Category Archives: Australia
Sailing the East Coast of Australia
This year we decided to head North to enjoy the East Coast making our way slowly to the Whitsundays and on to Magnetic Island. We caught up with lots of friends along the way and found some beautiful anchorages. All up good sailing conditions albeit cold when we headed off in May. Even had great fishing and good sightings of Australian wildlife with plenty of time for exercise. An enjoyable 6 months. Time just flew.
CATCHING UP WITH FRIENDS
My sister, Louise joined us for a week in the Whitsundays and then friends Jeanette and Glen from NZ came to enjoy the reef and head south through the Whitsundays to MacKay. Plenty of action and fun aboard for all.
Plenty of time for socializing with sailing friends. It’s the people you meet along the way that help make the journey fun and memorable.
ANCHORAGES
Lots of anchorages up the coast the best being the ones that weren’t so crowded and had hikes and things to do ashore. Even better having a beautiful view to the West to enjoy the sunsets at happy hour.
SAILING
It’s not often you get photos of your own boat sailing so you have to be inventive getting shots.
Was fun joining our friend Bill on his boat “Out of the Bag” in the Airlie Race week – below with the yellow and black spinnaker sail.
FISHING
We did not go hungry that’s for sure.
WILDLIFE ADVENTURES
We love seeing the wildlife in their natural environment. Plenty of animal sightings both in and out of the water.
EXERCISE
It’s nice to get off the boat and get some exercise. A lot of islands have trails so we get our exercise going for a walk ashore to enjoy the views or see the sights on the island.
Been a blast sailing the East Coast of Australia.
Finally off sailing again in 2021
This world pandemic has definitely put a damper on catching up with friends and family and making any travel plans. In Queensland life had been pretty normal ie. until the Delta variant arrived and borders started to close again in July. Our new batteries from China finally arrived in early August so it was time to go cruising and get away from the dreaded Covid news.
We headed north through the Gold Coast water ways and up to Mooloolaba where we cycled the foreshore enjoying the views and the great weather.
It was onward north up the coast to Double Island Point where we found a beautiful anchorage behind a sand spit. It was a weekend so the locals were driving the beaches in their trucks having fun; fishing and camping. Rainbow Beach definitely was a beautiful spot.
The weather was calm with light winds and less than a 1m swell perfect for passing through the Wide Bay Bar notorious for being dangerous if you don’t plan to cross at the right time. It’s at the bottom of Fraser Island; the longest sand island in the world apparently. We decided to head south once through the bar and go down and visit the humpback dolphins at Tin Can Bay. The community have a QLD govt. program to educate people on these beautiful intelligent creatures. 5 of one pod had come into town to meet a crowd of people who were gathered on the foreshore. For $A10 you can feed them and get up close. They eat 15kg/ day and the program will give them 3kgs so they still need to find their own fish.
It was then on to travel up the West side of Fraser Island to Garrys anchorage for a walk ashore. It was so calm here that we kayaked ashore and walked 10km along a sand trail where we came across our first wild snake; a spotted python, which was a decent size. No dingoes spotted, which apparently frequent the area.
There are a lot of anchorages along the Fraser coastline sheltered from E-SE winds, which we had, including the exclusive Kingfisher Resort. Around the corner from Moon Point are long white sand beaches. Just stunning.
It was on to Bundaberg to catch up with my sister and family, catch up with U.S. sailing friends, visit the famous Bundaberg Rum distillery and The Bundaberg Barrel for a tasting. The fold up bikes definitely came in handy once again to get around.
After a 4am departure to Lady Musgrave Island in the Capricornia Cays on the Southern end of the Great Barrier Reef we arrived at low tide to enter the man made pass. We were surprised with the number of boats here; 26.
We enjoyed getting back in the water for some snorkeling inside the lagoon, thru the pass and along the western shelf outside the lagoon spotting lots of turtles and plenty of different healthy coral and fish life. Even watched a group of whales jump and perform outside the lagoon from the boat.
