09 March, 2007
01 March, 2007
27 February, 2007
At last, dolphins that have a bit of life in them. As son as we hit the NSW boarder, it seems like a new bread of dolphins, more like back home where they come around and ride the bow wave. These ones which where part of a pod of about 15 or so hung around for about 20 minutes. Well long enough that I went back to reading my book anyway. Haven’t quite figured out how they knew where the boarder was but it was great to have them.
Still plenty of coal coming out of this country, leaving Newcastle we must of sailed for over 4 hours through coaliers, we gave up counting at 30 plus, and this is just one of about 4 areas where they export coal, mostly to China but also Japan and Korea. Funny that Aussy is probably one of the more susceptible countries to global warming and here they are exporting one of the main causes. Ah karma. It’s a HUGE topic of the press and conversation over here at the moment what with the big dry. Mind you when the draught breaks so will the interest in global warming probably.
And so it was that we finally made to Sydney on a grey old day. I must admit it’s pretty cool sailing into Sydney harbour. It’s one of those things that not that many people get to do and it really is a magnificent harbour but hell, it’s got some traffic, especially on the weekend.
Still, nothing compared with Singapore I’m sure,s as we shall find out latter this year. We are really starting to get excited about leaving Aus and really starting the adventure. It does still kind of feel like home here, especially when it seem like half the people you met are Kiwis. Meet two more couples today at Manly that have yachts registered in Mooloolaba, Aucklanders and south islanders. Anyway the real offshore will all start when we do the Darwin to Kupang (Indonesia) rally at the end of July. Then up to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia which from all accounts is just fantastic. Anyway, back to Sydney. We timed it to arrive here for Australia day which is a huge affair here with Aussy flags everywhere and on everybody, hats, shirts, pants, babies etc, etc. Still it was a great day with lots happening. We met up with some fellow yachties we had meet in Brisbane and watched all the events on the harbour, which was a total madhouse, from the safety of shore. They had a tall ships race amongst other events which was really impressive finishing under the harbour bridge, of course. Needless to say there was another fireworks display in Darling harbour that night. It did all give you pause to compare the celebration here to Waitangi day back home. Something is definatly missing in how we celebrate our identity, actually we don’t, that’s what’s missing.
Oh by the way, this is a two parter as we can only get four photos per blog, so carry on with the blog below.
Still plenty of coal coming out of this country, leaving Newcastle we must of sailed for over 4 hours through coaliers, we gave up counting at 30 plus, and this is just one of about 4 areas where they export coal, mostly to China but also Japan and Korea. Funny that Aussy is probably one of the more susceptible countries to global warming and here they are exporting one of the main causes. Ah karma. It’s a HUGE topic of the press and conversation over here at the moment what with the big dry. Mind you when the draught breaks so will the interest in global warming probably.
And so it was that we finally made to Sydney on a grey old day. I must admit it’s pretty cool sailing into Sydney harbour. It’s one of those things that not that many people get to do and it really is a magnificent harbour but hell, it’s got some traffic, especially on the weekend.
Still, nothing compared with Singapore I’m sure,s as we shall find out latter this year. We are really starting to get excited about leaving Aus and really starting the adventure. It does still kind of feel like home here, especially when it seem like half the people you met are Kiwis. Meet two more couples today at Manly that have yachts registered in Mooloolaba, Aucklanders and south islanders. Anyway the real offshore will all start when we do the Darwin to Kupang (Indonesia) rally at the end of July. Then up to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia which from all accounts is just fantastic. Anyway, back to Sydney. We timed it to arrive here for Australia day which is a huge affair here with Aussy flags everywhere and on everybody, hats, shirts, pants, babies etc, etc. Still it was a great day with lots happening. We met up with some fellow yachties we had meet in Brisbane and watched all the events on the harbour, which was a total madhouse, from the safety of shore. They had a tall ships race amongst other events which was really impressive finishing under the harbour bridge, of course. Needless to say there was another fireworks display in Darling harbour that night. It did all give you pause to compare the celebration here to Waitangi day back home. Something is definatly missing in how we celebrate our identity, actually we don’t, that’s what’s missing.
Oh by the way, this is a two parter as we can only get four photos per blog, so carry on with the blog below.
Hello again. The couple we met at Brisbane that we did the Aus day stuff with may well feature a few times as they have the same kind of itinerery as us from here, that is back up the coast late April and onto the Darwin rally so here they are, Patrick and Elizabeth, very experienced, been at it since 93.
We often dine and or drink on each others yachts as is the custom with yachties we are finding, very social. Actually we have met several boats who intend doing the same rally so it will probably be a big bunch of friends (about 100 yachts) getting pissed together at each end interrupted with a bit of cruising inbetween. Sounds good to us!
Sydney has been great and we have been very busy taking in the sights. We found a travel pass that gets you around for a week with all buses, ferries and trains in the Red Zone, no not like the one at the rugby sevens, for $33. Great value, so we have taken in the Nautical museum, fantastic, the Sydney museum, great display of the building of the bridge, Olympic stadium, Aquarium, Bondi, Manly, movies, and general café hopping, not to mention the Ice bar. One of those things where everything is made of ice, well nearly everything, the walls and the roof weren’t, buh the rest was, glasses, tables and carvings. Entry included your “free cocktail”, vodka of course which was really yummy.
At the aquarium Heather got really brave and patted a shark, OK so it wasn’t a really big one, nor particually hungry but I’m sure it could of done some serious damage to her nail polish if it so choose!
Most of the time we are anchored in Balls head bay which gives us good access to the train and an easy row to shore, Pat and Elizabeth are here as well. Most of the time it is very calm and we have a peep of the bridge just above the trees.
We have occasionally strayed, a couple of nights at Manly, just a short walk for a surf, and a weekend on a mooring while I assisted on a Landmark course and Heath caught up with her cousin south of the city. It was a pretty rocky mooring but was safe to leave the boat there and is where we will be leaving the boat when we come home, this week. Friday 23rd. Hopefully the weather has fined up at last for us.
Till next time,
Shane and Heather
We often dine and or drink on each others yachts as is the custom with yachties we are finding, very social. Actually we have met several boats who intend doing the same rally so it will probably be a big bunch of friends (about 100 yachts) getting pissed together at each end interrupted with a bit of cruising inbetween. Sounds good to us!
Sydney has been great and we have been very busy taking in the sights. We found a travel pass that gets you around for a week with all buses, ferries and trains in the Red Zone, no not like the one at the rugby sevens, for $33. Great value, so we have taken in the Nautical museum, fantastic, the Sydney museum, great display of the building of the bridge, Olympic stadium, Aquarium, Bondi, Manly, movies, and general café hopping, not to mention the Ice bar. One of those things where everything is made of ice, well nearly everything, the walls and the roof weren’t, buh the rest was, glasses, tables and carvings. Entry included your “free cocktail”, vodka of course which was really yummy.
At the aquarium Heather got really brave and patted a shark, OK so it wasn’t a really big one, nor particually hungry but I’m sure it could of done some serious damage to her nail polish if it so choose!
Most of the time we are anchored in Balls head bay which gives us good access to the train and an easy row to shore, Pat and Elizabeth are here as well. Most of the time it is very calm and we have a peep of the bridge just above the trees.
We have occasionally strayed, a couple of nights at Manly, just a short walk for a surf, and a weekend on a mooring while I assisted on a Landmark course and Heath caught up with her cousin south of the city. It was a pretty rocky mooring but was safe to leave the boat there and is where we will be leaving the boat when we come home, this week. Friday 23rd. Hopefully the weather has fined up at last for us.
Till next time,
Shane and Heather
15 January, 2007
14 January 2007
Happy New Year to everyone – and whoops, it’s been over a month since we last ‘blogged’ so sorry for the tardiness on our part. Christmas festivities and all have a lot to answer for…….. You must all be hanging with baited breath for our next instalment, so here goes….
We are now in the marina at Coffs Harbour on the NSW coast, having come in here to get a couple of things fixed on the boat. On our trip south the engine started overheating (turned out the impeller in the raw water pump was totally knackered) and the hot water cylinder had been leaking for a few days.
Back to what we have been up to. We spent our time in Brisbane – one week at the marina at Rivergate (on the Brisbane River near the Gateway Bridge) and four weeks on a pile mooring next to the Botanical Gardens right in the middle of the city. The week at the marina was necessitated by what we thought were major engine problems. It turned out to be nothing more serious than an airlock, but we used the time at the marina to get two solar panels installed. Shane reckons we need one more solar panel, and along with the wind generator we already have, we should be sweet for power to the batteries. At the marina we also pulled out our small engine (used for topping up the batteries). It wasn’t terribly well and would have cost a lot to get fixed. Getting rid of it has probably made the boat about 300 kgs lighter. Mind you, the cases of wine we have on board have negated some of that!!!
Our time on the pile mooring was great. We met some really nice yachties there, who helped me celebrate when the birthday fairy visited just before Christmas. I had a really nice day; brunch at a local café late morning, a very relaxing facial in the afternoon, and drinkies and pizza at night, followed by more drinkies aboard ‘Irene’ (the yacht of English couple Dick and Pat). Another highlight on the piles was that we have got hot water on the boat! Shane hooked up the hot water cylinder to the engine (prior to that it was running off 110v power) and so now I can do the dishes without having to boil the jug, and we can have hot water for showers (without having to rely on solar showers). GREAT!!!!!!
I insisted that we have a Christmas tree on the boat, and managed to find a small Christmas tree that we decorated with small Father Christmases. They were bought from one of the $2 type-shops and therefore the workmanship wasn’t outstanding. One of the Father Christmases didn’t have any eyes, so in one of his lighter moments, Shane made a white stick and attached it to Santa’s hand!! We had the tree on our dining table, with our presents around the bottom of the tree and Christmas cards hung around the cabin. At least Enzwell was a little Christmassy.
Christmas Day for us was fairly quiet. Lots of phone calls home in the morning (to catch up with friends and family around lunchtime NZ-time) and then we were off for our Christmas lunch at a nearby hotel. When Shane made the booking, he asked what the menu was (we wanted to afford ‘buffet style’ at all costs). They told him it was six-course, and that we would hardly be able to move at the end. They were right! The second course was an antipasto platter that would have fed us both as a main course by itself. We then struggled through the main course and dessert, before conceding defeat. We left the restaurant with a doggy-bag containing courses five and six – which we enjoyed the next day!
