Mooloolaba to Manly – Journey’s end.

December 16-26, 2015

After a few days enjoying the delights of Mooloolaba we had to face the fast approaching end of our five month shakedown cruise through many of Australia’s fantastic Great Barrier Reef Islands. It was time for the final leg from Mooloolaba via Moreton Island back to homeport at East Coast Marina in Manly boat harbour.

We eased out between the breakwaters of Mooloolaba shortly after dawn, rounded point Cartwright and headed south. We had expected a nice north-easterly but in the early morning it wasn’t strong enough to fill the canvas so we motor sailed towards Caloundra.

Sailing past Caloundra

As it turned out, the wind never filled in all day and our 80 HP Ford Lehman was required for duty the whole 35.1 nautical mile trip as we skirted the main shipping channel into the Port of Brisbane dodging massive container vessels.

You would swear they were out get us but unless they left the channel we were always safe.

We skirted just outside the main shipping channel with these guys passing close by.

We anchored in behind the wrecks just north of Tangalooma Resort on Moreton Island in time for lunch and a relaxing afternoon, for us anyway. Marc went ashore for a walk on the beach and set out to climb the sandhills to take in the view. The  most strenuous activity we got up to was trolling a lure behind the dinghy for a few circuits of the wrecks unsuccessfully trying to catch some dinner.

Mooloolaba to Tangalooma - 35.1 Nautical Miles - 5 Hours 59 Minutes
Average Speed 5.9 knots - Max Speed 7.6 knots

Where we anchored behind the wrecks.

 

Later we did enjoy a typically awesome Tangalooma sunset dutifully accompanied with some of our fast dwindling wine supplies and another great meal from Karen.

In the distance the cranes of the Port of Brisbane and the Brisbane CBD high rises remind us how near the end we are.

The sunsets from Moreton Island are legendary.

Next day we moved down the shore to the southern side of the resort to get away from the crowd of day boats all intent on cramming in behind the wrecks. We went ashore to the resort for a wander around mid morning. We retired to one of the pools for a long, lazy soak while Marc headed off for a long walk to an area of the island called “The Desert”. He was quite enjoying the opportunity to get some exercise and this reasonably long walk through sandy, undulating  tracks certainly gave him a workout.

 

We returned to the boat mid afternoon and settled back doing a whole lot of nothing much. Marc appeared on the beach a couple of hours later ready for pickup in the dinghy. He was very impressed with the walk and found the desert experience in the middle of a heavily vegetated island quite surreal.

The local dolphins made an appearance for quite a while around the boat around sunset topping off a very enjoyable day.

The following day we planned to move further south along the Moreton Island coast to one of our favourite anchorages at  a spot appropriately named “The Sand Hills”. Here we were going to be joined by our neighbours from East Coast Marina, Bob and Lyn on their ketch, Whoosh. Over drinks that night, Rob jokingly said to Marc that as he was enjoying his hiking so much he might like to walk down the beach to our next stop, after all it was only seven and a half miles.

To our surprise, Marc appeared at breakfast next morning with the plan to do just that. So with a good supply of water, a few muesli bars for sustenance and Brit resolve he was dropped to the beach and off he headed. Meanwhile we settled back for another cup of coffee and a read of the online newspapers.

Seven and a half nautical miles is almost 14 kilometres so we gave Marc two hours head start before we raised the anchor and slowly cruised along the coast keeping a lookout for our mad mate ashore. It surprised us how far along he’d gone by the time we passed him by. We were able to anchor up and settle in well before he reappeared on the beach waving to be picked up.

Where we anchored at the Sand Hills

Doing it tough waiting for Marc to arrive along the beach.

 

The anchorage at the Sand  Hills shoals very gradually out from the beach making it necessary to anchor a few hundred metres offshore. The shallows dry at low tide leaving you with a long walk back to reach even enough depth for a dinghy. As it was approaching low tide Marc elected to wade out off the beach into thigh deep water to make it easier for Rob to reach him in the dinghy. It was about now he remembered what we had told him about the large number of stingrays that frequent these shoals and was feeling relieved he hadn’t come across wading through the shallows.

As Rob approached Marc in the dinghy, it spooked a group of six or eight large rays boasting spans of over a meter that had been resting in the sand. They all began fleeing the approaching dinghy – straight towards Marc whose face immediately took on a  look of ‘deep concern’. Recounting later seeing a swarm of huge Australian marine life charging his way through the clear water, Marc refused to class his facial expression as near panic.

Whether it was a logically sensible decision made to keep very still or he was frozen to the spot we are not sure but it proved to be the right strategy as all the rays made last second diversions around him and fled on their way . Stingrays are not aggressive but instinctively strike with their venomous tail if threatened. Sudden movement can do it.

