Waiting, waiting, waiting …

A month has gone by and we are in Coffs Harbour still. Neither Jamie nor myself have ever been much good at playing this waiting game and although we knew we would be here in Coffs marina for a couple of weeks it is now starting to wear thin.

Wet weather wedding

We had much to do the first few days - with the wedding of Kate and David up in Brisbane on the Saturday it was an opportunity to break out the flash gear which had been packed in a vacuum bag and taken aboard for just this occasion – hmmmn – we would look great if we were supposed to be wearing crinkled cotton by design. No iron on board (I hardly used the one we had on dry land let alone even think of one on the boat) so a quick detour into Derek and Debbie’s laundromat in Southport to borrow theirs had us looking very smart. There was, however, a small moment of terror when getting changed behind the hire car in the multistorey carpark we couldn’t find Jamie’s shoes – visions of all dressed up at the wedding and look down – jandals/thongs/flip flops – whatever you call them – not a good look – but we found them, phew.

The new Mr & Mrs

Planning a wedding at any time of year can be fraught with problems, planning an outdoor wedding brings the weather issue to the fore again and on Kate and David’s day it rained. But, as usual with celebrations like this, even rain cannot dampen the spirits and we stood on the Wedding Lawn, in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, alongside their friends and family, sharing the moment they exchanged their vows. It was a touching ceremony despite the dismal weather, and we had a superb time at the reception – in fact the food was to die for – absolutely the best food in a very long time. Thank you, Kate and David for inviting us to enjoy your special day.

We drove across the Clarence river – (no pesky sailboats held us up!!) travelling through the towns we had sailed to – Grafton, Brushgrove, Cowper, Ulmarra.

Crossing over the bridge this time rather than under it

Back on SOL we had a few last-minute jobs we needed to do before departure and the list seemed to grow as it got shorter – well as we crossed items off, I added more.

Jacklines – these are safety lines you tether yourself to when underway to ensure that you don’t fall off the boat. We had gotten good strong webbing online and needed them stitched with heavy thread on a commercial machine, so a trip to the canvas man in town sorted this.

Ditch bag – this strangely named bag holds the supplies that you take if you are forced to abandon ship, also known as a grab bag. We had a bag ready and just needed to fill it – in went torch, batteries, first aid kit, bottles of water, muesli bars, scroggin (nuts, fruit and chocolate mix), spectacles, sunscreen, etc. the passports, credit card, boat registration papers would be added later.

Food prep for Tasman crossing

Sails – we decided we probably wouldn’t need the screecher on our Tasman crossing so this has been taken down and the storm sail, smaller and tougher, has been hoisted instead. Back in Bundaberg we had the stitching on both the genoa and the stormy checked and reinforced in preparation and stormy had been in a cupboard since then.

Food – the freezer is full - we have prepared, cooked and vacpacked dinners for 9 nights – we won’t be going hungry!! We have made up bags of scroggin for energy giving snacks. Just got to get fresh fruit and veg, eggs, bread and milk.

The diesel tanks are full, will top up the water tanks last minute ….. SOL is ready, we are ready – why is the weather not cooperating???

We enlisted NZ weather guru, Bob McDavitt (MetBob), to give us a passage plan and to provide weather updates via the Delorme inreach (satellite tracker) during the trip. He has been emailing weather updates to us since the beginning of November, and none have been good. The expected pattern of prevailing winds at this time of the year is generally favourable for a Tasman crossing, however, this year, the damned easterlies continue so here we remain, waiting for that weather window. We can handle some unpleasant days, but incessant pounding headfirst into wind and waves endlessly takes you way out of the realm of “unpleasant”.

The time has not been wasted. Jamie managed to take a 5-day trip down to the Blue Mountains to see his family, it will be some months before we can get to see his parents so having this time was ideal – notwithstanding the twelve-hour, two train trip each way.

Jamie and Matthew overlooking the Dorrigo Rainforest

We spent a great day out touring the nearby countryside with Matthew, who is on a boat just a couple away from us, and drove through Bellingen, Dorrigo and outlying areas. We visited Dangar Falls, on the Bellinger River and walked through the rainforest skywalk listening to the abundant birdlife at Dorrigo Rainforest centre. I thought the most fascinating was the catbird – a fairly nondescript grey or green coloured bird that makes a sound truly like a screaming cat – hearing its incredible call was definitely recognisable and amazing. After a restaurant quality lunch at the Dorrigo Heritage Hotel we drove through the Dorrigo National Park to see the huge Tallowood trees there. Tallowood is a species of Eucalyptus found around Dorrigo, the wood apparently feels greasy when cut due to high tannin content and the leaves are a good source of koala food. The specimens we saw in the Norman Jolly Memorial Grove would have been up to 70m tall, dwarfing us as we stood insignificant beneath.