SE Queensland has had unusually cold and wet weather over the holiday period, so Wellington, you haven’t got the bad weather on your own. It was 19 degrees in Brisbane on Dec 27th, the coldest it has been on that day for over 80 years. We caught up on a few movies we wanted to see while the weather wasn’t great. We didn’t mind the cool weather too much; better than it being stifling hot. Brisbane is big on fireworks, and New Years Eve was no exception. We invited Marj and Wayne on to the boat – they were our moteliers when we first got to Brisbane, and we have enjoyed their hospitality during the year so it was time to reciprocate. It was like State Highway One in the afternoon and early evening as everyone in Brisbane with a launch headed up the river to get a good vantage point for the fireworks. We decided not to watch the fireworks from the tender – far too much traffic on the river – but instead walked to the Goodwill Bridge ten minutes away from the yacht and had a good view from there.
Enzwell hosted farewell drinks on January 1, and we set sail the next day to head south. We had five nights on the inland route between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Because the waterways are inland, and therefore relatively calm, there are a lot of houseboats on the Gold Coast. They look a bit like a Skyline garage on a barge! We saw heaps of them; they looked quite funny after we have been used to seeing yachts.
The Gold Coast would also have to have one of the highest jet-ski per person ratios that we have come across. Some launches we saw were towing a tender, plus a couple of jet-skis. Nothing like taking all the toys away when you go on holiday! We went ashore our last day in Surfers to head to the markets at Carrara. We got back to the tender late in the afternoon, to find someone had pinched one of our oars. I don’t suppose that it’s too bad considering it took six months for us to have something stolen. There was a rave-party/music festival on further up the coast, and it is possible that someone on their way there took it for a laugh and threw it away further up the beach. I had a good walk along the shoreline but didn’t find it. Shane managed to get a surf in while we were on the Gold Coast, but a strong on-shore wind meant that his dreams of a good surf didn’t eventuate. He’ll have to wait until we get to Sydney.
Last Sunday we left the Gold Coast Seaway and were into the Tasman Sea. It was nice to be sailing again! A planned 24 hour trip down the NSW coast to the Clarence River only took us 15 hours due to the strong current we had with us. It meant though that we were coming over the bar entry at midnight – a little scary entering an unknown bar for the first time at night! Luckily it was near a full moon, and the Clarence River bar is one of the best on the coast.
We picked the eyes out of the weather, as the day after we came into the Clarence River, a squall came up, and it would have been fairly scary sailing and coming over the bar in that weather. We had two days at Ilkua, going for a walk through their heritage-listed rainforest. Looked pretty much like dry bush to us…….. It certainly wasn’t how I remember the last rainforest I was in (the Daintree Rainforest in far north Queensland a few years back). We had two nights up the Clarence River anchored in the river at Maclean, which is known as the “Scottish Town in Australia”. To get there (and back), we had to go under the bridge at Harwood. The centre of the bridge lifts up; there we were, stopping traffic on the Pacific Highway between Sydney and Brisbane so that the centre of the bridge could lift up for us to go underneath!
Maclean is a lovely little town; there is evidence of their Scottish heritage everywhere. Each of the lampposts in the main street is painted with the tartan of a different clan. Lots of the shops sell Scottish souvenirs, and the butcher sells black pudding. I was tempted…..!
There are lots of trawler boats operating in the Clarence River. They trawl for ‘schoolies’ – tiny little prawns. Probably the reason they are tiny is that the river appears to be obscenely over fished, and the prawns don’t get a chance to grow big. Due to the boats, lots of birdlike is attracted to the river, to get the pickings of what the trawler boats throw overboard. One of the birds must have mistaken us for a trawler boat, and hopped along for the ride as we were heading back down the river!
Our last night in the Clarence River on Thursday was spent at Yamba, a seaside town at the river entrance. Shane got to have a surf there, and given it was his birthday the following day (and we would be at sea) we went out for dinner in Yamba and went to the movies (Happy Feet).
We left Yamba on Friday and headed south for Coffs Harbour. We have got the problems sorted, and plan to leave here on Tuesday morning. NSW is certainly not as yachtie-friendly in terms of protected anchorages as was Queensland, so we will probably try and do a couple of long trips to knock off the miles. We plan to get to Sydney by January 26 which is Australia Day, as there is bound to be a lot happening on the harbour – including more fireworks! One thing we are enjoying in NSW is daylight saving; it is nice being able to sleep in past 0500 hours in the morning!
We will anchor in Sydney for a while, and then find a safe marina to leave ‘enzwell’ for three weeks when we come home in late February. We’re already planning what warm clothes we will bring home to wear; we have got very well acclimatised to the Australian weather and it is going to be a shock to the system to return to NZ!
That’s it for now – the next blog should come to you from Sydney.
Heather and Shane
Happy New Year to everyone – and whoops, it’s been over a month since we last ‘blogged’ so sorry for the tardiness on our part. Christmas festivities and all have a lot to answer for…….. You must all be hanging with baited breath for our next instalment, so here goes….
We are now in the marina at Coffs Harbour on the NSW coast, having come in here to get a couple of things fixed on the boat. On our trip south the engine started overheating (turned out the impeller in the raw water pump was totally knackered) and the hot water cylinder had been leaking for a few days.
Back to what we have been up to. We spent our time in Brisbane – one week at the marina at Rivergate (on the Brisbane River near the Gateway Bridge) and four weeks on a pile mooring next to the Botanical Gardens right in the middle of the city. The week at the marina was necessitated by what we thought were major engine problems. It turned out to be nothing more serious than an airlock, but we used the time at the marina to get two solar panels installed. Shane reckons we need one more solar panel, and along with the wind generator we already have, we should be sweet for power to the batteries. At the marina we also pulled out our small engine (used for topping up the batteries). It wasn’t terribly well and would have cost a lot to get fixed. Getting rid of it has probably made the boat about 300 kgs lighter. Mind you, the cases of wine we have on board have negated some of that!!!
Our time on the pile mooring was great. We met some really nice yachties there, who helped me celebrate when the birthday fairy visited just before Christmas. I had a really nice day; brunch at a local café late morning, a very relaxing facial in the afternoon, and drinkies and pizza at night, followed by more drinkies aboard ‘Irene’ (the yacht of English couple Dick and Pat). Another highlight on the piles was that we have got hot water on the boat! Shane hooked up the hot water cylinder to the engine (prior to that it was running off 110v power) and so now I can do the dishes without having to boil the jug, and we can have hot water for showers (without having to rely on solar showers). GREAT!!!!!!
I insisted that we have a Christmas tree on the boat, and managed to find a small Christmas tree that we decorated with small Father Christmases. They were bought from one of the $2 type-shops and therefore the workmanship wasn’t outstanding. One of the Father Christmases didn’t have any eyes, so in one of his lighter moments, Shane made a white stick and attached it to Santa’s hand!! We had the tree on our dining table, with our presents around the bottom of the tree and Christmas cards hung around the cabin. At least Enzwell was a little Christmassy.
Christmas Day for us was fairly quiet. Lots of phone calls home in the morning (to catch up with friends and family around lunchtime NZ-time) and then we were off for our Christmas lunch at a nearby hotel. When Shane made the booking, he asked what the menu was (we wanted to afford ‘buffet style’ at all costs). They told him it was six-course, and that we would hardly be able to move at the end. They were right! The second course was an antipasto platter that would have fed us both as a main course by itself. We then struggled through the main course and dessert, before conceding defeat. We left the restaurant with a doggy-bag containing courses five and six – which we enjoyed the next day!SE Queensland has had unusually cold and wet weather over the holiday period, so Wellington, you haven’t got the bad weather on your own. It was 19 degrees in Brisbane on Dec 27th, the coldest it has been on that day for over 80 years. We caught up on a few movies we wanted to see while the weather wasn’t great. We didn’t mind the cool weather too much; better than it being stifling hot. Brisbane is big on fireworks, and New Years Eve was no exception. We invited Marj and Wayne on to the boat – they were our moteliers when we first got to Brisbane, and we have enjoyed their hospitality during the year so it was time to reciprocate. It was like State Highway One in the afternoon and early evening as everyone in Brisbane with a launch headed up the river to get a good vantage point for the fireworks. We decided not to watch the fireworks from the tender – far too much traffic on the river – but instead walked to the Goodwill Bridge ten minutes away from the yacht and had a good view from there.
Enzwell hosted farewell drinks on January 1, and we set sail the next day to head south. We had five nights on the inland route between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Because the waterways are inland, and therefore relatively calm, there are a lot of houseboats on the Gold Coast. They look a bit like a Skyline garage on a barge! We saw heaps of them; they looked quite funny after we have been used to seeing yachts.
The Gold Coast would also have to have one of the highest jet-ski per person ratios that we have come across. Some launches we saw were towing a tender, plus a couple of jet-skis. Nothing like taking all the toys away when you go on holiday! We went ashore our last day in Surfers to head to the markets at Carrara. We got back to the tender late in the afternoon, to find someone had pinched one of our oars. I don’t suppose that it’s too bad considering it took six months for us to have something stolen. There was a rave-party/music festival on further up the coast, and it is possible that someone on their way there took it for a laugh and threw it away further up the beach. I had a good walk along the shoreline but didn’t find it. Shane managed to get a surf in while we were on the Gold Coast, but a strong on-shore wind meant that his dreams of a good surf didn’t eventuate. He’ll have to wait until we get to Sydney.Last Sunday we left the Gold Coast Seaway and were into the Tasman Sea. It was nice to be sailing again! A planned 24 hour trip down the NSW coast to the Clarence River only took us 15 hours due to the strong current we had with us. It meant though that we were coming over the bar entry at midnight – a little scary entering an unknown bar for the first time at night! Luckily it was near a full moon, and the Clarence River bar is one of the best on the coast.
We picked the eyes out of the weather, as the day after we came into the Clarence River, a squall came up, and it would have been fairly scary sailing and coming over the bar in that weather. We had two days at Ilkua, going for a walk through their heritage-listed rainforest. Looked pretty much like dry bush to us…….. It certainly wasn’t how I remember the last rainforest I was in (the Daintree Rainforest in far north Queensland a few years back). We had two nights up the Clarence River anchored in the river at Maclean, which is known as the “Scottish Town in Australia”. To get there (and back), we had to go under the bridge at Harwood. The centre of the bridge lifts up; there we were, stopping traffic on the Pacific Highway between Sydney and Brisbane so that the centre of the bridge could lift up for us to go underneath!
Maclean is a lovely little town; there is evidence of their Scottish heritage everywhere. Each of the lampposts in the main street is painted with the tartan of a different clan. Lots of the shops sell Scottish souvenirs, and the butcher sells black pudding. I was tempted…..!
There are lots of trawler boats operating in the Clarence River. They trawl for ‘schoolies’ – tiny little prawns. Probably the reason they are tiny is that the river appears to be obscenely over fished, and the prawns don’t get a chance to grow big. Due to the boats, lots of birdlike is attracted to the river, to get the pickings of what the trawler boats throw overboard. One of the birds must have mistaken us for a trawler boat, and hopped along for the ride as we were heading back down the river!Our last night in the Clarence River on Thursday was spent at Yamba, a seaside town at the river entrance. Shane got to have a surf there, and given it was his birthday the following day (and we would be at sea) we went out for dinner in Yamba and went to the movies (Happy Feet).
