Saturday October 2nd
We have been in Darwin just over week. Tipperary waters is a lock marina and its necessary to catch the tide to navigate the creek leading into it. Its pretty claustrophobic with big unit developments overlooking the marina. Bit like bing in a fish bowl and with very little breeze. So it was good to get out. We had a small car for most of our stay but there was still very little time to spare to go site seeing. Enjoyed some nice meals, a pleasant change form my cooking. Chris and Daun off “Magic” met us in Darwin and we are going to sail east in company with them.
Our good friend Huck has joined us to crew with us aboard Taipan for this trip, probably as far as Cairns.
Sunrise. Anchor is up and we are moving slowly away. The Darwin skyline is very flat no tall buildings to penetrate the persistent haze of the Territory burning. Sunrise is marked by a the appearance of a molten red ball viewing with the build p clouds for supremacy. the current as we get closer to the Vernon Islands is strong, up to 5 knots. breeze nil. 4 knots. Volvo tonking faithfully.
Dusk and the anchorage at escape cliffs is a welcome sight. N to NE wind and we are well sheltered. The countryside looks very inviting but it is too late to go ashore. There was a failed settlement ruin here bu looters have removed most of the evidence. Apparently a path and a few holes are all that remains. vegetation is predominantly tall trees with lovely white trunks. The contrast between here and the Kimberly is stark. Territory low and very bushy. Sandy red cliffs on some edges.
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| Port Essington Hospital Kitchen |
Sunday 3rd October
Ever present haze. Its damp out on deck. Moon still hanging just above a mirror like sea. Morning star clinging to it but eventually they both drop in. We pull ;anchor and head off. The delicious aroma of fresh bread baking pervades the dawn. Some breeze then not breeze. Breakfast, morning tiffin, flat flat flat. You just cannot photograph this. Sky and sea as one. `magic out of sight. They’ll need to get a move on to make the tide at Cape Don. Cape Don is an impressive light house stretching 36 meters skyward, Cape Don Light is an active lighthouse located on Cape Don, at the tip of the Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory, Australia, in Garig Gunak Barlu National Park, marking the entrance to the Dundas Strait. It is reinforced concrete and was completed in 1917 and manned until 1983 when it was automated. The cape waters can be very nasty. A strong current runs up to 6 knots and if thats not enough there are patches of reef everywhere. These combined to play havoc with the old sailing ships. “Men to oars” must have been a common call if the wind dropped off. Popham Bay is a pretty spot. The blackfellas are burning off here too. Sunset. No Magic? Glowing embers and bursts of orange flame mark the shoreline. The blackfellas have gone off in a vehicle. Must be a track somewhere. There is a ketch called “Wim-0way” at anchor They went ashore and were greeted by the natives and told they needed a permit. Woops! Still no Magic! They are stuck in a 6 knot current off the lighthouse going .5 knots in the wrong direction. Five hours late Magic arrives. It has taken them 5 hours to go 6 miles. They had to wait for the tide to turn. Huck caught a cod.
Monday 4th October.
Last night was a late one. Fed a much relieved Magic crew and chatted til 1 am. Lazy wind astern so MPS sometimes sailing sometimes just a big lazy striped tent draped around us. Strike! The duck is broken Hucks blue and yellow rattler takes a trick. It’s a log. Finally he lands a 600mm black tip reef stark. Dinner invitation is out. Fish on Taipan tonight. Port Essington is very pretty if not lonely. There are people and boats everywhere ere. Long white beaches or long red cliffs. Lots of coves and bays. Not many mangroves. Basaltic rock in places. Very dark coloured. Fish restaurant open at 7.30 pm over and out.
