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23rd March
2010 Departure:
I was awoken this morning by
a beautiful sunrise streaming in through the back door, which could only
mean that we are finally on our way after weeks of sitting at the Hope
Island marina waiting for the weather to improve and then cyclone Ului to
pass. We cast of
yesterday Tuesday 23rd March at approximately 12noon and made
our way up to Horizon Shores to take on fuel. By 4pm we were anchored up between Maclay and Russell
Islands and by 4.30pm we were enjoying our first ‘sundowner’ on the aft
deck Coral Sea (a 42’ Clinker Style Trawler) with friends Peter and Ruth
who will be keeping us company on our journey North.
On our first leg from Hope
Island to Maclay a fish decided to take a nap in our cockpit. Big mistake because he quickly
became crab bait which netted us our first mud crab for the trip. Crab sandwiches for lunch tomorrow,
which I’d say, is a pretty good start to our trip.
After taking Ralf ashore for
a wee walk we headed off to Tangalooma which was a very pleasant trip in
spite of a couple of rain squalls that came through. We’ve anchored up for the night and
after discussions with Ruth and Peter have decided to sit and relax here
for a couple of days and wait for the winds to settle before heading off to
the Sandy Straits which from here will be a 12 hour run. So 10-15 knots of wind would be
nice by Friday … please.
24th March 2010:
It’s a lovely day here at
Tangas with only have a dozen boats here behind the wrecks but quite a lot
of activity on the beach. John
and Peter have gone ashore to hopefully pick up some baitfish in the cast
net. Maybe if we are lucky
fish will be on the menu tonight…..anyone out there with any recipes for
bait fish cos that’s all we’ve got!
25th March
2010:
A lazy day today, catching up
on some reading. We’ve all
decided that we will head for Sandy Straits tomorrow and will depart here
at 3am. The trip will take us
12 hours so we are hoping for reasonable weather.
26th March
2010:
We crossed the bar at 3pm
today after exactly 12 hours.
We had a tremendous trip up even though we had 21/2 to 3mt swells on
our starboard side all the way.
The boat handled beautifully which we are very happy about. I can guarantee that it will be an early
night for us all.
27th March
2010:
Peter and Ruth invited us
over for some very ‘special’ fruitcake and a cup of tea. The cake was a going away gift from
Ruth’s friend and was to be had when they were safe across the bar. Well it was really delicious thank
you. As it turned out, the
cake and tea were the highlight of the day. Unfortunately John became very sick very quickly and we
had to make our way into Tin Can Bay Marina and arrange for a ambulance to
take him to hospital. Yes, the
infection in his leg and flared again and he is on a intravenous drip in
the Gympie Hospital. He may be
there for a week, we just don’t know.
Meanwhile Ralf and I are keeping ourselves amused with long walks
when it’s not raining.
29th March
2010:
With all of the information
provided me by Janelle at the Tin Can Bay Marina I hoped on a bus to Gympie
to visit John. He was as
surprised to see me, as I was glad to see him. He is being well cared for but the infection is not
improving yet. Doctors say it
takes a few days for the antibiotics to have an effect but John would like
them to change his medication to that which he was receiving in Gold Coast
Hospital. He will eventually
get his way because he is so in touch with his body and knows what works
for him and what doesn’t. He
also leaves no stone unturned and questions everything being done to
him.
30th March
2010:
I had a lovely surprise this
morning when I checked the crab pots.
Three nice size muddies.
I really only set the pot yesterday to give me something to do after
coming back from the hospital.
I didn’t really expect anything like this. Anyway, it’s crab sandwiches for lunch and dinner for
the next couple of days. Apart
from that it’s been a quiet day.
Spoken to John several times.
He’s OK but still not happy with medication. Ralf and I have been going for lots
of long walks. We even took a
picnic lunch to the beach today.
31st March
2010:
John has gotten his way and
his medication has now been changed.
Hopefully he will start to see an improvement within the next couple
of days. Today I met Alan and
Kathy who own the boat that is moored next to us. They live in Gympie but were down to check on everything. To my absolute surprise they have
offered me the keys to a spare car that they have so I can drive in to
visit John. How generous is
that. They don’t even know me
yet they trust me with their car.
Life is full of little surprises. Anyway they are going to drive in again on Saturday and
bring the spare car with them.
1st April 2010:
I caught three more muddies
this morning. Because I’m
still eating the first lot of crab I caught I made the decision to return
these to the deep. No point in
keeping any more than I can eat fresh. It’s going to be another quiet day for Ralf and me. I’ve got some washing to do and
will probably walk up to IGA to get a couple of things. I’ve spoken to John and he is
relieved that his leg is showing the slightest bit of improvement
today. That’s good news and
also puts him in a better frame of mind.
3rd April
2020:
As promised Alan and Kathy
arrived today with the keys to their car. Because it’s Easter, there are no buses running in to
Gympie and I because I haven’t told John about the car, ane he’s
disappointed that he won’t be seeing me for another few days. I’m going to surprise him tomorrow,
take him some Easter eggs and of course the all-important Sunday Mail.
4th April
2010:
Today was lovely. I surprised John big time. He commandeered a wheel chair and
we went down to the courtyard and sat in the sun for a few hours.
5th April
2010:
The weather has been pretty ordinary for Easter. Any boats that departed here on
Friday have either come back or I’d suspect are tucked away somewhere out
of the wind. It’s very quiet
at the Marina. We’ve just come
back from a walk to the beach.
Luckily I walk Ralf on a lead otherwise he could have been blown
away, literally. I think we’ll
bunker down for the rest of the day and just watch a movie or two (no TV
reception to speak of).
6th April 2010:
Well, what a day it has turned out to be. I left fairly early this morning to
drive into Gympie thinking I’d get a couple of things before I went to
visit John. Arrived at the
hospital at about 10am. John
much much better and hoping to be released by Thursday (today is
Tuesday). We went for another
walk to the courtyard to enjoy the sun (me pushing). I found my way to the Plaza
and got a couple of things before I headed back to Tin Can Bay. I’m about 5kms out of Tin Can and
John rings me to say that the doctor has said he can leave the hospital but
remain on oral antibiotics for some time. Well of course this is good news, but I just got
back!. Anyway, drove back to
the Marina, unloaded the groceries I’d bought, bundled Ralf up and headed
back to the hospital to collect John who was waiting in the car park for
me. I got the idea that he was
pleased to be coming back to the boat.