We left Yamba on Friday and headed south for Coffs Harbour. We have got the problems sorted, and plan to leave here on Tuesday morning. NSW is certainly not as yachtie-friendly in terms of protected anchorages as was Queensland, so we will probably try and do a couple of long trips to knock off the miles. We plan to get to Sydney by January 26 which is Australia Day, as there is bound to be a lot happening on the harbour – including more fireworks! One thing we are enjoying in NSW is daylight saving; it is nice being able to sleep in past 0500 hours in the morning!
We will anchor in Sydney for a while, and then find a safe marina to leave ‘enzwell’ for three weeks when we come home in late February. We’re already planning what warm clothes we will bring home to wear; we have got very well acclimatised to the Australian weather and it is going to be a shock to the system to return to NZ!
That’s it for now – the next blog should come to you from Sydney.
Heather and Shane
07 December, 2006
We made it back to Brisbane!
2 December
We’re back ! Back on the blog and back in Brisbane. We’ve been back for over a week now.. When we last wrote we were in Townsville and had done most of the bad sailing, well motoring actually. Since then the sailing has been pretty good really. A mixture of pleasant winds and calmish seas. Oh, I forgot, coming into Bunderberg was a tad tense. About 35-40 knots astern which was fine until we had to turn into the Bundy river, pitch black, howling wind on the beam with waves crashing over the side, trying to get some sail down and a couple of smaller motor boats puttering in at the same time that we had to watch out for. I must say radar is a great navigation aid in the dark. Still we made it in safely, anchored up the river a bit out of harms way and had a peaceful dinner about 9.30.
Then of course there was the lightning squall that hit us a couple of days later going down the Great Sandy Strait. That was impressive. The night before was lovely and calm but we awoke to a strong southerly, which meant we had to move from our once safe anchorage and head down the strait. As we left, the VHF radio station covering the area said they were shutting down due to a lightning storm. Apparently getting zapped down your antenna while broadcasting isn’t the done thing. We could see the lightning over the bay as well as hear it. It was amazing watching huge bolts strike the ground on the horizon. Unfortunately the horizon got nearer and nearer and it becomes less amazing as it started to hit all around us. When you start to see and hear massive explosions around you, along with sheet rain dropping your vision to about 100 metres, it gets a bit off-putting !! Given that getting a few million volts down your mast when you are sailing isn’t great for the electrics, we disconnected everything we could - batteries, radios, GPS, computers, radar etc. Here we are, lightning belting all around us, heavy squalls of rain and wind, in about 7 metres of water with sand banks all around. Time to drop the anchor and hunker down. After it had passed our immediate area we carried on, the only damage being that the surges appear to have knocked out our electronic wind direction indicator. Did I say the sailing had been pretty good? It’s amazing really because when it’s all over, you really do seem to forget it.
Since that storm it has been really nice. That night we stayed in Garry’s anchorage, which is very protected, and we watched as the lightning storm went on all day and into the night. Very impressive. That same storm brought big winds and storm damage to Brisbane, covered the MCG with hail and brought snow to NSW, it really was an “event” as they say.
The winds were staying southerly for a while so we holed up in a little town in Tin Can Bay where we managed to do our usual, have coffees, go to the markets and watch some sport at the pub. This time the Aussies beat the Poms in the league to put us in the final. (Sad story from then on.) Yet another nice wee town, very protected down the end of a long estuary, even had some tame dolphins that came for a feed every morning.
Seeing as the southerly had blown for a few days, by the time we left with a good forecast there were quite a few yachts doing the same and heading down to Mooloolaba. This was the first time we’ve really been able to gauge how the boat performs compared to other yachts and I must say we were pretty happy. For a 15 tonne plus steel cruiser we were able to pass some and hold our own with others, so that’s good. It was somewhere around here, about Great Sandy Strait, that we passed the 2000 nautical mile mark, so you could say we have sailed around NZ! From north cape down one coast, around Bluff, watching out for icebergs (are those things still around?) and back up the other side. I suppose that only goes to show how big Aussie really is. We haven’t even done all of one state!
.
One really nice place we stopped at on our way south was Middle Percy Island (in the Whitsundays). The scene when we arrived was of clear and blue waters, and a lovely white sandy beach with palm trees. Quite idyllic …… Shane tried to climb up one of the coconut trees to get some coconuts; after he had gone to all the trouble he found a ladder under one of the trees further along!! The owner of the island built an A-frame about 50 years ago, and since then it has been filled with all sorts of memorabilia from passing yachties. Some yachts have been there a number of times over the years. It was really interesting to look at the very arty and creative contributions left by some of the passing yachties. The sign out the front of the A-frame says "Percy Hilton".
We stopped again at The Town of 1770 and had three days there – a great spot. Caravan park right on the beach; pelicans swimming by all the time, and the beach a hive of activity all day long with holidaymakers swimming and fishing.
So, now we are in Brisbane, tied up to the pile berths in the Brisbane River with the city a 50 metre tender ride away, all for $50 a week. Fantastic. Not a bad view from the rear deck of the boat either........
The ferries go past during the day and give us a bit of a rocking but it’s quite pleasant really. They stop during the night so we get a good night’s sleep. The object of getting here of course was to see Elton John. He was great. Did mostly his popular older stuff with only about four songs from his new album. He must be a happy old “married” man now as he is a chubby wee thing, but he can still belt out the ivories. Great show with seats really close to the stage. It will forever be known as the “Chunder down-under” concert as about three quarters of the way through he left the stage with no announcement or anything, just up and left. The guitarist said something about he was sure he would be back soon and jammed some music till he returned. He duly arrived back on stage; he said he had to be sick and thought it better to throw up in the toilets rather than the front row. A true professional, not a sign before and not a sign afterwards. Elton was great but Cirque de Soleil was just magical. We went to see their latest show “Varekai” and it does leave you speechless. Fantastic skills needless to say, but all wrapped up in such beauty. Heather has seen three of their shows now, me two, and each time it is a trip to wonderland. I suppose it’s like looking at a great painting coming to life. And for our third form of entertainment this week - there is the movie “Borat”. Entertainment at a whole new level. About as low down in the gutter as you can get and absolutely hysterical!!!! Shane reckons the movie is one of those classics that will live forever. If you have no problem taking the p*ss out of everything go see it. It must be good, several people are suing big time.
Which brings us up to date, apart from that on the last day we were coming in to Brisbane, we sucked up a jelly fish into the engine intake, blocked off the cooling system, overheated the engine which now only runs at about ¾ revs without overheating.
There were literally thousands and thousands of jellyfish in the water - this photo will give a bit of an idea. In some parts of the river, it was wall-to-wall jellyfish, you couldn't see the water for them.
So, it’s off to a marina next week and we will fix the engine problem. It really is one thing after another with the boating life. (We know now what they mean when they say B-O-A-T stands for ‘bring on another thousand……). Good news is we thought the fridge (again) had finally given up the ghost and were pricing and planning how to put in a new one. A couple of days later Shane found it was only a grub screw that had come loose. The beers and gins are cold again!
Fast forward to today - December 7th!……. We left the pile berth in the river this morning, and have moved to a berth at Rivergate Marina to get the engines looked at. As well as the problems we knew we had with the big engine, the little engine (that we use to top up the power in the batteries each day) is playing up as well. We have had limited power over the last week, which means that we haven’t been able to use the laptop much (and get this blog update finished!). We are a little ways out of the city now; close to the Gateway Bridge and right by the airport (should be fun trying to sleep at night with the planes flying by…….). One bit of good news – it took us an hour and a half to get to the marina today and the engine showed no sign of overheating at all. So it might not be all bad news. We are also going to get two solar panels fitted while we are at the marina which will mean we will have lots of power from here on – as long as the sun shines!!!!!! We are on ‘A’ finger at Rivergate; we think ‘A’ here must stand for ‘awfully flash’ as the good yacht enzwell looks really tiny compared to the million/multi-million dollar yachts that are alongside us. There’s nothing like us lowering the tone of the neighbourhood!
The engine fix-it man has just been – and it’s good news with the big engine. It appears that the problem was likely to have been an air-block somewhere, and it has cleared. Not such good news with the small engine – it is not well – but we don’t need to worry about sorting that in the immediate future.
While we were on the piles (and close to the shops) we managed to get all our Christmas cards and shopping done. It’s got to be a record for me, having all that stuff done by 6 December. Now we can just sit back and let everyone else get stressed out with the Christmas rush!
And on that note, we hope that everyone has a great festive season. Merry Christmas and all the best for 2007 from the ‘enzwellers’.
Heather and Shane
We’re back ! Back on the blog and back in Brisbane. We’ve been back for over a week now.. When we last wrote we were in Townsville and had done most of the bad sailing, well motoring actually. Since then the sailing has been pretty good really. A mixture of pleasant winds and calmish seas. Oh, I forgot, coming into Bunderberg was a tad tense. About 35-40 knots astern which was fine until we had to turn into the Bundy river, pitch black, howling wind on the beam with waves crashing over the side, trying to get some sail down and a couple of smaller motor boats puttering in at the same time that we had to watch out for. I must say radar is a great navigation aid in the dark. Still we made it in safely, anchored up the river a bit out of harms way and had a peaceful dinner about 9.30.
Then of course there was the lightning squall that hit us a couple of days later going down the Great Sandy Strait. That was impressive. The night before was lovely and calm but we awoke to a strong southerly, which meant we had to move from our once safe anchorage and head down the strait. As we left, the VHF radio station covering the area said they were shutting down due to a lightning storm. Apparently getting zapped down your antenna while broadcasting isn’t the done thing. We could see the lightning over the bay as well as hear it. It was amazing watching huge bolts strike the ground on the horizon. Unfortunately the horizon got nearer and nearer and it becomes less amazing as it started to hit all around us. When you start to see and hear massive explosions around you, along with sheet rain dropping your vision to about 100 metres, it gets a bit off-putting !! Given that getting a few million volts down your mast when you are sailing isn’t great for the electrics, we disconnected everything we could - batteries, radios, GPS, computers, radar etc. Here we are, lightning belting all around us, heavy squalls of rain and wind, in about 7 metres of water with sand banks all around. Time to drop the anchor and hunker down. After it had passed our immediate area we carried on, the only damage being that the surges appear to have knocked out our electronic wind direction indicator. Did I say the sailing had been pretty good? It’s amazing really because when it’s all over, you really do seem to forget it.