Amazing Tallowood trees at Norman Jolly Memorial Grove

We have walked miles, one day visiting the Coffs Harbour Botanical Gardens, these gardens are a real credit to all the people who man and maintain them. One day is not enough to see all the plants on display, you could seriously return week after week and still find another gem.

Botanical gardens Coffs Harbour

Unfortunately, this extended delay has meant that Philip Mercer, who travelled up from Adelaide to make the crossing with us has had to pull out. Lyn Nichols, from the Gold Coast (originally Whangarei, NZ) has gone back to wait out the next few days with family there. Fortunately for us, Bruce Allen, owner of Shellac, a Fusion Catamaran also here in the marina has stepped in to fill Philip's place. 

It’s not all bad, as is usual in a marina, you get to meet some great people and hear some even greater stories and the Coffs Marina is no different. So many people appear to have arrived in Coffs and never left (maybe it’s those goddamn easterly winds that don’t allow them to get away!!).

Next to us is Steve, who has travelled the world on his 33ft yacht “Tatura”, he has so many tales to tell of places he has been over the years – he has sailed to most of the places you hear of and many of us just dream of going (even through the Red Sea). He has been a huge help while here, having a contact to weld our cracked exhaust on the starboard engine and spending hours with Jamie trying to get the HF WeatherFax working so we can get weather patterns offshore.

Matthew, who is ‘boat-sitting’ a cat just two down from us, built his boat up in the Snowy Mountains and sailed it on Lake Eucumbene, tamed a kingfish (aptly he named it Elvis) that we fed with minced meat each morning – after a few days Elvis would take the meat from your hand. We have spent many enjoyable hours in his company, laughing at the stories he tells. He kindly took us away from the marina for the day in his car for a trip through the Dorrigo Hinterland.

The World Rally Championship held a special stage right here in Coffs Harbour which we went to with Valinda and Steve, who live on their 47ft yacht here in the marina. They have a small power equipment business up in Woolgoolga (Whoopi to the locals!!). Their aim is to eventually sell the business and sail away but in the meantime, business and boat maintenance take most of their time. The rally was not as noisy, dusty or even fumey as I had expected and current safety regulations kept the spectators well away from the cars – but we had fun.

Dangar Falls, Dorrigo, New South Wales

Not so straight forward driving to the Tallowood trees!! Luckily it's a jeep

Definately above average "Pub meals"

The Amazing Clarence ...

Thursday 5th October

Goodbye Gold Coast

The overnight sail started out well, we upped anchor in Paradise Point at 2pm and passing through the Gold Coast Seaway turned right. It was hot and sticky, the temperature over 29 degrees, so it was a real pleasure to hoist the main and with the wind about 12knots we tootled along nicely towards our destination – Yamba/Iluka, twin towns at the entrance of the Clarence River. However, about three hours later, the forecast wind had not eventuated so it was down with the sails, on with the engine. And that’s how it was for the next twelve hours – one engine, chugging away, pushing us south. Any opportunity and we hauled out the jib, the wind too often had it flapping mindlessly, but it does help to pass the time on a night sail – watching the sail, furling it in as the wind drops then pulling it out again!! My romantic anticipation of a clear cloudless night sail with moonlight showing us the way turned out to be erroneous, as shortly before midnight the clouds came over, the moon hid her face and a slight drizzle of rain settled in.

Another beautiful day dawns

Dawn, and fish on!! A nice bonito had run into our lure!! We googled and got different opinions as to its taste – so we cleaned it up, kept half for us and half for bait – we will judge for ourselves.

Dozens of dolphins greeted us outside Yamba/Iluka, playing around the boat for about 15 minutes, leaving us before we went through the rock walls and entered the mouth of the Clarence. Choosing the quieter looking side (Iluka) we dropped our anchor, breakfasted (the fresh bonito was good!!), then sank thankfully into bed for a few hours.

Rainstorm in Iluka

What a difference a day makes – flat calm when we anchored here this morning, almost windless when we went ashore this afternoon and had a walk, peaceful when going to test the fish and chip shop this evening – then BANG – the heavens opened. Lightning, thunder, rain and wind. It was like a tropical storm. Sudden and strong. The wind got up to 40knots, three boats around us dragged their anchors, we watched through the, at times, almost horizontal rain as people aboard rushed around in the howling wind to reset their anchors. It was scary to watch. During the worst, when we saw the other boats moving, we started our engines as well, but thank goodness our Super Sarca anchor held solid as a rock. That, plus the amount of chain we had laid out.

