Dawn broke early – everyone was up predawn to drive to Seisia Wharf – a 45 min drive from the campground – to catch the ferry to Thursday Island (TI).

The ferry to TI was due to leave at 0800hrs and so we had to be there at 745 to embark….Gordie was quick to give the safety check demo…

As we pulled out of the wharf across the channel as large saltie was sunning itself on the bank of the small island….. a reminder that they are here despite the fact that “Gary” the local croc at Punsand Bay had not as yet made an appearance….

The ferry ride took just over an hour and was really enjoyable – warm breeze, calm azure waters and sunlight dancing on the small islands that were dotted in the Torres Strait.

We saw a dugong briefly come to the surface but only once….

Thursday Island is one of the smaller Islands in the group but is the most populated having over 3000 permanent residents.

Arriving at the wharf on TI we were met by a local indigenous guy Dirk who was our tour guide for the morning – he had a great sense of humour and the tour was both informative and amusing…He kept Gordie on his toes!!!

The tour took us around the whole island – about 33kms in diameter.

First stop was Green Fort on the peak of the islands – fantastic 360-degree views over the islands – Prince of Wales Island, Horn Island, Hammond Island and others….

The fort was built in the late 1800’s in response to the Russian Threat and the fort and barracks were used in the 2 world wars. The fort is now a museum so we all went through and had a look at the fort itself and the photos and artifacts from a time long gone….

Dirk took us through the TI cemetery – very ornate and colourful. The Thursday Islanders have a “Headstone Unveiling” ceremony and save money to have beautiful memorial headstones built – the unveiling is often 12momths after the dealth and is celebrated with a family gathering to celebrate the life of their loved one. The cemetery had many historic graves including many Japanese pearl divers who died from “the bends” during the very busy pearling industry of the early 1900s.

After leaving the tour we went and had morning tea at the Makai coffee shop opposite the harbour – great coffee and awesome donuts and apple strudel!

The Naval Border force patrol boat pulled into the bay as we sat there enjoying the ambience.

Next place we visited was the TI Cultural Centre – an interesting collectionof indigenous art and local jewellery as well as historical displays. The Torres Strait Islanders were different from the mainland Australian Aboriginals – the islands were populated by people of Polynesian descent as well as a mix of mainland Australian aboriginals and people of Papua New Guinea.

After a few purchases at the Cultural Centre we walked up to the TI Pub – the most Northern pub in Australia for lunch as recommended by Dirk – large portions of fresh produce so we all shared a meal between 2. The Spanish Mackeral was delicious…

The Crayfish buzzer for letting you know your meal was ready was very unique!!!

After lunch we browsed the shops and bought a few small items. At a local jewellery shop we were looking at the local handmade pearl jewellery when we noted that the music playing was a hymn. Rochelle, the owner and artist was in the shop and we asked her about the music – turned out she was a Christian so we had an encouraging conversation with her. Kerry and I then went to find Rose and Dave while Gordie and Trev stayed and found out some more about Rochelle – her husband was not a Christian and she had 2 young children – life was a bit challenging at the moment and so Gordie and Trev prayed with her – she found it a great encouragement and said our visit had come at the right time – God works in mysterious ways!

We headed back to the wharf to catch the ferry to Seisia which left at 230. At the wharf there was some great local sculpture of turtles and a welcome to TI mosaic with a colourful history of the artist who did the mural….

On the way home the wind was up and the swell was much bigger than the way over – resulting in a rocky ride home – but again amazing scenery and refreshing cool breeze!!!

Trev and Gordie got to talking to a young local TI Josh and shared their faith with him. It turned out that his Grandmother was a Christian and he had been brought up going to church but had wandered away – the guys had a long conversation and also prayed with him – Josh promised to send us an invite to his wedding when he finds the right girl!!! We can only hope and pray he continues to follow Christ…we gave him our blog address and hopefully he will keep in contact with the guys!

Arriving back at Seisia we were struck by the dirtiness of the vehicles……they both looked like they had seen better days!!

Evidence of the Toyota Precision Driving team’s coming in hot to the red mud river crossing the other day was clearly seen on her bonnet….

Back to Punsand Bay and dinner in the resort restaurant….