Friday 28 September 2012

News - Hervey Bay ahoy!

Four days ago I emailed Michael a job advertisement - as I sometimes do - fully expecting him to say - as he usually does - "nah, its not for me." Instead he said "hey, I could do this!" and sent in his CV. Three hours later Michael received a call from the boss saying "you are perfect for the role, lets meet". Yesterday we hired a car and drove the four hours north to the town of Hervey Bay on the Great Sandy Strait, and overlooking Fraser Island to scope out the place and have an interview.

Long story short, Michael got the job. Its perfect for us. Although we had planned to cruise for a couple of months more before stopping, the job is in the exact area we were looking at to settle in and get some much needed boat work done. The pay is good, the location is gorgeous, and the potential for weekend and holiday sailing around the area is really attractive - the Great Sandy Strait for starters, and the southern islands of the Great Barrier Reef. Plus its only 3 hours from Brisbane!

We've sorted a marina berth at the Great Sandy Strait Marina in the Urangan Boat Harbour and will spend the next two weeks sailing up the coast.

A great bonus is that Michael's new boss Lawrie is totally happy for us to meet Michael's parents in late October and take them over to Fraser Island as planned - its all fallen beautifully in to place.





Sunday 23 September 2012

The Gold Coast

Visiting the Gold Coast by water is totally different to doing it by land. Oh sure, there are the kazillion-story highrises, pumped-up leather-skinned men in fluoro green budgie smugglers and dickheads on jetskis... but we've been lucky to see a different side to the Goldie to our previous visit about 8 years back (Isabella - do you remember???)

After a day or two in Bums Bay (which was surprisingly relaxing, with its contrasting backdrop of the Gold Coast skyscrapers and coastal scrub) my sister Imogen and her fiance Michael (yes, confusing - we call them Michael One and Michael Two) flew in for a friend's wedding. They put us up in their hotel for a night down at Nobbys Beach which was great because it was off the main drag at Surfers Paradise and had great views down the coast to Burleigh Heads. It also meant we could catch up on all our laundry - joy! After drinking A LOT and being denied entry to the hotel pool by a creepy caretaker around 9pm we scrambled down on to the beach and stumbled around like Schoolies, before coming to our senses and marvelling at the warm water, bright stars and dramatic GC skyline.

Two days later (after recovering from our crashing hangovers) we met up with Imogen and Michael Two again and drove 30 minutes south to the coastal town of Currumbin to check out the Swell Sculpture Festival - a beachside display of works from over 50 artists. It was a perfect QLD day: bright, bright blue skies, sunshine hot enough to burn if you let it, the coastline misty from the surf-spray - aahh! Its so good to be here.

To top off their visit, on Thursday we broke with Bass Voyager tradition, dressed up and went to a restaurant called Glass at the Southport marina (think Sheraton and Versace hotels - yikes!) and met Imogen and Michael's friends Tracy and Josh who were just married a few days earlier. We had a lovely night. Great company, amazing food and wine. Thanks Imo and Mike - we loved seeing you!

Two days ago we decided to up-anchor from Bums Bay and head a little further up the Broadwater for a change of scene. We're now anchored off the beach at Paradise Point, trying to have a sense of humour about the jetskis, power boats and waterskiers flying by dangerously close to us! On the up-side, the township here is really nice - cafes and shops along wide beachfront parklands.

Yesterday was a great day. A new friend of ours, Ron from the yacht Stormalong, who we first met back at Pt Stephens, picked us up for a day touring the GC hinterland with his wife Sue. First they took us to a farmers market at Nerang where we stocked up on beautiful local produce and, much to Michael's delight, experienced green olives stuffed with cheese, crumbed and deep fried - ON A STICK! Genius.

After that they drove us up into the hills above Mudgeeraba at a place called Mt Nimmel. Ron and Sue bought their property in the 1970's and have split their time between sailing the south pacific and raising their kids in this truly idyllic spot, 500 metres above sea level overlooking Burleigh Heads and the Gold Coast. It so was fantastic to see a different side of the region outside the craziness of the tanned bubble-men and meter-maids!

Over the next few days we're catching up with some other sailing friends before pushing on to BrisVegas, hopefully in time to find an anchorage and catch Riverfire over the weekend.

View from Bums Bay

A selection from the Swell Sculpture Festival at Currumbin



 Ghost dogs...
Imogen and Michael





Views from the hotel at Southport


Scary, enormous, unfinished mansions on the Sovereign Islands near our current anchorage

Wednesday 12 September 2012

Bums Bay, Gold Coast, QLD

10 months and 3000 nautical miles and we're finally in Queensland! Phew. Surely there's an easier way...!

I love the name of this anchorage. Its officially "Marine Stadium" but locals call it "Bums Bay" because mooring here is free and all the ritzy yachts (i.e. not us lot!) pay big bucks to moor down south in front of the expensive marinas, casinos and five star resorts. Apparently there are proposals to develop the bay into a private marina, but most locals want it retained for the bums who love it just the way it is. All power to them.

So anyway, we're here! Its been an amazing, fun, incredibly challenging journey so far, and its a bit overwhelming to think about how far we've come in such a very ... very long time! ;o)

We have a few social engagements over the next week or so - lots of friends to catch up with plus my gorgeous sister and her fiance are flying in for a friend's wedding - perfect timing! So we'll be around here for the next little while, before deciding where to go next.

Motoring into the Gold Coast this morning over silky-calm seas... 














Last week Michael bottled his first precious home brew (Coopers of course)




Can anyone tell me what kind of bird this is? 
Hawk? Eagle? Very pretty bird - he moved on to BV while we were in Port Macquarie but really overstayed his welcome by dropping gory bits of fish he'd caught on the deck and crapping all over the place! Plus after three weeks I was seriously over his intensely piercing squark... damn nature is annoying sometimes!

Update: ian.eco tells me this is probably a young White-bellied Sea Eagle - thanks Ian!

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Coffs Harbour

We just completed a fantastic two day passage from Port Macquarie to Coffs Harbour and are now anchored just off the historic Coffs Jetty (check out the new "Where is Bass Voyager?" map on the right).

After the excitement of our arrival at Port Mac we left no "i" un-dotted in planning our departure. Tides were calculated and recalculated, weather forecasts deconstructed and reconstructed. Of course it was a complete anti-climax: not a ripple on the bar. How boring!

It was a "sitting-on-the-rail-dangling-your-feet-in-the-water" kind of passage: warm, sunny, good winds, calm seas - bliss!  We overnighted at Trial Bay near where we went diving last week, before setting out again at the crack of dawn as the sun rose over calm, misty seas. Today we sailed close-hauled up the coast past Nambucca Heads to Coffs, running a gauntlet of humpback whales along the way, including this little guy...

 

To top off the trip, Michael caught a large bonito as we approached Coffs Harbour - Kitty was most impressed!

There is some strong northerly weather coming through the next few days so we will chill out here and look for an opportunity to head to Yamba and the Clarence River. Bye for now!