Sugar refinery, just south of Harwood, on the banks of the Clarence

The Clarence River is second to the Mighty Murray River in size, and flows 394 kilometres from its start in the Great Dividing Range down to the sea and in times of flooding the increased influx of water can make it temporarily equal in flow to some of the largest rivers in the world. Along the banks there is farmland – sugarcane and cattle. At Harwood the sugar mill, the oldest sugar refinery in Australia still in operation, stands proud on the riverbank, in previous times the cane would have been delivered by barge from the surrounding areas.

We had been told that the Harwood Bridge would be closing for some weeks, only opening at certain hours on certain days – huge works are happening as a new bridge to carry the Pacific Highway traffic is being built at Harwood. Harwood Bridge, a steel truss bridge, was opened in 1966, prior to this, vehicles were transported across the river on cable guided ferries, and is the longest steel truss bridge on the Pacific Highway. We contacted Craig, (the bridgeman) and booked to go through at the 6.45 am opening on Sunday morning.

From our anchorage opposite the sugar refinery, just downstream of the bridge we watched the seemingly endless stream of traffic – we would be stopping that stream in the morning!!

Another first –

We have gone under powerlines. Over cables in rivers used to pull vehicular ferries across. Now we have gone under our first bridge.

Approaching our first bridge, in the calm of the early morning

Street poster, Maclean

At Maclean we tied up to the public pontoon, walked across the road to the liquor store – no – we were not desperate for a drink … the key for the free showers attached to the pontoon for the visiting boaties was kept there!! However, we did spot a nice bottle of red that accompanied us back to SOL and we enjoyed with fish and chips after a lovely hot shower.

We spent a couple of days in Maclean – the town claims to be “The Scottish Town in Australia” due to the origins of the original settlers and the town being named after a Scot. There are shops selling Scottish influenced souvenirs – bagpipes, kilts, etc and of course whisky!! We walked around the town amazed at the more than 200 power poles which are painted with different tartans, visited the library and swam in the local pool before continuing our trip up towards Grafton.

Dolphins accompanied us up river – we were astonished to see dolphins inland but apparently they are commonly seen here. Next stop Ulmarra, a place we had driven through some years ago, and whilst having a meal at the pub had looked down at the river and thought how nice it would be to go up there by boat one day – we could tick that off the list now – it was our boat we could see tied to the pontoon beside the jacaranda tree from our table as we ate!!

Jacarandas and SOL on public pontoon in Ulmarra

Up to Grafton next, we decided not to attempt going under the overhead powerlines just out of Grafton – the sign said 17metres – our mast alone is 18.5 and then add the distance from waterline to base of mast – no way!! So we anchored, and travelled the km or so up to the Pound Street jetty, puttering rather slowly in our little dinghy with her 3hp motor, to make our visit to the laundromat. 

Jacaranda trees abound in this region, and from the last weekend in October to the first weekend in November each year is held the Grafton Annual Jacaranda Festival. We are a couple of weeks too early to join in the 10 days of festivities, watch the crowning of the Jacaranda Queen and the Jacaranda Float Parade but as these magnificent trees are all blossoming now not only did we walk under their canopy but we tread on their purple carpet as well.

On our way back down the river we spent a night on another public pontoon, this time at Cowper/Brushgrove. Cowper was the site of a horrendous road accident 26yrs ago – we walked to the memorial stone. On 20^th October 1989 a bus carrying 45 passengers travelling along the Pacific Highway was hit by a semi-trailer truck which had veered onto the wrong side of the road. The truck driver and 21 passengers all died. At the time it was the worst road accident in Australia’s history. What made it particularly poignant was that the 26^th anniversary was just days away.

Back under the Harwood Bridge once again feeling the power of stopping all the traffic on the Pacific Highway. Guess there were a few annoyed car and truck drivers this afternoon as we went through along with about ten other boats so traffic ceased for over half an hour.

Us going under Harwood Bridge, photo taken by Anna, on Osprey

Whilst waiting our time to pass under the bridge we tied up to yet another superb public pontoon and here we met a lovely couple from Melbourne, Wal and Anna Robinson, who have an 8metre cruiser named Osprey. Osprey is a great little craft – they pop her on the trailer and have travelled far and wide, sleeping aboard in caravan parks and putting her into the water whenever the conditions are right. They have spent up to 7 months living aboard last year. Just going where the fancy takes them. They were up to watch the bridge opening then going back to Yamba – we organised to meet with them in the next few days.