Since that storm it has been really nice. That night we stayed in Garry’s anchorage, which is very protected, and we watched as the lightning storm went on all day and into the night. Very impressive. That same storm brought big winds and storm damage to Brisbane, covered the MCG with hail and brought snow to NSW, it really was an “event” as they say.
The winds were staying southerly for a while so we holed up in a little town in Tin Can Bay where we managed to do our usual, have coffees, go to the markets and watch some sport at the pub. This time the Aussies beat the Poms in the league to put us in the final. (Sad story from then on.) Yet another nice wee town, very protected down the end of a long estuary, even had some tame dolphins that came for a feed every morning.
Seeing as the southerly had blown for a few days, by the time we left with a good forecast there were quite a few yachts doing the same and heading down to Mooloolaba. This was the first time we’ve really been able to gauge how the boat performs compared to other yachts and I must say we were pretty happy. For a 15 tonne plus steel cruiser we were able to pass some and hold our own with others, so that’s good. It was somewhere around here, about Great Sandy Strait, that we passed the 2000 nautical mile mark, so you could say we have sailed around NZ! From north cape down one coast, around Bluff, watching out for icebergs (are those things still around?) and back up the other side. I suppose that only goes to show how big Aussie really is. We haven’t even done all of one state!
.
One really nice place we stopped at on our way south was Middle Percy Island (in the Whitsundays). The scene when we arrived was of clear and blue waters, and a lovely white sandy beach with palm trees. Quite idyllic …… Shane tried to climb up one of the coconut trees to get some coconuts; after he had gone to all the trouble he found a ladder under one of the trees further along!! The owner of the island built an A-frame about 50 years ago, and since then it has been filled with all sorts of memorabilia from passing yachties. Some yachts have been there a number of times over the years. It was really interesting to look at the very arty and creative contributions left by some of the passing yachties. The sign out the front of the A-frame says "Percy Hilton".
We stopped again at The Town of 1770 and had three days there – a great spot. Caravan park right on the beach; pelicans swimming by all the time, and the beach a hive of activity all day long with holidaymakers swimming and fishing.
So, now we are in Brisbane, tied up to the pile berths in the Brisbane River with the city a 50 metre tender ride away, all for $50 a week. Fantastic. Not a bad view from the rear deck of the boat either........
The ferries go past during the day and give us a bit of a rocking but it’s quite pleasant really. They stop during the night so we get a good night’s sleep. The object of getting here of course was to see Elton John. He was great. Did mostly his popular older stuff with only about four songs from his new album. He must be a happy old “married” man now as he is a chubby wee thing, but he can still belt out the ivories. Great show with seats really close to the stage. It will forever be known as the “Chunder down-under” concert as about three quarters of the way through he left the stage with no announcement or anything, just up and left. The guitarist said something about he was sure he would be back soon and jammed some music till he returned. He duly arrived back on stage; he said he had to be sick and thought it better to throw up in the toilets rather than the front row. A true professional, not a sign before and not a sign afterwards. Elton was great but Cirque de Soleil was just magical. We went to see their latest show “Varekai” and it does leave you speechless. Fantastic skills needless to say, but all wrapped up in such beauty. Heather has seen three of their shows now, me two, and each time it is a trip to wonderland. I suppose it’s like looking at a great painting coming to life. And for our third form of entertainment this week - there is the movie “Borat”. Entertainment at a whole new level. About as low down in the gutter as you can get and absolutely hysterical!!!! Shane reckons the movie is one of those classics that will live forever. If you have no problem taking the p*ss out of everything go see it. It must be good, several people are suing big time.Which brings us up to date, apart from that on the last day we were coming in to Brisbane, we sucked up a jelly fish into the engine intake, blocked off the cooling system, overheated the engine which now only runs at about ¾ revs without overheating.
There were literally thousands and thousands of jellyfish in the water - this photo will give a bit of an idea. In some parts of the river, it was wall-to-wall jellyfish, you couldn't see the water for them.So, it’s off to a marina next week and we will fix the engine problem. It really is one thing after another with the boating life. (We know now what they mean when they say B-O-A-T stands for ‘bring on another thousand……). Good news is we thought the fridge (again) had finally given up the ghost and were pricing and planning how to put in a new one. A couple of days later Shane found it was only a grub screw that had come loose. The beers and gins are cold again!
Fast forward to today - December 7th!……. We left the pile berth in the river this morning, and have moved to a berth at Rivergate Marina to get the engines looked at. As well as the problems we knew we had with the big engine, the little engine (that we use to top up the power in the batteries each day) is playing up as well. We have had limited power over the last week, which means that we haven’t been able to use the laptop much (and get this blog update finished!). We are a little ways out of the city now; close to the Gateway Bridge and right by the airport (should be fun trying to sleep at night with the planes flying by…….). One bit of good news – it took us an hour and a half to get to the marina today and the engine showed no sign of overheating at all. So it might not be all bad news. We are also going to get two solar panels fitted while we are at the marina which will mean we will have lots of power from here on – as long as the sun shines!!!!!! We are on ‘A’ finger at Rivergate; we think ‘A’ here must stand for ‘awfully flash’ as the good yacht enzwell looks really tiny compared to the million/multi-million dollar yachts that are alongside us. There’s nothing like us lowering the tone of the neighbourhood!
The engine fix-it man has just been – and it’s good news with the big engine. It appears that the problem was likely to have been an air-block somewhere, and it has cleared. Not such good news with the small engine – it is not well – but we don’t need to worry about sorting that in the immediate future.
While we were on the piles (and close to the shops) we managed to get all our Christmas cards and shopping done. It’s got to be a record for me, having all that stuff done by 6 December. Now we can just sit back and let everyone else get stressed out with the Christmas rush!
And on that note, we hope that everyone has a great festive season. Merry Christmas and all the best for 2007 from the ‘enzwellers’.
Heather and Shane
28 October, 2006
Our last blog finished with us arriving in Cairns. We ended up staying for three and a half weeks – a little longer than we intended……. – but in saying that, Cairns was a pretty nice place to spend a bit of time.
When we got into the marina in Cairns we had Kiwis for neighbours – Brendan, Di and their two kids Sophie and Finn from Mangawhai. Like us, they are just starting out on the ‘cruising life’. Through them we met yet more Kiwis, Phil and Kate and their two girls. The Aussies can’t get rid of us!
The day we arrived we got told of the great fruit and vegie markets that Cairns has every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We thought we should go and check them out …… Sure enough, the markets were great, with everything being pretty reasonably priced and fresher than the supermarkets. The bargain hunters arrive at one o’clock on Sunday afto (an hour before close) to get everything at super-reduced rates! As well as the usual fruit and vegies, the markets had lots of fresh herbs, and tropical fruits. Here I am having a browse around the stands, working out what to buy to whip up my culinary delights for the rest of the week.
We spent two weeks in the marina, as the fridge starting playing up; we thought it might require a major effort to fix it. After much gnashing of teeth, two visits from a ‘fridge expert’, and work from Shane to effect minor repairs, we got the fridge sorted. Fingers crossed ………..
Once that was done, we could set about enjoying our time in Cairns. I managed to get motivated and fit in about three runs; we spent quite a bit of time drinking lattes and doing stuff on the ‘net’; we even got to the movies twice; and went to a great pub to watch the Air NZ Cup (rugby) final, and the two first Tri-Nations league games on a big outdoor screen – and after the results of all three we won’t talk any more on that subject!
The waterfront in Cairns has been done up really nicely. The stretch along the beach is called ‘The Strand’ – there are lots of open park areas, shops and cafes, and a great pool complex, which is packed most days. We used to take our books and lie in the sun and read, and it was real easy to then just jump in the pool and cool off. Note the lovely ‘fish sculptures’ at the far end of the pool.
The reason that they have such nice pool complexes at some of the beaches in far north Queensland, is that a lot of the beaches in the main cities aren’t up to much. (Plus there are the additional problems of ‘stinger’ jellyfish and crocodiles). The ‘beach’ along the Cairns waterfront…….
See what I mean! It is just one vast expanse of boggy mud. What you see is mud - there is no water for about one kilometre, until high tide comes in. We saw a guy walking in the mud one day – heaven knows why – and with each slow step he took he was up to his knees in mud – yuck!
Most of the time in Cairns it was unusually windy, even though it was still about 29 degrees. We also got quite a bit of rain. The winds became a real nuisance, they were still blowing from the S to SE, and we needed them to change to the north so we could start sailing south.
Before we all moved out of the marina, we decided we should have a Kiwi BBQ. True to form for a Kiwi barbie, it started to rain just as we were about to start cooking. Luckily most of the BBQs they have in the parks here are under cover! We had a good night ……
As you aren’t allowed alcohol (given we were in a public area) we had to get a little cunning to enjoy an ale or wine with dinner – let’s just say the water in Shane’s pump bottle was chardonnay-coloured!! All our years of training at the Wellington Sevens paid off!!
We decided we had to start heading south, so made plans to leave last Sunday (after having watched the league the night before). We left Cairns late afternoon, knowing that we would be going into the winds and that they were expected to be between 25-30 knots. The trip was to be my first proper overnight passage, so I was a little apprehensive – two hour watches during the night, being in the dark and not being able to see rocks, reefs and other boats made me a little angsy.
It was not a pleasant night…... The winds got up to 45 knots, waves were constantly breaking over the bow of the yacht, and I was feeling a little on the ‘green’ side. I managed the two-hour watches, but only just. Each time I moved I felt queasy, and had to yell to Shane at one stage to get enzwell’s equivalent of airplane sick bags – white plastic supermarket bags, double bagged in case there were any holes! They weren’t actually needed, but I came close….. After 18 hours at sea, we got to Mourilyan Harbour – a small commercial port with a calm safe anchorage. I was extremely happy to get there and get out of the wind. When we arrived, I found I obviously hadn’t crossed my fingers hard enough – the fridge had packed up again. This time it was a bearing in the motor – and a bearing on a ten year old 12 volt motor from the USA isn’t the sort of thing you find in a kiosk at a small commercial port where all they do is load sugar on big ships …. So we spent the next two days frantically eating everything in the fridge and freezer. After two nights at Mourilyan, the winds had abated, and we could make the next overnight trip and get to Townsville. To say I wasn’t looking forward to the trip (given the experience of getting to Mourilyan) would be an understatement. But I needn’t have been worried, as the winds were a lot lighter, and it was a pretty good trip. As a bonus, Shane got the TV working, and I spent my two hours off (when I wasn’t sleeping) watching TV. Aren’t reruns of MASH and Blue Heelers great! It made the time pass by really fast. We got to Townsville on Thursday morning, after 25 hours at sea, and got straight on to getting the fridge sorted.
