Kabara, Matuku then Suva….

We had read that the island of Kabara (pronounced Kambara) was where they did the woodworking and handicrafts from the wood of the Vesi tree. Vesi is one of the most popular and famous trees in Fiji. This is the tree that is the source of all the wonderful carvings of Fiji, like the tanoa or kava bowls, the turtles and fish. This hardwood tree grows up to 40 to 50 feet high and has great spreading branches. It was formerly a sacred tree of Fiji. On the island of Kabara, vesi trees grow in abundance. These are the source of these carvings that has made Kabara well-known around the world. So, we wanted to make a stop in Kabara for sure, being right into things made from wood!!

A visit from the village men, who enjoyed our hospitality while 

the children swam and paddle boarded

Surprisingly, Kabara is not surrounded by a reef, and the lovely long white sandy beach would be exposed in most wind directions, but luckily, we had next to no wind on our arrival there so we anchored just off the beach and headed in for sevusevu. This would be the poorest village we have been to, houses with dirt floors, some with only three sides and although we asked about woodwork and tanoa (kava bowls) they were reluctant to sell us anything – they send all they make to Suva for sale there, being paid about $20-$30 a bowl – we would have happily given them $100 but they didn’t seem to know how to maximise their worth so were not interested in selling to us. 

We took a walk up the hill overlooking the village and when we got back to the boat we gathered all the extra food and clothes we had and took this back to them. It would appear not many cruisers stop here and next afternoon we had what seemed to be the entire village aboard SOL, adults and children having a super time on the paddleboards, using the masks and snorkels and fishing – it was such a treat for us and them.

From Kabara we set off on an overnight sail to Matuku, 75 nautical miles away. We were expecting a good sail, but sadly the wind didn’t turn out as forecast so it was a motorsail to begin with, one engine and the jib only until the wind filled in and we were able to douse the engine and we sailed all night with just the jib, going along pleasantly at 4-5 knots boat speed. As morning broke it was up with the screecher for a couple of hours then back to no wind and we motored the last 5 hours through the reef into the lovely secluded and protected Matuku Harbour.

Village children, Matuku, all dressed in their Sunday best for church

We spent four days in delightful Matuku, doing sevusevu at Lomati village. The local people so welcoming and friendly, taking us into their houses and their lives, giving us tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers- one evening we even had a visit on SOL from Jesse bringing us some fresh caught fish (Jamie had given him some lures and wire trace, so this was his ‘thank you’). I spent a morning catching up with laundry, then Jesse took us up Korovava (four peaks), a high mountain behind the village – not a walk in the park – it required ropes to climb at some places!! On the way down, he nimbly scaled a coconut tree, threw down a dozen coconuts and a coconut frond, then proceeded to open a couple for us to drink the delicious water inside while he wove a basket to carry the rest back for us to take to the boat. And, all this with only 1½ legs (one leg shorter than the other with a very deformed foot).

From the top of Korovava, SOL just a speck in the bay

After church, Sunday morning, the chief invited us to lunch at his house, a feast to which all the houses in the village had contributed a dish. We, the visitors eat first, then the men, and lastly the women and children. There is no waste, no picky eating, no “I don’t like/want this” and the manners of the children are impeccable. Such a joy to see.

Lunch after church at the house of the chief

Tuesday 28^th August we said our farewells and at 2pm we again hoisted the jib and night sailed towards Suva.

A beautiful sunset over Matuku as we left

Jese, our guide up the peak of Korovava, to whom we gave some fishing supplies

and he brought us a huge slab of tuna after a nights fishing

I gave the children my camera and was rewarded with these lovely pictures from inside the church (amongst others)

Jese's son's dog, Stella,
who was pulled down a crab hole as a pup and had her ears and one leg eaten by the crabs

The school bus, Matuku

A bevy of action when the supply boat arrives, all the longboats are in action to load and unload

Bundaberg Bound...

