Tropical glide time

By COLIN MOORE

By day, tiny Bedarra Island in the Coral Sea appears almost uninhabited. But when night falls with its customary tropical abruptness you can see, from the vantage point of neighbouring Wheeler Island, pinpricks of light flickering in the Bedarra bush canopy.

They are the lights of bungalows in one of Australia's most luxurious lodges. It is so exclusive that you won't find a brochure on it anywhere in Cairns, the nearest city to this Northern Queensland retreat. Those who can afford it know about it.

Bedarra's handful of guests pay upwards of $A1300 ($1600) a night for privacy in balmy tropical Queensland, their meals served in their chalets. Wheeler, just a small stretch of warm clear water away, is even more exclusive.

The only man-made structure on Wheeler — a member of the Family Islands, a cluster 7km south of Dunk Island and its popular resort — is a sign on the main beach noting that the island is part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and that certain plants, fish and reef areas are protected.

Wheeler's small beach of golden sand is as clean as the water lapping it. Apart from your companions you won't find another soul there. And the only charge for sleeping on this small gem of tropical paradise is a park-visitor permit.

There has to be a catch, of course. The guests travelling to Bedarra arrive by helicopter or by high-speed launch. To get to the privacy of Wheeler you must paddle your own canoe. Literally.

The journey to the sanctuary of Wheeler Island begins at Mission Beach, a coastal resort a couple of hours' drive south of Cairns. Ferries leave the jetty at Mission Beach for Dunk Island and its noted resort. Cruises to the Great Barrier Reef also leave from Mission Beach. The rare Cassowary, a small emu-like bird with a large blue topknot, hides in the surrounding rainforest.

Mission Beach is also the Coral Sea kayaking headquarters of Australian adventure travel company World Expeditions. You can trek with World Expeditions to Mt Everest, climb mountains in Antarctica or paddle a canoe to tropical paradise.

I'm the last of our group to be picked up and pay the price for having foolishly announced I was leaving the previous night's trip briefing early to watch the Bledisloe Cup clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. I climb on the coach to a chorus of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" from my fellow-paddlers.

We drive south to Lucinda passing through kilometre after kilometre of sugar cane and banana plantations.

There is a sugar mill at Lucinda and an enclosed jetty that stretches 6km out to sea and transports raw sugar on a moving belt to waiting ships.

The first task is to allocate paddling partners for the double sea kayaks and learn how to stow the welter of gear that tumbles from our accompanying trailer.

Most members of the group are new to sea kayaking — although they have paddled flat-water kayaks — and are amazed at what can be stowed in these craft. We must take food for seven days, water for two to three days, tents, bedding and clothing which has to be packed in the last dry bag that is supplied.

Day one is a relatively short paddle to the southern tip of Hinchinbrook Island's 39,000ha.

Hinchinbrook is Australia's largest island national park. Its granite peaks rise to 1142m and drop directly into the sea. On the seaward side are secluded beaches and areas of coral reef. But on the sheltered inland side are two huge, enclosed areas of mangrove estuary, home to crocodiles and the dugong.

The island is a sanctuary for the dugong, a seagrass-eating marine mammal that has flippers and tail like a dolphin and a snout like a cow. Aborigine, hunting with modern weapons and the inadvertent trap of shark nets, have severely depleted the dugong population. Esturine crocodiles are protected, too. They are big enough to grab an unwary pig or wallaby and the instruction to be "crocodile smart" needs no reinforcing.

In truth, the chances of us seeing a crocodile or dugong on the seaward side of the island where we are paddling is extremely remote.

We stop at the first beach on Hinchinbrook for a capsize drill. Each pair must tip out of their kayak, right it, then use teamwork to climb back in. Satisfied that we are sufficiently competent for the 90km of paddling in the open to come, our guides Kylie Topal and Mike Baikie lead us around the next headland to Mulligans Bay and our first camp.

Where we pitch our two-person tents is pretty much up to us but the rest of the camp is so well organised that even Baden-Powell would be impressed.

We have hardly got out of our kayaks before Topal, the head guide, is organising the latrine. She digs a hole in the privacy of the coastal forest, leaves toilet paper and a tin in which to put the used strips. These will be burned in the tin before we leave. A paddle is planted in the sand to guide us to the toilet.