It’s a lovely drive from
Gympie to Tin Can Bay and John sure appreciated the change of scenery. The countryside is looking so lush
and green after all of the recent rain. Anyway, we arrived back at the Marina at approximately
6pm.
I was fiddling about putting
‘stuff’ away when I heard these little voices at the back door say ‘we are
lost, we are lost’!! Well you
can imagine my delight to see Jamila, Saleem and Susie standing on the
boat. They had drive up from
the Gold Coast to visit for a couple of days thinking that John would still
be in hospital and thinking I would enjoin the company. They were all delighted though to
see John back and looking so well.
8th April
2010:
Susie, the kids and I had a lovely day yesterday. We went to the local park and beach
and bought some nice seafood for lunch. The kids played at the skate park and had a swim. John just relaxed on the boat and
caught up with some reading and trip planning. Susie and the kids left early this morning to go down to
the Jetty and feed the dolphins before they started on the long drive home. I was just absolutely wonderful to
enjoy their company for a couple of days. I miss them so much.
We didn’t hang about after
they left. I went up and paid
the account at the Marina, we fuelled up and headed back out into the
Straits. We met up with our
friend Kerry (Olympus) and spent the night at Yanky Jacks.
9th April
2010:
We had a nice night with
Kerry and his friend Jim who comes from Hervey Bay. This morning we left to travel up
to Rooney’s where we will stay and wait for good weather to travel out to
Lady Musgrave Island.
11th April
2010:
We spent a very pleasant
night last night anchored up here at Roonies. Just before lunch we had a nice visit from Al, Doug and
Steve aboard Al’s Riviera “Escape”.
They are on their way home after spending a couple of days at
Musgrave. It was great to see
them and the fact that they enjoyed some excellent fishing made the trip
well worth their while.
14th April
2010:
Well, here we at Pancake
Creek. We’ve been to Lady
Musgrave, caught up with friend Keith (Blackwatch “Yvonne” from Hope Is
Marina), done a little bit of fishing and high tailed it into Pancake
yesterday ahead of a wind change.
The trip from Roonies to Musgrave was good but the trip from
Musgrave to Pancake was just fantastic. We were accompanied by a pod of Dolphins that stayed
with us for about one mile.
John took some good pictures so you can check those out too. We will probably stay here in
Pancake and wait for our friends Ruth and Peter. They have had to say in Bundaberg for a few extra days
so Ruth could visit a dentist, which finally eventuated in having to have a
tooth pulled. Ouch!!!!
15th April
2010:
We been catching some nice
mud crabs and have plenty to share with Ruth and Peter when they arrive,
which hopefully will be tomorrow afternoon providing that the weather
report tonight is a little more favourable to what it is at the moment. but
haven’t done too much of anything else because of the wind. Our anchorage is good, no rocking
about but the wind is incessant.
We won’t be seeing Ruth and
Peter for some time yet so we’ll have to eat all of the crab
ourselves. Bugger!!!! They have missed a good weather
opportunity and will be staying in Bundy for a few days. We’ve decided to up anchor tomorrow
and go up to Graham Creek and wait for a suitable tide to go thrown the narrows.
18th April
2010:
We had a good trip up the
narrows and on to Rosslyn Bay Marina.
The weather has turned very very nasty so I think we will be
bunkering down here for a few days until everything settles down. We did the narrows with another
boat Grand Seas (60’ Grand Banks).
Skipper Garry, first mate Katherine. They were actually moored next to us in Pancake Creek
but we didn’t meet then because the weather wasn’t good for visiting. Anyway, we spoke on the radio in
Graham Creek and did the trip together. When we all tied up at the marina, we discovered that we
were all from the Hope Island marina. Small world!
22nd April
2010:
The weather is awful. It’s been blowing 30 knots since we arrived and just doesn’t look like
letting up. Another boat
(Riveria 42) came in yesterday.
They were also in Pancake Creek and moored near us and you guessed
it …… they are from Hope Island marina which I’m guessing, is just about
empty?!
I forgot to mention that our friends Peter and Yvonne
(Blue Chip .. 42’ Clipper) have loaned us a car so we can get around while
we are stuck here. It’s been
wonderful and today Garry, Katherine, John and I went into Rocky today to
the movies. We had a nice day,
which included lunch at Sizzlers.
25th April 2010:
We are anchored up at Great Keppel Island. You guessed it, the weather has
come good and there was a mass exodus from the Marina yesterday. Boats have gone in all directions. Peter and Ruth have decided to take
advantage of the weather and are expected here today at about 1600
hours. It will be lovely to
see them again.
Peter and Yvonne are also due over this
afternoon. We’ll all get
together, look at the weather maps and plan our trip from here. We’ll probably head up to Island Creek
about Tuesday but that’s not firm.
We still have to check whether there are any Army/Navy exercises in
the area that will close the area to boating, but that’s the plan.
It’s just nice to get out of the Marina. We did a little bit of fishing
yesterday and caught a couple of nice fish for dinner. We’ve been going to the beach for
lots of walks and although there are lots and lots of rocks literally
covered in oysters I’ve resisted the temptation to attack them. I think I’ll wait until we get to
the Whitsundays (or Windysundays for those of you who have read our
previous travel logs). The
oysters are the best thing about the W’sundays, that is apart from our
friends Susie and John who I can’t wait to see.
Anyway, that all for now, you are up-to-date. Peter (Coral Sea) has just called
on the radio and announced that they are about 3 nm away so there arrival
is imminent which means I’d better go and put some lippy on.
30th April 2010:
This is truly a beautiful country that we have the
privilege to live in. Over the
past week we’ve been anchored up at Great Keppel Island and Pearl Bay. We’ve enjoyed beautiful weather,
played golf on the beach, picked oysters, fished (Peter Blue Chip caught an
enormous Cod, but we won’t go on about that!) walked the beaches and watched
the beautiful sunsets. Everyday is different and there is always something
new and exciting to do.
Today we’ve travelled a short distance (approx 12 nm)
from Pearl Bay to Island Head Creek.
We are all safely anchored up and just kicking back and looking at
the new scenery. John has
already taken Ralf to the beach for a walk and then went over to talk to
the crew of another boat anchored a short distance away. It’s a charter boat out of Yeppoon.
They are in here to shelter from the 30 knots of wind out a little
further. Stumpy the skipper
has invited us all on board tonight for dinner, which I’m sure, will be
very enjoyable.
Stumpy also reminded us that we are now officially in
crocodile country and so we are on croc alert from now on.