It was good to know I could manage fine with an overnight trip. Although we have been cruising for nearly four months now, we had only been doing day trips, and we will certainly need to do overnight trips, as well as passages of several days, in the next few months, so it was good to get the first ‘overnighter’ under my belt.
We’re currently at the marina at Townsville, and with a bit of ‘downtime’, Shane went out yesterday morning and fitted in a well-deserved game of golf. He enjoyed it, but managed to come back with two less balls in his golf bag. The fridge is still proving to be a bit of a problem, but as I type this we have our toes crossed as well as our fingers that it is finally going to work properly.
We’re going to watch the league tonight with Pete and Viv (remember them from Shane’s “it’s a small world segment” a couple of blogs ago) and then we’ll head off tomorrow morning. It should take us two days to get down to Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays. We want to get a few longish trips in to knock off a few miles in our trek down to Brisbane. As well Elton John’s concert at the end of November, we’ve also got tickets to Cirque de Soleil’s latest show, Varekai. Quite a few cruisers are starting to head south now, so I’m sure we’ll bump into lots of familiar boats and faces along the way. All we need now is for the northerlies to arrive.
Carry on reading for another segment of the blog……..
Heather and Shane
When we got into the marina in Cairns we had Kiwis for neighbours – Brendan, Di and their two kids Sophie and Finn from Mangawhai. Like us, they are just starting out on the ‘cruising life’. Through them we met yet more Kiwis, Phil and Kate and their two girls. The Aussies can’t get rid of us!
The day we arrived we got told of the great fruit and vegie markets that Cairns has every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We thought we should go and check them out …… Sure enough, the markets were great, with everything being pretty reasonably priced and fresher than the supermarkets. The bargain hunters arrive at one o’clock on Sunday afto (an hour before close) to get everything at super-reduced rates! As well as the usual fruit and vegies, the markets had lots of fresh herbs, and tropical fruits. Here I am having a browse around the stands, working out what to buy to whip up my culinary delights for the rest of the week.
We spent two weeks in the marina, as the fridge starting playing up; we thought it might require a major effort to fix it. After much gnashing of teeth, two visits from a ‘fridge expert’, and work from Shane to effect minor repairs, we got the fridge sorted. Fingers crossed ………..
Once that was done, we could set about enjoying our time in Cairns. I managed to get motivated and fit in about three runs; we spent quite a bit of time drinking lattes and doing stuff on the ‘net’; we even got to the movies twice; and went to a great pub to watch the Air NZ Cup (rugby) final, and the two first Tri-Nations league games on a big outdoor screen – and after the results of all three we won’t talk any more on that subject!
The waterfront in Cairns has been done up really nicely. The stretch along the beach is called ‘The Strand’ – there are lots of open park areas, shops and cafes, and a great pool complex, which is packed most days. We used to take our books and lie in the sun and read, and it was real easy to then just jump in the pool and cool off. Note the lovely ‘fish sculptures’ at the far end of the pool.
The reason that they have such nice pool complexes at some of the beaches in far north Queensland, is that a lot of the beaches in the main cities aren’t up to much. (Plus there are the additional problems of ‘stinger’ jellyfish and crocodiles). The ‘beach’ along the Cairns waterfront…….
See what I mean! It is just one vast expanse of boggy mud. What you see is mud - there is no water for about one kilometre, until high tide comes in. We saw a guy walking in the mud one day – heaven knows why – and with each slow step he took he was up to his knees in mud – yuck!
Most of the time in Cairns it was unusually windy, even though it was still about 29 degrees. We also got quite a bit of rain. The winds became a real nuisance, they were still blowing from the S to SE, and we needed them to change to the north so we could start sailing south.
Before we all moved out of the marina, we decided we should have a Kiwi BBQ. True to form for a Kiwi barbie, it started to rain just as we were about to start cooking. Luckily most of the BBQs they have in the parks here are under cover! We had a good night ……
As you aren’t allowed alcohol (given we were in a public area) we had to get a little cunning to enjoy an ale or wine with dinner – let’s just say the water in Shane’s pump bottle was chardonnay-coloured!! All our years of training at the Wellington Sevens paid off!!
We decided we had to start heading south, so made plans to leave last Sunday (after having watched the league the night before). We left Cairns late afternoon, knowing that we would be going into the winds and that they were expected to be between 25-30 knots. The trip was to be my first proper overnight passage, so I was a little apprehensive – two hour watches during the night, being in the dark and not being able to see rocks, reefs and other boats made me a little angsy.
It was not a pleasant night…... The winds got up to 45 knots, waves were constantly breaking over the bow of the yacht, and I was feeling a little on the ‘green’ side. I managed the two-hour watches, but only just. Each time I moved I felt queasy, and had to yell to Shane at one stage to get enzwell’s equivalent of airplane sick bags – white plastic supermarket bags, double bagged in case there were any holes! They weren’t actually needed, but I came close….. After 18 hours at sea, we got to Mourilyan Harbour – a small commercial port with a calm safe anchorage. I was extremely happy to get there and get out of the wind. When we arrived, I found I obviously hadn’t crossed my fingers hard enough – the fridge had packed up again. This time it was a bearing in the motor – and a bearing on a ten year old 12 volt motor from the USA isn’t the sort of thing you find in a kiosk at a small commercial port where all they do is load sugar on big ships …. So we spent the next two days frantically eating everything in the fridge and freezer. After two nights at Mourilyan, the winds had abated, and we could make the next overnight trip and get to Townsville. To say I wasn’t looking forward to the trip (given the experience of getting to Mourilyan) would be an understatement. But I needn’t have been worried, as the winds were a lot lighter, and it was a pretty good trip. As a bonus, Shane got the TV working, and I spent my two hours off (when I wasn’t sleeping) watching TV. Aren’t reruns of MASH and Blue Heelers great! It made the time pass by really fast. We got to Townsville on Thursday morning, after 25 hours at sea, and got straight on to getting the fridge sorted.
It was good to know I could manage fine with an overnight trip. Although we have been cruising for nearly four months now, we had only been doing day trips, and we will certainly need to do overnight trips, as well as passages of several days, in the next few months, so it was good to get the first ‘overnighter’ under my belt.
We’re currently at the marina at Townsville, and with a bit of ‘downtime’, Shane went out yesterday morning and fitted in a well-deserved game of golf. He enjoyed it, but managed to come back with two less balls in his golf bag. The fridge is still proving to be a bit of a problem, but as I type this we have our toes crossed as well as our fingers that it is finally going to work properly.
We’re going to watch the league tonight with Pete and Viv (remember them from Shane’s “it’s a small world segment” a couple of blogs ago) and then we’ll head off tomorrow morning. It should take us two days to get down to Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays. We want to get a few longish trips in to knock off a few miles in our trek down to Brisbane. As well Elton John’s concert at the end of November, we’ve also got tickets to Cirque de Soleil’s latest show, Varekai. Quite a few cruisers are starting to head south now, so I’m sure we’ll bump into lots of familiar boats and faces along the way. All we need now is for the northerlies to arrive.
Carry on reading for another segment of the blog……..
Heather and Shane
28 October 2006
I had too much to write this time, plus we can only get four photos in per blog article, so here’s what we did one day we were in Cairns.
We decided to get a rental car for the day. I was keen to see and learn a bit of the Aboriginal culture, and Shane wanted to check out the crocodiles. Of course, we picked the rainiest day that we were in Cairns.
First up was Tjapukai, (pronounced Jab-u-Kai, and they say Maori is hard!) Aboriginal Cultural Park, which is in the Barron Gorge about 20 minutes north of Cairns. The Barron Gorge area is the traditional home of the Tjapukai people. A bit like NZ with it’s different Maori tribes being associated with specific areas, the many aboriginal tribes are much the same.
The park has five theatres where we learnt the history of the people, there were song and dance performances, boomerang and spear throwing demos, and didgeridoo playing. Shane was very disappointed as due to the rain, the boomerang throwing was cancelled.
Shane thought the park was average, but I found parts of it great, particularly the skills involved with playing the didgeridoo.
Next up we were off to Cairns Tropical Zoo just up the road.
Not long after we got there, it was “have your photo taken with a koala time”. So here we are, Shane and I, with Tilly the koala.
Isn’t she cute??!! Koalas sleep for 18-20 hours per day (I think I want to come back as a koala in my next life!!). Koalas are amazing in how they manage to stay sleeping in the branches of a tree, without falling out. They have very strong front paws, but their body and back paws are very weak. They also have very poor eyesight and rely on their strong sense of smell to work out if the eucalyptus leaves that they are near are the right ones to eat. There are many varieties of eucalyptus leaf, and only a few are on a koala’s diet. The zoo had recently had a few mother koalas give birth; the little baby koalas were really really cute…..
Part of the reason Shane was keen to go to the zoo was to see a crocodile or two. We thought it best to see them at the zoo first, rather than our initiation to them being a visit on or near ‘enzwell’. Well, we saw a few crocs at the zoo all right……
As well as the ones in the photo, there were some extra huge crocs in another enclosure. The scary part is that when they are under water, you are lucky if you can see their eyes and bridge of their nose, so you have absolutely no idea of the size of them. I did learn though that crocs are relatively slow over land – compared with their speed through the water – so I better start work on my 100 metre sprints.
And of course, what would a visit to an Aussie zoo be without a snake or three. The zookeeper brought out a few pillowcases at the start of his demo, and when they started wriggling it wasn’t too hard to figure out what was inside. Most of them he touched, but with this little sucker he used a pole with a hook at the end.
One bite from this baby and it would be all over within five minutes. I made a mental note to pay a bit more attention to things at ground level the next time I’m walking near any long grass…
After the zoo, we drove on up to Port Douglas, as Shane hadn’t been there before. We had the obligatory wander around the shops, dinner at the pub, before we headed back to Cairns after a pretty full-on day.
S and H
I had too much to write this time, plus we can only get four photos in per blog article, so here’s what we did one day we were in Cairns.
We decided to get a rental car for the day. I was keen to see and learn a bit of the Aboriginal culture, and Shane wanted to check out the crocodiles. Of course, we picked the rainiest day that we were in Cairns.
First up was Tjapukai, (pronounced Jab-u-Kai, and they say Maori is hard!) Aboriginal Cultural Park, which is in the Barron Gorge about 20 minutes north of Cairns. The Barron Gorge area is the traditional home of the Tjapukai people. A bit like NZ with it’s different Maori tribes being associated with specific areas, the many aboriginal tribes are much the same.
The park has five theatres where we learnt the history of the people, there were song and dance performances, boomerang and spear throwing demos, and didgeridoo playing. Shane was very disappointed as due to the rain, the boomerang throwing was cancelled.
Shane thought the park was average, but I found parts of it great, particularly the skills involved with playing the didgeridoo.
Next up we were off to Cairns Tropical Zoo just up the road.