Shortly before we left Mackay we were lucky to see and go on board the 15^th century replica Portuguese Caravelle, “Notorious” which was constructed over a 9-year period just out of Warnambool in country Victoria. Built of Monterey cypress – also known as macrocarpa, she is exactly how you would picture a true old pirate ship. She was launched in 2011 and now sails the coast stopping to allow public viewing.

"Notorious" at Mackay Marina

Amazing patterns made on the sand by crabs

Arriving at Curlew Island was a bit hairy. Just outside of the anchorage is a reef area called the Tinonee bank, the water swirls and eddies around the edges of it and the current races through the smallish gap, this is probably due to the large 5-6metre rise and fall in tide. However once we were in, this was a delightful anchorage (certainly the power boats thought so as they outnumbered sail three to one). We stayed here two nights, walking the length of the white sand beach in both directions, each adding a white rock to the collection on what we called “Inukshuk Rock” at the eastern end of the bay, and clambering over oyster clad rocks at the western end. We walked as far as we could inland too, drawn in by what sounded like hordes of monkey screeching to each other – we never saw what was making this noise as millions of little bitey things sent us out of the mangrove swamp region back to the beach smacking at our ankles.

Yet another beautiful sunset, Curlew Island

We did have fishing success though – but not the result we desired – we caught many Remora, the horrid looking sucker fish and there is absolutely no way that we are eating anything that looks that disgusting, even the thought makes me feel ill. And yes, the island is aptly named – curlew nest in the sandhills along the shore.

Hanging out in an abandoned dinghy on Curlew Island

Adding a white rock

Next stop the Percy Group, much famed, this group of islands has attracted boaties for decades. The first resident, in 1860, Jimmy Joss, lived here until 1918 and the story goes that he apparently left 1500 gold sovereigns buried beneath a special rock when he left the island in 1918 too ill and old to stay!! Goats were introduced in 1874 and have been utilised by the island residents for meat, milk and skins since. Leaseholder Colonel Armitage moved to the island in 1887, he grew coffee, raised sheep and cattle. Back in 1921 the White Family bought the lease, moved from Canada, building the Homestead and running a sheep station until 1964 when the next leaseholder, Andrew Martin took over. Andy began catering to the needs of the passing boaties – building an A-Frame hut, shelter area with BBQ, starting an apiary, selling honey, and planting coconut palms the length of the beach. 

A-Frame hut on Middle Percy Island

The A-Frame hut is home to a huge collection of memorabilia – all passing boaties are encouraged to leave a sign with the name of their boat and there are hundreds – possibly thousands. We had found a nice piece of driftwood up at Newry Island, had spent some time carving and now “SOL 2017” hangs at the top of the stairs.

SOL 2017

Walking to Rescue Bay

We had a great three nights here. We walked to the homestead on Wednesday, where the current leaseholder, Andy Martin’s cousin, gave us cold drinks, told us some island history, showed us photos and sold us some homemade chutney, marmalade and some of the island’s famous honey. On Thursday morning we walked to Rescue Bay, a completely different bay to where we were anchored. Rescue Bay is covered in sand dunes, with white, white sand that squeaks under your feet as you walk. The waves were crashing in here this day and I could feel that it would indeed be where many a rescue had taken place in the past.

There is a spot, halfway to the homestead, about 2km along the track where there is a sign that says – “ring ring” – and here, if you are lucky, hold your tongue right, wave your phone around above your head you may, just may get enough reception to receive or send a text!!

Rescue Bay

Truly a beautiful anchorage, although I have read that it can be very uncomfortable to be anchored here as it can be very rolly, we had flat calm and peaceful nights, where sitting enjoying a glass of wine in the cockpit around sunset each evening we were entertained with dolphins swimming through and around the boats, just having fun. On Thursday afternoon we were returning to SOL and it looked like the water under her, between her hulls was just boiling. A large school of small fish was there and racing through, grabbing a feed every time was a dolphin, this spectacle continued for about 10 minutes with the fish and dolphin so close you could almost touch them before the school of fish realised that to stay much longer meant certain death and away they went!!

