Southern GBR to Yeppoon

Well we finally left Hervey Bay behind after 7 months! Great to be back out here again. First stop was just up the road at Platypus Bay to scrape the layers of barnacles from poor old BV's hull and for some reason the entire rudder. We will have to haul out very soon, antifoul not looking so good anymore.

The weather looked pretty good for an over night passage to Lady Musgrave Island so we packed up and left at about 3:00pm to get to the Island. Over night winds we a bit hit and miss with waves and slight swell making for a slightly uncomfortable trip but at least it was only about 90NM.  We decided to do 3 hour shifts instead of our normal 4 hour shifts for a change but later we both decided that wasn't successful - we both prefer the 4 hours on/off. We find 4 hours is just long enough to get a good rest even if you don't sleep.

Lady Musgrave Island is a small island formed inside of a coral reef with a lagoon deep enough for boats to anchor and escape the swell and waves just outside. It's like a small boat haven 50NM off shore and attracts a lot of boats (13 when we got there!). The entrance was man made and depending on which story you prefer it was either done by the Japanese during WWII (this seems to be the local legend) to provide shelter for their subs or by guano miners and/or fishermen in the 1890's. Either way, it's a pretty safe entrance with a well marked channel and plenty of water. Once inside you need to proceed cautiously as there are numerous bommies and good daylight (or a steel hull) is essential.

The weather wasn't great but we needed a few days to relax anyway and sort out some small issues on the boat (mainly to do with lack of storage for all this stuff we have). Six days later we found our selves wondering what happen to the last six days and decided it was time to push on. We needed to be at Yeppoon for Caitlin to fly to a work meeting in Melbourne in about a week. Fitzroy Reef was our next stop and like Lady Musgrave it is a lagoon with a great anchorage inside. Unlike Lady Musgrave it has no island and a natural entrance which is somewhat trickier than LM but once inside there are no bommies to dodge to get to the main anchorage area.

We had planned on staying at least two nights here but the weather forecast via VHF wasn't looking great (20-30kn with possible 35+ in a few days). Previous experiences (re Fortesque Bay TAS) had taught us that we needed to move now and stay ahead of the weather even though it would mean arriving a 3 or 4 days earlier than planned at Yeppoon. After one night at Fitzroy Reef we pushed on to North West Island to stop for the evening and rest. We then packed up at about 10pm and pushed on overnight to Rosslyn Bay Marina just near Yeppoon cruising past the Keppel Islands at first light. It's a very beautiful coast line here, much more dramatic than the Fraser Coast.

So here we are in Keppel Bay Marina just waiting for the stronger winds to die down and doing some more work on the boat. It's a very good marina fro the price and has great staff and very good amenities - highly recommended. Yeppoon is a small town just 10mins on the bus and has most of what you need. We are planning to head out to the islands on Saturday and spend about 10 days exploring the area.

Sunset at Lady Musgrave Island

Lady Musgrave Island coral beaches

Inland on Lady Musgrave Island

Apparently the sun sets every day at LMI and has to be captured every time

See...

Spotted Mackerel - about 85cm - good eating, pretty fresh!

Kitty agrees.

Dawn while passing the Keppel Islands

Keppel Bay Marina.

Huge (eagle?) nest atop a light pole at the marina

1 + 1 = 3

Finally, after more than 6 months in Hervey Bay, we're sailing again!!

And best of all, there's an extra person on board! After 12 years together, and after everyone had just about given up on us ever taking the plunge into parenthood, we're having a baby!!!

Yep. It's at the same time the most profund and yet utterly mundane thing. Like joining an exclusive club that almost everyone else in the world is already a member of. And so exciting!!

The plan, as much as we allow ourselves to make plans these days, is to spend the next few months sailing north from Fraser Island (where we are now) to Mackay, island and reef hopping and exploring parts of the coast we've never been.

We'll then head back to Adelaide for 6 or 9 months to welcome baby among friends and family.

A few quick vitals...
Due date: 6 November 2013
NOT twins - phewf!
Sex: not telling!

We're going to be out of internet and phone range for the next week or so as we sail out to Lady Musgrave Island and some of the southern parts of the Great Barrier Reef, but will touch base with photos and a proper update when we get to Yeppoon. Until then, raise a glass to the newest Bass Voyager crew member (cos god knows its only sparkling water at this end!)

Sorry, no photos today. Please blame our internet access - or lack thereof.

