Nara Inlet (Horn Island, Whitsundays)

[Kyle]While anchored at Cid Harbour Maryanne said that she wanted to go to Nara Inlet, on adjacent Hook Island. Nara is one of two deep, fjord-like indentations that cut far into the island. They have a couple of short walks as well as plenty of shoreline for kayaking, so off we went.

Nara is very pretty, which makes it popular with charterers, tour boats and packs of jet skiers. We used our shallow draft to tuck way in above most of them. {Primarily the cell phone signal doesn't go deep into the inlet so most boaters stop and anchor before losing the signal}.

Our first trail took us a short way uphill to a cave with Aboriginal art dating back almost 3,000 years. Our second trail was a less well-defined scramble to a freshwater swimming hole, which exists in the wet season. Since it is now approaching the end of dry season, we were not likely to find anything other than either a dry bowl or a stagnant pond for our efforts. We gave that a miss in lieu of some extra kayaking.

The cave art wasn't exactly spectacular (I thought they were fishing nets, the signage suggested possibly turtles). However the signage boards and audio story board were really well done and gave a lot more info on the Ngaro Aboriginal history

We enjoyed a tranquil kayak about the 'fjord'

As we were winding down afterwards, we got a visitor. A Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo landed on our davit solar panel. We were both inside at the time. I was munching on a handful of cashews, so I went out to see if he was interested. Oh, yes he was! He plucked each nut from my hand as gently as if he had been the wind itself.

An unexpected visitor from a Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo made Kyle very happy

Since we know parrots need a balanced diet just as much as we do, Maryanne cut up some fruits and vegetables for him. He ignored each one as if we had offered him a handful of pebbles instead. He didn't screech or talk, but the message was clear: "Stop wasting my time, I want nuts!". He only departed after I'm sure he was quite full and had taken the last of what was supposed to be my snack. I'm sure he's got quite a racket working the boats. The charterers are always splurging on especially nice appetizers. A well behaved bird like that could probably get away with showing up and fixing himself a plate.

We were lucky enough to have a very calm morning
(Maryanne went out on another kayak tour to fully enjoy it)