After surviving yet another encounter with Australia’s deadly fauna Marc was well ready for a glass or four of red as told us of his trek along the beach and some of the sights he come across.

Marc enjoyed his long beach walk

He was very saddened to find someone's cruising dreams washed up on the beach

The wreck of an old steamer Marc came across on his walk

Just another Moreton Island sunset over Brisbane city

We spent the next couple of days at the sand hills with Marc going ashore for more hikes while we did some exploring of the shallows in our kayak getting very up close and personal with a number of huge rays, turtles and scores of shovelnose sharks.

We explored the shallows in our kayak

Turtles abound in the area

We also fitted in a little fishing, crabbing and a lot of socialising with the crew of Whoosh including enjoying sundowners from high on the sand hills one evening.



One last mackerel for the trip

Quickly dispatched and on the BBQ

Pelicans were also plentiful

Marc's skin tone clearly benefited from a few months in the Aussie sun.

If you didn't know better you could easily believe this was a snow field rather than sand.

Marc's attempt at sand boarding was an abject failure

Sundowner drinks with Bob & Lyn from Whoosh atop the sand hills

The view was spectacular

Time was now almost up and finally we waved good bye to Whoosh, upped anchor and enjoyed a very pleasant sail back across Moreton Bay towards home port. We weren’t quite done yet though as we dropped anchor at Green Island for one final night out of the marina.

Sand Hills to Green Island - 13.4 Nautical Miles - 3 Hours 13 Minutes
Average Speed 4.1 knots - Max Speed 7.2 knots

The moon waning over us anchored off Green Island

As Karen cooked up a superb last supper aboard for the three of us, Marc emerged from rummaging around under the sole where we store the wine with the sad proclamation, “Chaps, I’m extremely sorry to report that we are now officially out of red wine. Your calculations of our requirements was almost perfect. If I hadn’t spilled so much we would have made it.”

After a good laugh from us, the good news was the bubbles and white stocks were still OK but did get knocked around through the evening.

We spent the night literally within sight of the marina.

At 8.35am on December 22^nd Our Dreamtime slipped quietly into her berth at East Coast Marina in Manly Boat Harbour officially ending our five month sojourn to the tropics.

 

Celebratory beers in the marina after the end of our shakedown cruise

 

We had planned it as a shakedown cruise and it had been all of that. The most serious issues being a transmission failure in Bundaberg that cost us a month in port and more dollars than we like to think about and the refrigeration stopped working at Brampton Island on our way home. They are mechanical issues that can happen on any boat but we are pleased they happened here on our shakedown and not in some remote part of the Pacific.

We were super impressed with how well the boat sailed and learned a huge amount about how to get the best out of her. She proved to be a fantastic live aboard boat easily accommodating us and our guests, Anthony and Linda in the Whitsundays and, of course, our crewmate Marc for the whole trip south. We are delighted with our Whitby 42.  

All that was left was a huge day of cleaning the boat from top to bottom. Our son, Rod, came to pick us up in the afternoon and we were very happy he has a truck as the amount of washing alone we unloaded off the boat near filled it. Then it was off to Ipswich to catch up with family and friends.

Marc stayed with us a few days longer to experience a typical, relaxed Aussie Christmas with our daughter, Yasmin, son-in-law, Rob, and our youngest grandies, Lyla and Harry. Christmas temperatures near 30C and lunch of juicy leg ham carved off the bone, kilos of fresh prawns accompanied by salads was far removed from anything he had experienced in jolly old England and a real eye opener for him.

Marc was in the Christmas spirit assisting to build the pirate ship fruit desert to impress the grand kids

 

Kids are the excitement of Christmas morning

G&T ice blocks for Christmas afternoon were a hit in the Aussie summer.

 

It wasn’t until we saw him off at the airport for his flight back to London on Boxing Day that this leg of our adventures really felt totally over. We have sailed with Marc in South East Asia, the Mediterranean and now Australia and each time we have parted at an airport there has been no goodbye, but rather a “See you later.”

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Through the Great Sandy Straights and on to Mooloolaba.

December 10-15, 2015

Transiting the Great Sandy Straits on the inside of Fraser Island requires planning if you want to avoid running aground or battling strong adverse currents. Regardless of whether you are travelling north or south, we have found the ideal strategy is to time your departure so that you reach the shallow and skinniest channel north of Tooth Island on the high tide. This gives you no adverse current but rather quite a favourable flow all the way.

Eleandro and Pappa Joe on Wahina were our traveling companions to Mooloolaba.

 

Looking at this photo it's hard to believe most of the water pictured is less than a metre deep. The yacht on the right is about to turn the mark at the narrowest and shallowest part of the passage through the Great Sandy Straits.