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| Port Essington Married Quarters |
Tuesday 5th October
Port Essington. the name of the settlement at the end of the bay. We arrive ashore with Magic and the Navy has a zodiac on the beach They are off a landing barge anchored 15miles away. lLong trip in a dingy. The walk is about 2 km along a pleasant tree lined and well defined track. The ruins have had some restoration work Original stone work is very meticulous. It must have been laborious in this heat. A visit to the cemetery site heightens ones awareness of the privations and sufferings these people had to endure. Singapore was established as a garrisoned outpost at the same time and for the same reason. To keep the Dutch out. A cyclone was the final disaster for the Victoria settlement. Attempts a agriculture failed and cattle and sheep were introduced but didn’t thrive. No wonder. 60 people are buried at the site and perished during the 11 years. Pretty high mortality rate. malaria typhoid, cholers childbirth all taking their toll. The remains of several wells can be found among the ruins. As can a landing area on naturally occurring rocky spit. The commanders house is still relatively entact minus roof doors etc and although not commodious it is reasonably substantial. 2 rooms and 2 fireplaces??? The climate must have changed dramatically since they were built. British scientist Thomas Huxley wrote that Port Essington was "most wretched, the climate the most unhealthy, the human beings the most uncomfortable and houses in a condition most decayed and rotten".
There is an active bower bird bower sitting just above high water near the old pier. There are fresh leaves plucked in the entrance, many shells and its of green glass adorn this little structure. I bet all the girls are impressed. (These are built by the males to attract a mate). 2pm and we are away north again to find an anchorage closer to the entrance for an early start tomorrow. Detour. Hunter gatherers off on an oyster catching mission. Lovely bucket full all cleaned and now chilling and we are off to catch Magic just to our north. Ready for an early start tomorrow
Wednesday 6th October.
Early start aborted by Madame Volvo. A failure in the electrics needs to be tracked down to get the glow plugs to light up This is eventually rectified and we make sail and spasmodic motoring in a generally easterly direction. Vizzzz.zz! this is the sound of there repaired reel. Huck lands a doggie or school mackerel. We turn this into about 3 kg of filleted meat. WE haven’t eaten it before so will comment on its editility scores after the taste test. thee is a conspiracy in the electrical citadel. The infidel volts, watts . amps and ohms are revolting. madame Volvo who took a small rest when the wind blew from the right direction was sabotaged and unable to re start so the trusty captain and his offsider are retaliating with volt meters screw drivers spanners and nice cutters. it looks like a war zone in the cockpit. Theres a stand off. and the Volvo has been released but the infidels are still lurking in the citadel. We are intermittently sailing and motoring down Bowen Strait between Crocker Island and the Mainland. All aboriginal country. Very beautiful. Tall trees quite close together. Some of this country is leased back to the NT forestry. make anchorage at Point David but even with Aboriginal flag flying we were still asked to move outside the pearl base. Magic right behind us and their restaurant is open tonight.
Thursday 7th October
Superb meal on Magic. Last night shark baked pieces in a sauce of condensed milk with mashed banana rum nutmeg. Pour over fish top with desiccated coconut and bake in an oven for 20 to 30 min. After dinner we played a game with wooden slats in a stack You keep pulling them out from the bottom and placing them on top. You loose when the pile falls down. Fun on a boat in a bit of swell The morning has got off to a good start with a strike only a couple of hundred meters off out anchorage. It got off but as we round point David we bagged a very nice Bar Cheeked Coral trout. He’s beautiful. Orange, tan with bright aqua spots surrounded by a dark ring. Regarded very highly as an eating fish so we will eat him tonight Taipan restaurant. De Courcy Head so named because a timber cutter of the name lived here around 1906. Its a very beautiful coast line. colourful cliffs interspersed with long white beaches and topped by a slash of green. Aranu Bay south of Goulbourn Island is out anchorage. There is a community on Sth Globourn and accommodation units etc on the shore opposite. Coral Trout was very delicious and the doggie mackerel went into soup and pickled fish. Both yummy.
Friday 8th October
Smoked out again. Suns a flaming pink orb hanging motionless over our departure. Barely off the anchor and we ave a good energetic strike leaping out of the water sever la time before throwing a lure. Nor 10 minuets later we hooked a monster. he’s and impressive fish at 1.6m Spanish Mackerel. Defiantly our largest yet. Lucky we were sailing with magic. They just lost a barracuda and their lure she we get to do all the cleaning and butchering and bagging for them. Barracuda is pretty crappy fish. Second thoughts its lucky for magic that they are sailing with us! Thats it. No more fishing for a while. We are anchored in Raffles Bay. Went back because Magic couldn’t catch us. Its very rolly and we are on the bottom bump bump m bumping.