Not long after we got there, it was “have your photo taken with a koala time”. So here we are, Shane and I, with Tilly the koala.
Isn’t she cute??!! Koalas sleep for 18-20 hours per day (I think I want to come back as a koala in my next life!!). Koalas are amazing in how they manage to stay sleeping in the branches of a tree, without falling out. They have very strong front paws, but their body and back paws are very weak. They also have very poor eyesight and rely on their strong sense of smell to work out if the eucalyptus leaves that they are near are the right ones to eat. There are many varieties of eucalyptus leaf, and only a few are on a koala’s diet. The zoo had recently had a few mother koalas give birth; the little baby koalas were really really cute…..
Part of the reason Shane was keen to go to the zoo was to see a crocodile or two. We thought it best to see them at the zoo first, rather than our initiation to them being a visit on or near ‘enzwell’. Well, we saw a few crocs at the zoo all right……
As well as the ones in the photo, there were some extra huge crocs in another enclosure. The scary part is that when they are under water, you are lucky if you can see their eyes and bridge of their nose, so you have absolutely no idea of the size of them. I did learn though that crocs are relatively slow over land – compared with their speed through the water – so I better start work on my 100 metre sprints.
And of course, what would a visit to an Aussie zoo be without a snake or three. The zookeeper brought out a few pillowcases at the start of his demo, and when they started wriggling it wasn’t too hard to figure out what was inside. Most of them he touched, but with this little sucker he used a pole with a hook at the end.
One bite from this baby and it would be all over within five minutes. I made a mental note to pay a bit more attention to things at ground level the next time I’m walking near any long grass…
After the zoo, we drove on up to Port Douglas, as Shane hadn’t been there before. We had the obligatory wander around the shops, dinner at the pub, before we headed back to Cairns after a pretty full-on day.
S and H
05 October, 2006
OK, get yourself comfortable ‘cause it’s been a while and we’ve covered some ground, or sea, since then.
When last we spoke we were in Townsville and having some drama with water not being on the outside. All in all though it went well, one less area to worry about and we had a good dodger made which gives us protection in the cockpit from the wind when at anchor and hell there’s been some wind. I don’t think we have had more than a couple of days with less than 25 knots. At least it calms done in the evening so we can sleep in some comfort and there is no wind chill factor like Welly. From Townsville we went to Magnetic Island, about 2 hours sail from Townville, a bit like going to Waiheke in Auckland I suppose. This was probably one of our favourite stays. Really chilled feel to the place and the bay we anchored in was very protected from the wind, had a couple of good pubs and cafes. There was also the unofficial Horseshoe Bay Yacht Club, which is one of the shelters set up for getting out of the sun and having BBQ’s etc. Lots of yachts leave a wee plaque as a record of their visit there. So we are now members of the Horseshoe Bay Yacht Club. (OK it might be a bit hard to see, we are top left)
We also met another great couple there, Les and Jax, both Japanese Hawaiians who most recently lived in Whangarei for about 14 years I think. Again, great people with lots of good advice, interesting history and Jax was one mean cook. Magnetic had some lovely walks to more secluded bays, one of which was clothing optional. On the day we went, Sunday, they had taken the option to wear clothes as I think they were mostly day-trippers from Townsville.
From there to Orpheus Island, pretty ho hum, then across the ways to go up the Hinchinbrook channel. At the entrance is the longest sugar wharf in the world with a loading platform at the end. And it is long!!! Over three miles long and it dips two metres in the middle to take account of the curvature of the earth. The problem around here is that the water can be shallow for miles, often being under 10 metres deep over two miles from shore, hence very long loading platforms for coal, sugar etc. Anyway the Hinchinbrook channel was beautiful, a mixture of scenery like the canals in France at one end and at the other, a bit like NZ mountain scenery.
Where we decided to anchor for the night was near the northern end, and we had to go over a bit of a sand bank to get there, necessitating taking a very wide sweep……….oopps, not wide enough. We had a wee rest for half an hour while the tide came in and lifted us up a bit more so we could motor off backwards. The Admiral was not happy. Sorry about that boss. Very scenic though and as we were in mangrove country we decide to try our crab pots. A bit of a story to that but suffice to say…….yum, yum. Our first crab.
Then it was off to Dunk Island. They have a very nice resort there, which is even nicer since Cyclone Larry ripped through the place and they had to completely rebuild the dining, bar area. Supposedly off limits unless you are a guest but we got gussied up a bit and went in at night, well, the NRL semis were on and we had to watch it somewhere. Cyclone Larry really did tear this area apart. Lots of damage still apparent all the way up the coast, none more so than in Innisfail where they took a direct hit. Still lots of buildings without roofs and windows.
Lots of the vegetation looks very bare and is just starting to regrow. It also made the sea bottom change in lots of places especially at openings to river mouths, sometimes washing away, sometimes filling in. Leaving Innisfail, which is just up a river, we scraped the bottom, following the channel and at high tide! Innisfail was another cool little town though and when it’s all fixed up it will be better then new, and when they grow their bananas again, the price may come back from $10 a kilo !!!!!!
So a quick stop at Fitzroy Island (yawn) very rocky anchorage due to wind swell sweeping around the corner, and now we are at Cairns. Another great city with lots happening for the tourists, backpackers and Asian students. Stuff going on in every bar every night, you know, toad racing, wet T shirt comps, live music, outdoor movies at the pub, cheap pizza, the usual things. So we will be here for a couple of weeks doing a bit more on the boat, like rebuilding the fridge/freezer box and the rust, and lattes, walks and chilling out. Presently parked up beside more Kiwis? They’re everywhere! Nice folks though with two young kids they are home schooling, surprising how much of that going on. Great life for the kids, well it must be ‘cause it’s a great life for us.
Till later.
Shane and Heather.
When last we spoke we were in Townsville and having some drama with water not being on the outside. All in all though it went well, one less area to worry about and we had a good dodger made which gives us protection in the cockpit from the wind when at anchor and hell there’s been some wind. I don’t think we have had more than a couple of days with less than 25 knots. At least it calms done in the evening so we can sleep in some comfort and there is no wind chill factor like Welly. From Townsville we went to Magnetic Island, about 2 hours sail from Townville, a bit like going to Waiheke in Auckland I suppose. This was probably one of our favourite stays. Really chilled feel to the place and the bay we anchored in was very protected from the wind, had a couple of good pubs and cafes. There was also the unofficial Horseshoe Bay Yacht Club, which is one of the shelters set up for getting out of the sun and having BBQ’s etc. Lots of yachts leave a wee plaque as a record of their visit there. So we are now members of the Horseshoe Bay Yacht Club. (OK it might be a bit hard to see, we are top left)
We also met another great couple there, Les and Jax, both Japanese Hawaiians who most recently lived in Whangarei for about 14 years I think. Again, great people with lots of good advice, interesting history and Jax was one mean cook. Magnetic had some lovely walks to more secluded bays, one of which was clothing optional. On the day we went, Sunday, they had taken the option to wear clothes as I think they were mostly day-trippers from Townsville.
From there to Orpheus Island, pretty ho hum, then across the ways to go up the Hinchinbrook channel. At the entrance is the longest sugar wharf in the world with a loading platform at the end. And it is long!!! Over three miles long and it dips two metres in the middle to take account of the curvature of the earth. The problem around here is that the water can be shallow for miles, often being under 10 metres deep over two miles from shore, hence very long loading platforms for coal, sugar etc. Anyway the Hinchinbrook channel was beautiful, a mixture of scenery like the canals in France at one end and at the other, a bit like NZ mountain scenery.
Where we decided to anchor for the night was near the northern end, and we had to go over a bit of a sand bank to get there, necessitating taking a very wide sweep……….oopps, not wide enough. We had a wee rest for half an hour while the tide came in and lifted us up a bit more so we could motor off backwards. The Admiral was not happy. Sorry about that boss. Very scenic though and as we were in mangrove country we decide to try our crab pots. A bit of a story to that but suffice to say…….yum, yum. Our first crab.
Then it was off to Dunk Island. They have a very nice resort there, which is even nicer since Cyclone Larry ripped through the place and they had to completely rebuild the dining, bar area. Supposedly off limits unless you are a guest but we got gussied up a bit and went in at night, well, the NRL semis were on and we had to watch it somewhere. Cyclone Larry really did tear this area apart. Lots of damage still apparent all the way up the coast, none more so than in Innisfail where they took a direct hit. Still lots of buildings without roofs and windows.
Lots of the vegetation looks very bare and is just starting to regrow. It also made the sea bottom change in lots of places especially at openings to river mouths, sometimes washing away, sometimes filling in. Leaving Innisfail, which is just up a river, we scraped the bottom, following the channel and at high tide! Innisfail was another cool little town though and when it’s all fixed up it will be better then new, and when they grow their bananas again, the price may come back from $10 a kilo !!!!!!
So a quick stop at Fitzroy Island (yawn) very rocky anchorage due to wind swell sweeping around the corner, and now we are at Cairns. Another great city with lots happening for the tourists, backpackers and Asian students. Stuff going on in every bar every night, you know, toad racing, wet T shirt comps, live music, outdoor movies at the pub, cheap pizza, the usual things. So we will be here for a couple of weeks doing a bit more on the boat, like rebuilding the fridge/freezer box and the rust, and lattes, walks and chilling out. Presently parked up beside more Kiwis? They’re everywhere! Nice folks though with two young kids they are home schooling, surprising how much of that going on. Great life for the kids, well it must be ‘cause it’s a great life for us.
Till later.
Shane and Heather.
12 September, 2006
Thursday 7 September
Here’s the latest update from our travels.
We left Airlie Beach on 22 August and headed back around the Whitsundays – one of the main reasons being to go to ‘Whitehaven Day’. We found out what it was all about. Every August Hamilton Island Race Week is held. On the lay day, all the boaties (along with most of the backpackers in the area) head over to Whitehaven Beach for a ‘party day’. We had heard it was a 24-hour party, but in fact it only went from about 11 in the morning until late afternoon. Whitehaven Beach usually only has a few yachties, and the daily charter tours visiting for a couple of hours, but on Whitehaven Day there would have been between 200-300 yachts, not to mention charter boats packed full of party goers, beer tents, and loud music. In all, there were probably about 5000 people there!
Here’s a shot giving an idea of how it was wall-to-wall yachts along the beachfront.
Shane and I anchored pretty close to the action, sat on our rear deck, (gin and beer) cans in hand, and ‘people watched’ a fair bit of the day. The water Police were there; we saw them ‘put the bag’ on the driver of a tender, who had been yahooing right in front of them. Nothing like drawing unwanted attention!
Our last night in the Whitsundays was at Blue Pearl Bay, which is on Hayman Island. There I saw some of the best coral and fish that I had seen in all of the Whitsundays.