With Eleandro and Pappa Joe on Wahina following along, we left Kingfisher Bay about 90 minutes before the scheduled high and motor sailed south in calm conditions riding the last of the incoming tide the 10 nautical miles or so down to the pinch point of the passage. We turned the mark and within minutes the current began running south as the tide flowed out towards the Wide Bay Bar.

You can see the strength of the tidal flow around this marker

These guys can make things uncomfortable in the narrow channels of the Great Sandy Straits. They smile and wave as they blast by with no idea of the mayhem rolling they inflict on yachts.

This approach provided a trouble free and quite fast passage down to Pelican Bay inside Inskip Point where we were anchoring for the night before heading on.

Kingfisher Bay to Pelican Point – 31.3 Nautical Miles – 4 Hours 35 Minutes
Average Speed 6.8 knots – Max Speed 8.3 knots

We enjoyed a relaxing day at anchor entertained by the prolific bird life in the bay. We also had plenty of company as there were a number of boats there waiting to cross the bar on the morning tide.

The BBQ got a work out again. Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Karen preparing to tuck in.

The Army provided a chopper fly past for us.

Just a few of the boats waiting to cross the bar.

Pelican Bay provided another awesome sunset to add to the collection we'd experienced on our trip.

At dawn the next morning the anchorage was a hive of activity with boats everywhere preparing to head south. The conditions were near ideal with very little wind and virtually flat seas a conga line of yachts made their way over the bar at its best. Once again with Wahina following behind, we simply followed the track we had come in on back in August and had plenty of water under us all the way.

Heading out to the Wide Bay Bar in perfect conditions for the crossing.

Wahina stayed close as we followed the GPS track from our last crossing

 

Here we are mid bar with no inkling displayed of how treacherous this spot can be.

 

Passing by the coloured sands of Rainbow Beach

We then motor sailed across to Double Island Point as the wind slowly built from the north. By the time we rounded the point and set our course for Mooloolaba we were able to silence the engine at last. Then it was a full day of downwind sailing in the strengthening breeze.

The boys on Wahina flew their kite before the conditions picked up past Double Island Point

Approaching Double Island Point

 

After a slow start to the day, Our Dreamtime really began to pick up her skirts and recorded a highest speed of 10 knots as we surfed along. It was a lot of fun, unless you were Karen trying to prepare lunch in the galley in the spirited conditions. She still managed to produce an outstanding effort as always much to Rob and Marc’s delight.

The wind picked up nicely for our run down the coast

Karen emerging from a very bouncy galley with fresh baked bread and goodies for lunch

Surfing downwind with full poled out genoa and full mainsail at up to 10 knots was lots of fun.
We left the mizzen sail in the bag in these conditions

Approaching the breakwaters at the mouth of the Mooloolah River, we turned the boat into the wind to drop the sails. Marc was on the stern lowering the mizzen as Karen furled away the mainsail. Rob at the helm when about halfway through the process he spotted a huge set of freak swells bearing down on the boat almost beam on. Shouting a warning to Karen and Marc to “Hang on!”, he pushed the throttle all the way forward and spun the boat and only just turned in time to meet the waves bow on. Our Dreamtime climbed the first like George Clooney’s swordfish boat in Perfect Storm before dropping straight over the back into the trough behind. The bow punched into the front of the second wave which ran over the boat reaching all the way to the cockpit before her buoyancy lifted her to meet and ride up and over the third and final of the big set. Nothing like a bit of excitement to end a day.

On our zoomed in track you can see where we turned to wind and had some excitement.

Pelican Point to Mooloolaba – 62.0 Nautical Miles – 10 Hours 9 Minutes
Average Speed 6.1 knots – Max Speed 10.0 knots.

It was a very tired and relieved Our Dreamtime crew when we cracked our post passage beers after dropping anchor inside the river half an hour later.

Mooloolaba is Rob’s old hometown and we were very happy to spend a few days here enjoying the vibrant resort town it’s now become before moving on closer to the end of our shakedown cruise to the tropics.

The Christmas boat parade sailed by on our first night in Mooloolaba.

Lunch at the Mooloolaba Surf Club brought back great memories for Rob

Rob, Karen and Marc at the Mooloolaba Sailing club

Officially live aboards are limited to four nights in the Mooloolah River but some stretch the point.

Karen with Linda Frylink Anderson and Erica Hammond enjoyed a 'Women Who Sale Australia' mini get together.

Good night from Mooloolaba

 

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If you have only recently discovered our blog and would like to read how it all started, or work through our previous adventures, click the link to go back to our first blog entry. Stuff it. Let's just go sailing anyway. 

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Watched someone give birth