Saturday 9th October
Pleased to be up and going again. Rolly night. We came off the bottom after a couple of hours. 630 start. Magic asleep. There is a lot of algae bloom drifting about in long dirt streaks on the water Its nose is off. There was another showdown in the citedel yesterday. Much passing of screwdrivers and spanners. Voltmeter flashing. Eventually the culprit was tracked down in the earth wire on the main battery. Shorty. Uneventful sail. No fishing. Its 630pm and we have the anchor down for the night. Mjrugga Island just north of Millingumbi.
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| Wessle islands |
Sunday 10th October
600am. Our destination is Elcho Island to meet Magic. They sailed through the night passing us about 10pm MPS up beautiful sail. 100am and we caught Magic. The Gallawinku community housing on Elcho Island looks atrocious. All rusty iron about 50s design. Very few openings..ie doors and windows. They must be like ovens in this climate. Its about 36° at the moment here on Taipan. Even on a Sunday there is no sign of activity…not even any kids about. As we proceed up the channel north we pass a barge landing and power station. this all looks remarkably new and efficient. Magic said the township was lit up like a city when they arrived last night. Not much consolation if you happen to inhabit one of those tin ovens though. Unless they’re air conditioned! The passage is quite narrow. 1-2 miles. The countryside is low and densely wooded. There are ducks and evidence tropical vine forrest. Probably inland or coastal lagoons. Anchoring in a pretty spot at 11.52.867S 135.51.561E on the east side of Elcho sand in Cadell Strait. The sand here is either white or the darkest red i have seen yet. Much redder than Pindan. On the beach are what appears to be native hibiscuses in deep ruby with maroon centre and white beans. Shock horror Whats this ..an abandoned bear! He doesn’t look like a native bear but he’s very dirty and hungry looking. We decide to leave him in case his family return . Dinner on Magic and an early night.
Monday 11th October
A party is sent ashore to bear nap the abandoned bear and then we are off very fast in Magics wake. Sea like glass. Smoke ever-present. Bear in the tub for a scrub. We have decided to call him Winki. He’s now scrubbed though and we have decided he’s a she. She has lace on her trousers. There has also been some inappropriate graffiti applied to her person which no amount of scrubbing has removed. We are approaching a snow white beach in the western side of Wessel Island. Just south of the notorious Hole in the Wall. Low headlands of pancake sandstone reef jut menacingly into the cool clear aqua water. A swim feels in order but the crocs are still around. You just never see them. Anchor down and Huck is determined to brave the reptiles and search for painted crays. The rock formations looks promising. Lunch, and we grab gear and head ashore. Magic still coming. These island are relatively low sandstone formations with pleasant white beaches littered with rocks. Sharks, small ones, patrol with rays in the shallows. Fish of every shape and size avoid them. I am swimming. Well, laying in 18inches of water and in a huge clear shallow. So nice to get a swim. Huck is diving for rays. None about. Heaps of small fish though. Magic arrives and we decide on a beach BBQ. Stunning sunset pleasant company and too much wine.
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| Christo and Daun Magic |
Tuesday 12th October
Sleep in. All a little shaky this morning. Complicated tide calculations ensue with Chris ‘Magic’ and David endeavouring to synchronise their respective guesses as to the appropriate time to pass through the Hole in the Wall This is a gap between Islands approximately 2 miles long and 60 meters wide. The current runs at up to 9 knots so we don’t want to get it wrong. Its decided to weigh anchor (our winch weighs ours but Chris has t weigh his because his winch is on strike. Terrorists i the wiring) at 11.45am to be at the entrance at 12.30. Suddenly we are confronted by three cats. They came around a corner south of us. It transpires that “Forte” is going through but Scuttlebug and Arkuna who we don’t know, are going to sit it out a couple more days. The wind is E NE (where we want to go) and blowing about 18 to 22knots. Sea a bit bumpy too. Taipan loves this weather 60° off the wind. Taipan is the self elected leader because we’ve been through before. Sails all up. As we get further into the hole the current is increasing. Eventually we get 4 knots against us. The other side we waited for Magic and Forte then were all off. The gauntlet is down. The old salty sailors in monos aren’t going to let this big pussy beat us to Gove. These are out conditions! The can eat us down wind sometimes. Taipan’s off, tail in the air, 8-9-10 knots Beaut sail. Into Gove out of sight of the others. Magic held Forte off too so they were chuffed. Forte is a 45foot Crowther cat. They later admitted that had to have their leeward motor on to keep high enough on the course! They were not too pleased.