Back to our anchorage spot in Iluka – and funnily enough, another fierce storm hit that evening – what is it with this place??

Anna and Wal, on their boat, Osprey, leaving to go up the Clarence to Grafton

Met Wal and Anna in Yamba, we caught the ferry over and they met us in their car taking us on a great little tiki tour around the town. We walked out the breakwater and watched the waves crashing on the rock wall – no boats going in or out today!! Lunch the next day in the pub at Iluka with them then with our plans made to go south and theirs to go up the Clarence, we said a fond farewell.

Waves crashing in on the rock wall breakwater at the entrance to the Clarence River

On the morning of Thursday 19^th October, with dolphins again there to say goodbye as we left, we spent a slightly nerve-wracking half hour motoring through the 2metre swell then turned towards Coffs Harbour. With not much wind we battled our way along, not wanting to resort to motoring, then about 3pm the wind filled in and we had a good sail the last couple of hours. To my consternation though, we were achieving some of our best speeds so far, but as we were sailing along, and just as we were approaching the entrance to Coffs Harbour - Jamie is looking at the speed log calling out the “look, 14.5, 14.8, 15.9, look, look, 16.4, 17…….” Whilst I’m shouting “stop looking at the speed, look at where we are heading!!!!” - we flew through the breakwater into Coffs under full sail doing 18knots!! Phew!!

We dropped the sails and entered the marina which is where we will be staying until the best weather window presents for our passage to New Zealand.

Old homestead along the Clarence

One of the many beautiful trees in flower right now

A lovely avenue of trees in Grafton

Warning the height of the power lines we didn't go under!!

Paradise Point…

Apartments, Ephraim Is, with their own marina

Thursday 5th October

Back to our nice Paradise Point anchorage where everything is indeed a little paradise – we have an amazing anchorage just metres from the public jetty (almost too close sometimes – once when the wind was blowing I needlessly worried that we would hit it!!) Ashore are numerous restaurants – including two fish & chipperies almost next to each other – we tried both and both passed the Jamie Docker Fish Test for taste!!

A perfect anchorage in Paradise!!

There is a fenced swimming pool area, yes, we did have a swim, with shower and toilets, BBQ and playground – all of which are extremely well used. And, it seems almost everyone on the Gold Coast has a dog and a penchant for exercise whether running, walking or Tai Chi - even as early as 5.30am!!

Derek and Debbie took us on a “tiki tour” one day and very kindly loaned us their car another which made the shopping trip a breeze (well, physically – Jamie never thinks of shopping as a “breeze” unless it is a marine/hardware shop!!).

This is an absolute haven for jetskis and fast motorboats - some of which have kept us well entertained with their antics.

Whilst here we have found crew for the Tasman crossing, although we did not end up with a couple, which was our first intention, we are pleased to have joining us on board, two singles – Philip and Lynette. Phil, from Adelaide, South Australia, has a lovely looking 43ft wooden Gaff rigged cutter which he sails around the gulf area there. Lyn is part-owner of a Lightwave 38ft catamaran which is currently in Malaysia. Both came to SOL one Tuesday evening and we enjoyed a “getting to know you” meal together. They will meet us down in Coffs Harbour a few days before we leave.

As part of our preparation for the Tasman we have purchased a life raft – which we hope never to have to use. Murphy’s Law would say that if we didn’t have one……. So… I hope we have appeased Murphy!! We also got these natty little MOB watches – the crew on watch – two at each time, will wear these which are set up to an alarm on the boat (app on phones and ipad) that if the wearer gets out of a certain range for 8 seconds the alarm sounds like a fire siren, the best vessel to save you in a man overboard situation is the one closest to you – the mothership.

I also made us a Q Flag - this is a flag which you are required to fly upon entering a foreign port to alert Customs and Immigration of your arrival and must be flown until they have cleared you and your boat. The "Q" stands for Quarantine, of course!!

Q Flag to be flown on entry to foreign ports

We took a few days break from Tasman Prep with a visit from Grace and Cal who drove up from Victoria for an extended weekend. They left home about 4am Friday morning and after a mere 19hrs drive we dinghied them to SOL.

South Stradbroke Island, seaward side

Saturday dawned yet another perfect Queensland day and we had been invited to join Ian Cooper and friends at Dux Anchorage on South Stradbroke Island for a pot-luck curry evening hosted by the Southport Yacht Club. Delicious food and lovely people, a great night was had by all. We walked over the island to the seaward side and spotted some whales in the distance putting on their usual show for our benefit.

