Day 144: 1770

As we're likely to be here longer than planned, I had to move the boat. I had us anchored on a sandbank with enough depth to handle any low of 1m and above. Future tides will be lower than that. We upped anchor and moved further into the channel. We are a bit closer to the big protecting sand bank so I'll have to see how she moves.

Got the 177 Shuttle into Agnes Waters. For $10 each way for the both of us, we got picked up at the VMR, dropped where we wanted, and even got a tour commentary along the way. Went to the main beach for a rolly swim and headed to the pub / RSL for lunch. Did a small shop at Foodworks and got the shuttle back to 1770.

WOW, with Martin and Monica arrived during the afternoon and came over for dinner, bringing some mackerel with them. We supplied the chicken drumsticks.

Location

1770

Day 143: 1770

Poured both spare fuel cans into the tanks and went ashore to refill them. Should have plenty to get us to the Bundaberg fuel dock.

Went to the Captain Cook caravan park for lunch. Tied up the dinghy at the jetty and walked the 1 1/2 km up the hill. Had a dip in the pool and sat outside to eat.

Cat Play at anchor.

Went to the Beach Hotel for dinner. Lovely pub but not cheap!

Beach Hotel.

Location

1770

Day 142: 1770

Early off for 1770. Threaded the needle amongst the big boys in the shipping channel. Not difficult but you need to keep alert. Crossed the main channel twice - at 90' and fast.

Need to keep on our toes with this sort of traffic.

Motor sailed for the most part. Wind off the port quarter gave us a bit of a boost but not much. Swell was a bit uncomfortable on the side but, once we turned at Pancake Creek, it went behind for a much better motion.

Got on to VMR Round Hill on approach to 1770. It's classed as a bar so deserves some respect. They gave us a bearing and logged us on. The bearing was interesting because it ignored the first mark. Not sure why but, without the advice, we would have gone in a different way. I don't like conflicting instructions!

We crossed the bar 2 hours before high tide. It was a bit swelly but nothing serious. Finding an anchoring spot was not so easy. It's shallow and crowded. We'll have to move from the spot we found because there are lower lows in a few days.

Cat Play at anchor.

Location

1770

Day 141: Gladstone

Early start (Again! Going to have to stop this.) for Gladstone. Lots of other boats left at the same time, most of them off to Pancake Creek. Variable wind meant intermittent sailing. Plan was to go down the outside of Curtis Is and enter the port through the north channel with the last couple of hours of a rising tide. Caught a Barred Longtom just as we turned in, which gets mixed eating reviews. We'll try it tomorrow.

Sunrise leaving GKI.

Nice of the whales to put on a show.

Dusty captured.

We have been warned in the past that Gladstone is a dirty port because of the coal loader. This is somewhat true - the boat collected a light dusting overnight - but the marina and town are very tidy. I'd like to spend more time here on another trip. Southerly winds would help, and it would be a good launch point for The Narrows going north.

Parking was not as much fun as usual with strong winds. I struggled to hold her steady but, after a few runs, things improved. Some young guys in the jetty caught our lines, which was helpful. I would probably have got it right in the end but they made life a lot easier.

HMAS Gladstone II

Hired a car for a whistle-stop tour of the town and area. Drive down to Tannum Sands for a swim, went up the main lookout for a view right across the area, and got a few groceries. After showers, we ate at Rump and Rubs - expensive but very good - and filled the diesel cans.

Gladstone from the lookout. Big industrial port.

East Shores.

Location

Gladstone

Day 140: Great Keppel Island

Went to Fishermans Beach for lunch, this time driving round. Bit rocky but we got the hook in and dinghied ashore. Dumped the rubbish, had lunch, walk, ice cream and swim.

On Fisherman's Beach.

Back at Long Beach and some of our friends have arrived. WOW, Bamboozle, and Heatwave have anchored and that can mean only one thing - sundowners on the beach.

Sundowners.

Kim likes a seat.

Location

Great Keppel Island

Nude Outdoor Photo Shoot

Hellooooo ladies.

Slip, slap, what?

Day 139: Great Keppel Island

Quiet day. Short walk along the beach and a swim.

Swimming in paradise.

Long Beach anchorage.

Headland.

Location

Great Keppel Island

Day 138: Great Keppel Island

Decided to go to Fisherman's Beach. There is an off-road track alongside the airstrip. It's a bit hilly but, after an hour, we were on the beach and heading for the pub.

Be rude not to.

Off-road track to Fisherman's Beach.

Kim with her newly acquired fitness on the walk.

Fisherman's Beach

Had a burger / ice cream for lunch and planned the return trip, hoping to find something a little less strenuous. I found a path that went up to a lookout above Monkey Beach with a shorter path that led down to the beach for a nice flat return to the boat. Unfortunately, the path down was very steep. Still, we made it in one piece.

