Our Lady Musgrave Island Experience

We went camping on Lady Musgrave Island for a week over the Easter holidays, with a group of friends. It was an adventure that I would recommend to nature lovers, or anyone wanting to get kids off their iPads. Perhaps not the best idea for anyone with a particular fear of birds, or of the open sea. I think we can say it was a success, and we are all still friends.

We did have to draw on our ability to get along, and to roll with the punches a bit. Nature is very much in charge on Lady Musgrave.

Lady Musgrave Island is located at the very bottom of the Great Barrier Reef, the second Island in the chain after Lady Elliot Island, and part of the Capricornia Cays National Park. It is a small coral cay (35 acres), covered in Pisonia forest, that is surrounded by a rather impressive lagoon (2,950 acres) The island is popular with tourists and day trippers, who want to get out and see the reef, and it’s unique eco-system, which serves as a seabird and turtle breeding-ground. It also attracts quite a few hardy campers, who return again and again to camp in the national park.

It takes about 7 hours on an overnight barge or a couple of hours on a fast catamaran from Bundaberg to get out there. It can be rather unpleasant on the open ocean in the swell. We chose the more expensive but quicker option, to reduce our exposure to seasickness.

So you want the weather to be on your side. You could strike it lucky, but it was not uncommon when the wind and swell picked up, for the boat not to go out for a few days. We had to be flexible, and despite all the preparations, be happy with a plan B. Weather permitting we could end up camping on the mainland, delayed or even stuck out there.

I had heard about the island last year when a group of families from the neighbourhood had returned from a 10 day camping trip. Although it did seem like a lot of work to get there, and a bit of a gamble with the weather, it still sounded completely awesome. A bunch of kids, hanging out on the beach, exploring the island unsupervised, nesting turtles, birds, snorkeling the reef with turtles and reef sharks. There was even talk of manta rays.

We hadn’t been to the Great Barrier Reef. We were Queenslanders. It was fading, Frankie was getting harder to carry, Evie was about to teen. I knew how to get my hands on a beach wheelchair for Frankie… I didn’t need to justify this one too much. Jonathan was keen, so I jumped on the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife website and booked a bunch of campsites, and just hoped the rest would fall into place. Which it did.

The word was out already. Lady Musgrave was the place to go. I asked around and it didn’t take long to find a group of friends willing to join us. They had to have the appropriate amount of tolerance, enthusiasm and camping skills. Based on previous experience Jonathan was not going to be much use to me in the lead up, and perhaps in a crisis, so we needed to find the right crew.

We ended up with quite a few Lawyers, an Insurance Specialist, an Economist, Computer Programmer, Sports Performance Manager. Which on paper didn’t sound so great. My nursing, and Susie’s swim coaching skills were potentially more useful. Paddy’s access to pharmaceuticals meant that we ended up with a great first-aid kit.

Turns out it was all about the attitude anyway. We had plenty of good attitude and a few people who really knew how to camp, so we figured we would be fine.

The sensitivity of the environment, and the small size of the island meant that only 40 campers were allowed at one time. It was closed to campers from February to April for the turtle nesting, reopening the day we arrived.

We were six families, with 11 adults and 18 kids ranging in age from 5-16 years old. A couple of families were from the other side of the river, and unacquainted with our south of the river neighbourhood friends. So we had to get everyone together, for the kids to meet, and for the planning to begin. Tim, who had been the previous year, had generously agreed to meet us at the park to answer everyone’s questions. We wanted every detail so we could be prepared, and so that everyone was aware of what they were getting themselves into. All his talk of bird poo, the stench, the ticks, stinging centipedes, seasickness, 24 hour wall of noise etc did not seem to deter anyone. It was followed by but its awesome and we all believed him.

Tim had given us a spreadsheet, used by the group of families who had gone before us, which told us what we needed to know. Dom took charge of it, and the organization began. We met up a couple of times to finalize who brought what, and who cooked what. It was all pretty easy, and kind of fun getting everyone together.

The challenge would be to condense all this camping gear into the required luggage allocated on the boat. Take enough food and water, remember to pack the reef shoes and snorkeling gear etc..