The weather in Island Head has been a little unsettled
but hasn’t stopped us from enjoying our time here. John and I have fished a bit, taken
Ralf for long walks on the beach and generally goofed off. Thankfully we have a good selection
of movies on board that we can watch if there is nothing else to do. John and Peter put in a couple of
crab pots which resulted in one big muddie in our pot that we gladly gave
to Peter and Ruth. The BBQ on
board Bell Cay with skipper Stumpy and his crew was a lot of fun. Unfortunately we didn’t take our
camera so were unable to get photos of Stumpy doing his pirate
impersonation which was really really funny.
Don’t forget that there are lots of lovely photos in
“cruising log” to look at some of which have been taken by
us, and others taken by Ruth and Yvonne. We all hope that you enjoy sharing our adventures. If there is anything in particular
that you’d like to know or perhaps you just want to leave a comment, please
contact us by email through the web site. We don’t always have internet coverage but will
endeavour to upload and update the site and answer any emails as soon as we
can.
May 4th 2010:
With a couple of days of reasonable weather we had an
opportunity to leave Island Head and head to the Percy Group of
islands. John and I hadn’t
visited the south island so we decided to give this a go as it seemed to
offer the best protection from the south east winds that continue to blow. We all had a lovely time here and
the weather was so good that we decided to have our sundowners on the beach
(great suggestion by Ruth).
John and I went in ahead of the others and gathered some firewood so
we could all sit around and watch the sun go down, tell jokes and reflect
on past passages and discuss the adventures that lie ahead.
We’ve had a very memorable time here at the Percy’s
and before we depart and head off to Scawfell Island (approx 60 nm) we
visited the beach hut on Middle Percy where we left a memento from the Grey
Navy and one for Ralf too . It
was fabulous and you can see the photos in the “cruising log”.
May 5th 2010:
Here we are anchored up in Refuge Bay at Scawfell
Island after another quite enjoyable passage from the Percy’s. This is absolutely spectacular and
I know we will all enjoy spending a night here before we head off once
more, this time to Goldsmith Island.
May 6th 2010:
The approach to Goldsmith Island is lovely but
rounding the headland and coming into Refuge Bay was breathtaking. It was picture postcard material. We headed for the
eastern most anchorages, which we thought would give us the most protection
from the wind but the night was quite roley. But not too worry; things can’t always be
‘perfect’. Tomorrow we are
heading for Airlie Beach and Abel Point marina to reprovision all
boats. If we all keep eating
and drinking the way we have been, we’ll all look like blimps before we
even reach Cairns. (Jeff
Jowett would not be pleased.)
May 7 – 11th 2010:
Last time we were here at Able Point Marina it was affordable. This time the costs are just plain
over the top. Apart from me
‘miss placing’ my gate key and not being able to get a refund ($50) it has
absolutely nothing going for it.
There are virtually no facilities and unless you hire a car there is
no way of getting provisions.
Airlie Beach is too far to walk unless all you want is just one loaf
of bread and maybe a bottle of milk.
Anyway, the point of coming in here was to do some maintenance, wash
the boats inside and out and do the washing. With all of that done and the reprovisioning complete we
are heading out to explore the Whitsunday Islands. Again, see some funny photos in the
Cruising Log. All these things
help keep us amused.
May 12th 2010:
We left Abel Point yesterday and are now anchored up
in Stonehaven Bay, Hook Island.
We had sundowners here on Black Label last night and will go over to
Coral Sea for sundowners tonight.
Because it’s a bit overcast here today we won’t be doing any
snorkelling, particularly after Garry on Grand Seas caught a 5’ Hammerhead
Shark yesterday afternoon. In
lieu of the snorkelling we are going to have a fishing competition after
lunch. I probably should still
take something out of the freezer for dinner … just in case!
May 13th 2010:
6.30am and we are just about to slip our mooring at
Stonehaven to make our way to Woodwark Bay approximately 12nm. We had another very pleasant night
in what is a very picturesque bay. We had our fishing comp which John and I clearly
won (and it was not rigged as suggested). All fish caught were released, as nothing was any bigger
than 6” long. We had casserole
for dinner again.
By 9.30am we are anchored in Woodward. John, Ralf and I have done a recon
to the beach and spotted a possible spot for a beach sundowner. After relaying this to the fleet,
Peter (Coral) suggested a b.b.q on the beach – we all agreed.
Back on the boat and John caught a nice sweet
lip. I caught a reef!
May 14th 2010:
John and I have to go back into Airlie Beach today to
pick up a parcel and some mail, which Susie (daughter) has sent up. John is going to fit a gismo to the
back of the dingy, which will allow us to leave the motor on the dinghy
instead of lifting it off every time we need to travel. With that out of the way, we are
back in Woodwark by 2pm.
We had a lovely bbq last night. Chef Peter (Coral) did a fabulous
job. We left our table and
chairs on the beach so we can go back on to the beach tonight to enjoy the
sundown. This
holiday is just so laid back and I think I can speak for all when I say
that we are having an absolutely great time.
With Peter’s help John has done the modifications on
the dinghy and the motor now remains on the dinghy which we are
travelling. This is just so
much easier for John and myself.
We can now launch and retrieve the dinghy in 3 minutes.
May 15th 2010:
We will be heading off to Glouster Passage and the Eco
Resort today but first Peter and Ruth (Coral) have to go back in to Airlie
to collect mail. They will be
back by 9am. Unfortunately
Peter (Blue Chip) is having trouble with his hip so he and Yvonne are going
back into Airlie too today so he can have some Chiropractic treatment. We won’t know until later today
when (if) they will be returning.
Cross fingers for good news, as we will all miss their company very
much.
Coral Sea and ourselves travelled up to Glouster which
is just a short jump up from Woodward. We are anchored up outside the Eco Resort. We’ve been in and had a lovely
lunch and a couple of drinks.
There was a wedding at the resort so we hung around until about 4pm
so Ruth and I could admire the bride.
And admire we did, she looked absolutely beautiful in the brightest
of bright pink full skirted full length dress. The colour theme was pink and orange. The men work black suits and orange
vests and black thongs and dark sunglasses. It was a beach wedding!
We have had good news too. Peter and Yvonne (Blue Chip) will be returning tomorrow
and will meet us here at the Eco Resort. That’s the best news and we are all so happy that Peter
is going to be OK.
On the way back from the Resort yesterday, John and I
had a little scout about on the Oyster rocks. Guess what I’m doing tomorrow. I’ll ask Ruth if she wants to join me.
May 16th 2010:
John and I did some fishing last night and we caught
some lovely fish. Mostly sweet
lip but a couple of other reef fish too. We have too many for us to Peter came across and
collected about half a dozen.