Anchored at Long Beach.

Location

Great Keppel Island

Day 137: Great Keppel Island

Another early start for a 9 hour run to GKI. Clean exit with none of the lumpiness of yesterday. Turned south in a reasonable NE breeze and ran downwind all the way. Wind and seas started picking up in the afternoon and, by the time we got to the group we had 20 knots at our back and 1 1/2 m seas, also from behind. The combination was a fast and surprisingly comfy run in. Peaked at just over 10 knots - a record for us.

Woohoo - bloody fast.

Leekes Beach, our usual spot on GKI, was out due to the strong northerlies. In fact the only visible mast there was in the swamp. Carefully ran round to Long Beach - avoiding any pinch-points - and the whole fleet was there. Picked an excellent spot near the beach and settled down for a comfortable night.

Crowded anchorage.

Location

Great Keppel Island

Day 136: Island Head Creek

Lumpy start to the day with a nasty side-swell. Thankfully, this settled down as the day went on. Also got an easterly so motor-sailed to the creek - main and jib.

First time I've shaken the first reef out and this part needs work.

Entry to the creek was rough. The easterly swell combined with the outgoing tide created a bit of an overflow with breaking waves of about a meter right across the entrance. Cat Play handled it well, though it had us crapping ourselves for a while. Anchored off the big sandbank for a quiet night.

The bit where the crocs don't go.

Just went out for Pearly-time about 5.30 in the evening and I saw a huge shape in the water. Just a few metres off the port side there was a dugong - I could see his whole back as he dived over. My first wild one. People say they are gentle creatures but this place is full of crocs. It must have killer defenses!

Location

Island Head Creek

Day 135: Hunter Island

Woke up to a sprained ankle. That's right, I've started injuring myself in bed! Kim went into nurse mode and I got an anti-inflammatory, bandage, ice, and my feet up.

Another early start for the run to Hunter Is. Low winds on the nose all day so motored on one engine all the way.

Whale soup out here.

Spring tides at the moment and the range here is already fierce. Dropped the anchor in 5m and put most of the chain out. The trick being anchoring far enough away from the reef to not swing onto it if the wind changes.

Up with the foresail, then up with the feet.

Nobody about so nudie swimming.

Location

Hunter Island

Day 134: Curlew Island

The wind has been low for a couple of days so the sea state should have calmed down as well. Time to leave Mackay.

Up early for a good run to Curlew. Wind started off south westerly giving us a good lift on the jib. After a couple of hours it went too far forward for sailing so we motored on one engine for the rest of the way. Nice day out.

Mooring field off Hays Point.

Curlew had a fierce current around its islets and sandbanks. The usual entrance to the anchorage was way too squirrelly for my liking so we went to the eastern end of the northern reef and turned in that way. Still got 2m over the bank on a falling tide. Dodgy!

How we roll under way.

Location

Curlew Island

Day 133: Mackay Marina

Leaving tomorrow so prep-day.

Topped off the fuel tanks. Hugely successful move from the marina berth to the fuel dock and back again. I'm beginning to get the hang of this. And saying that is usually a prelude to disaster.

Mixing it with the big boys at the fuel dock.

Took the bus into town. Picked up few bits and pieces, and did a final shop.

Back at the marina, did a few final checks. Water topped off, rigging in good order, engines checked. All ready to leave in the morning.

Ship's anchor marks the entrance to the marina and dock.

Location

Mackay Marina

Day 132: Mackay Marina

Lazy day.

Had a swim, walked around the marina, and started looking for a job when I get back to Port.

The excellent hotel pool - accessible to anyone for the price of a drink.

Location

Mackay Marina

Day 131: Mackay Marina

Sorted out the main. This sail came with the boat but the battens were trashed. I got our sailmaker to supply new ones and assumed that the mast-end would be held in the cars by pressure from the aft ties. Not so. They worked their way out and cause some minor damage to the sail. I drilled through the cars and battens, and put in a screw + nyloc nut to hold the forward end in.

Batten end out of the car, ripped a hole in the main.

Properly connected at the forward end.

Location

Mackay Marina

Day 130: Mackay Marina

Hired one of the marina's cars. Ran around looking for shopping trolleys. We haven't had much luck with the cheap ones so it's time to up our game. Ended up with some very tough Bunnings trolleys.

New shopping trolleys. Now, they can carry a lot of beer.

After that we did some shopping and got some prawns from the fish market.

Kept the car for the evening and went back to the excellent Hot Wok Chinese restaurant.

Short soup - the best soup there is.

Location

Mackay Marina