Gladstone to Keppel Bay (through The Narrows)

Belinda will pick up the other bit later but I just wanted to get down our trip through the Narrows.  This is the strip of water between the mainland and Curtis Island.

We left Gladstone marina about 0630 yesterday which was just after low tide.  The tidal flow from Boat Creek (in the middle of the Narrows) goes south with the falling tide and also from there (Boat Creek) it goes North with the falling tide.  By that I mean Boat Creek is in the middle where it meets.
We could have left Gladstone later and had more tide assistance but instead we left early when the tide had stopped flowing against us and headed up the channel for a couple of hours.  We stopped around Black Swan Island and anchored for a couple of hours waiting for the tide to rise sufficiently.
Interesting fact, the Narrows aren't really narrow, they are however very shallow and in places dry out to 2.1m above sea level.
The projected high tide was 3.5m which means that in that one spot where it dries to 2.1m we would have a total of 1.4m of water at high tide and we draw 1.2m.  Makes it pretty close.
Anyway, we up anchored at 1030 and started to tiptoe out way through.  On the charts where it dries out it's displayed in green, while the areas that don't dry still stay blue.

 

Pancake Creek

2nd July

We planed to moved further into Pancake Creek after breakfast. Martin did his normal engine checks before turning then on, but found a belt was fraying and losing chunks off it. Not a problem we don't have far to go we will use one motor. Done all is good, we get in there found a nice area to anchor for our stay here. Time to relax and enjoy our next anchorage, after Martin replaced the belt of course.

After lunch we thought we would take the tender and have a look around the area. This sounds easy I know, but the motor wouldn't start, our reliable 2 stroke Yamaha 3HP, so sad. Martin spent the afternoon trying to fix it. In the mean time Col & Molly (they are from one of the boats we traveled with from Bundaberg) came to organize sundowners for 4.30 on the sandbank. We will be there even if we have to paddle the tender there.

At 4 o'clock we were starting to organize what to take to sundowners (Wine or Beer) when we looked up to found our American neighbors boat getting very close to us. Not happy with this anchorage any longer we decided to move our boat before sundowners and dark. Now that we have found a nice area to anchor for our stay here, it's time to relax and enjoy our next anchorage.

Time to paddle to sundowners and meet more of our neighbors. Had a great time. Bonus we found 2 mechanics that are happy to help fix the dinghymotor.

Bundaberg to Pancake Creek

1st July - left Bundaberg at 4.00am, arrival at Pancake Creek 3.30pm.

We left Bundaberg at 4am with 2 other boats, it was nice to have the company for the day. The sea conditions were great, not much swell, enough wind for us to put the main sail and head sail up and turn off the motors, we actually sailed the sailing boat..... for 30 minutes before the wind died. Better than nothing.

We arrived at Pancake Creek ahead of time, anchored at the entrance for the night, wasn't to bad just a bit of sloshing.

Arch Cliffs to Bundaberg

Well that wasn't the best idea we've had this week.  Beautiful day yesterday and we just about had all of Hervey Bay to ourselves.   Anyway, we went over to Arch Cliffs thinking that this will be a nice quiet spot out of the wind for the next few days before we head up to Bundaberg.

It was out of the wind but the swell was coming from the South West all the way up the inside of Fraser Island and with the tide we were sitting side on.  Very uncomfortable nights sleep so we left early this morning for Bundaberg.

The forecast kept saying 15 - 20 knots southeasterly and 1 m swell from the north to northeast.  The reality is that we had 20 - 25 knots from the south (which was perfectly side on) and the swell was mostly south and even a little bit southwest (which again was mostly side on).

All in all a crappy trip up but we've done it now and we're in the marina at Bundaberg where we've booked for a week.  20-20 hindsight, with yesterdays perfect weather we should've come up then.  Oh well, you live and learn.  And we didn't even get any photos of Arch Cliffs :(

Torquay and Arch Cliffs

Yesterday we only went round the corner to Torquay and stayed overnight.  We saw a line of buoys that just looked like black plastic containers and anchored kind of near them but not too close.  Anyway, an hour or so later a guy on a jetski came up and told us that they were part of a designated training area for unlicenced jetski hirers.  Nice guy and we told him it didn't really worry us.  Anyway, we only saw a couple of jetskis in the entire afternoon.

This morning we went for a dinghy ride and walk up the esplanade just to see what was there.  Not a lot but we did manage a coffee and a quick trip to IGA to get the things we'd missed the day before.

We picked the rising tide so that there would be enough water over the 'Outer Banks' so we could take a shortcut on the way to Arch Cliffs and we got here about 4.30.  Looks really calm and we're in the shadow of the cliffs so when the southeasterly comes through it should be quite nice still.