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| David , Daun, Christo Huck |
Busy day spent cleaning boat refuelling, more water.
Thursday 14th
Shopping in Gove. Big bauxite briquette smelter. Mining Town. Plenty of work here.
Friday 15th October
We are supposed to be going today bur David had decided to do a GST Return!! So opportunity to read and generally relax. Its nearing 100pm. He’s turned procrastination into an art form. Finally we are sailing merrily away from Gove. Heading down towards Groote Island to rendezvous with a prawn trawler skippered by a friend of Hucks. Its and overnight sail now but quite pleasant weather. There are a lot of prawn trawlers working this area of the gulf. We’ve already passed six. Dawn looms cloudy, grey and raining. The wind is picking up.
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| Lattitude in the Gulf |
Saturday 16th October
Now the wind is gusting to 40 knots, seas have built up short and steep. Its OK though because we have it behind us. We've made contact with the trawler and we all decided an anchorage at Point Arrowsmith may be sheltered enough to enable us to get aboard them for breakfast. They have just finished fishing for the night and seem eager to party. Its a big boat, pretty old 1982 but in very good condition.It gets pretty rough when we have to turn around behind them and follow them in. The anchorage is not surveyed and they know the way in. Wet weather gear out, waves, big and ugly, trying to get aboard, several succeed as we turn. We only have the staysail up but have to keep heading up into the wind because the trawler is too slow. Finally, about 10.30am we have a line from their stern secured to Taipan. Its very rough trying to drop the dingy. Fortunately we have still got the outboard on it so we don’t have to try to get that organised too. We are rolling fairly severely so boarding the dingy involves well timed leap of faith. Greg and Tania John and Buckie crewing. Tania is from Albany would you believe. And she’s been riding at Millbrook with me. Her Mum is great friend of Deb Perkins. She used to work at Bankwest but now works for Darcey Smith. Mum and Dads doctor. Such a small world. Tania is exceedingly efficient. She's been fishing for about 6 years I think. She knocked up a beautiful breakfast of eggs, chops, sausages, prawns and squid and fed 9 people almost without blinking. A very pleasant day had by all and they have to work all night too. The tide is turning and as the current picks up again Taipan starts to misbehave. Magic has been sleeping nearby but eventually gives up and they sail past to look for a calmer spot further down the coast. Thats when Taipan really looses it and twice David has to race back to her in the dingy to back her off as she threatens to mess with the rig in those huge net booms on the trawler. Anyway its 300 pm its time to go so we take the plunge over the side of the Trawler and hope the dingy is there to catch us. Its rising and falling about 2 meters on the swell alongside. Aboard Taipan again. Huck runs Brickie another skipper off ‘Royal Rose’ back to his boat and so we load up and bolt in the wake of Magic. We have been laden with 3 boxes of frozen spoils of the sea, from the Trawler. Prawns, (Tiger , Banana and Endeavour ) Bugs and scallops. There is a party going to happen again tonight. A beaut little anchorage pops up round the corner about 10 miles out and for once we follow Magic in. So remote. We must be over 200km south of Gove and here on the beach a 4x4 with a crowd of blackfellas. You cant land a dingy in this country without a permit so we cant share our booty. We will just have to eat it. Magic joins us for a feast of scallops and we make a start on the bugs but too full. Its been a long 36 hours so an early night is the order of the day.