After a week we decided to continue North and found a deserted island within the Capricornia Group. On the way a pod of whales passed by coming up to let us know they were around. Mast Head island had lovely white sand beaches and was perfect for going ashore on the kayaks. The island was bigger than Lady Musgrave’s island and with no one about we enjoyed the 4km walk around the island spotting lots of sting rays, fish life and baby black tip sharks cruising along the shore line.
With an overnight stop at Hummocky Island we then continued on to Great Keppel Island, where Auss friends Jas & Tolly on SV Le Mistral, who we’d first met in the Caribbean, arrived into the anchorage at the same time. With beautiful white sand beaches and plenty of anchorages to choose from it ended up being a fun place to hang out, enjoy some lovely sunsets with great company and get plenty of exercise walking the island.
Assessing the foundations at the Homestead Jas showing us her sewing skills
It was then southward bound and down to The Narrows a protected mangrove lined waterway between Curtis Island and the mainland between the cities of Rockhampton and Gladstone. Half way along the Narrows is a cattle crossing where cattle cross the channel at low tide and sailboats move through the area at high tide. It was very pretty and led us into the industrial city of Gladstone and a great marina in the heart of town where we could eat ashore and reprovision.
Cattle Crossing
The Narrows
After leaving Gladstone we had north winds perfect for going South but after passing Pancake Creek our friends Jas & Tolly called us up and said they were heading to Lady Musgrave Island and we should join them. The turn took us on a beam reach and we had a fast run to Lady Musgrave arriving for afternoon cocktails. We all anchored in the north end of the lagoon which was less crowded. Brett got out spear fishing with Tolly and his brother Jim in the lagoon catching some fish for dinner. 👍 We then spent another week enjoying the waters, hiking around Lady Musgrave and enjoying the sunsets.
When the north winds kicked in again we decided to do an overnighter on the outside of Fraser Island down to Morton Bay. The whales were out performing for us at dusk, which was just amazing to watch. We had a brown booby join us for our sail overnight, staying to the early hours of the morning in the same place; he had good balance!
Our morning visitor
It was then on to Scarborough to catch up with a Canadian sailor, Captain Dan from SV Vagabond, who we originally met in Vanuatu in 2019. He hadn’t been sailing for a year and a half due to boat projects so decided to join us for a trip up the Brisbane River to see the sights.
Canadian Captain’s Dan & Brett
Brett’s cousin, Kyle and Laura live in Brisbane so we enjoyed some time ashore with them catching up. There was plenty of action ashore and good walking and cycling paths from New Farm where we anchored to meet them.
The Sunsuper Riverfire was on in Brisbane for the weekend so we ended up catching up with my NZ friend Cameron and his wife Katy along with their South African friends at Kangaroo Point. It was a spectacular fireworks display with the army aviation team demonstrating their maneuvers in helicopters and a flyover by a Boeing C17 military transport aircraft before the fireworks. We chose the right weekend to be in Brisbane.
It was then onto St Helena Island within Moreton Bay, which in the early 19th century was a high security prison housing 350 prisoners at its peak and is now a National Park. It was intended that the prison should be virtually self sufficient so tradesmen were employed as prison warders to ensure a high standard of workmanship and productivity. Prisoners carried out their sentence working on construction of buildings and roads on the island to growing & processing foods. Workshops for various trades like sail making, boot making, saddles, candle making, carpentry were the main source of work.
Now we are back on the Gold Coast for cyclone season where we’ve been catching up with family and friends and hoping life gets back to normal soon.
Here’s hoping 2022 sees borders open and normality returning….
Where have we been???
In March 2020 we set off to see family in New Zealand with a plan to also go to Canada later in the year …..BUT ….. Covid struck. We were in NZ half way through our month holiday and our airline tickets were cancelled and borders closed. Where better to head to in NZ but back to the Bay of Islands to wait out this pandemic. At least we could watch the boats bobbing around in the bays.
Like everyone around the world during Covid we were locked down with restrictions. Felt like jail for a while….
