It’s been three months of full time work on the boat by a
great shipwright but silver lady is back together and ready to go. The decks are brand new, hull re
sprayed, new antifouling and the propeller re pitched to let her go faster
under power. She looked fantastic
and I couldn’t wait to get sailing again.
On Sunday the 25th of July 2010 my brother Tim and a couple
of mates, Robbie and Gus flew into Mooloolaba. What a mess the boat was. Not unexpected as really Ken the shipwright needed another
week to finish the last bits and pieces.
Eight hours later after shopping, packing, cleaning and fuelling up we
were ready to go. A week set aside
for cruising up the coast, hoping to visit Lady Musgrave Island and finishing
in Gladstone.
We headed out of Mooloolaba at about 8 pm with a light south-westerly
aiming to make the tide to enter the notorious wide bay bar by 6 am the
following morning. We sailed
through the moonlit night with rolling one hour watches. I didn’t know what Robbie was thinking
with a quick briefing and there he was alone in the ocean on his first ocean
sailing trip. With the light
conditions and me on standby only five feet away I felt very comfortable. Throughout the night we had to keep
reducing sail to slow the boat as we were quickly knocking down the 60 nautical
miles.
A couple of times during the night we chatted with John on Meridian on the VHF radio,
another Melbourne boat doing the same passage. its always nice comparing notes.
After an uneventful entry over Wide Bay Bar between the
Australian mainland and Fraser island (www.fraserisland.net). We motored up the inside channels and
stopped for the day at remote ‘Gary’s Anchorage’ This is about as far along the great sandy
straight you can go without high tide.
We spent the day fishing and relaxing with a trip to shore to look
around. The whole area is just so
pristine, Fraser Island being the largest sand island in the world with huge
established trees. The day was
quite overcast with periodic rain but quite warm.
After a solid 9 hour sleep we were up with the tide the next
morning and motored 15 miles through the Sandy Straights where we anchored off
Kingfisher Bay resort. An echo
friendly resort nestled amongst the trees. A general store, gift shop and welcoming swimming pools and
dining areas around the accommodation area. Big tides in the areas meant when we returned to get the
dinghy there was a 100 metre drag through ankle deep mud of the dinghy to the
she water edge. Two of the rebellious
crew went missing in action around the local bars at the resort until 10.30
that night. It was a phone call from Melbourne that
alerted me to collect them from the shore.
Our plan had been to make the 90 mile run from Kingfisher directly
to Lady Musgrave. Forecasts of up
to 20 knots from the north would have made for a long, uncomfortable day. In keeping with the philosophy of the
trip, we decided to go with the wind so we headed a few hours across to Urangan
to the Great Sandy Straights Marina.
The marina has an easy entry with a shortcut between big and
little woody islands at high tide.
Pretty expensive to stay
just a night but facilities were great with chandleries, café’s and close to
Harvey Bay. An afternoon relaxing
with the sun finally out we relaxed on the deck and Gus and I headed to Harvey
Bay to the movies. Tim and Robbie
went and ‘invested’ funds at the TAB.
Perfect conditions on Thursday saw us motor sail 40 miles up
to Bundaberg. We stopped at the
Bundaberg Port Marina where the boat will sit for the next few weeks. I bumped into John on Meridian again as
they were passing through for a couple of days. The marina lived up to its reputation for being accommodating
and friendly. Regular visits to
the café-restaurant at the marina during happy hour were a great meeting place
for all the local yachties.
The next day saw a lazy rest day of packing up the boat
before our return flights home.
During the week you can feel the everyday pressures lifting
off your shoulders.
I could really get used to this life!