Ruth and I have been oystering on the low tide today
and yum yum yum, we have some big big oysters. Check out the photos! It was almost dark before we returned to the boats. We joked that we should have worn
little caps with lights attached so we could have stayed longer. But all jokes aside, the oysters
are magnificent and I think I might add them to the plate tonight with some
fish that we are have leftover from our fish and chip lunch that I cooked
earlier today.
Peter and Yvonne arrived safely at about 12pm. It’s too windy to get together tonight
for sundowners so we’ll all stay about our own boats and catch up tomorrow.
May 17th 2010:
Last night John and I had beer battered fish and
oysters done the same way.
How decedent was that.
I don’t think I have enjoyed anything so much for such a long
time. How great is it when you
can get in your dinghy, go to the beach and collect your own oysters. It is hard work but well worth it
and I know Ruth will agree.
She actually has the potential to be more addicted to collecting
oysters than I am. Well done
Ruth. Now we have to work on
Yvonne.
We left Glouster Passage early today and have made out
way up to Bowen. We are
anchored up just opposite Queens Beach, which is rather lovely. We’ve been ashore with Ralf a
couple of times. The weather
isn’t great. It’s been
overcast for most of the day and we had a little bit of rain too. We’ve just all had a really quiet
day on our own boats.
We will polish off the remaining 2 dozen oysters (natural) tonight
with a nice bottle of white wine but will have a quiet night as we are
heading off tomorrow at 7am for another relatively short passage to Cape
Upstart.
18th May 2010:
The Glouster to Upstart leg was relatively although a
bit chilly and we also had some rain along the way, which is always welcome
at it, washes the salt off the boat (for a short time anyway). As soon as the anchor had settled I
started the washing, John put the dinghy in and we were on the beach within
10 minutes of arriving. The
sun is beginning to shine and it’s warming up nicely. I collected some nice really nice
shells for Jamila and Saleem.
We are heading off tomorrow and going up to Cape Bowling Green aptly
named, as it is a flat as.
19TH May 2010:
The plan was to travel from Upstart to Cape Bowling
Green today but when John and I stuck our head around the Cape it was
blowing about 20 knots and the bay was awash with dreadful chop. So we put it to the rest of the
fleet who were following a short distance behind that we should continue on
to Magnetic Island, particularly as the outside sea conditions were
absolutely glorious. It was
unanimous and so on we went.
With the tide and about 10 knots of wind from behind we made exceptionally
good time running at a constant 8-9 knots and were anchored up in Horseshoe
Bay by 3pm.
It’s my birthday today and I’ve had calls from Ben and
Susie and lots of other friends.
It’s hard to believe that this time in 2007 we were
just one days travel from Darwin.
20th May 2010:
It is a beautiful sunny day in Horseshoe Bay
today. Last night we had
sundowners on the fly bridge of our boat. We popped the cork on a few bottles of champagne and
Ruth had bought a cake while we were in Airlie Beach just for the occasion. We had the party lights on, some
nice music and had a really
lovely time.
Peter and Ruth are going to explore the island by bus
today while Peter and Yvonne go into Townsville for a couple of days so
Peter can have some follow up chiropractic treatments. John and I are going to have a
quiet day and save all our energy for tomorrow as we have hired a dual
seated moped scooter to do some sightseeing. I’ll let you know how we go!!!
21st May 2010:
John and I caught the 9am bus from Horseshoe Bay to
Nelly Bay to the bike shop that we hired our 2-seater 50hp scooter
from. When we walked in I must
confess I was a little nervous
but …………..what a BLAST!!!!!
Any fears that I had soon disappeared as we zipped here and there
and everywhere. We took our
time and saw everything that we wanted to including the rock wallabies that
come out at various times to be ‘fed’ by the tourists. I totally disagree with this
practice but at least someone who apparently knows what he is talking feeds
them. At least they are only
fed approved pellets, that won’t upset them. They are so cute and most of the females had little
joeys in the pouches. The
adults are only quite small and the babies just the cutest little things
only 6-12 inches long.
We did the 4klm (return) walk up to the Forts which
was amazing. Apart from the
Forts themselves the scenery throughout the walk was breathtaking. We even saw a koala asleep in a
tree that overhung the walk.
How cute was he? We ran
into Peter and Ruth who were doing the same walk. They had caught the bus from Horseshoe and gotten out at
the walk. They too had taken a
cut lunch, which they enjoyed ‘at the top’.
John was unusually complimentary today. Several times he stopped and told
me how fabulous I looked. He
said shorts, t/shirt, crocs with socks and motor bike helmet did something
for me. Wasn’t that thoughtful!! Who cares, I had the best time and
I know he did too.
22nd May 2010:
We departed Horseshoe Bay Magnetic Island today to
make our way to the Palm Island group where we had intended to stay the
night. On checking the tide charts for
the Hinchenbrook Passage which was to be out next stop after the Palm
group, John realised that we’d either have to leave very very early
tomorrow morning or very late in the afternoon to arrive at half tide or
better. So it was decided by
all that we have a lunch stop over in Juno Bay and continue onto to
Hinchenbrook, where we were anchored up at 3pm. It has been an absolute glorious day for cruising. John and I caught a nice feed of
fish in thirty minutes while we were having lunch. That was an unexpected bonus.
23rd May 2010:
It’s John’s and my experience that Hinchenbrook
creates it’s own weather and just as on our last visits we woke this
morning to a very overcast day with lots of heavy dew on the boat. I decided to give the boat a quick
tub and clean the windows, which you couldn’t see through for the salt. It
has cleared to a lovely sunny day.
We cooked a roast on the bbq for lunch and will have sundowners with
the Peter and Ruth and Peter and Yvonne at 4pm here on Black Label. We’ve also got our crab pots in so
hopefully we’ll have a crab entrée tomorrow for dinner.
24th May 2010:
Today we have a very important decision to make. You see, we have caught an
abundance of mud crabs but the mosquitos and sand flies are something
else. Do we stay or do we go
up to northern entrance of the creek. Will discuss with the rest of the fleet and make a
decision later. We are moving
up to the next creek anyway, so there may be fewer mosies up there.
25th May 2010:
We all made the decision to just cover up a little to
Gayunday Creek and stay another day.
We cooked all the mud
crabs and had a feast of crabs for lunch on Coral Sea yesterday. Whilst on Coral Sea after
lunch, I looked toward on of the mud banks and saw what I thought was a
crocodile, so we all hopped aboard out dinghy’s and went to investigate,
and just as I thought, the crocodile was sunning himself but slipped away
back into the water as we approached.
