Thorsborne Trail

A four-day, three-night hike on Hinchinbrook Island. The Thorsborne Trail ranks among the top three hiking destinations in Australia, and rightfully so - a beautiful uninhabited island in tropical Queensland, not far from the Great Barrier Reef, and a genuinely special place. Thirty kilometres may sound like modest mileage, but over that distance the trail throws everything at you at once: jungle, swamps, mountain passes, sandy beaches and rocky shores, each with its own challenge. I had great luck with the weather, which let me take a few hundred shots and burn through two camera batteries - mostly on long exposures. It was my first time hiking in the tropics. We didn’t encounter any of the saltwater crocodiles that inhabit these waters, which is mostly a good thing, I think. The main pest was the sand flies: they ignore bug spray, operate in complete silence, and bite any exposed skin so quietly that you don’t notice until two days later, when the itching becomes unbearable - conveniently delaying the misery until after the trip, which was good for enjoying the trip itself.