Maria Island: Day 4

It was time to say goodbye to Maria Island the next day. We got a slow start and wandered into Darlington. Justin and I decided to go to the fossil cliffs, about an hour's walk from Darlington. It was hot and we wondered if we should bother. I'm glad we did; you don't go across the world to not do stuff, you know?

More ruins from the Darlington area:

 Those are former silos, not a nuclear reactor.

 I love their  logo.

And then it was time to leave. The ferry was a little choppier on the way back. But whatever! We saw dolphins! I don't have any pictures, but trust me. There were a few of them! All rounded and shiny and playful, following our boat and jumping in and out of the water in these perfect, joyous, fun little arcs. "Bye guys! Hope you had fun!" They hung with us for a little while and then decided they were done. I got a little teary, like with the penguins. 

Bye, Maria Island! We won't forget you!

Maria Island: Day 3 -- Painted Cliffs

Day 3 was our longest walk. We walked from our camp to Darlington, where we stayed at a small home. The walk from the camp to Darlington was fairly short, but then once we got there and had lunch, we all decided to go hike Bishop & Clerk, which is about a 600 meter peak. I'll get to that in a sec.

We took a lot of detours on the way to Darlington. Some of them:

Approaching one of my favorite spots: The Painted Cliffs:

 You can kinda see the texture of them here:

The texture in certain places reminded me of honeycomb:

Painted Caves self-portrait!

Something very Georgia O'Keefe about this!

Maria Island: Day 2

The next morning was a little rough; Justin had a pretty bad cold and kept us up most of the night, not in the good way. But that was soon forgotten (at least by me) as we walked on several gorgeous, deserted beaches that looked like this:

Black swan, black swan.

Justin has legs. And he knows how to use them.

This day was about 12k of walking, most of it flat and over beaches. Each one was more gorgeous than the last!

Eventually, we turned inland to check out some of the convict sites:

Justin outside the remnants of a cell.

Imagine being deported from England for stealing a loaf of bread and ending up in this kind of beautiful, haunting isolation as a result.

Cells.

Maria Island is a haven for many different kinds of birds. The Cape Barren geese were some of my favorite.

Some panorama shots:

...of the beach, where, sweaty and hot, we raced into the water and played in the waves. Yes! Even Justin! It beat the hell out of a motel shower.

Day 3 coming up!