Thankfully Ruth got some photos before he disappeared.
We’ve all done some fishing and have caught some
beautiful spotted grunter fish, which has been fabulous.
Sundowners were on Peter and Yvonne’s boat this
afternoon. The mossies are
really getting to Yvonne so we sat inside with the air-con on which was a lovely respite from the
heat of the afternoon.
We are going to leave in the morning and move up further to Scraggy
Point where we will go ashore and have a look at the very old Aboriginal
fish traps which are made of rocks.
26th May 2010:
Coral Sea and us are anchored here at Scraggy Point
but Peter and Yvonne have gone into the Marina at Cardwell.
It was out intention to all get together tonight to
watch the 1st of the Sate of Origin matches but with Peter and
Yvonne at the marina we’ve decided to stay aboard our own boats and watch
the match. It’s windy and a
little showry so it was an easy decision to make.
27th May 2010:
Commiserations to all Blue supporters and Ruth. What a match! Lets hope that Queensland can play
as well next match. I think we
will be on Lizard Island for that one so I hope the Marlin Bar will be open
with the TV on.
29th May 2010:
From Hinchinbrook we travelled to Mourilyan Harbour
and stayed a night. The
entrance to the harbour is a tricky one because it cannot be seen when
approaching from the southeast.
It only becomes clear when you are face on to it. When we arrived there was a very
large ship being loaded with sugar.
It was still being loaded when we left the next morning. I was wondering how many millions
of cups it could carry.
Our next voyage was the most fabulous in the very best
of weather up to Fitzroy Island which is just a hop skip and a jump south
of Cairns. The resort seemed
to be closed but the day-trippers were still arriving in the big catamarans
to snorkel and dive around the beautiful reefs. Our sundowners were on the beach. While we were sitting there we
spotted a shark swimming very very close to the shore. Ruth was up like a flash and
photographed this thing within an inch of its life before she lost it at
the jetty, which was about 700 metres from where we were sitting. The shark was later identified as a
harmless reef shark. Nice
photos Ruth.
John and I would like to spend a few days here and Turtle
bay which is just across from Fitzroy on our return journey.
We arrived at the Marlin Marina in Cairns today and
have booked for one week so we will do some reprovisioning and some
maintenance before heading off again.
29th May 2010 – 8th June
2010:
We only just left the Cairns marina today. We stayed a few more days than
first intended because the wind came up and would have made any journey
uncomfortable. Not to worry
though as we filled the days with shopping, shopping and more
shopping. We hired a car for
three days and shared this with Peter and Ruth. John and I had a lovely day out when we drove up to Port
Douglas where we had a picnic in the Park. Ralf really enjoyed his time off the boat and off the
marina. He did however get to
do lots of walks through the gardens around the marina but nothing quite as
nice as the open fresh air of Port.
We had a phone call from friends Al and Julie who live
at Hope Island to say there had just arrived in Cairns for a few days
holiday and enquired where we were.
Not expecting us to say “just coming through the leads into Cairns
Marina” they were very surprised that their timing couldn’t have been
better. Anyway a few minutes
later I could see them waving from the observation walkway on the approach
to the marina. We meet them on
the boat about 20 minutes later after we had tied up and had a nice catch
up. The following Monday night
we went with Al and Julie to a lovely restaurant and then on the
casino. John is such a bad
loser, but don’t tell him I told you that .. OK. If you go to the casino, you don’t expect to come out a
winner do you? Just because Al
did and Peter and Yvonne did the night before.
Anyway, on leaving the marina today, we sadly said goodbye to Peter
and Yvonne who are staying in Cairns for another two weeks to visit with
their daughter before
returning to Yeppoon to make ready for their trip to Europe. We will see them again on our
return trip south.
We also left Peter and Ruth behind as they were
waiting for a delivery of some drinks which they had ordered from
Bi-Lo. Apparently there was a
mix up with the ordering and they could be waiting for another few days or
so.
John and I have decided to make the most of the
weather which is only going to hold for a couple of days and have headed
off to the Hope Isles. The weather is just fabulous and
great for cruising. Ralf is
just curled up beside me asleep while I update this dairy.
We should be anchoring up at about noon which will
give us a nice opportunity to go ashore with out picnic lunch and also have
a look around the island and the lighthouse.
9th June 2010:
We had a nice look around the Island yesterday
although there isn’t really a lot to see. The lighthouse is all automated now as all lighthouses
are, and the accommodation is now used by research people. There were a few tourist boats in
with lots of tourists on board who come over to do some snorkelling on the
reef.
We left this morning at about 4am and are headed for
Cooktown where we will top up the fuel, have a quick look around the town,
take Ralf for a nice long walk, anchor up and head off again at about 4am
and make our way to Lizard Island.
Hopefully we will get the majority of the voyage over and done with
before the predicted wind (30 knots) arrives in the afternoon.
10th June 2010:
Here we are at Lizard Island. The trip over from Cooktown was
really quite good for most of the trip as the wind was only about 15 knots
on our Starboard quarter. The
predicted 20-30knots arrived when we were still about 10 nm off so the last
hour and a bit were quite uncomfortable. Not to worry though, we are here and a mooring was
available so we don’t have to put the anchor down. It’s a little overcast with some
showers predicted for later today.
Maybe we will get the boat washed.
17th June 2010:
Gosh we meet some nice people in out travels. We spent the past few days getting
to know some yachities.
We especially enjoyed the company of Finn and Reidun (Hilde), Bertl
and Britta (Blues) (the four of whom we had already met in Cairns marina)
and Trevor and Yolanta (Matilda) who had met out friends Peter and Ruth in
Bundaberg.
Unfortunately they have all departed now and will be
well on their way, which will eventually see them all in Darwin, and then on
to many exotic places before they reach their homes again. We will miss their company very
much but wish them all a safe passage.
We walked up the mountain yesterday about 300 mts to
have a picnic lunch and enjoy the incredible view of Watson’s Bay. We could see right back to the
mainland and back to the Lagoon.
We also got a good signal on my mobile, which allowed us to catch up
with family and friends until the signal dropped out again.
Last night we went over to the Marlin Bar to watch the footy.
Great match although very one sided I thought. The staff bar has a
large rear projection TV screen and there was about 50 staff there and the
atmosphere was really great. Drinks were very reasonable (I had the
largest of Lemon, Lime and Bitters that I've ever had for just $1 .. I
think I had 6 .. peed all night). They put on a sausage sizzle.