Weird sky, shortly before the wind started howling!!

Friday 30^th June saw us having a good but somewhat bumpy sail to Hexham Island with dolphins again keeping us company for part of the journey.
We arrived in a really pretty bay which we had completely to ourselves and at low tide we collected oysters which we enjoyed for tea. We tried fishing from the rocks, but guess there must be a knack to it and we haven’t acquired that knack yet as we managed to get caught up on rocks more often than not. Caught a blue tusk fish, a really strange looking fish with bright blue teeth and although the book said it was ok for eating we let him go back to his friends.
With a strong wind warning for the next two days here we will stay, so checked we had enough anchor chain out, made sure we hadn’t moved and sat inside listening to the wind howl. There was limited sleep for us that night, in fact at about 1am I gave up and settled in the saloon with a blanket and my kindle. The anchor held but there was no way I could sleep so may as well get up and read.

Simply gorgeous Hexham Island anchorage, small bay, well sheltered for the most part - but no decent fish

Beautiful Pearl Bay - before 8 other boats arrived !!

First thing Monday morning we set off the 35nm to Pearl Bay watching the sun rise as we sailed in light winds south of Hexham. We were the only boat when we arrived and dived in for a swim then dinghied ashore for a walk along the 2km white sand beach but by evening there were 9 yachts sharing the flat calm clear water. Walking along the beach we saw a stingray in the shallows – thank god I hadn’t seen him earlier when we were swimming!!

We have had our first whale encounter!!!

Sailed out of Pearl Bay and Jamie saw what looked like an oil slick on the water just 30-40metres from us, he’s looking at this and saying what on earth could this be when we remembered that Dale, who had done our rudder bearings up in Mackay, had mentioned that he was going out fishing in his tinny and not far ahead they saw this pattern on the surface, he had thrown his boat into reverse just before a whale surfaced not far away!! Well, sure enough, within a minute or so there was a whale!! We were so excited that there was no way I could take my eyes off it to get the camera until of course it was too far away to be seen in the photo.

Yet another amazing picturesque anchorage, this time North Keppel Island

Spiders everywhere as we walked in North Keppel,

strung between the trees, hanging from the branches.

Loads of different looking ones too, fat skinny and scary!

North Keppel Island was our next stop, and I had thought that the water in Pearl Bay was flat calm and clear – but no, out of all the places we have anchored, North Keppel wins so far. We entered the bay at near low tide and anchored in just over a metre of water, and when we looked through the escape hatches we could see the grains of sand on the sea bed!! We could see our anchor and chain so clearly.
Also, caught the most beautiful golden trevally tonight – enough for two meals – nyum nyum.
On Wednesday we walked the length of North Keppel. Someone has done a super job and labelled the trees with both their botanical and their common names which we read as we walked along and although its a fairly big walk the view from the lookout made the uphill trek worthwhile.
If Brampton Island is the place for butterflies, North Keppel Island is the place for spiders – there were millions, strung between the trees and bushes along the paths, so much so that Jamie had to have a stick that he waved in front of him to clear the way else I would not have gone!! Also, at Mazie Beach, this was our first encounter with little blue soldier crabs, these tiny blue bodied crabs who move forwards, not sideways like other crabs, are seen in large groups all marching along together, like a proper battalion – hence the name. So fascinating are they that I could have watched them and followed them along the sand flats for ages as they moved in well-orchestrated formation.

View from lookout, North Keppel Island

Thursday, winds were predicted to be North-Westerly 10-15knots, so we figured a nice sail south – achieving 75nm to Bustard Head was doable – however – the wind was everything but. We even had 0 wind at one stage and were just drifting for a while. The highlight of the day was some dolphins who came and played in our bow wave – magical.