When it came to Frankie we had to be pretty prepared for a few different scenarios, take extra nutricia PEG feed and tubing in case we had to extend our stay. We didn’t want to run out of food or medicine for him. Dom had arranged for a portable solar panel setup to power some lights in the camp kitchen, and so we were able to recharge Frankie’s feed pump every day, which was a bonus.

Susie and Gary hired some kayaks, and arranged for them to be dropped off at the boat. We had to take everything over, and all our rubbish off the island. There was no water, and apart from an elevated toilet block, made up of three composting toilets, and a break the glass in case of emergency satellite phone, there was nothing on the island.

We had decided to leave Herc to board with Smartpups for the week, instead of subjecting him to the chaos of another camping trip. It was to be a wise decision. The campsite was set amongst a sensitive turtle and seabird breeding site, which would have made it difficult for us to move him around, let alone exercise him. He would have been overwhelmed by all the smells and noise of the birdlife and the boat trip would have given him PTSD, and an early retirement for sure. It would have been a disaster.

We were going over with the Lady Musgrave Experience, a large catamaran which was largely for day trippers and would only take 10-15 campers per trip. So we had to stagger our arrival over 3 days. There would have been too much gear to load and unload. It was disappointing not to be going over together, but reassuring that they had to collect us. If we gave them enough notice we could request ice, or groceries ($50 delivery fee) to be delivered. A fairly substantial safety net, which, considering we were taking Frankie over we felt we needed.

We packed up the van with enough stuff to keep us going for a week. It was a lot of stuff. We had bought an aerobed mattress and a stretcher bed for Frankie, but managed to borrow most of the camping and snorkeling gear. Frankie’s WIKE (wagon-bike trailer) was to be used with his newly adapted quick-release beach wheels, as a wheelchair. We also had a Tumbleform seat, on loan over the holidays from his school, to provide some added postural support, and seating around the campsite.

Jonathan’s nephew Xavier (Evie’s twin cousin and family favorite) was coming down from Darwin to join us, so there was a fair bit of excitement as we piled in for the 5 hour drive up to Bundaberg. Herc had to squeeze in too, as we would travel via the Sunshine Coast to drop him at Smartpups HQ.

We were booked on the second boat over with Susie and Gary, and their kids. So we needed to arrive in time to load up at the marina that night. This turned out to be a major exercise, lugging what felt like endless camping gear, food and water. Everyone was exhausted when we checked into our budget Motel and pokie establishment at Bargara Beach. It was so cheap our accessibility expectations were kept pretty low. Frankie’s wheels would have to stay in the car because they wouldn’t fit through the doorway. It was to be an early night anyway, with seasickness tablets all round, and the kids were happy because they got their own Motel room together. It was just next-door but they had a secret knock, and instructions not to open their door to any drunk people.

An early start, more seasickness tablets, and the next challenge was how we would get Frankie onto the catamaran. He was a not so little (21kg) sack of potatoes. There were stairs up from the duckboard and no way to push his wheelchair onto it. We would have to carry him aboard separately, and then pass his chair up the stairs. The aisle was also too narrow for a wheelchair. Disappointing, given the size of the boat. The staff were so young and enthusiastic though, it didn’t seem to matter. They would help us carry him and his chair over everything, to the front of the boat.

Then we met Phil, who had a different air about him altogether. He was a bit grumpy, and told us Frankie’s chair was blocking an exit, our baggage should be in the hull, and that he was sometimes captain. It didn’t take long for us to establish that he was the one that knew what he was doing. He softened to us when he met Frankie, who was smiling in his sleep as we hit the swell. After that he couldn’t do enough for us, and he was nice to Frankie, so we liked him.

We met our fellow campers, who were traveling over with us, and realized that we were all pretty much neighbours in Brisbane. Peter and his two very capable teenage kids were returning to the island. They had been several times before, with some memorable disasters, but kept returning. So that was encouraging. We had seen Peter around, and established a few mutual friends between us. He was nice to Frankie too, so we liked him.