Sunday 17th
Beautiful morning. Today we head out into the Gulf of Carpentaria. Its a relief to see all that blue sky after yesterday. It was just like Esperance only warm. Magic wakes us. They are off, its 900am. Huck had a bad night with temperature, sweats and severe stomach pains. He’s very spacey this morning so we sent him back to bed. ho hum tack tack tack tack..about. 6 hours later and we’ve done about 20 miles towards our destination. I am very suspicious of this quiet. It almost always means we are going nowhere very fast at an uncomfortable angle. Trawlers everywhere. They say there are 90 working in the Gulf. We must have seen most of them. You need to be on your metal because they change course and speed with our any apparent reason. It is of course because they have a vast array of electronic wizardry in their commodious bridges and its is beeping and flashing and alerting then to the presence or otherwise of prawns. Up to $200,000 per pull. Thats farming!. Sometimes they will charter a spotter plane to tell them where the prawns are. They cause muddy water and are easy to spot from the air. Their radios are scrambled so the competition cant receive the info. However as soon as the plane goes up the rest of the fleet (opposition) come in like seagulls to try to pick up a share. Apparently hulls with bullet holes in them are not uncommon. Darkness descends on a pleasant if slow day. The twinkling lights of the trawler fleet receding as we cross into deeper water. Huck has surfaced for some bug tails and a slice of bread and faded into oblivion again. Good drugs. Night passages are not all bad. There’s the personal space thing, when its just you and Taipan. Get to do your own fiddling and tweaking . Sky inky black redolent with stars, satellites and space junk. An occasional falling star or jet. Saucepan up. Southern Cross down. Morning Star up. Riveting.!! Then there is reading by the light of a head torch. The bit i like best though is when everyone is asleep, I can star the trusty Volvo, and go in the right direction. We will do 26 miles in my 4 hours. It took all day to do that. The comforting throb of the engine and the penetrating knock of the shaft loose in the cutlass bearing are music enough which is just as well because Dylan cant compete with the volume.
Monday 18th October.
Huck’s drugs have worn off and he is substantially re constituted in a human form. We have done 60nm since I put up the iron headsail. I sleep like baby to its persistent pulsation's pushing us through the night. Magic is south of us persevering with the elements. The view is blue on blue One continuous line perfectly horizontal. This is the centre of the universe. For those readers conscious of my spelling errors. Quote Mark Twain ”Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word is clearly lacking in imagination” I digress. I didn’t give too much away about Gove did I? Well, Gove is a mining town. It exports aluminium / bauxite briquettes. There are huge buildings, smoke stack, and silo’s. The ore is transported via a very long conveyer from somewhere south and processed before being shipped off. Alcan own this facility and there are currently extensive new works happening to expand operations. The town has suffered over recent years by the practice of fly in fly out. As the permanents left town they were replaced by outsiders with no commitment to community. This practice is being scaled back to try to revive the town The indigenous population seems to be flourishing however and they are clean and friendly. Our taxi driver told us there is no violence or aggression towards the whites. The town itself looks well tended with nice lawns and a lovely big pool complex and no rubbish. All in all not a bad spot. The anchorage is really good and large enough to hold an extensive itinerate cruising fleet plus an a ray of unimaginable craft in varying states of seaworthiness which are home to may locals There are 68 boats anchored at presentGove is clearing port so many international vessels enter and leave here for Indonesia. A visit to the yacht club is a cruising compulsory The foods not as good this time but Huck plays a mean piano so the entertainment is awesome. At night after partying at Gove Yacht Club you brave the waiting crocs and stingers to board the dingy and the spectacular lighting on the refinery will guide you home through the fleet.
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| Gove |
Tuesday 19th October
Absolutely dead calm. Sea like silk sheets. Fish in huge schools as far as the eye can see, jumping and chasing. Fleeting flash of silver leaving dark mark on the mercurial surface. Huck is still in the poor to average category so David and I shared watches. It was uneventful and eventually Magic wake up to do a radio schedule at 600 am. I, my reader, you will be pleased to hear, spent most of the night labelling the photos, now you wont be forced to read this missive to discover the whereabouts of the photos. Magic is 60 miles behind us so we may get a day at Port Musgrave where we have been told the Dulcie River offers good fishing opportunities. Always assuming our fisherman pulls through and that we have eaten all the prawns. Messing About in Earnest by Nick Burningham is my current literary project and is to be applauded as a history of the Swan River. A most unlikely subject one is thinking, and it would be so, if not the his droll sense of the ridiculous and a ready willingness to comment the the ability or not, of some of our founders both past and present. I commend it to you as a good read. As I write we are 60 nm (nautical miles) from our waypoint (point we want to go to) ETA. (Estimated Time of Arrival) is 9 and half hours making it about 8.00am tomorrow. We finally have breeze behind us but only 6 knots, so still have our trusty Volvo ticking and knocking along. There has been a good SW breeze during the night. So we sailed for 6 hours. Dawn find us 20 nm from Port Musgrave. Its an impressive sounding name but I think its just some old explorers fanciful notion. It is at the confluence of the Wenlock and Dulcie Rivers and is about 70nm south of the tip of Cape York. Magic is 83nm behind us so we probably have until tomorrow night to get to Seisia.