The wind did come in around 3pm so we decided to sail down to Bundaberg. We put up the screecher and with the wind behind us were making good ground. As the sun set we lowered the screecher, and with the main and jib sailed on into the night. With an almost full moon, clear skies for the most part it was a lovely night for a sail and we were going in to the Burnett River entrance at 9am where we dropped the anchor.

AAH … sleep, blissful sleep.

Another Abandoned Resort...

Sunday 25^th June

We just sailed past Hay Point Coal Loading Facility – and – got a call from the authorities to tell us it is an offence for us to sail in Restricted Area Alpha – OOPS.

Anyway, to backtrack, we got off the hardstand at 11am last Monday, (uneventfully thank goodness). The strange thing about the hard stand – after years of living on land we must have transitioned to this sea life fast as it was so odd to be on land!!! We have these hatches in the hulls – ostensibly they are escape hatches so should the boat ever turn over (it better bloody not!!) there is a way to get out of the hulls, anyway, normally of course there is sea under them, you look through this window to the ever-changing colour of the sea. However, when on the hard stand, each time we went up the steps to the saloon from the hulls all we saw was concrete – which is pretty unsettling when you have gotten used to seeing aqua, green or blue water, even though we have only been on board for just a couple of months it was a shock each time.

Deserted runway, Brampton Island

Welcome to Brampton, how may we help you?

Well, with the repairs we wanted done completed and a nice clean anti-fouled bottom, we pulled up the screecher and had a magic sail out to Brampton Island, where we spent another couple of lovely days, this time in the company of Olaf & Annie (Kathamaria II) and Peter & Toni (Heatwave). This trip we walked the length of the old runway, which is still in surprisingly good order, then past the plane hangar and around the back of the now abandoned resort – how very sad to see all this wasted infrastructure. The buildings here have been left just as if the apocalypse has happened – with the people just disappeared – the office, for example has stationary still sitting on the shelves, tennis racquets and balls in a basket waiting to be handed out to happy and excited players, the kettle still plugged in and coffee cups ready on the counter in the staff area. The harsh reality is that it will not happen, and these lovely places are doomed to crumble over time.  I am a romantic and would like to see these abandoned resorts restored and once again filled with joyous holidaymakers and as I walk around my mind is filled with pictures of how it was – and how it could be.

We caught just one fish this trip – a nice golden trevally, smallish but tasty. This lack of fish however is very disappointing, we had to have a chicken curry for tea last night!!

Newry Anchorage

Wednesday mid-morning we said goodbye to Olaf & Annie and Peter & Toni and had an even better sail to Newry Island – we flew along achieving boat speeds of 14 to 15 knots (managing to miss photographing the 15kn of course) and were anchored between Newry and Outer Newry by lunchtime. Tidal range in these parts of the coast are pretty big, being 6.5 metres here and about an hour before low tide we went ashore to Newry for a look. Again, there was once a resort which operated from the 1930’s closing in 2001. Now National Parks maintain the area with fences around the remains of some of the older buildings and signs telling the history. It has been done very well. One of Newry Island Resorts famous guests was a lady by the name of Annette Kellerman, the Marrickville born marathon swimmer (3 English Channel attempts) and star of vaudeville and Hollywood back in the 1900-1920’s. She was the sister of the wife of one of the earliest island lessees and they built a special cabin for her overlooking the bay, which still remains.

From this, to this, to this - coconuts from Newry - Yum

We walked up to the lookout on the point then back to the open-air beachfront bar, it would have been very pleasant sitting enjoying a drink in the afternoon sun back in the day. We collected a few coconuts from the trees lining the beach then made our way back to our dinghy where we had left it at the end of the railway tracks that had been installed by another island resort lessee in the 1960’s to make an all tide access for guests’ arrival and that of supplies as the sand only reaches halfway to the water at low tide then becoming mudflats. Back on SOL we put out the fishing lines once more, but again it was chicken for tea - something large and strong making off with all the line from one reel and twice taking the hook from another.

