Home Again

We have said a sad goodbye to "Meridien" in Bundaberg and are now back home in Melbourne - trying to get used to the cold weather.  We'll go back up to Queensland after Christmas and sail the boat down to Brisbane, where she will be based for the next few years.  The sailing over the last four and a half months has been the best, the islands beautiful and the weather lovely and warm but it has been the people we've met on our journey that has made the trip so great.  We have some wonderful memories and made some really good friends along the way.  Thanks for your interest in our trip and we'll see you on our next venture.  John and Kaye

Bundaberg

We arrived at Bundaberg last week and will leave the boat here until the end of the year. We expect to be back in Melbourne next week.

Leaving Yeppoon at last

We have been in the marina at Yeppoon for over a week in very bad weather. The wind has been gale force with rain and heavy cloud. Hopefully today we will be able to move as there is a short weather window to move south. We are planning to leave on today's high tide and travel overnight to Bundaberg. All the yachts on the east coast of Queensland have also been held up with this bad weather.

Departed Whitsunday Islands

We left Hamilton Island on Monday morning for Brampton Island.  On Tuesday morning we left Brampton at 4.00 am for the Percy Islands, however, at 6pm that day we decided to push on to Great Keppel Island. We expect to arrive at Keppel Wednesday early afternoon. Strong southerly winds are forecast on Friday so we will be stopped again for a few days waiting for a moderation.

Whitsundays

We have arrived back at the Whitsundays. We will wait here until the winds become favourable again before heading further south. While we are here we are going to spend a few days at the Hamilton Island Marina.

Cape Upstart Again

We left Magnetic Island yesterday for Cape Upstart, however, the wind was right on the nose and we were forced to anchor at Cape Bowling Green which is not the image the name presents. It is a long sand spit only metres above sea level which gives good south east protection. Although it wasn't the ideal anchorage it was very welcome as it was a long tiring day.

We left CBG this morning in better conditions and have now arrived at Cape Upstart - 60 nautical miles north of the Whitsundays. As you can see we are now heading south.

Magnetic Island

Moved across from Townsville Marina to Nelly Bay, Magnetic Island. The marina is part of Peppers Resort and we are able to use the full facilities including pools and restaurants.

Townsville

Motor Sailed from Orpheus Island to Townsville today in light winds. We will spend some days here getting a repair done to the hydraulic auto helm. We will then go to Magnetic Island for a few days before moving south.

Orpheus Island

We left Hinchinbrook this morning on our way south to Brisbane. This is now the most northerly point on the trip.

Hinchinbrook Chanel

We entered via Lucinda and into the Hinchinbrook Channel today. Spectacular scenery, rugged mountains and tropical rainforest.  Crocodiles also inhabit this area so needless to say we are not going swimming.

Orpheus Island Beach

Orpheus Island

We motored in nil wind conditions to Orpheus Island today. Weather very hot and expecting south east Change tonight.

Palm Island

We left Townsville this morning in no wind but very hot. We had to motor 30 nautical miles to Palm Island where we are anchored for the night. We won't be going ashore as the island is owned by the Aboriginal Community. Tomorrow morning we head for Orpheus Island. Today we saw a white whale for the first time just metres from the boat.

View from the top

A nice easy walk Townsville (not)

Townsville

Sailed from Cape Bowling Green to Townsville in a 15 knots North Easterly. We had to anchor off the marina for a couple of hours waiting for the tide to rise so we had enough water to enter the marina.

Cape Bowling Green

Cape Bowling Green

Left Cape Upstart this morning. Had a good sail in 20 knots of south easterly. Now anchored at Cape Bowling Green. This is a large sand spit which offers  easterly protection.

Cape Upstart

Left Airlie Beach 0600 today and have now anchored at Cape Upstart for the night. Had a great downwind (wing & wing) sail with 20 knots of wind, heading towards Townsville. Cape Upstart is a very rugged rocky cape. We are anchored off a sandy beach out of the swell.

Leaving Airlie Heading north to Bowen Wednesday

Special photo for our special grand-daughter Eliza

Airlie Beach

Headed across to Airlie today due to strong winds (30 Knots) drizzle, cold. Certainly not glossy brochure sailing. We are expecting a few days of this windy, cold weather before it improves. Sitting it out in Airlie Beach. At least we can get a cappuccino.

Whitsunday Island

Today we climbed to the top of Whitsunday Island (see Barb I am keeping up my exercise)

Cid Harbour (Whitsunday Island)

OK folks, I know we've been promising to send some Qld sunshine down to Melbourne, but did you really have to send one of Melbourne's wintry blasts up to the Whitsundays.  It's really cold today with low cloud, drizzle and strong southerly winds.  We had a good sail down from Lindeman Island to Cid Harbour, just north of Hamilton Island, where we'll stay for a few days.

