SATURDAY DEC 7th – Continued - part 2 at REEVESBY ISLAND
With the quandary of the busted buoy now behind us, the trip onto Reevesby Island was prepared for. Again water, snacks, sun and insect screen and a small towel were packed into the daypack. A camera was tucked away in a pocket and the kite was in the dinghy... we were almost ready to go.

It is fairly common knowledge and is also written on the sign boards on the island, that black tiger snakes and death adders are fairly abundant on Reevesby Island, so proper footwear and thick socks were also packed into the bag and jeans were the order of the day along with sharp eyesight. We were set and prepared for whatever snakes decided to cross our path. Landing on the gorgeous beach, we put on socks, shoes and hats and were all set to explore the ruins.

We wandered up the beach towards what looked like a sign (it turned out to be a very faded interpretive sign) and an overgrown timber walkway that led through the sensitive bushland plants and into the centre of that part of the island towards the ruins of the homestead. Dave took the lead and had taken no more than 5 steps when he ran into a huge orb spider in a web that spanned the path. Ohhhhh expletive, expletive!!! I stayed well back but began to rapidly scrutinise the area for other arachno-creepies. I almost had a nasty accident when, from my left a MASSIVE spider that I hadn't at first noticed until movement caught my eye, actually RAN across its web and charged at me, scooting along the hand rail of the path not 10 inches away from me. Yes, I did scream involuntarily and then again, absolutely voluntarily and may have yelled a few more expletives. No one mentioned killer spiders!! I was not prepared for that contingency. I decided the best thing to do was take a photo of the little bastard and make sure that Dave was ALWAYS in front. There seemed to be spiders everywhere along the first 100 yards of the path, so I did tend to look like a weird, manic marionette as I spun and jerked my way behind Dave.

I was more than a little relieved when we got to the end of the walkway and on to ground where there was more likely to be snakes than spiders. Snakes I could handle but spiders? Nuh uh. We still trod very carefully and avoided any tin that was lying around in case we disturbed some snaky slumber, or just scared the crap out of it long enough to take a lunge.

We pottered about the ruins, looking into all of the little nooks and crannies, checking out the old machinery and speculating why it had been abandoned. Apart from the snakes and the spiders, it would have been an awesome place to live. Speaking of spiders, I was in for one more creep out when I came out of a doorway in the homestead and almost face first into a gigantic web that contained what must have been the GRANDDADDY of all of the island spiders. I think I had to shove my heart back down my throat before taking a photo.

Oh, and here's a little tip before going on with things ..... don't shove a large feather into your hat on a windswept island that's infested with bitey killer things. When it vibrates, it makes a sound that makes the wearer think that she's in mortal danger of coming across some fearsome, agitated creature under a bush that's ready to tear your spleen out, until someone laughs at your mortal fear and explains what it is and leaves you feeling like a bit of a doofus.

So, back to the day..... after exploring the homestead and surrounds we resolved to go across to the other side of the spit to the opposite beach to where we're moored. Carefully we trekked through low shrubs and thorny bushes with thorns so long they stabbed easily though jeans, making sure we avoided any hollows in the ground as they may have had birds eggs in them, not to mention we were still looking out for signs of snakes. When we broke though to the beach, we found that it was just lovely, but with seaweed piles and stronger winds.... just right for flying a kite! Yay!! We ate lunch and flew (well sort of) the kite and just had a nice relaxing time of it.

The trip back to the boat was really cool when I found that the sand on the beach squeaked under my shoes. I'd never come across squeaky sand before and spent the next five minutes scuffing along the beach and squeaking my way to the dunes.

There was one moment of absolute disgust at human kind though when, about half way across the dunes we came upon a heap of smashed beer bottles. Seriously, some people are just complete dickheads with absolutely no respect for this planet. If we had stayed an extra day I would have gone back with a shovel and bag and cleaned it up.

Tomorrow we move on to Port Neill,