I got talking to David, the fellow cooking the sausages. He was the maintenance manager for
the island. Guess what, he lives in Babirra St, Hope Island about 200
mts from us. Just knocked down his house and is building a new
one. He goes back about every 6 months for 1 month. Small
place!
When we got up
this morning there was only one sailing boat left in the bay and the 80'
thing moored next to us looks like it may be preparing to leave as they
have just put all the jet skees up. So until Peter and Ruth arrive
it’s going to be very quite here I think.
John is trying
to teach me Eucha, and he is really very patient but I just can’t seem to
get the hang of it. But I’ve
got plenty of time to learn so you just never know, it may just all slip
into place one day.
Ralf has just
had a lovely bath and he is lying here sunning himself dry. He is just an absolute delight this
little boy of ours. He is never
any trouble and just goes with the flow. He’s going to have a very radical haircut this
afternoon. He has been getting
so sandy from playing on the beach and it’s quite hot up here so I think I
give him a No.2.
20th
June 2010:
Sitting here at Lizard Island (still) looking at the
weather on John’s computer and it looks like we could be here for at least
another week, if not longer.
There was an opportunity for us to leave on Thursday and Friday, but
we were expecting Peter and Ruth to leave Cairns then and make their way here to
meet us. We didn’t know until
Friday that they hadn’t left because Peter thought the weather still too
bad to travel.
Let’s look on the bright side. The sun shines here every day
and we go for long walks and if we didn’t have the company of a large shark
that keeps circling the boat we’d probably go snorkelling every day. Yesterday we went around the cliffs
in the dinghy and went ashore on what was a beautiful deserted beach, which
was only about 150 mts long.
It was really warm and the water looked so inviting. Looking at the
reef was like looking through glass. John suggested that we strip down to our undies
and go for a swim. We were
only in the water 2 minutes when another dinghy rounded the corner and made for the beach. John and I retreated
very quickly to put our shorts back on. So what are to odds of that happening?
Yesterday afternoon the Navy decided to pull into the
Bay. While the officers went
into the resort, the crew jumped into the rubber duckies and came into the
beach for a swim and a snorkel.
When we looked out after dinner, the Navy had gone and was replaced
by the Island Princess cruise boat.
They are still anchored out the front, as I would think it too rough
outside (30 knots+) for the passengers.
22nd June 2010:
An invitation came over the radio early yesterday
morning from the Research Station inviting all interested parties to go
over for a tour and information morning. We set off at 9.30am for the 3km walk, which was very
pleasant. The talk was
extremely interesting as were all of the tanks of fish and coral that we
were able to look at, and touch.
We were shown an amazing little crab that is called a ‘decorator
crab’. This little crab
undresses itself and dresses again in whatever it can find. To demonstrate what this little
creature is about, they tore up some blue chux wipes and a rubber band and
sure enough, it soon became a whole new outfit for this very classy little
fellow (or girl .. they are not sure).
John and I decided to walk back via the beach, which
meant that we had to do a lot of climbing over rocks but it was nicer than
walking back through the bush as we had done on the way over. We reached the resort within no
time at all and cut through there and back onto Chinaman’s Ridge, which
leads back down to Watson’s Bay.
There has been a report of a small crocodile being
seen near the beach.
There is a sign near the mangroves which warns of crocodiles but
this is just a regular Parks and Wildlife sign and we hadn’t thought much
about it but we are a little more cautious now when walking through the
tracks that lead through the mangroves and camping area etc.
The wind has not dropped at all and is expected to
blow like this at least until the weekend and maybe into next week. The winds are gusting to 50 knots
at times during the night. As
I’ve said before, at least we are very comfortable here and the island has
so much to offer the visitor in terms of walks and beautiful beaches. I couldn’t think of a nicer place
to be ‘marooned’.
I didn’t really appreciate though how much of a
difference a couple of slices of bread can make to our day until now as we
don’t have any. Last night I
dreamt that lovely fresh long crusty baguettes were floating past the boat
and I was trying to hook them we a boat hook. I didn’t succeed of course, so John had eggs on a plate
this morning instead of on toast and on a plate.
The sun has come out from behind the clouds and hopefully
will hang about for as long as it takes me to dry the washing, which I’m
about to get out of the machine.
23rd June – 6th July
2010
We departed Lizard Island on 28th June and
made our way to Cape Flattery.
We’d been anchored up no more than 2 hours when we decided to give
Peter and Ruth a call to see whether they had in fact left Cairns. To our surprise they were making
their way to Cape Bedford, which was 18 nm South of where we were, so we
decided to up, anchor and meet up with them.
After a quick catch up, we took possession of our
frozen food that Peter had been keeping for us and made our way back to our
boat. We wanted to get an
early 6am start the next day so we could make the Low Isles by early
afternoon. We did get the
early start but the weather just deteriorated so we back tracked 10 nm and
came into Cooktown.
There is very limited space in the river here so we
anchored where we had stayed when we were here on our way North. We knew it was a good holding
bottom and would give us enough water at low tide. We had a reasonably comfortable
night and a quick look around town the next day.
It was very late on Wednesday afternoon when John
began to feel ill. He had a
terrible night and so I called 000 and arranged for an Ambulance to meet us
at the boat ramp and take John to hospital. The problem was his leg again which this time was caused
by a scratch he got when boarding Peter and Ruth’s boat two nights
previously. He was able to
tell the doctors exactly what he had been treated with before and they
began the drips almost immediately.
Five days later he is back on the boat with me, which I’m extremely
pleased about, as the weather has been the worst here that the locals can
remember with gusts at night to 50-60 knots and a constant 30-40 knots
during the days. I had hardly
any sleep in five days and it has taken me a couple of days to get over the
worry of the snub breaking or the anchor dragging etc etc.
Anyway, all is well now. The wind has subsided slightly and we have moved into
the jetty and are moored up beside a charter boat. The locals here are so friendly and
very accommodating. It’s been
raining on and off for about 5 days and if we get a decent break today we
are going to go for a long walk and look at all of the interesting and
historic places around Cooktown.
At this moment we are looking at leaving here on Thursday and doing
the 90nm run direct into Cairns if we can. That of course depends on the wind dropping
to 15-20 as predicted: and we all know how quickly that can change.