Then there was Brigid, who also lived in our suburb and who we had met before. Her son Xavier had been in Evie’s soccer team a few years back. She brought three kids along to get away from everything at home, only to find us all lined up at the marina in Bundaberg. She was very good about it.

As soon as we left the marina and passed through the heads, the swell kicked in. Until we got used to it we were rolling all over the place, holding on as we moved around. Poor Gary hit his toe on a pole and broke it, sending it off at a nasty angle. Fortunately Phil was on hand with the strapping tape, and before we knew it he had it back in place. Gary looked a bit pale after that and spent the rest of the trip getting some air out the back. It wasn’t much fun, but not everyone was feeling seasick.

The cheerful staff were very attentive, handing out sick bags and restocking the buffet with scones. Their primary role was keeping everybody’s spirits up, particularly the day trippers. I had seen similar cheerful morale-boosting at the children’s hospital. Thankfully it was all over by 10am, when we arrived at Lady Musgrave lagoon.

Then once we anchored it was pretty much action stations onboard. The flippers were coming out, tourists were stumbling around. The lagoon was spectacular. We, the dolphins were to be offloaded after the turtles, the day trippers, had been taken ashore.

Thankfully Phil had arranged for us to be dropped directly to the campsite, which was on the opposite side of the island, and only accessible by the glass bottom boat at high tide. This was to save us lugging everything from the usual drop off point across the island, a good 450m, to the campsite.

The first arrivals (Cam, Dom and Jennifer, and kids) had already set up camp and erected a large tarpaulin over a kitchen and communal area the day before. They were the ones who knew how to camp, so it was quite fortunate that they had arrived first. The communal area was set back from the beach in a clearing, but still shaded by the trees. It looked like something out of M.A.SH. We were to spend plenty of time here, sheltering from the bird poo and midday heat during the day, cooking and hanging out at night.

Evie and Xavier had their own small tent. We pitched both our tents among the pisonia trees and got set up with tarps over the tents, requiring a fair bit of help from Cam, and getting covered in bird poo in the process. We found we needed to wash off in the ocean quite often. Which was OK because the water was very enticing.

The island was home to thousands of seabirds that had flown down from the Torres Strait to breed. The black noddy’s were nesting with their chicks above us. There was constant bird noise day and night, which took a bit of adjusting to. Our first night was pretty rough as I tried to go without earplugs.
Many other species of seabirds were feeding and nesting there too, and all doing their best to be heard over each other. Terns, and sweet little ground birds called banded rails were wandering around the campsite, kind of ignoring us. We were definitely in their territory and they weren’t budging.

Not that there was anywhere to go. There were wedge-tailed shearwaters (mutton birds) nesting at either end of the designated camping area. There was no water, and so no predators. So they were happily nesting in hundreds of underground burrows. They would come out at night and sit at the entrance to their burrow. They made a howling sound, while their chicks sounded like babies crying. Spooky, if you don’t know what it is. Susie and Gary’s tent was up against the perimeter and this is the bird noise they recorded in their tent that first night at 2am (worth a listen when I work out how to embed it)

The next boatload arrived. Paddy and Bess, Danielle and Mick appeared on the beach the next day with another 7 kids to add to the mix. They were looking like we all did on arrival, fairly unsteady. It took a while to adjust to the intensity of the noise, and I don’t think Danielle and Mick spoke a word between them, for quite a while.

They had a few extras with them, to make up the 40 person quota. The camp hosts, who had volunteered with Queensland Parks and Wildlife for 2 weeks to help monitor the environmental impact of the campsite. Basically do some weeding and keep an eye on us. They were from the Sunshine Coast, and we had mutual friends. It was getting ridiculous. They had their 10 year old with them, and were lovely people. Michelle and Tony also turned out to be a Special School teachers, and they were nice to Frankie, so we liked them. Last off the boat was Fernando, a Spanish backpacker from Cadiz. We didn’t know anything about him, which was great. He turned out to be a nice guy too. So we felt strangely connected, and very comfortable with being stuck on a small island with them all.