We continued our travels north up the coast, and stopped one night at Jonah Bay in the Gloucester Passage. It was a beautiful little bay that looked virtually isolated. On closer examination, we could see a few tents on the beachfront. We went ashore for a walk, and met a couple, John and Lynn, who were ‘free camping’ on council land. They camped at Jonah Bay for four months over winter, before they moved on. John was originally from Gisborne. They invited us back at night to sit around the fire with them. We had a good night, with John recounting many a story of his adventures over the years being a crayfisherman, hairdresser (ladies and mens), sailing up to Asia etc. He was in amazing nick for 69! He also told us about the oysters across the bay at Saddleback Island. We went and got some the next morning – oyster patties for lunch, yum! We are finding one of the great things about the cruising life is the many interesting and varied people we are meeting; people we would never have come across in our ‘old life’.
After Jonah Bay we had planned on spending two nights at the Gloucester Eco-resort, which is at Cape Gloucester. Although we caught up with Ken there (a yachtie who we had first met in Brisbane), and met another lovely couple, we were not that inspired with the resort, so only stayed one night.
The next stop was Bowen, a town on the Queensland coast that time and tourism has virtually forgotten. Bowen had a great bakery, with pie eating competition, and internet café, but apart from that, the town is very similar to somewhere such as Taihape. Get the picture? (Apologies to those who were brought up in Taihape!!).
We left Bowen on the morning of 1 September, our plans being to head for Cape Upstart. Cape Upstart is yet another location along this coast that was named by Captain Cook. Shane decided to put two lures out to see if we could get any fish. We had heard the mackerel in these parts were pretty good. We put the asymmetric up (big front sail) and were getting along at quite a good speed. I noticed the lure lines had crossed over and told Shane. Guess what, we had a fish! A nice big mackerel, 87 cms long! That was dinner taken care of for four nights!
While Shane was making sure the fish wasn’t about to make a dive for freedom, there was a loud bang. The halyard at the top of the asymmetric had broken. The sail flopped into the water, causing no end of drag. The fish got dropped on the deck, and while I tried to keep the boat away from the approaching rocks, Shane frantically hauled the sail out of the water and into the boat. It was hard work, but we got there in the end. However, we now had a broken halyard to replace and a sail to dry. We still had the fish though!
The following day was even more exciting (??!!). We left the anchorage at Cape Upstart, planning to spend the night at Cape Bowling Green before heading into Townsville the following day. The winds were quite fresh when we left in the morning, but they really got up during the day. Gusts of up to 50 knots heading up the isthmus of land to Cape Bowling Green, and 3 metre sea swells. Not pleasant, having swells coming up and over the boat all the time, and it was certainly a little scary! We got a gust of 55 knots as we rounded the Cape, and could see there was no protection at all from the weather where we planned to anchor. We decided to carry on and head north up to the next point, Cape Cleveland. We got there 4 hours later; conditions were only a little better so we decided not to attempt anchoring, but continue on to Townsville, just another two hours away. So, after 12 hours in total, we finally made it at 8.30 at night. That was the worst weather we have had to date. Shane told me the following day that the winds we experienced were classed as ‘severe gale force’. That explained why we heard hardly any other boats on the airwaves!
We got to Townsville, and the calm waters of the marina. On day two there, Shane decided to do a bit more work on the rust. There was some in the hull, right in the engine compartment area of the boat. Shane worked on some on the struts, and then turned his attention to rust on the inside of the hull itself. After a few minutes of banging at areas that were under the waterline, water decided to make an unwelcome entrance. An immediate withdrawal from the water was required and so we headed for the one haul-out yard in the area. Back to life on the ‘hard’ for a few days. And if that wasn’t enough adventure for one week, there was more to come!
Shane found a second hole in the hull, way bigger than the first. This meant we had to get welding done in the hull. The job was half done, and Shane thought he would go into the ‘bowels’ of the boat to see how the job looked from the inside. Lucky he did, as the welder had forgotten we have foam lining on the inside of the boat, and the heat from the welding torch set the foam alight. Shane arrived to find foot high flames. The water on the boat had been switched off, so he used the remaining water in the stove jug, and threw a water bottle to me to fill quickly!
We are due back on the water tomorrow, after which we’ll be back to the marina again for five days some of which will be spring cleaning the boat as it has got filthy on the ‘hard’. Hopefully the hull has no more surprises in store for quite some time, and we can get back to enjoying the Australian coastline, rather than making frequent trips to haul out yards! Still while we were out we did the shaft bearing and put on a new coat of anti-foul so the boat actually looks pretty smart at the moment. Lesson learned: never, never, never work on any part of the boat that is below the water line if not near a haul out facility, and only do such work on weekdays. Had the haul-out yard not have been nearby and available, it would have been all hands to the pumps!
Shane busy anti-fouling the boat.
I have encountered one further problem. I managed to avoid contact with the Aussie mossies and sandflies up until a few days. They are obviously making up for lost time, and my legs are now covered in huge welts from where they have attacked. One of the not so pleasant aspects of tropical living……… It was off to the chemist this morning to get some high-octane relief cream………. And I’m now using a new body spray called ‘Rid’ and taking mega-doses of Vitamin B…….
Sunday 10 September
And now for Shane’s “It’s a Small World” segment……
I could make this a very long story and unfold it as it happened however suffice to say, here we are back moored up at Townsville marina, next to us is a boat that I had seen for sale a while ago and these people have just moved on to it, as in last week. He has a “Warriors” flag flying from the stern and so we get chatting and yeah he’s a kiwi. Not only a kiwi, no great surprise here, but went to school with my brother Kim, played in a band with him when they were teenagers, came around the old home and remembered Dad and the house really well. 40 years later, here we are moored beside each other in Townsville! Well bug…er me! Oh and for a short time he also stayed in the same flat I was in at Bondi a lifetime ago with a mate of mine who I was flatting with. So Kev, do you remember Peter Anderton?
Heather and Shane
Here’s the latest update from our travels.
We left Airlie Beach on 22 August and headed back around the Whitsundays – one of the main reasons being to go to ‘Whitehaven Day’. We found out what it was all about. Every August Hamilton Island Race Week is held. On the lay day, all the boaties (along with most of the backpackers in the area) head over to Whitehaven Beach for a ‘party day’. We had heard it was a 24-hour party, but in fact it only went from about 11 in the morning until late afternoon. Whitehaven Beach usually only has a few yachties, and the daily charter tours visiting for a couple of hours, but on Whitehaven Day there would have been between 200-300 yachts, not to mention charter boats packed full of party goers, beer tents, and loud music. In all, there were probably about 5000 people there!
Here’s a shot giving an idea of how it was wall-to-wall yachts along the beachfront.
Shane and I anchored pretty close to the action, sat on our rear deck, (gin and beer) cans in hand, and ‘people watched’ a fair bit of the day. The water Police were there; we saw them ‘put the bag’ on the driver of a tender, who had been yahooing right in front of them. Nothing like drawing unwanted attention!
Our last night in the Whitsundays was at Blue Pearl Bay, which is on Hayman Island. There I saw some of the best coral and fish that I had seen in all of the Whitsundays.
We continued our travels north up the coast, and stopped one night at Jonah Bay in the Gloucester Passage. It was a beautiful little bay that looked virtually isolated. On closer examination, we could see a few tents on the beachfront. We went ashore for a walk, and met a couple, John and Lynn, who were ‘free camping’ on council land. They camped at Jonah Bay for four months over winter, before they moved on. John was originally from Gisborne. They invited us back at night to sit around the fire with them. We had a good night, with John recounting many a story of his adventures over the years being a crayfisherman, hairdresser (ladies and mens), sailing up to Asia etc. He was in amazing nick for 69! He also told us about the oysters across the bay at Saddleback Island. We went and got some the next morning – oyster patties for lunch, yum! We are finding one of the great things about the cruising life is the many interesting and varied people we are meeting; people we would never have come across in our ‘old life’.
After Jonah Bay we had planned on spending two nights at the Gloucester Eco-resort, which is at Cape Gloucester. Although we caught up with Ken there (a yachtie who we had first met in Brisbane), and met another lovely couple, we were not that inspired with the resort, so only stayed one night.
The next stop was Bowen, a town on the Queensland coast that time and tourism has virtually forgotten. Bowen had a great bakery, with pie eating competition, and internet café, but apart from that, the town is very similar to somewhere such as Taihape. Get the picture? (Apologies to those who were brought up in Taihape!!).
We left Bowen on the morning of 1 September, our plans being to head for Cape Upstart. Cape Upstart is yet another location along this coast that was named by Captain Cook. Shane decided to put two lures out to see if we could get any fish. We had heard the mackerel in these parts were pretty good. We put the asymmetric up (big front sail) and were getting along at quite a good speed. I noticed the lure lines had crossed over and told Shane. Guess what, we had a fish! A nice big mackerel, 87 cms long! That was dinner taken care of for four nights!
While Shane was making sure the fish wasn’t about to make a dive for freedom, there was a loud bang. The halyard at the top of the asymmetric had broken. The sail flopped into the water, causing no end of drag. The fish got dropped on the deck, and while I tried to keep the boat away from the approaching rocks, Shane frantically hauled the sail out of the water and into the boat. It was hard work, but we got there in the end. However, we now had a broken halyard to replace and a sail to dry. We still had the fish though!
The following day was even more exciting (??!!). We left the anchorage at Cape Upstart, planning to spend the night at Cape Bowling Green before heading into Townsville the following day. The winds were quite fresh when we left in the morning, but they really got up during the day. Gusts of up to 50 knots heading up the isthmus of land to Cape Bowling Green, and 3 metre sea swells. Not pleasant, having swells coming up and over the boat all the time, and it was certainly a little scary! We got a gust of 55 knots as we rounded the Cape, and could see there was no protection at all from the weather where we planned to anchor. We decided to carry on and head north up to the next point, Cape Cleveland. We got there 4 hours later; conditions were only a little better so we decided not to attempt anchoring, but continue on to Townsville, just another two hours away. So, after 12 hours in total, we finally made it at 8.30 at night. That was the worst weather we have had to date. Shane told me the following day that the winds we experienced were classed as ‘severe gale force’. That explained why we heard hardly any other boats on the airwaves!
We got to Townsville, and the calm waters of the marina. On day two there, Shane decided to do a bit more work on the rust. There was some in the hull, right in the engine compartment area of the boat. Shane worked on some on the struts, and then turned his attention to rust on the inside of the hull itself. After a few minutes of banging at areas that were under the waterline, water decided to make an unwelcome entrance. An immediate withdrawal from the water was required and so we headed for the one haul-out yard in the area. Back to life on the ‘hard’ for a few days. And if that wasn’t enough adventure for one week, there was more to come!
