Having explored most of the small island on a previous trip in October, my partner and I spent most of this break relaxing with the most energetic activity being the daily snorkelling amid the coral at beautiful Emily Bay, the island's only safe swimming beach.

It was relaxing, that is, except for my final day when the sea conditions were finally calm enough for an excursion to the smaller Phillip Island, 7km off shore of the main island.

Phillip Island is uninhabited apart from an abundance of amazing bird life which I happily snapped with my new Christmas present, a 400mm zoom lens for my Nikon D7500 camera. The island is an amazing half-moonscape due to massive soil erosion caused by the influx of pigs and rabbits from the colonial era.

But by the 1980s all introduced pests were killed off and conservationists began the painstaking task of revegetating the island.

It's proving successful and there are large patches of green among the brown.

As part of a group we moved out from the tricky landing spot on slippery rocks up the cliffs using ropes and stairs and hiked to the highest point of the island, home to a colony of masked boobies, Providence petrels and other rare birds my camera took great delight in zooming in on.

The only concern was that sea conditions might change suddenly and I would be stranded on the island ahead of my flight back to Brisbane later that afternoon.

But the Pacific Ocean behaved itself, we got back to Norfolk on time and I only had the smoke from the awful New South Wales and Victorian fires to contend with on the flight home.

My heart goes out to all those who have suffered human and property loss in this ongoing tragedy and hats off to the volunteers, including from Mount Isa, who are attempting to put out the fires.

Then on Sunday I undertook the two day drive back to the Isa, camping like Sir Thomas Mitchell on the banks of the Barcoo near Tambo.

It's good to be back home. Derek Barry