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| Anchorage up river Port Musgrave. |
Wednesday 20th October.
Huck was fit enough to do a couple of hours in the night so we are all quite well rested Our HF Radio is playing up. We know it is not properly on the channel but most people we talk to don’t. We will have a talk to Dan about it. Its 11.00am and we have just entered port Musgrave. We are immediately aware that we are not alone. Vehicles on the beach White fellas fishing. The country is low and well covered with patches of quite thick tall trees. It transpires that this is the Mapoon Aboriginal Community. They provide camping facilities for tourists but you have to get a permit. As we travel inland the heat intensifies and the settlement sits silent and still in a shimmering haze. The inevitable BBQ on a massive scale, is smoking up the whole sky. This is a very large and impressive harbour. We proceed upriver passing a large creek on our left in which a commercial charter fishing operator is moored. There are several dingy’s fishing nearby Passing the Wenlock River on our right, and now the white beaches and houses are receding. Three hours later we have the anchor down in plenty of water adjacent to he confluence of 2 large creeks on the left bank. The Dulcie river shows no tendency to subjugation. She still meanders inland and out of sight and still at least a mile wide and with plenty of depth. Good spot for the Wombat. The heat is suffocating this afternoon and attempts to have an afternoon siesta are successful for some. Its 4.30pm the dingy is launched and a fishing trip up the creek is commenced. Bird life is impressive, vociferous and remarkably melodic. The mangroves must be “erectus maximus” because they're are by far the most impressive we have seen. Very tall, about 70 to 80 feet. Taller than our mast, and very straight. They stand close packed on tall root buttress’s. There appear to be only a few species here however. Unlike the Kimberley, where the diversity is obvious. The fishing hasn’t been successful but if you keep office hours you don’t catch fish. We don’t care much because we still have prawns. It certainly looks very fishy here and the true piscepalean would no doubt be in raptures.
Thursday 21st October.
We are at anchor at 11.58.6S 142 04.2E The tide when out reveals extensive mud banks but there is a 2.7m tide so we are fine. Fishing trip planned for this mornings low tide. Got derailed by slumber bugs. Several hours too late however it did get underway. Unsuccessful again. Oh well. Time to go. Magic is off up the coast and threatening to beat us to Seisa. Motoring back down the river and out to sea again the promising 17knot westerly has turned North so its on the nose and dropping. The ever ready Volvo is to the rescue again.
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| Magic arriving at Seisia |
Friday 22nd October
Dawn reveals Thursday island standing quite high, screened by the smoke. There are plenty of fish and we have caught and released 3 small mackerel. One was taken on the way in, as we watched, by a larger mackerel Most interesting. He followed us closely for several hundred meters before striking. We ended up with the head. Good crab bait. The immediate coast line is low but its possible to make out quite steep higher country inland This area is steeped in history. Kennedy's expedition. The Jardine Settlement at Somerset with his murderous approach to negotiation with the traditional owners, the notoriously blood thirsty and canabalistic decedents of Papua New Guinean indigenous, who are still very much resident and in fact land owners of most of the tip of Cape York and much of Northern Queensland. Magic is our advance party and will spear head our arrival. I am eaten alive by sandflies again. Courtesy of our little adventure in the late evening in the dingy. Looks like we make the anchorage at Seisa first. Magic anchored south so had to change position. What a nice place this is. Theres a big Thursday Island Ferry on the jetty. Plenty of people about fishing. About 50 tinies tied up on the beach. We are going shore to get fuel and water. This we achieved with minimum fuss and very friendly locals. There is a substantial camping ground, a fairly new BP, two super markets, and its about 7km to Bamaga which is the centre for this area. Injunu is an Aboriginal community of Mapoon people. When the Bauxite mine at Weipa needed to expand in the 60s a contingent of armed police marched the aboriginal traditional owners at gunpoint, off into trucks and bought them to the Tip to settle in Injunu. They then torched all their buildings including the church. In 2001 the Queensland government apologised and has acknowledged their native title on the Weipa lands. They are to be consulted about there future mining in the area. Seisia is clean and tidy and friendly, a good spot for a stopover. A charity night at the fishing club right on the beach is a welcome social occasion. Taipan and Magic all in attendance, enthusiastically supporting the raffle and the best hamburgers for just $3.50 so we enthusiastically ate those for fundraising too. An 8 year old boy requiring cardiac surgery is to be the recipient of the money raised. The locals were very friendly again.
