Maria Island Scout hike, day 2

After the usual less-than-continuous first night’s sleep, it was nice to wake to a dry though overcast day. I took a few more photos around the wool shed at Frenchs Farm.

I then popped around to Encampment Cove again to finalise a few arrangements with the others, and the patrol that had camped there were soon on their way to head back to Darlington.

These days the island has only the rangers as permanent residents, but there is plenty of evidence of all its past histories, from the convicts and concrete works in the north, to the small farms to the south, and, near all the beaches, the shell middens that remind us of the pre-European indigenous heritage.

The patrol that I was shadowing on day 2 had already done its trip to the south end of Riedle Bay and were on their way back to Frenchs Farm in order to move camp to Encampment Cove, but I still wanted to explore the bay myself, and so I headed down to the isthmus with one of the other adult shadows. We enjoyed the small dunes, with pigface growing on them, and the waves were crashing in from the east.

There were hooded plovers and other bird species on the beach, and although the light was muted and flat there were still some interesting effects.

We headed back up the sandy track, gathered our gear from Frenchs Farm, and made our way past the kangaroos, to Encampment Cove where the kookaburra mocked our arrival.

This patrol hadn’t been out to Point Lesueur and I wanted to visit again, even though the light wasn’t as spectacular as it had been the previous night. I’m sure the kids did take a moment or two to appreciate the convict heritage before turning the point into one of the more isolated cricket pitches on the planet.

Back at Encampment Cove dusk was falling and the night wildlife — a curious brush-tailed possum — was making its presence known and reminding folks to hide away their food.

I stayed up for a while again, watching fish jump in the torchlight, and was later treated to a lovely moonrise, which occurred too quickly for me to get my tripod set up and so I was braced against a tree completely failing to get focus and exposure quite right! Still, it was fun to try, and it was no less beautiful for not being able to photograph it well.