The NZ winter was slow to arrive; lucky for everyone we had beautiful weather into May. Winter did arrive, our first in 7 years. Ok … so we didn’t have snow but for us it was cold as our blood had thinned from living in the tropics. Beaches were empty, paths full with people exercising but many a beautiful sight to be seen.
Lucky for us New Zealand seemed to get things under control quickly so we were able to move about the country and see family and friends again. Alas I wasn’t too good at taking photos but did get a few with friends.
By July we realized we were staying in NZ indefinitely, as borders were not opening, so decided to make the most of things what with summer fast approaching. We decided we needed a project to keep us occupied and bought a cargo van with the aim of building a camper van to travel the countryside. I have one handy husband who along with my Dad, John, did all of the work.
And so the build begins….
Our Final design complete and ready to roll.
2 months after starting the build we hit the road heading to the tip of NZ; Cape Reinga to start our NZ road trip.
After spending Xmas with my family we bee-lined through the centre of NZ down to Wellington, the Capital.
We had a fabulous day crossing the Cook Strait on the Ferry from Wellington to Picton ready for New Years.
Meanwhile we got news of flooding in Queensland from friends looking after Seismic Wave. Glad we had someone watching over her. No major leaks aboard so a bonus.
Buying mountain bikes was a bonus as we could head out and do some of the many trails along the way and get some exercise. Our drive through the South Island went from Picton through to Nelson, over to Hanmer and down to Christchurch. We then travelled to Lake Tekapo, Queenstown back to Wanaka and through the Haast pass to the West Coast and through to the Abel Tasman.
Great trip and still lots to see… In February 2021 Brisbane borders reopened to NZ so we decided to take the chance and see if we could return to the Gold Coast. We really need to get back to return to the boat and our things. We stored the van with friends and headed to the airport never sure if we would make it onto a supposedly booked quarantine free flight.
11 months later it was touchdown in Queensland with line ups at the airport to check our temperature and travel declarations. We made it back with no quarantine requirements just a Covid test on arrival and negative results back the next day. Perfect!
First job was to thank friends at our marina who had watched over, cleaned and started Seismic Wave for us while we were gone. We were surprised how well she looked inside after not being used for nearly a year! Joey and Gary were awesome!
Secondly a haul at The Boatworks for a hull clean and general maintenance.
Thirdly; celebrations…
What’s next …. a few jobs and then who knows …. Covid is still here and travel internationally is somewhat limited. The NZ /Auss travel bubble has just opened so that’s great news.
We’re in Aussie
Our passage from New Caledonia to Southport, Queensland had a mix of winds but all up was a good fast trip taking 5 days. We arrived on Thursday 24th October, 2019 ready to enjoy the weekend.
The biggest excitement was hooking a sailfish, which we got up onto the back transom and released as he was too big to bring into the cockpit. We were happier with the Mahi Mahi caught later that wasn’t going to be such a struggle. Good times.
Southport Yacht Club put us on their superyacht berth for clearance with Australia Border Forces. The officials (customs, immigration and bio security) were very efficient. You hear lots of horror stories but for us we had cleaned the boat and had everything open for inspection so the process was quick.
The yacht club has a restaurant on the waterfront so after being cleared into Australia we enjoyed a meal ashore with them. The food was really tasty and a nice treat after 5 days at sea.
Bit of a culture shock arriving here after being in the islands as the GC 600 super car racing was on for the weekend so Southport Yacht Club was busy. Lots of Boat traffic buzzing around this area too. Nice to be back in Australia.
With cyclone season approaching we’ve sorted a berth at a local marina and will come and go from the boat over the next 6 months. Perfect!
Won’t be any blog updates until we go sailing again.
Holiday in Australia
We’ve spent the last couple of months in Queensland, Australia catching up with my family for the holidays.
Brisbane is a city with lots to do and even better for us we have family living here. The river winds its way inland from the coast with the city built along it so there’s lots to see and do. Stu, my brother in law took us out on the Brisbane River to see the sights. Nice! Even spotted a fellow Maverick owner; S/V Island Home anchored in the river. Small world.