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| Aground for good in Seisia |
Saturday 23rd October.
Set sail early, headed for Possession Island, just a short sail, so we can stop early to allow Huck to have a look at the Magic engine. They are overheating in the higher rev range. It is revealed that they have muck blocking their heat exchange but Huck thinks they may also have a suspect head gasket. There are bubbles in the filler tank. We are going ashore. its a pleasant spot. Theres a pearl farm on an adjacent island. This area was noted for pearl and many Japanese divers were lost from dive sickness and in storms and cyclones. The beach is pocked with pig tracks and there is plenty of evidence of their presence in the adjacent scrubland. The beach is littered with rubbish and thongs. Back aboard, Magic join us for dinner. Too much to eat and drink again.
An early start. Shake of the morning after effects and into a very pleasant breeze. Its very overcast and we have had a couple of light showers. What is magic doing? They are coming back towards us. Magic motor is pumping water into the boat. Huck is rapidly deployed in our dingy to see if he can identify the problem. Lanching the dingy off the davits whilst underway isn’t too difficult in these fairly flat conditions. Sailing round in circles for awhile then Huck is back. It seems a clamp had let go on the heat exchanger so it filled their fresh water cooling system with salt then overflowed into the boat!! “Hungry Dog”, a power boat nearby offered to stand off in case we needed assistance but Huck had it rectified. Albeit temporarily, and after only a relatively short delay we are off again. The Albany Passage is our route to destination Escape River. It is important to time the current / tide here. If you get it wrong there can be 5 knots of current against you. Magic wont want to do that again. We are in the passage.
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| Photoshop of Magic and Taipan in Albany passage. |
“Somerset” the home of Jardine is in ruins on the hillside overlooking the passage. Some huge silver service dinners were held here in times gone by as Captains and various important dignitaries enjoyed Jardines hospitality enroute to England or Sydney and various other destinations.
Quote from Wikipedia.
“In 1864 Jardine, with his younger brother Alexander William Jardine, travelled 1200 miles from Rockhampton to Somerset on the Cape York Peninsula, at the time his father John's cattle station. They started with 42 horses and 250 head of cattle. The trip took 10 months during which time the party was constantly opposed by the area's inhabitants as they forced their way through scrub and swamps and crossed at least six large rivers, including the Jardine River which was subsequently named after him. They reached Somerset on 2 March 1865 with 12 horses and 50 cattle. Jardine's men survived, in poor health; they left a trail of dead Aborigines, dead horses and cattle and all their equipment[1] Jardine claimed to have personally killed 47 people, with a total death toll for the trip of over 200. Both brothers were elected Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society and received the Murchison Award. In 1866 Frank settled on a station near Somerset and was appointed police magistrate in 1868. He died in 1919 of leprosy and is buried at Somerset with his Samoan Princess bride Sana Solia.”
Little remains bar a few footings, some exotic plantings and the inevitable graveyard. Unfortunately on this occasion we will not stop as the spring tides make anchoring in the narrow channel impossible. The anchorage is not good holding. (It would be a good idea to do a guided tour from Seisia for a day by vehicle and see all the sights.)
Escape River is just south of Turtle Head Island. Its been a hard slog to windward. Magics not far behind as we cross the fairly shallow bar. Its low tide and the many banks and shoals are revealed.The pearl farm on the right bank Japanese owned, and has had a paint job since our last visit. Pink! We are in the process of lowering sails when two very fast naval style runabouts emerge from seaward. Dispatched from a large Queensland fisheries vessel. There are police, customs, quarantine and fisheries inspectors aboard Ten blokes in all! This is the remote north tip of Queensland? Wrong. As we progress upstream theres a call from “Excalibar”, motor cruiser, to alert us to a rock bar at 10 58.64N 142 40.00E And warning us to keep to port bank as this rock bar is uncharted and has put a number of yachts aground. Thanks. The inspectors visit and want our Registration No. flares, jackets EPIRB etc. Magic told them to get lost and they did!! Drop anchor just past a big fork. Wind still blowing and its nice to be in shelter.