We have been incredibly persistent with our fishing endeavours, and, incredibly unlucky. Grace managed to hook a catfish and then Cal and I hooked what we described as eels - we have later discovered that these very sharp toothed, long shiny creatures are what is known as Hairtail, and the ones we caught were between 1 and 2 metres long, with the most horrendous teeth. We were very happy to return all to the sea.

Sunday – what has happened to the perfect Queensland weather – it was grey, overcast and moody looking. We decided to take a trip out the Gold Coast Seaway and give Grace and Cal a real taste of this sailing life. It is not always flat calm as they soon discovered!!

Yes, I had to include the "skipper picture"

Cal and Jamie hoisted the reefed mainsail and with just half the jib out we were soon flying along in 20knots. We saw some dolphins and more whales then, luckily, they had put in the third reef by mistake, not the second, as within a very short time we had 30-35knots and turning back to shore we flew through the seaway entrance under sail. Exhilarating!!

By this stage the rain was coming down in bucketloads, nice to wash the salt from the boat but not so pleasant for visitors, but we had a great time indoors playing boardgames before going to a nice restaurant for dinner (thanks children). Monday was still wet, but who cares really, Cal’s mum came down from Brisbane for a quick visit which was great – we hadn’t seen her since Grace and Cal’s wedding two years ago. Then Grace and Cal threw out the fishing lines again - Grace managed to catch a nice crab on her line which we later enjoyed as a snack. And the day ended with MacKenzie, a mate of Cal’s also coming aboard. They left around 5pm to make the journey back to Victoria – a long drive again but with plans to stop en route for the night should be fine – sadly they collided with a kangaroo on the way and although they damaged their car it was still driveable. As always, it is so nice to have the children visit with us and sad they must leave.

We also are leaving this Paradise Point, after a farewell breakfast with Derek and Debbie we will leave tomorrow for Yamba/Iluka, sailing overnight on the next leg of our way south.

BoatWorks works...

Wednesday 20th September

Mooloolaba beach - outside the harbour

We spent about a week at Mooloolaba, just hanging on our anchor in the harbour outside the houses of some of the rich and famous – or the wannabes.

We hid from some nasty weather, visiting the library and using the free Wi-Fi there. Walking the streets and looking in the shop windows.

What do we do if the weather is not good for sailing - new mat for cockpit made!!

When we had a good weather window we decided to brave the exit – huh – this time it was flat calm – what was the worry coming in?? There was no problem leaving – maybe Mooloolaba was pleased for us to go.

Next stop Brisbane.

Tree I liked on Coochiemudlo

We sailed down to Moreton Bay and made our way through the many sandbanks to spend our first night just south of Tangalooma at Koungunai where we spent a peaceful night, before going further south – initially thinking we would anchor for the night at Peel Island which we had been told was a great place to anchor – but – so had about a hundred other boats!!! So we continued around to Coochiemudlo Island, a real gem of an anchorage, with just another twenty boats sharing it with us. We went ashore and walked around this little island just off the coast, serviced by many ferries – who would want to live in the city if they could live here I wondered.

Leaving Coochie (as the locals call it), a few days later, we headed south towards the Gold Coast. Passing Macleay Island and Russell Island we had to pass under some power lines – it is rather daunting to try to judge distance from below – the lines looked so close – like we would hit them with our mast as we passed underneath – but luckily (obviously) we didn’t. We weaved our way down past Tabby Tabby Island and made our way to Paradise Point, anchoring between Sovereign and Ephraim Islands.

A tad disconcerting to pass under these!! - powerlines at Rocky Point

These islands are manmade, gated communities which are joined to the mainland by bridges, with guarded security gates to keep out the riff-raff. These are truly the residences of the rich and famous – Sovereign Island being made up of multimillion dollar houses that are as big as the blocks they sit on whereas Ephraim Island is luxury apartments. We did walk across the bridge to Ephraim Island but obviously not looking either rich or famous enough the gates did not open for us!!!

We have caught up with old friends of mine from my teenage years in New Zealand, Derek and Debbie, who live on their boat here on the Gold Coast, and it has been great to see them. Back in the early 80's they bought a yacht and sailed through the Caribbean, the Panama Canal and across the Pacific - during this time having their first baby!! They are super friends, and although we have not been in constant contact over the last 30 years the friendship is as strong. Derek has just been using an excellent looking product to paint on a part of his deck – KiwiGrip (of course) and so we have decided that we will do the same to re-antislip areas which have worn out on our decks before the Tasman crossing. Consequently the next couple of days are spent preparing then painting and now we are (hopefully) assured we will not be leaving the boat (unless we want to) during the passage to New Zealand.