We were surrounded by a turtle breeding ground, and we could see the tracks and nests where green and loggerhead turtles had hauled themselves up the beach, and laid their eggs. We were all pretty keen to see some baby turtles, which had started to hatch from February and March. The kids were out each night looking for stragglers, and found this guy. http://www.lets-be-frank.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/img_6602.trim_.mov

Apart from a few random sightings we had missed the most of the baby turtle action. The mature turtles were always in the water though, and if you sat for long enough on the beach you would see their little heads pop up. They seemed quite happy to let you float next to them in the lagoon. The green turtles were faster, and more common, but we managed to give a graceful old loggerhead turtle a bit of a rub. She hung around as we followed her for what felt like ages, even with the kids shouting through their snorkels.

There was a lot of time spent snorkeling. The reef drop off was 100m out from the campsite. At high tide we could swim out to it for some great snorkeling. The marine life was beautiful, with colourful fish and coral. At low tide you could walk onto the reef out the front, or if feeling energetic, walk across the island to snorkel in the lagoon, which was sheltered and easy to access.

We tended to go snorkeling in groups, congregating out front most of the time. There was talk of a resident tiger shark, which was a little unnerving, but we didn’t see it. There were plenty of reef sharks, and while they were building up their confidence the kids would follow Cam out on the kayak, trailing a paddle board, which allowed them to jump on and off as they needed. They were like a pod of dolphins, and it got pretty rowdy out there. It was a lot of fun and great to see the kids being so bold, so far from the shore and unfazed by the deep water.

Parks and Wildlife had erected an information board at the entrance to the toilet block which provided details of the bird and marine life that we were finding around us. It was invaluable, as we wondered what everything was and didn’t have access to the internet to find out. Fortunately Jennifer’s was good at retaining these facts and could answer our questions over dinner.

It also included interesting historical and geographical facts about the island. It had been named after the Queensland Governor, Sir Anthony Musgrave’s wife. A socialite who apparently liked throwing dinner parties, and returned to London to join the anti-suffragette movement. Its unique ecosystem had nearly been wiped out by the introduction of goats, and someone had decided to build a turtle soup factory on a neighboring island to make the most of the abundant supply of turtles. The soup wasn’t very good, so the cannery didn’t last long, but long enough for the turtle population to drop right off. There was guano (bird poo) mining, and bombing practice on the reef, as well. So the usual history of destruction, right up until when the Capricornia Cays National Park was formed in 1994.

We spent a lot of time just hanging out. We had all over-catered and so there was a constant supply of food being served up. The kids were very much doing their own thing. They were a bit like the banded rails, wandering around the campsite kind of ignoring us. With so many of them together they weren’t too interested in adults unless we were serving them food. When they weren’t snorkeling they had plenty of stuff to do. Like playing cards and chess, or mucking around and talking. They got on so well together that we just left them to it.

We celebrated Trixie’s 10th birthday with a Mexican dinner on the beach, that Bess and Danielle put together, and a cake that susie had miraculously transported over intact. It was pretty special.

On the Wednesday we went to order some ice from the catamaran and were told that the wind and swell was forecast to pick up the next day, and so they had canceled the scheduled day trippers and would not be coming back out until Sunday. We had an hour to decide whether we stayed until they returned, or packed up and left that afternoon.

Jonathan and I had only just started to settle in after 3 nights. We decided, along with Susie and Gary, Jennifer and Dom, that we would prefer to stay. Peter had sat out a cyclone on the island before, and so he was unfazed and decided to stay too. We also had Fernando, and our lovely camp hosts, who had access to emergency supplies.

Those with commitments on the weekend that they couldn’t get out of (or secretly relieved at the opportunity to escape) were now madly rushing to pack up to make it onto the boat. It was really disappointing to have to cut it short, and to split the party up. Cam was disappointed, he was only just getting started. There did end up being an upside for them though, as they got picked up from the campsite on the high tide, and theirs was a smooth boat ride home.

We restocked the esky with ice from the boat and waved them off, feeling a wee bit marooned. Fingers crossed it would only end up being one extra night for us. We also had a whole lot of dairy to eat and beer to drink, before the ice melted.