Shane found a second hole in the hull, way bigger than the first. This meant we had to get welding done in the hull. The job was half done, and Shane thought he would go into the ‘bowels’ of the boat to see how the job looked from the inside. Lucky he did, as the welder had forgotten we have foam lining on the inside of the boat, and the heat from the welding torch set the foam alight. Shane arrived to find foot high flames. The water on the boat had been switched off, so he used the remaining water in the stove jug, and threw a water bottle to me to fill quickly!
We are due back on the water tomorrow, after which we’ll be back to the marina again for five days some of which will be spring cleaning the boat as it has got filthy on the ‘hard’. Hopefully the hull has no more surprises in store for quite some time, and we can get back to enjoying the Australian coastline, rather than making frequent trips to haul out yards! Still while we were out we did the shaft bearing and put on a new coat of anti-foul so the boat actually looks pretty smart at the moment. Lesson learned: never, never, never work on any part of the boat that is below the water line if not near a haul out facility, and only do such work on weekdays. Had the haul-out yard not have been nearby and available, it would have been all hands to the pumps!
Shane busy anti-fouling the boat.
I have encountered one further problem. I managed to avoid contact with the Aussie mossies and sandflies up until a few days. They are obviously making up for lost time, and my legs are now covered in huge welts from where they have attacked. One of the not so pleasant aspects of tropical living……… It was off to the chemist this morning to get some high-octane relief cream………. And I’m now using a new body spray called ‘Rid’ and taking mega-doses of Vitamin B…….
Sunday 10 September
And now for Shane’s “It’s a Small World” segment……
I could make this a very long story and unfold it as it happened however suffice to say, here we are back moored up at Townsville marina, next to us is a boat that I had seen for sale a while ago and these people have just moved on to it, as in last week. He has a “Warriors” flag flying from the stern and so we get chatting and yeah he’s a kiwi. Not only a kiwi, no great surprise here, but went to school with my brother Kim, played in a band with him when they were teenagers, came around the old home and remembered Dad and the house really well. 40 years later, here we are moored beside each other in Townsville! Well bug…er me! Oh and for a short time he also stayed in the same flat I was in at Bondi a lifetime ago with a mate of mine who I was flatting with. So Kev, do you remember Peter Anderton?
Heather and Shane
18 August, 2006
When we last checked in, we were in Mackay and about to head off around the Whitsundays.
First stop was Brampton and Carlisle Islands. The two islands are joined by a narrow sandy channel, which dries at low tide. Most yachties anchor off Brampton Island (where the resort is) but we chose to ‘drop the hook’ (I’m getting very nautical now aren’t I !) off Carlisle Island. There was only one other boat, and it was more sheltered there from the winds. We had two days at Carlisle, and I got to try out my new wetsuit, having a look around the coral. We had a giggle to ourselves as two guests from the resort got transported over for their ‘secluded beach picnic’ option – away from the resort – only to have we two intrepid yachties tromping past them and probably spoiling their little romantic getaway!
Next stop was Hamilton Island to pick up Cushla. As well as being really pleased to see her Dad (and me I hope!), she was also pleased to be in the warmth after her first week of holidays in chilly Melbourne. After spending the night at Hamilton Island, we then set off around the Whitsundays proper.
First stop was Cid Harbour. This is a popular anchorage for cruisers, in that it is totally sheltered from the prevailing southerly swell, and also the first stop on the way up to the best diving and snorkelling areas. We shared the anchorage with at least 40 other boats, so there was always something going on. Here’s a photo of Cush and Shane enjoying sundowners. (For the non-nautical readers, ‘sundowners’ is a well-established tradition called drinking and eating while ejoying watching sun go down. Not wanting to risk the wrath of King Neptune, we have decided it’s best to follow the tradition ….. )
For me boats are fascinating; much like at ‘home’ where you drive past and check out other peoples houses while out for that Sunday drive, I am now always checking out other people’s boats!
We spent the next night at Nara Inlet (at the bottom of Hook Island), and then the following morning it was off to Butterfly Bay. Our friend John had told us that the snorkelling here was great. We stopped on the way at Stonehaven Bay and had a fish. Cushla’s infamous fishing skills were still in evidence …… seven in total – all bream – so that was dinner taken care of!
Butterfly Bay was magnificent for snorkelling. Although Cushla was a recalcitrant snorkeller (still love that word Woody!!!!), she conquered her fears and braved the watery depths. She was rewarded with magnificent coral, metre wide clams, a turtle, along with many many beautiful brightly coloured fish. The snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef and surrounds is absolutely amazing. Here’s a photo of the girls about to head off …..
The wind blowing a steady 20 knots from the south really determined our movements around the islands, but we still managed to get to Whitehaven Beach. It is famous worldwide for its magnificent fine white sand, for those technically minded, it is 98 percent silica, so they say. It’s the beach you see on any brochures advertising the Whitsundays. The water is a beautiful blue, and crystal clear where it meets the sand. We arrived there mid-morning – with only about three other boats and 15 or so people there – but within half an hour all the tourist day trippers descended. At the end of the day the beach was back to just a few boaties which was lovely.
We heard last night that next Thursday a HUGE beach party is on at Whitehaven. Six thousand plus people, beer tents, live music all day, guess where we are going!!!! Sounds like a good party ……
After a hurried farewell to Cush at Hamilton Island, we went back to Cid and Butterfly, then off to South Molle Island, which has a resort on it. As it was our fourth anniversary, we just had to take advantage of the facilities - massage/restaurant/bar/golf course. It was hell….. Another beautiful anchorage, this is the view looking down over the bay.
We are currently at Airlie Beach, on the mainland. It is a real fun town, full of Pommy backpackers, good bars, yachties (as it is race week) and the internet! We are one of hundreds of boats anchored out from the yacht club, and it’s only a short ride into town for a latte. We did say after all that our intentions were to café-hop up the Queensland coast!
We soon discovered that swimming here is a little hazardous!!!!
Shane thought that the crocodile in the photo had a lovely smile, but then remembered the rhyme "never smile at a crocodile".
We are liking it here so much that we have decided to stay a week, to catch up with washing, provisioning, and many other things that need doing. Oh, and watching the rugby….
Heather and Shane
PS. Doug – just for you….. No, Heather doesn’t need a ‘chuck bucket’. She hasn’t fed the fishes yet and doesn’t intend to!!! Actually, she’s coping better than she thought, and only took seasick pills as a preventative measure for the first week or so. Are you still taking them on the Earnslaw!!!!!!! Lake Wakatipu can get so rough, can’t it!!!!!
With love,
Shane
First stop was Brampton and Carlisle Islands. The two islands are joined by a narrow sandy channel, which dries at low tide. Most yachties anchor off Brampton Island (where the resort is) but we chose to ‘drop the hook’ (I’m getting very nautical now aren’t I !) off Carlisle Island. There was only one other boat, and it was more sheltered there from the winds. We had two days at Carlisle, and I got to try out my new wetsuit, having a look around the coral. We had a giggle to ourselves as two guests from the resort got transported over for their ‘secluded beach picnic’ option – away from the resort – only to have we two intrepid yachties tromping past them and probably spoiling their little romantic getaway!
Next stop was Hamilton Island to pick up Cushla. As well as being really pleased to see her Dad (and me I hope!), she was also pleased to be in the warmth after her first week of holidays in chilly Melbourne. After spending the night at Hamilton Island, we then set off around the Whitsundays proper.
First stop was Cid Harbour. This is a popular anchorage for cruisers, in that it is totally sheltered from the prevailing southerly swell, and also the first stop on the way up to the best diving and snorkelling areas. We shared the anchorage with at least 40 other boats, so there was always something going on. Here’s a photo of Cush and Shane enjoying sundowners. (For the non-nautical readers, ‘sundowners’ is a well-established tradition called drinking and eating while ejoying watching sun go down. Not wanting to risk the wrath of King Neptune, we have decided it’s best to follow the tradition ….. )
For me boats are fascinating; much like at ‘home’ where you drive past and check out other peoples houses while out for that Sunday drive, I am now always checking out other people’s boats!
We spent the next night at Nara Inlet (at the bottom of Hook Island), and then the following morning it was off to Butterfly Bay. Our friend John had told us that the snorkelling here was great. We stopped on the way at Stonehaven Bay and had a fish. Cushla’s infamous fishing skills were still in evidence …… seven in total – all bream – so that was dinner taken care of!
Butterfly Bay was magnificent for snorkelling. Although Cushla was a recalcitrant snorkeller (still love that word Woody!!!!), she conquered her fears and braved the watery depths. She was rewarded with magnificent coral, metre wide clams, a turtle, along with many many beautiful brightly coloured fish. The snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef and surrounds is absolutely amazing. Here’s a photo of the girls about to head off …..
The wind blowing a steady 20 knots from the south really determined our movements around the islands, but we still managed to get to Whitehaven Beach. It is famous worldwide for its magnificent fine white sand, for those technically minded, it is 98 percent silica, so they say. It’s the beach you see on any brochures advertising the Whitsundays. The water is a beautiful blue, and crystal clear where it meets the sand. We arrived there mid-morning – with only about three other boats and 15 or so people there – but within half an hour all the tourist day trippers descended. At the end of the day the beach was back to just a few boaties which was lovely.
We heard last night that next Thursday a HUGE beach party is on at Whitehaven. Six thousand plus people, beer tents, live music all day, guess where we are going!!!! Sounds like a good party ……
After a hurried farewell to Cush at Hamilton Island, we went back to Cid and Butterfly, then off to South Molle Island, which has a resort on it. As it was our fourth anniversary, we just had to take advantage of the facilities - massage/restaurant/bar/golf course. It was hell….. Another beautiful anchorage, this is the view looking down over the bay.
We are currently at Airlie Beach, on the mainland. It is a real fun town, full of Pommy backpackers, good bars, yachties (as it is race week) and the internet! We are one of hundreds of boats anchored out from the yacht club, and it’s only a short ride into town for a latte. We did say after all that our intentions were to café-hop up the Queensland coast!
We soon discovered that swimming here is a little hazardous!!!!
Shane thought that the crocodile in the photo had a lovely smile, but then remembered the rhyme "never smile at a crocodile".
We are liking it here so much that we have decided to stay a week, to catch up with washing, provisioning, and many other things that need doing. Oh, and watching the rugby….
Heather and Shane
PS. Doug – just for you….. No, Heather doesn’t need a ‘chuck bucket’. She hasn’t fed the fishes yet and doesn’t intend to!!! Actually, she’s coping better than she thought, and only took seasick pills as a preventative measure for the first week or so. Are you still taking them on the Earnslaw!!!!!!! Lake Wakatipu can get so rough, can’t it!!!!!
With love,
Shane
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