Next stop – The BoatWorks. And I am in love. Well, in a manner of speaking.

Sea-lift getting ready to lift SOL

Up the Coomera River we went, passing many more incredibly large houses to The BoatWorks. This is a marina and haulout area set up and owned by Tony Longhurst (the ex V8 supercar driver) and boy has he done it well. If we ever haulout again I would like it to be as easy and stress-free as this. The boys are waiting to take your lines on approach and the docksides are padded to prevent damage to your boat. We were lifted, not in a sling, but from underneath, and so very calmly moved to a spot in the yard.

Now you may think that going into a marina berth is akin to going into your local supermarket carpark in your Corolla – HUH – not so…imagine your nice little vehicle is a B-Double truck, and the carpark full – with just one space over in the far corner with a Mercedes one side and a BMW the other. You think I’m joking, don’t you, but remember we are 12 metres long and seven metres wide, and the steering wheel is down the back, on the left so you can’t quite see the front right quarter. So, throw in the effects of wind and tide – now do you know what I mean??

Anyway. Back to the BoatWorks. On Wednesday morning we motored up to their dock which had about a foot width of lovely cushioning all around, where two guys held SOL secure while another moved the “lifting machine” into place. The “lifting machine” is kind of like an enormous forklift, hugely padded, which is moved in under the boat while it is in the water and then, by remote control, they simply take it up and out. None of the nerve-wracking watching as your home swings precariously in a couple of webbing straps high in the air, as it moves to the hard. So easy. Even going back into the water was simple – just before SOL reached the water the boys wheeled up a set of steps and Jamie and I climbed aboard, the machine then moved us back to the water where we simply started the engines and motored away. Too easy.

We were met by Craig Humphries, who was to fix our rudders. We had a bit of a problem for sure – one that necessitated the use of a great deal of force and a sledge hammer!!! to remove the very seized up rudders for repair. The job we expected to take a couple of days, however, was completed in just one, and we were back in the water by lunchtime Thursday. Great job, Craig and Dylan.

The service from everyone we encountered at the BoatWorks was tremendous, the yard is pristine, as are the facilities, with a free laundry (a total bonus), a coffee and muffin voucher, courtesy car, and then on departure – a cap and stubby holder in an extremely useful duffle bag.

Thank you BoatWorks.

Wide Bay Bar ...

Monday 4th September 2017

Wind, thunder, lightning and rain before bed last night – woke to an absolutely calm anchorage this morning – how is that so? It felt like we were going to be blown away last night then with no warning it stops.

We are anchored in Tin Can Bay, just off Norman Point, along with what appears to be a whole city of other boats of all descriptions – some looking like they are just able to remain afloat by sheer good luck!!

An example of one boat anchored near us at Norman Point

We are waiting here until we get a good weather window to hop across the “Bar” and continue south.

The Wide Bay Bar apparently is one of the top 10 worst bar crossings in the world, and we are understandably a little apprehensive having never crossed a bar of any sort before – let alone one as infamous as this.

We do all the right things though, we go into the Coastguard office and get our copy of the Notices to Mariners with the latest waypoints for us to follow, if we deviate from the route set out by these waypoints we could be in trouble. These waypoints we enter into our chartplotter as well as isailor on the ipad, and also onto our paper chart – backup, backup, backup. We are also told the best time to leave is around 2hrs before high tide with a light swell. Looks like Monday is the day, especially as we will also have winds from a northerly direction to take us down towards Mooloolaba and Brisbane.

So with a few days to kill we spend time at the library – (time to organise our taxes) – and the libraries have great free wifi for us to use to our advantage. We also do the laundry and get groceries, even sneak into the local caravan park showers and put some colour through my hair!! A huge bonus here in Tin Can Bay is a place called "The Snack Shack" - the best deal for fish and chips we have found anywhere - fish, chips and salad under $10 - and super delicious!! We had lunches and dinner here the whole of our stay.

Cute snuggle sack completed !!

We have recently placed ads looking for an interested couple to sail with us to New Zealand, it is too far for us to do this length trip on our own so have turned to the internet for help and a couple would mean always two people on watch allowing the other two sleep and relax time with no hassles over cabin space, (SOL having a spare double cabin and a spare single). We have two months before our anticipated departure from Australia and have decided at this stage that we will sally forth from Coffs Harbour – all the ducks lining up that is, and the journey should take us 7 to 10 days. So, the ads are placed – now we just await responses – strangely enough the bulk of the response comes from singles in far flung places – we have had interest from Germany, Greece, Spain to name a few.