Danielle had handed her ingredients for carbonara over to her fellow Italian (Dom) and we invited the rest of the island to join us for dinner on the beach, as we had enough pasta to feed 30. I think even Lady Musgrave would have approved of the set up.

The kids regrouped, as kids do, and continued hanging around as before. They spent a day building a cubby. Playing soccer and I convinced some of them to play Sequence. Frankie clearly enjoyed being surrounded by kids and listening to them all, and they were very sweet with him. As a group they avoided doing much in the way of chores, but we did get them to do a fair bit of washing up in the ocean.

There were no meltdowns or medical emergencies. We all continued to wear our reef shoes to limit our chances of a cone shell related incident, as they were all over the reef. The stinging centipedes were fast moving and a bit freaky, but didn’t sting anyone. Jonathon was the only one who got a tick.

The weather didn’t turn out to be too bad. There were a few showers but the weather hit from the other side of the island and we were well sheltered from the wind by the pisonia forest. Cam’s enthusiasm for the outdoors was replaced by Peters’, who discovered the kayaks and began to circumnavigate the island with anyone who was willing to join him. He was big on participation and set up a volleyball court at the end of the campsite, which was great.

We got to relax with Frankie on the hammock and aerobed, listening to the crazy island sounds with him. We took him for swims when the tide was high, but he seemed pretty happy just hanging out with everyone.

We would snorkel, and eat whatever Dom was whipping up in the kitchen. He and Jennifer were precision campers, so we were out of our league, but tried to do what we could. The quality camping experience came down to their endless energy, and attention to detail. There were plenty of cups of coffee and time to chat. Jonathan took on the role of beer-esky monitor, and appeared to be compelled to drink a beer each time he opened it. So he was very relaxed.

Susie and Gary are probably the most easygoing people I know, and there were no complaints coming from Gary, who couldn’t wear reef shoes or flippers because of his broken toe. Fortunately he was a strong swimmer, so it didn’t bother him too much. He had adapted a pair of thongs to be his hand paddle-reef shoe, which enabled him to get out to the reef and back intact.

There are more stories but you get the idea. We got to know our camping neighbours and managed to fill the next few days on the island nicely.

Leaving the island turned out to be a bit rough. It was low tide and so we needed to transport all our gear across the island to the lagoon in wheelbarrows. It was windy and raining, so we got soaked. Frankie’s WIKE was weatherproof, so he was ok, but we had so much gear it was a massive effort getting everything across the island and back onto the boat. Thankfully we had plenty of help from our fellow campers, who had kept it simple themselves, and were able to help us with the lugging.

The boat trip back to Bundaberg was not good. The wind had picked up in the afternoon, and there was a 2m swell. So the trip back was slow and really rough as waves were crashing into the boat. Frankie’s wheelchair was at the front of the boat, and was getting kind of airborne when the big waves hit. So we had to hold onto it the whole time. He was smiling, and didn’t appear to be getting any seasickness, so I abandoned Jonathan to have a lie down further back when it got too much for me. Peter and his kids seemed completely unfazed. I was stressed. Phil was stressed and telling people off. People were crawling up the aisle (commando style) with their toddlers, to get to the toilet. Staff were vomiting out the back, and they even stopped trying to boost morale after a while. The usual 2 hour trip took over 3 hours. It was an endurance event and most unpleasant, but we made it back eventually. I had to laugh when one of the staff asked us to like them on Trip Advisor as we pulled into the marina. He was sticking to the program.

We stopped for the night in Childers with Peter and his kids, but the others had to get back to work in the morning, so needed to drive straight back to Brisbane that night. They got home about 1am in the morning.

So Tim was right. It was hard work, but it was completely worth it. We went with the right people, and so managed to have a lot of fun. Amazingly, the kids didn’t complain when the going got tough, and have not stopped talking about it. It makes me happy to think we can still have adventures with Frankie. I don’t know if I would choose open ocean travel with him again though.

Perhaps we will have to involve some sherpas next time..