Mangroves, a haven for crocs!!

Thursday, we went back to Newry Island at high tide and took the walking track to Sunset Beach and around the island, looking for evidence of the orchard and vege garden from resort days but not finding any. In the couple of hours we were gone the tide had fallen significantly – meaning we had to lower the wheels on the dinghy and then we could pull it down to the water – these same wheels that in the beginning we had both slammed as being “for old people” and “hrumph, we’ll never need these” yet which were coming in incredibly handy with the huge tidal ranges we were encountering. We also went across to Outer Newry where we went up the little inlet through the mangroves to find a track up to the “Fishing Hut”, a structure erected by a man named Fred Lapsley who leased this island for at least 30 years. We entered our names in the diary that serves as a visitors book there, had a bit of a walk around then left before we could be stranded by the fast dropping tide – the mudflats already looking like good crocodile havens to me.

A great sail back to Mackay on Friday where we had hired the car for a few hours so we could go and reprovision – I wanted to get enough supplies to last for at least a month as we really weren’t sure once we left Mackay to head south if we would actually want to make the trek north again and lose the ground we had covered which with the winds persistently from the south-east, so the car was an essential for this. The Mackay Marina hires out a car for just $30 for the night, picking it up at 415pm and dropping it back at 830am which is perfect as all the shops we could get to in that time, with most being open to 9pm.

I had ordered the game Finska and discovered to my delight that it had arrived at the marina office that morning. Saturday evening, we set it up on the grass and along with Pete and Lizzie (Windana) spent a couple of great fun hours playing – laughing a lot, drinking a little, finishing with fish and chips from the Lighthouse Takeaways – an excellent evening.

Sunrise leaving Newry

Early Sunday morning we left Mackay and watched the sun rise as we made our way south passing Hay Point (and getting the aforementioned call from officialdom at the Coal Terminal) under sail but soon we started the starboard engine and motor sailed as the wind dropped to below 10 knots.
We have had our lure out but with no success, I am sure that we have now proven the old salts tale that having bananas on board means that no fish will be caught so today Jamie and I have eaten 3 bananas each to get rid of them!!!

On The Hard...

May 27^th

So here we are, back in Mackay Marina, and this is where we will be for the week at least – Jamie is going to Sydney to see his mum and dad and I am staying – boat sitting!! With nothing much that I can do on my own – I did contemplate taking all the anchor chain out of its locker and dragging it on to the pontoon and giving it a scrub to get rid of all the rust but that is not something I want to do solo as to get it off the boat would mean dragging it over the decks and 50 metres of chain dragged over the fibreglass would not be very good for it so that idea has been shelved. Instead – what does a good grandmother do – with just a picture in her mind of what she wants to end up with, she goes shopping for wool to knit a jumper for her granddaughter of course!! Well 3 days, countless hours looking at knitting patterns on the net, bus trips to numerous shops and much frustration at the lack of patterns available later, she finds the desired wool and sets about creating a masterpiece that she has to make up from scratch – adapting three different patterns and just hoping the end result is like the picture in her head. Knitted in a bulky wool and with nothing else important to do the back is completed on the first day – then she suffers conniptions as to the sizing – bloody hell – being the perfect nan is not easy!!! It is finished by Friday and ready to show Poppy before it goes in the mail and hopefully Lilly will have it by the end of the week.

