Hi all,

 

We have been away from home for 135 days now and are still having a great time.  We have met some wonderful people and have enjoyed the time with them.  We have seen whales, dugongs, rays and other marvellous creatures, as well as some of the most beautiful places in this part of the coast.

 

We left Bundaberg after the wind settled down and sailed toward the magnificent Fraser Island, arriving in time to set anchor and see the resort’s day visitor pavilion where we enjoyed a swim and drink.  After some time visiting the resort area we set out for the ferry landing to pick up our daughter Kim and her boyfriend Byron.  Well, weather rules our lives and, on cue, it blew up just at the wrong time and from the wrong direction.  As we were not prepared to anchor in the area we went into the Susan River to hide from the strong winds, but more importantly the high and sloppy waves generated by wind tide effects.  The tide here was as strong as any we have experienced, so much that the dinghy was up on the plane, something we cannot achieve with the engine.  With such adverse conditions, we left early next morning to go back to the resort.  Kim and Byron rearranged their travel details and booked onto the afternoon ferry.  We had a beaut few days with them, revisiting places we had visited years before and adding a few new favourites to the list.  It is always fun when we have visitors and this was no exception.

 

After they left, the now diminished crew set off for the south of the island.  We had been joined by yacht club friends on “While ya down there” and “Renaissance”.  The trip through the Great Sandy Straits is always somewhat stressful due to the relatively strong tide and the shallows around Sheridan Flats.  While we all managed to get through easily, having the bottom so close to the boats keel is always exciting.

 

We anchored just inside the strait at Inskip Point ready for the next mornings trip out through Wide Bay Bar.  So, anchor up at 06:30 and motored out into the most feared bar on the Queensland (and at times all the eastern) coast.  This time, due to tide and wind, we judged it right and had an easy passage.  The bar is now roughly 2 miles long, one of its less appealing features.  The trip south to Mooloolaba was pretty easy but the wind failed and we had to motor-sail.  For the non sailors, motor sailing entails motoring but with the sails up.  This gives us a bit more speed as the forward motion of the boat generates a little more wind and gives some more speed but with no more fuel consumed.  We got into Mooloolaba well before sunset and were fortunate to tie up next to a boat owned by some people we met on the trip.  George and Jan are a charming and delightful couple who moved up to Queensland from Sydney several years ago and live on the river on one of the canals with the yacht at the bottom of the garden, literally 20 metres from the back door.  We are enjoying their hospitality and watching the weather to work out when we can leave for the next leg.

 

After a delightful time at Mooloolaba with George and Jan, we left for Scarborough just to the north of Deception Bay.  The Moreton Bay Motor Boat Club is located here and is a charming and well set up place, the people are helpful and the marina is located in just the right place for yachts coming in from the north.  It is very shallow and requires careful navigation to miss the shoals.  We arrived safely and had a comfortable night there then left next morning for Moreton Bay with the intention of visiting friends at Raby Bay.  We arrived here in the afternoon and took a marina berth for the next two nights.  This is another small but well set up marina and we had a delightful time with Dee and Joe Cannava from the motor boat Zingara.  The staff at the marina are charming, competent and very generous with their help and advice.

 

After a very sociable time it was, once again, time to move and we motor sailed over to Blakesleys anchorage for lunch and to avoid getting wet with the now heavy rain squalls, then onto Lamb Island for a calm night.  Next day onto Jacobs Well a notorious shallow passage that requires careful arithmetic to calculate the most suitable tide.  Get it wrong and you spend a long time on the sand with the boat leaning over at a precarious angle.  We waited at the anchorage for just the right time and made it with plenty of water under the keel (in this place 0.6 metres is plenty).  We ran out of light and as the Broadwater area is not a place to run around in a deep heavy yacht at night without a lot of good local knowledge we anchored out of the channel for the night.  Next morning gave us a good tide and we motored, again in rain, to the anchorage at Seaworld on the Gold Coast.

We are listening for the weather forecast to work out when we leave for Iluka.

We will be back in NSW next stop!!       What a trip so far.

All the best   Patsy and John