Anyway, photos tomorrow

Urangan

Yesterday we left Garry's Anchorage around 10am so we had the right tide for an easy run up the strait.  Went about 10 or 12 nm up and stayed at South White Cliffs.  It's on the inside of Fraser Island and about 5 or 6 nm south of Kingfisher Bay resort.

Very quiet night and another beautiful sunset.

 

This morning we got up early and left at 6.30am so we could ride the tide up to Urangan.  Arrived about 11am and tied up in the marina.  A little bit of remote work configuring email and databases (which will need a bit more work tomorrow) and then we had a bus ride in to a major shopping centre in the Hervey Bay region to do the shopping.  About 10 days worth of dinners and the fridge is chockers.  Tomorrow we'll head off and I think we'll go over to Arch Cliffs and hang out there for a couple of days while the south easterly blows through.  When it's finished we'll head on up to Bundaberg.  Belinda is keen on getting a bottle of the Chocolate and Coffee liqueur and apparently you can only get it from the factory.

A couple of days there and then we'll look at going north again.  Over the weekend we did find out that there are less restrictions on the Shoalwater Bay area than we thought so we should be able to go through there without any problems this year.  We will however stick with our plan B idea of spending the July school holidays around Great Keppel Island, looks like a nice spot.

Garrys Anchorage

I wrote that last post before having a nap yesterday and ended up having two naps and then an early night. Great nights sleep but I did manage to get in a photo just before all of the light disappeared.

I felt a little bit cool when I woke up this morning and when I checked the current temp (at 0700) was only 5.9 degrees.  The sun didn't get over the island until about 0730 and when it did I took this shot.

We'll stay again tonight and probably head off further up the strait tomorrow.

Where are we page fixed

Actually, there was nothing wrong with the page, it was the old phone that I'd been using to keep track of us is still running Android 2.2.1 and the app no longer supported it. I've now installed it on my phone and will just turn it on and off manually so people know where we are.

Yes we are on our way north

After what seems like a few false starts, we feel like we are really on our way.  After the haulout and boat show we went back to Southport where we had arranged to leave the boat (again) on our last trip to Canberra before the end of the year.

Lewis had his first birthday and we wanted to be there and we also went to Glenn's 50th birthday as well so we stayed in Canberra for just over a week.  Crazy as it seems we have worked out that it is cheaper to get a hire car from the Canberra airport for 24 hours instead of a one way trip in a taxi.  Not by a little bit either, taxi = $68 (+ 10% if you pay with a card), hire car (Yaris = $42 for 24 hrs and it took $3.12 in petrol)

Anyway, we arrived back on the Gold Coast and Roger picked us up from the airport again (definitely cheaper than a taxi :)) and we stayed overnight before going back to the boat on the 9th, after dragging Roger to the supermarket to re-stock.

Finally left the mooring on the 10th and filled with water and fuel up before heading up to the bottom of Short Island.  About a 20nm run where we anchored for two nights due to strong wind warnings from the south.

Left Short Island and went up Canaipa Passage hugged the inside of North Stradbroke Island and stayed overnight in Lazaret Gutter at the top of Peel Island.  Still sheltering from the dying southerly.

We wanted to catch up with Raelene and BJ and see the new house so next stop was Scarborough for the weekend.  Got in mid afternoon on Saturday and stayed Saturday and Sunday nights.  Weather was pretty miserable but we did get to see the house and helped a bit with the deck, also use and abuse their washing machine and dryer.

Monday morning (15th) was an 0800 start for Mooloolaba with the dying southerly by still a fair amount of easterly swell.  Good thing was Moreton Island kept the worst of the swell away until we about level with Caloundra.  Anyway, we stayed at the Mooloolaba Wharf until yesterday catching up with Belinda's aunt Angie and Bob.  Lunch turned in to a long lunch followed by coffee on the boat.  Good to catch up as we haven't seen them since the last time we sailed through in 2010.

Yesterday afternoon (Thursday 18th) we left the dock and anchored in Mooloolaba waiting until 7pm before leaving so that we would make the tide for crossing Wide Bay Bar.  Notoriously bad and our last bar crossing for a long time.  In fact it will be this bar that we cross next when we come back in November.

Right now, we're anchored in Garrys Anchorage in the Great Sandy Strait having traveled about 180nm in the last 9 days.  Only had a couple of hours sleep in the last 24 so we'll probably have an afternoon nap.  Weather is beautiful, cool breeze but the sun is out and we're in shorts and t-shirt again. If that wasn't good enough, we have dolphins swimming around us.
 

Sancutary Cove boat show

Went off to the boat show today just to see what was there.  Actually there was a few jobs which were successfully completed but we also saw this fantastic table in a Lagoon 620. Now that would be cool! (Dad?).