There’s a long walking/ biking path along the river with all sorts of activities especially over the holidays, so no chance for being bored here (ah Ruben!).
The beaches in Queensland are amazing with beautiful long white sandy beaches and good surf. We spent quite a bit of time in the Gold Coast and loved walking along them for exercise, getting into a habit of going every day.
My sister, Louise organized a house in Kingscliff, New South Wales to celebrate the festivities. Great location on the Coast with a nice long beach but the pool at the house was appreciated as it was hot while we were there. Even managed a trip into the inland to the hinterland to see the Springbrook National Park.
We’ve enjoyed some time off the boat, the extra space and luxuries of being on land. Heading back to NZ to enjoy some of the NZ summer, and will cruise the Bay of Islands for a couple of months.
Here’s to a great year in 2018.
Aussie Aussie Aussie
Well it was birthday time for my family so we decided to meet everyone in Brisbane, Australia to enjoy the celebrations.
Louise, my sister, surprised Dad by making him a great golf birthday cake for his 70th and Ruben & Daniel couldn’t resist helping granddad blow out the candles. We had a great night out at The Stokehouse for dinner & drinks on the river. Had been a while since we’d all been together.
Lou’s birthday was spent in Surfers Paradise(SP) where we enjoyed the abundance of beaches in this touristy area. What a busy place with lots of high rise apartments on the beach.
The barbie on the Surfers boardwalk was the best dinner ever, so Ruben said and of course a tourist attraction to the many Asians, who also got photos of us. The best dinner however was outdone when we all went out for Japanese Teppanyaki and enjoyed the performance by our chef.
August is a busy month for birthdays in the family. In Canada Brett’s grandma Alice was having her 90th and had a party with 100+ guests. Wowsa!
While in Aus we spent time with Louise’s boys seeing what life entailed for those with kids. These 2 boys are very active so keep Lou & Stu jumping.
We were both impressed with Brisbane and the coast. Whether it was cruising the boardwalks in Brisbane by bike, river cruises, or walking the many beaches in the area there was plenty to keep us entertained.
Made a trip up the Sunshine Coast as far as Noosa, which was a beautiful area with a great national park at the headland to enjoy. Noosa wasn’t as built up as Surfers but still a touristy place. Great beaches to wander from Mooloolaba north but a little on the cool side for us to swim in.
A lot of swimmers but the water was too cold for us.
Hiking around the Noosa Heads National Park was very picturesque, even spotted a dolphin off the headland.
We hired a pontoon boat for a day out on the Noosa River. Tried fishing but gave up after all our bait was taken and enjoyed a BBQ. The boys spotted lots of blue soldier crabs on a sand bar, which was great for entertaining them.
After seeing the glasshouse mountains in the distance we decided to stop on the way back from Noosa. The glasshouse Mountains were named by James Cook in 1770 supposedly because he thought the peaks resembled glass furnaces in his hometown in Yorkshire, England. They were once lava plugs within volcanic cones where the sandstone was eroded over millions of years to reveal the plugs that are there today.
While in Australia we of course couldn’t resist watching a couple of the Bledisloe cup rugby games where the All Blacks whipped the Wallabies. Go All Blacks. The Rugby cup is coming up so should be interesting.
And so you ask where are the photos of the kanga’s and the Cuddly koalas that are meant to be here. We searched all over the place but could not spot any out in the wild, soooo off we went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
The birds of prey show at the Koala Sanctuary was a highlight as we got to see some amazing birds that we didn’t know were native to Australia.
Before we knew it we were off to Los Angeles where we caught up with Laird & Cathi.
Went to the outdoor theatre to see The Big Fish with Cathi, Laird, Morgan & Elizabeth. Great venue.
While walking the boardwalk at Manhattan Beach we saw one of Bertram Drillings trucks doing some geothermal work on a beachside ppty, reminding us of friends back in Canada.
Good Times, but we have to get back to the boat to prep for sailing this season.