Had a message from Grace the other day – “Mum, Charli (her neighbour) and Ash just had a baby boy, can you knit it something???”  So, got the knitting needles clacking away and have a cute wee baby sleeping sack ready to post – woo hoo, how clever am I??? Took a few days but it was fun – especially as we have had no luck with the fishing lately so haven’t even bothered to throw the line out – best change that attitude, Mrs Docker, can’t expect fish to jump on the line if it is not baited and in the water, can you.

As well, with time on our side we made a cute little mat for just outside the cockpit door from rope - pretty flash we think...

Well, Monday dawned calm and clear, we watched as the flotilla of waiting yachts commenced the bar crossing and joined in, having followed all the “P’s” we should be right (Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance) …. And we were – the bar crossing went without a hitch – in fact it could almost be termed a doddle and we were soon sailing along with a good wind down to Mooloolaba.

Sadly, our good luck fell away somewhere between Double Island Point and Noosa Heads as that is when Otto, our (obviously not so) trustworthy Auto Pilot decided to throw a massive tantrum and cease working which meant we had to hand steer for 6 hours, not a big deal but having gotten used to Otto taking the helm it was a bit of a change. With the wind behind us we were flying along and reached our top speed so far – 15.8knots boat speed !!! woooo!!!!!

Entering the harbour at Mooloolaba was actually more hairy than crossing the bar – the wind was now between 20 and 25kn and blowing straight in the entrance, the steering was really heavy – like the rudders were jammed – the tide was almost low and there was about a 2metre swell – it took about 7 seconds only to get in – but seven seconds of hell. The daylight was fast fading as we dropped our anchor in the crowded area allocated past the marina, for boats to anchor. We would look at the steering tomorrow – right now another "bar" needed to be dealt with – we sat and enjoyed a nice glass of red.

Great Sandy Straits ...

Dinner for days!!!

Wednesday 23^rd August

Yes – they do still exist – fish I am talking about. As a farewell to Hervey Bay we today landed two very nice sized Spotted Mackerel. Cleaned and in the freezer we have about ten fish meals – yum, yum, yum.

We spent the next few days down anchored outside the Kingfisher Eco Resort, a really great place for visiting boaters as you can dinghy ashore, and with the blessing of the staff, can use the pool (they even gave us towels) and the showers. They payoff I suppose is that you could be expected to also utilise the restaurant and bar facilities as well – maybe???

We walked all around the resort and environs – going up to Dundonga Creek and the Northern Lookout one day and then south to McKenzies Jetty and the WW2 Commando School the next. McKenzies Jetty is a ruin now – but was built for the logging trade on Fraser Island around the 1920’s and closed in 1937, not before hundreds of thousands of trees had been removed. 

During the second world war one of Australia’s most famous military commando units – Z Force – trained on Fraser Island, based near the ruins of McKenzies Jetty. A story we heard was the men were required to canoe up to Maryborough and plant explosive charges – unseen – and if they were seen they had to complete the task again until they had achieved this goal – the distance to Maryborough is about 25 nautical miles – a nautical mile is nearly 2 kilometres so it would have been a hell of a challenge.

Visiting the wreck of the Palmer in Deep Creek

Next beautiful anchorage was between two creeks at South White Cliffs – Ceratodus Creek and Deep Creek, both having a resident wreck - the Ceratodus and the Palmer, both rusting hulks remain totally visible and inviting a closer look so we dinghied over. Originally built in Scotland in 1898 the Ceratodus was used to carry sand in the Great Sandy Straits back in the 1940’s – the fine white sand highly prized for iron casting. Not far up Deep Creek lie the remains of the Palmer, back in the day the Palmer plied the coast as a sugar steamer. Deep Creek may have been a deep creek once, but now is shallow and mangrove encroach from both sides as we puttered up to the wreck. We have become so used to the crystal clear waters that we have been anchoring in for the last few months it is going to be a shock when that changes.

So, south to Garry’s Anchorage – very calm water, secluded even though there were another dozen or so boats spread out along the narrow waterway. Then down to Pelican Bay, just inside the Wide Bay Bar and Inskip Point.

A lovely anchorage, Garry's Anchorage, Great Sandy Straits

“oh, you must go to Pelican Bay, it’s a lovely place to anchor, one of my favourites” said a lady on a bus in Urangan one day.  We dinghied ashore and walked around from almost Rainbow Beach to Inskip Point climbing through the incredibly soft sand on the dunes and walking along the really windswept shore, seeing the many 4WD vehicles lining up to catch the barge to Fraser Island and getting our first look at “The Bar” the very notorious bar at the southern entrance of the Great Sandy Straits.

