I will have some pics of a few more things people don't get to see much in the Whitsundays.

There will be more information on walks on a few islands and things to do, bulked out by some more pics of things people might miss.  A little history and a few pictures of historical locations, as well as some little known places.

For anyone who has visited Cid Harbour, did you know there is a large fresh water swamp on the island?  Have you seen Ross Islet in September?  Had a picnic on Lady Islet?  Seen the rock with the rectangular hole that looks like it was cut using tools?

Over the next year I hope to take visitors to this site on a descriptive and pictorial tour of places like Gulnare Inlet and Hill Inlet.  Hiking behind Whitehaven Beach.

Nara Inlet - an introduction

Looking out of Nara Inlet

Rugged Nara Inlet on the south side of Hook Island is one of the best known spots in the Whitsundays.  It was not named after the local Ngaro aboriginal tribe that once populated the area, despite the similar sounding name, but after a yacht named Nara, owned by a visitor to the island around 1912.  (Source - Ray Blackwood).

By 1981 when I began visiting the area regularly, the cliffs in Nara Inlet had become covered with the names of yachts that had stayed there.  Many names belonged to famous racing yachts and others were well known in cruising circles.  Tour guides used to say a lot were painted by competitors in the early Sydney to Hobart races, but there's a certain lack of logic in the locations of Nara Inlet, Sydney Harbour and the fact that the race proceeds in the opposite direction.  There is no doubt though, looking around, that quite a few of the race competitors in particular years are represented.

The main waterfall at Nara

Apart from sailing graffiti, there is another form of rock art that Nara is famous for.  In a number of locations around Nara Inlet and in fact, around the Whitsunday Islands, are rock shelters that were used by the indigenous people for shelter when they hunted, gathered and fished on these islands.  I suspect that most of the known caves at Nara Inlet were discovered by racing rock artists in the 60's and 70's.  In the late 1980's the QNPWS fenced off one shelter that contains ochre paintings on the walls and over time made, then modified a walkway.  The latest modification to the walkway cuts off the track to the lookout, and to the top of the falls.  It also cuts off access to another few caves or shelters.

Dry season pools remaining at the top of the falls

It is still possible to get from the walkway to the falls track if you know what you are doing, and if you take care.  About a hundred metres past the shelter is a rock that has been used as a lookout many years.  It gives great views across Nara and out to the Whitsunday Passage.  From there the track winds into open (for the moment) forest, then down to the top of the main waterfall. Actually, to the second level of the falls.  It is a beautiful walk, but easy to get lost if you don't take notice of where you are going.  At this point you are well off any sanctioned trails.  The top of the waterfall is a nice place to sit and have lunch.  On a hot day there might even be fresh water left in the pools after the last rains.

There are some interesting rock formations along this track, and many, many years ago a few of us would spend the night in a clearing just off the track.  These days such activities are illegal.

The shelter, the board walk and the lookout and falls track are all accessed via a little beach on the right about 500 metres before the head of the inlet.  there is a sign, and there are steps leading up.  there's room here to park a few dinghies, but watch the rocks as the tide falls if you have a tinny or glass dinghy.  And watch the oysters if you have a blowup doll.

Below the staircase to the shelter

At certain times of the year you may be serenaded in the evening, or woken harshly in the morning by a strange mournful sound.  There are goats on the islands, particularly around Nara.  The goats were supposedly introduced to the islands along the coast to provide sustenance for survivors in the event of shipwreck on this treacherous coast.  If you've ever tried walking around on this rough terrain, or chasing a goat anywhere, you would realise how funny that is.  Nevertheless, goats abound here.  Inside the 'Goat Cave', near the head of Nara, there's a room that holds more than a dozen goats.  The entrance to this cave is small, and when the billy decides you are in his territory, he tends to leave at high speed, knocking down anything in his way.  The nannies and kids follow after.

View on the way to the falls

Anchorage is good all the way into Nara.  There is a reef around the edge, and a lot of reef inside Refuge Bay.  There are less decent beaches than in Macona Inlet, and the beaches in Nara Inlet actually disappear completely at high tide.  At low tide though there are a few that can provide a relaxing diversion at low tide.

Swimming, exploring in the dinghy, fishing and walking ashore are fun around Nara, and in later posts I'll look at a few spots and things to do.