I'm impressed. Outdoors folks usually scatter in a 100 different directions for their ablutions and it doesn't take much imagination to figure out what this technique could do to a site by the end of a kayaking season.

Topal also fills three plastic washing bowls with seawater. Dishwashing liquid is put into one, another remains clean and a bleach is put into the third. A fourth bowl for hand-washing has disinfectant in the water. The group's plastic bowls and crockery are in a mesh bag and hung in a tree.

Baikie, a Canadian, is the chef extraordinaire. He lays out a small tarpaulin on the sand and weights its corners down. Then, from 10l plastic paint pails, he produces a cornucopia of fresh vegetables and, on night one, meat.

Our guides use just two small, single-burner camp stoves but the food produced is five-star. Preparation is a team effort with all hands involved in peeling, cutting and slicing the ingredients for Baikie. Perhaps because kayaking brings on a healthy appetite, it doesn't seem a chore. Clearing up is also a team effort: wash in the detergent bowl, rinse, disinfect in the bleach, leave to dry in the mesh bag. Very civilised.

When night falls I learn another neat outdoor trick. We fill plastic bags about one-third with sand and push four sticks into each corner so that the remainder of the bag stands upright. A candle is pushed into centre of the sand and, protected by the wind, gives off an excellent light. Four are enough to easily light our "kitchen and dining room" on the spread tarpaulin.

Next day we paddle to Zoe Bay and trek for half an hour or so to Zoe Creek Falls, where we can wash the salt from our bodies. We camp around the corner at Blacksand Beach. Each campsite is different because Hinchinbrook has a variety of forest types.

The paddling is relatively easy. The kayaks are particularly stable, and because the wind can come up in the afternoon, we paddle only in the morning, leaving the afternoons free for swimming, sleeping, exploring or reading.

I am teamed with Jo Wood, a South Australian travel agent who works out at "boxercise." Our combined age is 101 years, about 40 more than that on any other kayak. We call our kayak 101 and, in an appropriate parlance, kick butt so much that the guides have to keep calling us to slow down.

From Ramsey Beach we climb to a high point to look across at one of the major mangrove estuary areas, and north to Goold Island, which we will paddle to the next day.

On day six we must paddle for three hours across open water to Wheeler Island. It can take longer in bad weather. The trip is structured with short paddling days so that there can be layovers if the weather deteriorates.

In the paradise of Wheeler, Baikie prepares a Thai vegetable concoction that will be accompanied by rice and poppadams. Baikie says it has an exclusive ingredient — the green-bodied ants that drop on to you from trees.

The meal, washed down with red wine that the guides have stashed away for the last night, is unbeatable, even on Bedarra Island just across the way which we will paddle past tomorrow for the return to Mission Beach.

As our candlelight flickers, a mouse scurries from the bushes. You can't blame it for wanting to join us.

CASE NOTES

Getting there: Air New Zealand flies direct to Cairns from Auckland every Friday. Qantas flies via Brisbane, the fare starting at $799 return.

Once in Cairns get a bus from the airport to Mission Beach. It's a two-hour trip and costs $40 return. Land cost before July 1, $1645. After that, because of GST, it costs $1810.

Some accommodation in Cairns or at Mission Beach is required because of air connections. Licuala Lodge costs $85 single, $118 double including breakfast. Mackays Mission Beach apartment or deluxe room costs $118 each a night or the motel is $92 each a night.

Sea kayaking: Two departures a month from June 4 to November 5, the coolest and calmest time. It is also outside the summer cyclone season that North Queensland experiences and the annual invasion of marine stingers that make swimming impossible.

Duration: Trip starts on a Sunday and finishes on a Saturday.

What to bring: Travel light as for a trekking holiday. A wide-brimmed hat is essential. Minimal personal toiletries . Waterproof suncream and lip balm. Insect repellent.

More info: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, 0061 7 4781 8811, fax 0061 7 4772 6093. World Expeditions, Newmarket ph 09 522 9161, fax 09 522 9162.

• Colin Moore paddled in the Coral Sea courtesy of Tourism Queensland and World Expeditions.