12th July 2010:
As it turned out, the weather improved overnight and
we left Cooktown on Wednesday and arrived in Cairns at about 2pm. The voyage down was lovely with the
wind dropping off to 15 knots and only .5 mt of sea. It’s been dull and overcast since
we arrived but this hasn’t stopped us both from going for nice long
walks. John’s leg still looks
a little troublesome and we are endeavouring to get him an appointment with
the only vascular surgeon in Cairns but to no avail. If we can’t get an appointment this
week John may have to fly back to the Gold Coast to seek more medical
attention.
We are going over to the Casino tonight to watch a
‘magical show’, which is getting rave reviews in the papers. I’m really looking forward to this
as the past couple of weeks have been fairly stressful.
26th July 2010:
Hmmm .. well the Magic show was very very ordinary
which really disappointed us but the Chinese dinner was really good. We left Cairns on Saturday 18th
July and spent one night at Fitzroy Island before going down to Mourilyan
Harbour for one night.
Fortunately we got a
couple of good days so we continued down to Scraggy Point and next day down
to Gayundah Creek. We caught
some really nice fish in Gayundah on the way North, but not much about this
time and didn’t even get a crab although I had a pot our every day. Never mind.
We are currently sitting here at Dungeness and it’s
been raining on and off since we arrived about three days ago. At least we can get in the
dinghy and go for a walk through the park. We had planned on packing a picnic lunch and taking off
up the creek somewhere in the dinghy and doing some fishing, but as it is
still raining, I think it is going to be a movie day for us.
It’s a pretty place and if the rain stops soon we’ll
take a walk around to Lucinda.
John is predicting that Thursday is going to be a good day to go
back to the Palm Group/Orpheus Island. We’d like to spend a couple of days there fishing and
walking around the island if possible. After that it is into Magnetic Island for a couple of
weeks. We have daughter Susie
and grandchildren Jamila and Saleem coming up for one week which is going to
be fabulous. There is so much
for us to do at Magnetic so I’m sure the kids are going to have a fun time.
21st August 2010:
Where does the time go, I just can’t believe that it’s
been almost one month since I’ve updated my diary.
We did go back to Orpheus and walked up to the coral/shell
hut and also visited the Research Station but unfortunately it was
unattended so we did not get to see anything. We decided to stay only one night and apart from a
brief stopover at Rattle Snake Island we made directly for Magnetic Island.
We had a lovely relaxing time on the island before the
children arrived on the 11th August. We travelled over to Townsville to restock the larder
and collect Susie, Jamila and Saleem.
It was so wonderful to see them again. As soon as we had them safely on board we departed for
Magnetic. Once anchored in
Horseshoe Bay we loaded everyone in the dinghy and went ashore where we
oystered, played at the playground, kicked the soccer ball up and down the
beach and generally just had a good time. During their week with us, we walked over to Radical Bay
and John came over in Black Label to collect us, we walked to the forts and
saw three koalas, did a bus tour around the island, getting off at every
other stop, hired a moke for a day which the kids thought was a blast and
generally made the most of our time together.
Unfortunately while we were at Radical Bay one of the
family sustained a terrible injury when tearing around the beach and acting
like a two year old. Ralf has
torn a cruciat ligament in his right knee, which resulted in two vet
visits. The news is not good
and the poor little bugger will probably have to have an operation as soon
as we get back to the Gold Coast.
The only treatment in the meantime is to keep him very very quiet
and off the leg as much as possible which is proving almost
impossible. He hops about on
three legs not quite understanding why the other one doesn’t work. He falls over when he tries to wee
and has a lot of trouble doing poos.
Anyone who knows Ralf knows that he follows us about like a shadow
so we have to nurse him most of the time. He is sitting right beside me now looking up at me with
his big browns as if to know that I’m writing about him.
Well we took the kids back to Townsville on Tuesday 17th
for their afternoon flight.
While I went to Woolies for a couple of things Susie took the
children to the Museum and the Strand. We said our final goodbyes and before I knew it, they
were gone. I miss them
terribly already.
The weather has been beautiful since we arrived at
Magnetic Island and just continues to improve. We came down yesterday from Cape Upstart in ‘glassed
out’ conditions. While I was
making our morning cuppa yesterday I looked out the back and saw a whale
about 100 mts away. I called
John who stumbled out of bed and grabbed the camera and managed to get a
couple of shots. Just
after leaving and rounding the headland we saw more and more whales and
even had to stop the boat because there was a mother and calf directly in
our path. We didn’t worry them
and there was a third whale (maybe daddy?) that went right under the boat
and surfaced the other side.
What fascinating creatures.
Everywhere we looked until we got down to Glouster there were
whales. Magic! I guess you could say that
yesterday we had a ‘whale of a time’.
We over-nighted last night at the Eco Resort and are
making out way right now down to Woodwark Bay where we hope to spend a
couple of nights. We had a
little bit of a light shower early this morning but not quite enough to wash
the salt off the boat and it is still a little bit overcast but the
conditions are still really nice.
26th August 2010:
Woodwark Bay was very quiet and really lovely. We didn’t do much apart from walk
to the ‘other’ side, which was all of about 100 metres. It’s amazing what gets washed up on
the beaches during the high tides and we had great fun rummaging through
the flotsam and jetsam.
Thankfully we didn’t souvenir anything. We had sundowners with a couple we met on the beach and
departed again after just two nights.
We had to call into the Abel Point Marina to return a key and took
the opportunity to fill up with water and then we were away again and after
one night at Goldsmith Island made our way into Mackay Marina ahead of a
strong southerly wind which was predicted.
It’s been really nice catching up with our friend
Susie. John has seen
Susie occasionally on his many trips to the Whitsunday’s but I haven’t seen
Susie since we departed Darwin almost three years ago. She hasn’t changed and is as much
fun and as
entertaining as ever.
We did some grocery shopping yesterday but today will
be a day on the boat as it is as cold as cold outside, it’s rainy and
windy, yuk. We are thinking of
leaving here on Saturday, but that is weather dependent as usual.
1st September 2010:
It’s the 1st of Spring today and we are 30
minutes into our passage to Curlew Island. Our on-board weather station says we have about 15 knots
from the SE which is producing a 1.5mt swell with a little bit of chop and
we have it right on the nose.
Still, these conditions for us are quite comfortable and shortly
I’ll be making us a cup of tea.
John installed some new software for the autopilot a
couple of days ago and today it giving some problems and I’ve just noticed
we are doing lots of 360 degree turns while he re-calibrates and resets
everything. Hurry up please,
I’m getting dizzy!
Our friend Suzie came down this morning and slipped
our ropes for us and sadly we waved good-bye. The past week has been lovely because we’ve spent some
nice quality time with Suzie.