*note to self – do not believe all you hear from random ladies on the bus – it was a terrible anchorage - oh, it was sheltered for sure but getting in and out was not for the fainthearted - the water was filthy, with thick black oozy mud, probably would be a good place in a storm – once you got the anchor set in that mud it wasn’t going to be moving any time soon. But we were not anticipating a storm so thankfully we unplugged our anchor from the thick black goo and left on the high tide next morning. Next stop Tin Can Bay.

Life is Good...

What a wonderful life we lead.

It is hard to believe that just 4 months have passed since we drove out the gate of Melrose and flew up to Townsville to SOL. In that time, we have sailed up to the Palm Islands, back down to Magnetic Islands, to the Whitsundays, Scawfell, Brampton, Percy, the Keppel’s, out to Lady Musgrave, down to Hervey Bay and many other stops between – and this is just the start of our journey. There is so much to see and do and we are just touching the surface.

Up close and personal !!

We were joined for 5 more days of fabulous Hervey Bay whale watching the next weekend

by Helen (an old friend of 25 years) and her partner, Andrew – and the whale shows just keep on getting better – I think they are beginning to recognise SOL and so are becoming more curious about us and venturing even closer, one came almost within touching distance!!! More fishing was done – not terribly successfully, maybe the fish are recognising us as well and keeping away!! We had a superb time and when we dropped them back at Urangan on the following Wednesday they both said it was the best and most amazing experience they’d ever had.

Lilly's cabin all ready

Thursday, we entered the Great Sandy Straits Marina – we had a berth here for the night as Dolly and Lilly were coming up, flying to Brisbane from Adelaide their plane didn’t get in until 8pm so we had hired a car to pick them up – we wouldn’t get back to the boat until midnight. Phil had told Jamie he was unable to come as work was too busy at the moment. Jamie and I had had a great time getting Lilly’s cabin ready for her – the way grandparents do – and all was set. Arriving at the airport we found a good vantage spot to watch passengers disembark from the plane – I was in a good spot to watch Jamie’s face as Phil came through the door - we had kept that secret well!!

With the weather not expected to be so good for the next few days, by midday we were headed out into the bay, spotting a few pods of whales on our way to where we had figured would be an ideal place to sit out some windy days. We entered Lagoon Anchorage – or Wathumba Creek, an interesting place with an even more interesting entrance – zigzagging through some very shallow water just before the high tide and easing our way up the creek (me nervously eyeing the depth sounder as the water beneath our hulls got less and less) to a spot where at the low tide the creek dries out and SOL would be left sitting on a sandbank, we’d never beached her before, and although we knew that with her style of hulls she should just sit flat and comfortable on the soft sandy bottom it was a huge relief to find that that is exactly what she did!!

Although it was cool for Hervey Bay (it was way warmer than Adelaide right now) – what’s the first thing an excited 4yr old want to do when we are anchored?? Swim of course!! So, it was on with the togs and over the back (with a rope tied to her life jacket so she didn’t float away) – this was her idea of the perfect holiday. Also on her agenda was a dinghy ride.

We spent the next three nights in the lagoon - with Lilly paddling in the shallows around SOL as the tide went out. We walked along the sandbanks and marvelled at the millions of blue soldier crabs that appeared as the water receded, and how they dug their holes by turning around in circles churning up those perfectly round little balls of sand which they left on the surface in amazing patterns as they disappeared to safety below.

A pelican, a map of Australia and a seahorse made in the sand by the little crabs

Crossing the ridge separating us from the main part of the bay and walking along the beach with the wind flicking the sand up with such force it stung your arms and legs we were very happy we had found the calm of the lagoon where it was comfortable enough to take Lil out for rides in the dinghy – out there it sure wasn’t!!

Some hours were spent setting up the Delorme InReach – a satellite tracking system which tracks us and sends a message with our position. The children had put in and gotten one of these rather expensive little technological beauties for Jamie and my birthdays. Now they could know where we were no matter where we were, it would be especially useful when we crossed the Tasman and went further afield.

Dolly in her "hammock"

We spent many hours casting lines off the back of the boat – with not a lot of success, but much fun and laughter, Dolly caught a stingray and we hooked some small fish, (and the anchor more than once) most of which we put back, keeping the biggest for dinner one night – nothing beats fresh fish.

Captain Lilly takes the helm

Monday morning the wind had dropped and we eased our way out of the lagoon into the bay for some serious whale watching before having to go back to the Great Sandy Straits Marina for the night as Phil, Dolly and Lilly had to leave for Adelaide again.

Time flies when you’re having fun – and the sadly last few days sure flew by.