Dunk Island
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Sat 6 Jul 2019 20:49
Dunk Island is a disused island resort, left under basic care and maintenance after a combination of economic pressure and and severe cyclone damage. Australia became an expensive holiday destination as the strength of the dollar increased in the boom years of the 80’s and 90’s when the economy was boosted by exports of coal, minerals and livestock. It just needed a cyclone to seal the fate of several similar resorts and in xxxx cyclone xxxx duly arrived. The subject has recently been an item on the BBC news web site. Notwithstanding (or because of this) several of the islands have been acquired by speculative interests and large schemes have been the subject of planning controversy but little actual development seems to have taken place. There have been the now familiar conflicts between developers describing their schemes (in terms of energy generation, waste minimisation, water usage and so on) as “eco friendly” whilst opponents have criticised the impact of development generally on the ecosystems of the islands. They are all within the Great Barrier Reef National Park and another illustration of the conflict here (and everywhere) between economic development and environmental safeguarding.
As we have travelled up the east coast we have needed, from time to time, to take shelter from unseasonably windy and unsettled weather. We have therefore spent much more time in marinas than anticipated and less in remote , more interesting but less protected anchorages. We have been concerned with jobs on Vega, rally administration , passage planning and, as I now realise, not spent enough time keeping the map of our journey up to date. I will now rectify this with a series of position updates and as you will see, we have moved considerably further north since Dunk Island.