It’s Suzie’s birthday on the Monday, so we wish her a Happy Birthday
and we’ll look forward to seeing her on the ‘Goldie’ in the new year …..
hopefully.
We also bid farewell to another friend John who hopes
to be on the Gold Coast for New Year and has reserved our 2nd
cabin so he can join us in our New Year celebrations and Capt. John’s
birthday on New Years day.
10th September 2010:
Curlew was a very nice anchorage and by evening we
were 8 boats enjoying a lovely calm night. From Curlew we made our way down to the Percy’s. Sea conditions were very favourable
and we enjoyed a good passage.
As we’ve said before, it’s only a side sea (beam on) of 2 mts plus
that seems to bother our boat.
Anything else she just takes in her stride without any
problems.
The Percy’s are beautiful but not my favourite
stopover. Everyone we talk to
concurs that it’s
almost impossible to escape the continual role which does make it
untenable, you just want it to go away. Once we had settled ourselves in, we put the dinghy down
and decided to take our chairs in to the beach, choose a nice spot and
leave them there for the duration of our stay so we could go ashore and
enjoy our sundowners on the beach while giving Ralf some shore leave. Well, that was really great until
it came time for us to depart because the wind had come up overnight and we
were being really badly tossed about; the old wind against tide story. The surf was breaking on the beach,
our boat was being tossed about and we needed to retrieve the chairs. I would have gladly left them for
the next boatie to enjoy but John seems to be emotionally attached to them,
so off we set in the dinghy deciding to navigate the rocks and reef and go
around to where the surf wasn’t breaking.
Ralf being the seasoned boatie that he is hung on with
all fours, well the three good ones anyway, as we bashed and crashed our
way to the beach. Once there I
put Ralf on the beach so he could do a wee while I ran up to get the chairs
and John stayed with the dinghy.
With the chairs back on the boat, it was time to go. Ralf sensing this, decided he
wanted to play and did a runner up the beach for some 500 mts before
finally pulling up lame.
Little bugger but so dammed cute!
With all back onboard safely we headed for Rosslyn Bay
to refuel, grab a few groceries and hopefully catch up with Peter and Yvonne before
they leave for their overseas trip, but unfortunately they were just
getting ready to leave for the airport when we phoned them. We were really sorry that we missed
them; it would have been lovely to catch up. We wish them a safe and enjoyable trip.
We are presently making our way down to the Narrows
having spent three gorgeous days at the Keppels. The weather has been gorgeous and as usual we’ve met
some lovely people. No fish
though as it seems that someone else also knows John’s ‘secret’ fishing
spot and has fished it out.
I’ve got my camera at the ready hoping to get a couple
of whale shots. It’s not a
matter of if, but how many whales we will see today.
Our passage down to the Narrows today will take us
about four hours and another hour to Graham Creek where we will stay the
night. Tomorrow we will make
our way down to Pancake Creek where I have an appointment with some mud
crabs .. watch this space!!!!
15th September 2010:
The muddies must have had a better offer because they
didn’t show. This may have
been because the water was so clear.
We were anchored in 20ft and
could see to the bottom in fact, it was like looking through
glass. I’ve never seen it so
clear in Pancake Creek, it was clearer than some of the Barrier Reef
Islands we’ve visited this trip.
We did a lot of exploring this time and went for long dinghy rides
up the creeks, once attempting to go right through to Jenny Lind Creek and
then walking up to the Lighthouse from there, but we just didn’t have
enough water even at high tide so we had to abort that idea. We decided to go back around to the
beach near where we were anchored and do the walk up from there. The walk was lovely as was the view
from the lighthouse. We walked
the extra 500 mts to a headland that overlooks Jenny Lind Creek, which was
absolutely breathtaking.
Today we are leaving Pancake and heading out to
Musgrave Island for a couple of days.
We’ve just 10 knots from the NW so our passage will be lovely.
17th September 2010:
Oh what a night!
The wind came up during the night and here we are at 10am it’s still
blowing 25 knots+ it doesn’t look like abating so instead of leaving today
we will probably stay until tomorrow, unless of course the wind drops to 15
knots in which case we’ll leave later today and do an overnighter down to
Roonies.
We had some excitement earlier. I was making breakfast and looked out the window
to see a mother whale with her calf right beside us. WOW! We were amazed.
We didn’t think they would come into the lagoon because we are
surrounded by reef and it’s quite shallow in here and the entrance is very
narrow, but we watched them for about 1 ½ hours but they seem to have now
gone out through the entrance.
John will have put some photos in the log although the whales
weren’t very active and the water was quite choppy.
24th September 2010:
When we left Musgrave, instead of going to Roonies we
made for the Burnett River where we overnighted before heading down to
Urangan. The trip down was
magnificient and at times we appeared to be gliding over glass. Once again we had to actually stop
the boat to wait for the Whales to pass.
Our friend Kerry (Olympus) was waiting at the Urangan
Marina to greet us and direct us to the berth, which he had booked for
us. We had originally thought
that we would spend about a week enjoying Kerry and Eileen’s company before
heading off again but circumstances have taken them away for a few
days. We did manage however to
squeeze in a meal at the boat club.
We decided to head off after a few of days and spent several days moored
up near the Kingfisher Bay Resort before moving on down to Inskip Point
where we waited for the weather to improve before jumping over the bar and
making for Redcliffe.
27th September 2010:
Well here we are at Redcliffe once again. I’m just sitting here reflecting on
our trip and all of the wonderful times we’ve had and remembering all of
the lovely people we’ve met along the way, many of whom will become good
friends I’m sure. It’s a
little sad that this trip has just about come to an end but we are already
talking about our next adventure with lots of excitement.
28th September 2010:
Last night we spent the evening with my son Ben,
grandchildren Jamila and Saleem, and dear friends Dee and Lee and Paula and
John at the Moreton Bay Boat Club.
We left early this morning and came down to Peel Island for the day
and give the boat a good clean including the waterline and bottom of the
boat. As we could see a storm
rolling in decided to move down to Maclay Is where we have anchored for the
night.
Tomorrow will see us steaming for home and the Hope
Island Marina.
29th September 2010:
“We are home” and it hasn’t stoped raining since we
arrive at about midday today.
I can say that this trip has been the most wonderful
experience I’ve had to date cruising on a boat. Our boat has performed magnificently and never let us
down once. She takes
everything in her stride and seems to do so effortlessly.
I’d also like to thank my “Skipper” for taking such
good care of Ralf and I.
We’ve had an incredible time ….. thankyou.
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