Lindeman Island

Not enough wind for sailing today so we had to motor from Brampton Island to Lindeman Island. This a well protected anchorage and it puts us in a good position for the Southerly Change expected tomorrow.

Brampton Island (South Whitsundays)

Left Mackay this morning in no wind and had to motor the 20 miles to Brampton Island.  Anchored off the resort initially however,  a north easterly sea breeze  picked up to 20 knots and we decided to move to the south of the island for better protection.

Coffee & cake Mackay Marina

Mackay

Left Poynter Island this morning and arrived in Mackay at 2 pm today. With very little wind we had to motor sail the 54 miles.We will spend a few days here before moving up to the Whitsunday Islands.

Poynter Island

Left Hexham Island this morning for Poynter Island. Anchored on the west side with good protection. Heading for Curlew Island and then Mackay. Weather is still good with steady South East Trade winds.

Island Head Creek

We are currently in Island Head Creek. This is a very protected anchorage but extremely remote. Very limited phone reception. Leaving here tomorrow for Hexham Island.

Port Clinton

We sailed from Yeppoon to Port Clinton a distance of 42 miles. The area is a military zone but anchoring is allowed when exercises are not under way. The anchorage is flat water and surrounded by mountains.This morning we will sail the long distance to Pearl Bay which is 4 miles away.

Marina Yeppoon

Yeppoon

Yeppoon

Left Great Keppel Island for Yeppoon this morning. The weather is forecasting rain with strong winds and thunderstorms for the next few days. So a spell in the marina seemed a good idea.

Great Keppel Island

Had a good sail today from cape Capricorn in a 10-15 knot south easterly. Anchored in crystal clear water. We will spend a couple of nights here before moving to Rosslyn Bay Marina, Yeppoon.

Cape Capricorn

Had a good sail in perfect conditions from Pancake Creek to Cape Capricorn which lies right on the Tropic of Capricorn. We will leave here in the morning for Great Keppel Island.

Do you like my new office on the rock?

Pancake Creek

Pancake Creek

We left Bundaberg for Lady Musgrave with a perfect weather forecast. However, halfway there the wind increased to 30 knots which was no good for the island. We decided to then head for Pancake Creek which is a beautiful anchorage 30 miles south of Gladsone

Marina Bar & Coffee shop

Washing Day at Bundaberg

Sunset Bundaberg

Bundaberg

This one is for you Hutch!

No whales today on our trip up from Fraser Island but we saw a lot of turtles sun baking on the surface. The water was like glass with no wind, so we motored the 50 miles to Bundaberg. We have finally found the sun again.

Anchored behind Fraser Island

Fraser Island

We left Mooloolaba at 5pm Sunday and arrived at the Wide Bay Bar at 0600 Monday. We are now anchored behind Fraser Island which is very well protected. The wind was forecast to be 10 to 15 knots at the Wide Bay Bar but when we arrived it was gusting 25 knots. The swell height was low so the crossing of the bar went very well.

Cappuccinos in Mooloolaba

Mooloolaba

Left Southport at midnight for Mooloolaba. We had to leave at this time to work the tides at the Southport Bar and to arrive at Mooloolaba in daylight.

We had another close encounter with a whale. He dived just ahead of the boat and surfaced right beside us. His fluke just missed the hull.

Off the coast Surfers Paradise

Southport

We had an encounter with a couple of whales yesterday - up close and personal.  A bit too close and personal for my liking!!!  Two huge humpbacks decided they liked the look of our yacht and started following us about 15 metres behind - diving and surfacing immediately behind us.  We tried to outmanoeuvre them by changing direction a few times but they decided that this game of "follow the leader" was good fun. Getting a little concerned at their close proximity and enormous size we started the engine to try and discourage them - finally they tired of their game and moved away to play elsewhere.  I wasn't too happy they had picked our boat to play with and kept telling John to do something.  "Like what" he retorted "get out and punch them in the nose???"

Next stop the Gold Coast

Leaving Coffs Harbour with a brilliant sunrise at 0600 this morning.

At last the wind looks good

We hope to depart Coffs Harbour at 0600 Friday. Our next stop will be Southport Qld. The weather in Coffs has been warm and sunny. We have had a very relaxing stopover. Lots of walks and cappuccinos

Coffs Harbour

At last the shorts and t shirts have come out. Coffs Harbour is warm and sunny and we intend staying for 3 or 4 days to warm up after our cold weather from the south.

