Happy New Year 2012 from Darnley Island by Louise Cadden (Jo's sister)

Arrived on Darnely Island on 27 December 2011 and what a great journey.  I loved travelling in the 8 seater plane.  It was so much fun and the view was fantastic all the way.  The pilot told "me" how to open my door in an emergency.  After settling in himself and pressing a few switches he continued the safety briefing with "oh by the way there is a fire extinguisher under his seat and a life jacket under my seat".

First we landed on Yorke Island which is a sand island and very beautiful from the plane.  Then 10 minutes later landed on Darnley Island to be met by the Timmings picking me up in the ambulance.  Lovely to see them all again.

The weather has been very kind, being very mild and pleasant.  We've had a couple of storms too.  Not a lot to do here.  We have been to the beaches for swimming and snorkelling.  The sea has been too rough to snorkel until last night (1 Jan) so up until then we have swam.

New Years Eve was quite non eventful.  We had a lazy day and were in bed before midnight.  On New Years day in the late afternoon we enjoyed island dancing.  They come by each house and then you follow them to the next house and then along to the end.  Usually at the last house there is a feast shared by all.  A turtle is prepared and cooked underground.  It was all a bit vague about what was happening in regards to the feast.  The dancing was great and the singing was loud and beautiful to listen to.  All the islanders wore very bright colours and were all enjoying themselves.  There was no feast so we had our own feast of spagetti bolonaise which was delicious.

Today we finally did some snorkelling and it was very clear with great visability.  We saw coral of all sorts, shapes, sizes and colours.  There were many schools of brightly coloured fish and sardines.  Lots of clams  that were bright blue, purple and green.  Also there are very bright starfish.  We had a picnic on the beach. Lovely and relaxing.

It has been a lovely relaxing time away and wonderful to see a remote part of Australia.  Here are a few photos.

Louise arriving.

At the jetty trying to find mobile range - no luck.

Picnic at Palm Beach - my favourite beach.