Fraser Island

Michael spent the first three days of his precious Christmas leave installing a new windlass (anchor winch) - shiny! - to allow us to escape for a few days. Remember the problems we had with the old one in Tassie, and every anchorage since? Yes, that's how long Michael has been swearing at it and threatening to violently throw it overboard.  Meanwhile I got Bass Voyager packed up, provisioned and ready to sail.

The feeling of throwing off the docklines again was awesome. We spent our first night at Moon Point and once the wind filled in we had a fantastic, fast sail up Platypus Bay at the northern end of Fraser Island. It is a sweeping, 30 mile stretch of white sand and crystal clear water fringed by sandhills and wooded bushland. We dropped anchor (sans swearing) at Lagoon Anchorage, about two thirds of the way up the bay. I'll let the photos speak for themselves, but straight up - its freakin paradise.... the nicest anchorage we've found on Fraser Island so far.  We swam, explored the adjoining lagoon, Michael fished (caught a baby shark which we went all gaga over before releasing), we cooked, drank apple cider and watched the summer thunderstorms pass us by. So cool.

Counting down until we can do this full-time again...

Merry Christmas!

6 weeks in Hervey Bay

We've been in Hervey Bay for just over 6 weeks now and we've managed to squeeze in a fair bit over that time... mainly we've been getting to know the area and settling back into a more land-reliant existence.

Its quite an adjustment after a year underway, especially for Michael who is now back in the 9 to 5 (actually 8 to 5) grind. Ive been working too - Ive picked up two new contracts, one local and one national, and Ive also been doing a small business course.

After 7 days in HB we decided that "one week on, one week off" was more our style and so we went to Fraser Island with Michael's parents for a week! OK, so the trip had actually been planned well in advance... Fraser Island and spending time with Margaret and John was awesome, sittin by the pool, cooking delicious meals, 4WDing ... even getting stuck in the middle of the island for 6 hours when our car broke down!

Oh! And last weekend we flew over to the spectacular Lady Elliot Island to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary.

So yeah, the adventure hasn't really ended, has it?

The latest development is that we're moving into an apartment for a few months over the hottest part of the summer. Much as we love life aboard its hard for me to work effectively during the heat of the day and unfortunately the boat harbour here is also quite surgey at certain points of the tide, making things pretty uncomfortable for a few hours, twice a day. The apartment we've chosen is one block back from the marina and part of a resort, which means just one thing: POOL! And a perfect place for friends and family to come and stay - HINT HINT!

Well I could write many more words about everything we've seen and done in the last 6 weeks, but well... pictures/1000 words....you know...

View along the Urangan foreshore

The historic - and very long - Urangan Pier

Friendly local

Michael and his Dad John sailed Bass Voyager over to Fraser Island. Anchored off the Kingfisher Resort.

Beautiful Lake MacKenzie on Fraser Island

Our 4WDing adventure was going great until the transmission dumped all its fluid in the space of  about 10 metres. In a mobile phone black spot.

A passing car felt sorry for us and gave us beer! What a champ.

We managed to get a couple of text messages out to Michael's boss who was able to get in touch with the island's only tow truck and taxi driver. We all kept our sense of humour and actually had quite a fun time hanging out in the bush ... until it started to get dark... We were just resigning ourselves to spending the night in the car when finally, after 6 hours of waiting (despite us giving our GPS coordinates!) the taxi driver found us and took us back to resort. The car got towed back (at great expense!) the next day and Michael was able to fix it without too much trouble.

Margaret on the deck of our lovely villa at the Kingfisher Resort.

So last Friday was our 10 year wedding anniversary. Nothing could top the incredible year we've spent together, but we decided to give it a try! Michael got to sit in the cockpit for our flight to Lady Elliot Island. The flight was THRILLING, not scary at all, and such an amazing way to start the trip!

View of Urangan Boat Harbour. Spot Bass Voyager?

View to Fraser Island and the Great Sandy Strait

Lady Elliot Island - a little spec in the ocean, 80kms off the coast. Paradise.

Coming in to land over the fringing reef

Lady Elliot is an eco resort and we were privileged enough to be there during bird nesting season. There were literally thousands of  noisy, randy and completely entertaining noddys and terns nesting all over the island. 

  

The snorkelling and diving was spectacular. The turtles were so friendly - bossy even! One of them followed us for about 10 minutes and practically demanded that we scratch his shell. We've never had such an interactive encounter with one of these usually shy creatures before...

November 23 2002

23 November 2012