Jumper for Lilly

The wind is howling today, Thursday 1^st June, and poor SOL is bouncing around a bit here in the marina as are all the other boats mind you, so I’m not worried about her security just the noise of the mooring ropes creaking is driving me round the twist!! During the day, it’s ok but as the main culprit seems to be right outside our cabin during the night it’s unbearable – sleep is pretty impossible so much so that I turn to the internet again at midnight and ask google for help – Dr Google knows all!! The result being - in the dark of night there am I, semi-naked, in the howling wind, out with the dishwashing liquid pouring it over the offending ropes where they pass over the cleats. This seems to help a little or maybe I just think so, anyway sleep does come eventually and the goddam noise is still there to greet me when I awake! This creaking noise is not abating and has now been going on for the past three days – I am near screaming point – ha-ha maybe the screaming will mask the noise of the creaking!! In the end, I ask a couple of men walking past to their boat further down the pontoon to help me change the ropes around, I’m not sure what I want to do, just need to do something – anyway, one immediately says – “cleat creak – yes, it’s your rope – this one, you can hear it.” The offending line was left on the dock and replaced with a spare from the locker – and – blissful silence. Heaven. How easy was that.

Jamie arrived back Saturday night - having left Lithgow on the 9.30am train, then a further train to Sydney airport, fly to Brisbane, then another plane to Mackay he was back on the boat by midnight, another fun day testing out transport options in Australia. Happy to be home.

By Tuesday we had had enough marina life however we have decided that we will haul SOL out on the hardstand here in Mackay and do what we were going to do down at The Boat Works in the Gold Coast – we may as well use the poor weather now to our advantage then have the possible better weather later to enjoy, so we have her booked to be lifted Monday morning, June 12^th. So back out to Scawfell we went – I love this place – it is just a few hours sail from Mackay, but another world when you arrive – so very peaceful (we were the only boat for the first day). We saw our first lot of dolphin this morning – two young looking ones frolicking along in our wake, then coming up beside us before leaving – I was too in awe to get organised with the camera – next time. On Scawfell there are fresh water streams ashore where we wash and paddle in like little children, we walk the beach, climb the rocks, swim, snorkel, and of course – fish. Just living the dream – as one does!!

Boys checking lifting slings are in place - not going to slip

We stay here until the weekend catching fresh fish for dinner each evening. Then it’s back to Mackay to get ready for the haul out. We are being lifted on Monday morning – 0900 hours. This is another new experience for us – SOL was lifted for her survey pre-purchase; however, we were not able to be present so we hadn’t had to face the fears involved. I do mean that – no one I have spoken to has ever said that hauling their boat out is a pleasurable experience – well think about it – your boat is happy as Larry in the water, then two slings are placed around her, roughly/hopefully spaced in such a position so they are balanced, then the hydraulics start and she is test lifted a few metres – breath is held while the guys lifting her make sure she is stable – ok, so my breath was held, not sure about Jamie’s, but I know he was nervous like me. 

Hanging - me breath holding!!

Anyway, suffice to say – having your boat lifted is one of the worst experiences ever.

Not only do they have to lift it but of course then they must wheel it along until it gets to the space where they are going to lower it – and all the while it is suspended, swinging just metres above the ground – not a normal place for a boat to be. And all along I am holding my breath, kind of. She is then placed on slabs of wood and the slings removed. Our boat is “on the hard” as they say. It is a truly weird feeling, being in the boat but not in the water – there is no movement at all, so no pleasant rocking to sleep. As we go up the steps from the hull to the saloon it is disconcerting to look through the escape hatch and see concrete – not water.

The work begins with a pressure wash of her hulls, this is to remove as much of the rubbish (barnacles, slime, growth etc.) before the real hard work starts. First, we sand, then wash with a special solution then that is well washed off – this takes up the rest of Monday.  

Tuesday is painting day, (after masking tape is applied so the red paint doesn’t get on the white paint) the hulls get two full coats of antifoul paint each then we give the top third another coat as this is the area that gets the most wear from water whooshing past. That takes all of Tuesday. While out we have decided to get the cutlass bearings checked (no, I don’t know what these are or what they do but good thing Jamie does) so he organises a man to replace them as they need it and as well it is an opportunity to replace the rudder bearings as there is play in the shafts. These repairs would have needed doing within the next while so best do them now. Wednesday and Thursday are spent buffing and then polishing the topsides (the white part between the waterline and the decks) – SOL will be one of the best-looking boats on the water when we are finished!

