Last Monday, 24 July, we sailed across the Tropic of Capricorn, marked by a dotted line in the ocean. Well, it was on the map anyway …..
It was at about this point that we discovered a stowaway on board by the name of Paddington, or some such other pseudonym.
When we found him, he certainly wasn’t shy, and demanded to have his photo taken going over the Tropic.
We spent our first night out from Gladstone at Great Keppel Island, along with about 30 other boats anchored in the bay there. We thought the island (and the resort) were highly over-rated, but the island did have lovely white sand.
We had lunch at the resort at Great Keppel, well, the seafood pizza that we managed to eat in between fighting off the lorrikeets. Beautiful birds, but quite agressive in their search for food.
We left Keppel at 3 o’clock in the morning, and had a mixed sail heading north, with a stop at the Cannibal Group of islands (I wonder why Cook named them the Cannibal Group???). Next was a stop at Curlew Island.
On our day north from there, we had a very quiet run in to MacKay, apart from passing another 20 or so freighters anchored in the bay waiting to load up with coal. A bonus that day was that we saw more dolphins, and also two whales – a Mum and her baby – and we hope to see a lot more as we hear they are pretty common around these waters at the moment.
The freighters might be a bit hard to see in this photo, but I think you'll get the idea of how they are all lined up on the horizon.
We are now safely ensconced at Mackay and have just finished provisioning for the Whitsundays as we hear it’s very expensive there. We are a bit concerned that we have spent more on liquid supplies than food! We hope the former lasts longer than the latter!!!!
Mackay is really taking off. It’s going the same way as SE Queensland; the population is increasing at quite a rate. The taxi driver today told us 1500 people a month are moving to the city. Shane even noticed the difference in the city from when he was here a year ago.
We pick up Cushla from Hamilton Island on Saturday and look forward to a week cruising with her around the Whitsundays. The weather continues to be lovely and warm (average 25 degrees during the day) and we managed to find a pub to watch the rugby – with sound – on Saturday. Yay – the AB’s. We watched the game with a couple from Bluff – Helen and Ian – who are making their way up the coast in their boat. We are following similar tracks so no doubt will bump into them again.
It’s all been a bit of a rush up to now – having to get to places to meet people by a certain date – so we are now looking forward to a very leisurely passage around the Whitsundays. Clear blue waters, white sand, sun, and leisurely days will be us for the next little while …..
By the way, this is what the boat looks like from 50 feet up, at the top of the mast. If you look real closely at the photo, you'll be able to see the pained look on Heather's face, having winched Shane to the top ...... 
3 comments:
Good to see you are having fun. Still shite weather in Wellington!
May the sun always be over the yardarm!
Mole.
Great to read about your travels but you haven't put just how Heather is coping on the deep blue. Does she have a (chuck) bucket tied to her waist? Anyhow, say hello to those lovely Whitsundays and a bigger hello to Shute Harbour, a place of many memories............!
OK OK OK, so I forgot to put my name on to my screed. Just the same as the four fire reports that Shane forgot to complete before he left!
Doug
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