Overnight at sea

We departed Port Stephens at 0600 Friday in rain. We sailed into sunshine and the best weather we have had on the trip - giving us a great sail. We are just passing Port Maquarie at 2330 Friday in Westerly winds. We expect to be in Coffs Harbour by 1000 am Saturday. At 9 pm tonight we were hit with a strong squall gusting 30 knots (50 kph). We were busy reefing sails and getting the boat back under control. As I write this blog the stars are brilliant and we can see the distant lights of the towns on shore.

Arrived Port Stephens

We had a fast vigorous and wet ride from Newcastle to Port Stephens. What we thought would be 15-20 knots in fine weather, turned out to be 25-30 knots (40-50 kph) with heavy showers and a rather rough sea with big swells- not our ideal sailing conditions  . Needless to say breakfast was out of the question.  We are enjoying the calm of Port Stephens marina.

Arrived Newcastle

Yesterday we had lunch with the local Harley Biker Gang (long time friends in Manly). Today we motor sailed most of the way from Pittwater because of lack of wind. We saw plenty of whales and dolphin. The whales were breaching and having a "whale" of  time very close to the boat while the dolphin loved playing in the bow wave.. We will be in Newcastle for a couple of days before heading for Port Stephens.

Leaving Pittwater

We are catching up with friends today for lunch and leaving tomorrow morning for Newcastle. We expect to be in Newcastle until Wednesday morning. The weather Tuesday doesn't appear to be suitable for moving further north.

Arrived Pittwater

And you all thought sailing was relaxing...................... Last night at midnight we were forced to up anchor and head for the open sea due to an unforecast strong north westerly with the potential to push us on to a lee shore. We had a vigorous and fast sail for the next sixteen hours. Not only  was it tiring but it was dark and freezing cold as well (thank goodness for a full moon). We envied everyone tucked up in their nice warm beds while we were out battling a cold rough sea.  John kept reminding me that this was our holiday!!!!!

Going past Jervis Bay entrance

Beecroft Head - Roadstead Anchorage

Left Ulladulla in light conditions. Westerly wind gave us great sailing past Jervis Bay and around to Beecroft Head. Tomorrow we leave for Port Hacking, south of Sydney.

Harbour View Ulladulla

Ulladulla Harbour

Arrived Ulludulla

Sailed from Broullee to Ulludulla in Perfect sailing conditions. Blue skies and southerly winds. However, as we were approaching Ulludulla the wind and the swell increased considerably. We are rafted next to a fishing vessel in the harbour which is just a short walk to the shops.

Broulee Island

We left Bermagui at 1000 this morning. The weather was overcast and rather chilly with a south westerly wind pushing us northward. We anchored in the lee of Broulee Island just south of Batemans Bay at about 1700. Tomorrow we will head for Ulladulla.

Plan to leave Bermagui for Broulee Sunday

We expect the cold front to pass over us tonight and Saturday. We are planning to leave here on Sunday morning for Broulee island. This will be an ocean anchorage protected from Southerly winds just south of Batesman's Bay. We would have liked to go into Batemans , however, the tides to cross the bar at that time of day are not in our favour.

Bermagui

We decided to try our hand at trolling. The first fish got away but we landed the second. The Bonito was too big for the bucket and was not happy to come on board. Nevertheless he is dinner tonight. We had the dolphins swimming with the boat and further out we saw whales breaching and slapping the water with their tails. We will be in Bermagui for the next 3 - 4 days.

Relaxing days in Eden

After getting out of Bass Strait we are enjoying cappuccinos and lazy days.We are leaving for Bermagui tomorrow morning. We had our first whale sighting as we rounded Gabo Island yesterday morning. The whale was only about 200 metres off our starboard side.

50 Miles off Lakes Entrance

When we left Refuge Cove at 4.00am this morning, it was black, cold, raining, windy and miserable. I thought we were supposed to be on holidays. Thank goodness it improved during the day.

Refuge Cove Anchorage

This has been our protected anchorage over the past three days

Leaving Westernport Bay

Leaving the Marina on the way to Wilsons Promontory.

Arrived Refuge Cove 1.00pm

The winds are expected to be strong to gale force for a couple of days. We will wait here until the weather moderates.

Left Hastings Marina

We are currently in Bass Strait, expect to be in Refuge Cove by early afternoon today. We will stay there and wait out the forecast strong winds.

Meridien Almost ready for Sea

We are currently in Hastings Marina, Westernport Bay. We are planning to leave around Mid June depending on weather. Our first Stop will be Eden, NSW.