Friday, we are ready to go back into the water – well, SOL is, and I am mentally prepared for the next “lifting” trauma – BUT – the travel lift is broken. We are not going anywhere. In fact, we are stuck here for the weekend.

However - we do have a beautiful bottom!!!

We couldn't be more pleased with all the people we have met, had work done by, and who have helped us here in the yard at Mackay Marina -
Greg, the yard manager and Benny and Alex - who lifted us were superb and cheerful (reassuring me they'd not dropped a boat - yet!!) Dale and Richie, who did the cutlass bearings, the rudder bearings and gave us heaps of tips with our first antifoul experience. Mark, who showed us the way to PropSpeed our props - now we will go really fast - too fast for barnacles and slime to grow!! In fact - everyone has been amazing. Thank you all.

Barnacles on our prop

Clean as a whistle

PropSpeed going on 

The Drought Breaks …

Saturday 20th May 2017

We didn’t leave early – it was about 9.30am when we left Mackay Marina bound for Scawfell. Travelling in convoy with Titch and Bev Timmermans on their Leopard 40, “EverRest”, we sailed the 27 nautical miles in 3 ½ hours, not a bad effort, and so pleasant to be out sailing again.

We decided to try a new lure purchased on recommendation from the lovely little man at the fishing shop in Mackay – The Compleat Angler – where we had also got a landing net - never again  would we have the frustration of getting the catch inches from the boat then losing it. Within minutes of putting said lure out, Jamie was shouting “I’ve got one, I’ve got one” and a perfect spotted mackerel was in the boat – woo hoo - dinner sorted!!

The beautiful tropical island of Scawfell

Scawfell is the most southern of the Whitsundays and we were the only two boats in this magnificent anchorage where the water was the most amazing colour – turquoise to aqua and all colours in-between and so clear that it was hard to ascertain accurately the depth. On shore, we found fresh water streams flowing under and over rocks and a sandy beach rather than the smashed coral beaches often found. We truly felt like we were on a tropical island as we walked along the sand under palm trees - we even found a coconut but sadly upon opening it  - it stunk !!!

A little off-putting was the sighting of a couple of reef shark - just happily cruising around metres from shore right in front of where we standing and saying we were going to go snorkelling in the morning - haha - a slight change of plans methinks!! They hung around for about fifteen minutes but by the time we had got the dinghy and started back to SOL they had gone on their merry way.

The fishing was good here as well - a couple of nice sized sweetlip and something else we think was a trevally happened to end up on our lines at sunset, all good eating!!

We spent two nights here on Scawfell, and yes, we did go snorkelling - we just went to the other side of the bay to where we had seen the sharks and though the snorkelling was not great it was the best coral we had seen so far.
The next day, when our nice secluded anchorage became crowded - another five boats deciding to join us - we moved off to Brampton Island, another lovely sail across with the wind almost behind us and woo hoo - another spotted mackerel ended up in our freezer!!

So reassuring that there are still some fish left in the sea, and that we have not managed to completely forget how to catch them - not that we enjoy the killing of them, but we do certainly like the eating of them, so the end justifies the means I guess.

That afternoon, we went ashore armed with a large screwdriver - our quarry - oysters - the rocks were covered with them but most that we had seen the previous day were very small and our mission was to find and collect enough so I could make oyster fritters for an entrée before having Bev and Titch over for fish dinner.

Brampton Resort - looking rather sad

We had a walk around the almost abandoned resort in the afternoon - before the cyclone the resort had been closed since about 2010 and in the hands of various caretakers, and Debbie had caused further degradation - however, talking with the caretakers friend we learned that there are plans afoot for a "ten star resort - where each unit has its own butler, maid and private chef etc." so things could look up in the future - if you can believe everything that you hear. (This to tie in with the tip for the Goodwood Handicap run in Morphettville, Adelaide, on Saturday 20th May, where we were assured that Hey Doc would prevail - however he came in 6th so, so much for the hot tip!!)

Titch, Jamie and I walked across to Western Bay the next day. The island is full of butterflies, all colours and sizes, pity that they don't stay still long enough for me to get a decent photo of them, and of course when they are still they fold up their wings so you don't get to see the colours anyway. Very disappointing. There are heaps of magnificent maidenhair ferns, other ferns, huge trees and fascinating coloured fungi. we saw kangaroo, some turkeys and these horrid little green ants who make nests in the trees and in my opinion look ugly even though they are small. And lots of rather large spiders that were very ugly and pretty scary.

Titch, Jamie, Linda and Bev

We enjoyed a lovely evening on EverRest, dining with Bev and Titch, playing cribbage (and drinking a lot of red wine) on Wednesday evening before saying goodbye to Bev and Titch on Thursday - we had enjoyed their company over the last week - as they were going north and we sailed down to St Bees and Keswick Islands - anchoring in Keswick for the night. Not the best anchorage due to the huge tidal range here up by Mackay.  When we arrived it was almost low tide and the tidal rise was 5.9 metres, consequently we had to leave the depth plus 6 metres under us multiplied by 4 for the scope of chain needed to ensure holding - we only have 50 metres of chain in total so that meant we had to drop the anchor in a maximum of 4 metres at low tide - not physically doable as that would have placed us just on the coral/rock ledge such was the geography around us. So we dropped the anchor in 7 metres of water put out all our chain and spent a restless night - luckily the wind was light and held us nicely off the shore at low tide and early Friday morning we said goodbye to Keswick and enjoyed a magnificent sail back to Mackay.

2016 ends - 2017 begins

So today is the last day of 2016 and 2017 beckons.

For us back here in Numurkah, in the middle of Victoria, Australia, it is hot, very hot and since our return to the house here and work we have been spending more and more time just wishing the next few months gone and that we were on SOL. It is so very hard to be enthusiastic about a job when you'd rather be somewhere else. 

We have had a super Christmas, with all our children home for the last Christmas here at Melrose. The stockings were hung, just like the poem says, on the mantle with care - with carrots and milk for the reindeer and beer and cookies for Santa.

Lilly preparing a feast for Santa and the reindeer

Phil, Dolly and Lilly drove over from Adelaide, Marnie and Dylan came from Wangaratta bringing with them Dylan's parents, Kim and Jay who are over visiting from Tennessee, America for a few weeks down under. Amy drove up from Melbourne with Wal and the children's cousin Benny who has moved here from New Zealand, and Grace and Cal came up from Tatura. So the house was full, noisy and fun. Jamie and I sure love having all the kids around and in a sense that will be one thing we will miss terribly when we move aboard, but there will be visits of course.

We had enough food and drink to feed and water a small African country but we somehow managed to get through it all as is usual at this festive time. The Christmas family board game this year was "Taboo"  and this was a great success with everyone joining in around the table after we had finished eating. 

The pool was, as always, a huge hit - Lilly having a ball with everybody there to entertain her and to be entertained by her. She was even in the pool at 7 in the morning on Boxing Day!!! Wearing her new life jacket of course. Christmas Day we had temperatures of nearly 40 degrees Celsius!!! So everyone was in for most of the day - only out of it to eat.

Lilly showing off her new life jacket with her mum and dad

Sadly everything comes to an end after a few days as normal life calls our children back to their homes and lives and Jamie and I are once again just the two of us here in the big house that seems to echo with silence until we get used to it again.

Now after the New Year passes we must get ourselves into moving mode, to decide what we want to keep and store, to donate, to give away, and what we feel are essential items to take with us onto SOL. This is not an easy task of course, with over 30 years of collected possessions to go through and is a very daunting, challenging prospect. We have a couple of months to do it before settlement day, but with each day that passes the hurdles seem bigger. Everything I have read does say it is liberating to get rid of all the stuff that we have acquired but the problem is where to begin...