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| Customs and Quaranteen |
Monday 25th October.
Caught in Escape River by strong SE wind. The forecast shows a couple more days. Huck fishing early. Crab pots set. There are 7 boats here now. All power except Magic and Taipan. Excaliber, Freeway and Thirsty Dog. Huck has a Trevally. Just enough for a meal but we may be able to turn the head into crabs. The Escape River is a very large and convoluted delta. It was the river which caused the demise of kenedy’s expedition. Kenedy was attacked and killed by aboriginal here. There are numerous small creeks and he was lost. Could be pretty fishy we hope. An oyster gathering journey is planned. I’m cutting up some old charts to play with. Oysters galore but the price is high. Wade through knee deep grey slime infested with sand flies. They are extremely well camouflaged an muddy rocks so it takes quite awhile to get 5 dozen. Magic is having a pizza night.
Tuesday 26th October.
Dawn very windy, overcast and raining on and off. The sea must be pretty rough as there are 11 boats in here now. Including a trawler. Trawlers gone at night fall but another big monohull has arrived. Movie might tonight. “Captain and Commander” showing on Taipan. All the sound effects too.
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| Pearl Farm Escape River |
Wednesday 27th October
Still in Escape River. Wind and some rain.
Thursday 28th October
We are leaving Escape River. The forecast is not great. We are returning to Escape River. The sea and wind are YUK.
Friday 29th October
We are leaving Escape River again, You can see why its called Escape River! Our destination is Shellbourn Bay about 70 miles south. After much tacking etc we are finally here at Shellbourn Bay. Unprepossessing place. Wind blowing like the west coast only warmer. Some very large sand hills amongst the granite and bauxite hills here. Quite protected from the SE though.
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| Forbes island. |
Destination Forbes Island This island is protected by reef and can only be approached from the North. The island is quite high and wooded on the east but appears to have been grazed on the west and is thus denuded. Only grasses remain. There are some old fences and a well in the valley. The water is pretty stagnant A tombstone on the beach marks the passing of some fellow who had lived on the island. Some foundations of a dwelling also can be seen. Forbes is now a National Park and is appropriately bedecked with every type of sign and poster admonishing the visitor to beware of all manner of dangers and the thereat of extorting large fines for infringements of any description. The view from the hill top out over the surrounding reef and islands is reportedly very good.
Sunday 31st October
Its Dads birthday so a call home is in order. We are having the day here to try our the Power Dive. A two person dive hookah. After extensive unravelling of hoses and recharging the battery we are off ashore to snorkel. It will take some practice to assemble the gear and its quite noisy because the bubbles seem to go right past your ears. With correct weights it should be great fun diving up to 6 meters together. It will be very good for boat maintenance. The coral formations are disappointing. not much colour and very few fish.The visibility is only average. Hucks not well again. Magic is having electrical problems. BBQ not he beach. Altogether a pleasant stop over.
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| Taipan Forbes to Leichardt |
Monday 1st November.
Depart Forbes Island and head for Leichhardt River. Theres a community here but its not accessible by sea which is disappointing as there is reputedly an active and interesting Art Group working in quite diverse media. The track out is interesting, with uncharted bommies to keep a lookout for. We just miss one and try to alert Magic, following, but they must be asleep or something. No radio answer and they don’t even see our smoke flare! Wind is very strong today. Up to 30 knots and on the nose of course. Our fuel is getting low so we cant motor sail. Coastal ranges appear. They are quite high and march away into the distance in soft blues and greens. There is quite a lot of haze about so visibility is limited. A barge is anchored at our preferred anchorage and they are willing to sell us diesel. Providence. Bonus! And they can top up our water tanks. Excellent. Dropped anchor just east of the mouth of the Leichhardt River. (The fuel had an extra water component too!)
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| Flinders Group and Trawler |
Tuesday 2nd November.
Melbourne Cup Day. Up early and off towards Night island, about 4.5nm south. Magic decided to get fuel from the barge this morning but when we awoke when at 500am the barge had vanished. Never let a chance go by. We are about an our out and Magic still hasn’t moved. Maybe their engine wont go? Plenty of wind so they can sail. Night island is a small low and very wooded sand island. As we approach we can hear a babble of bird calls. David and Huck head in in the dingy to decant gas. We carry a 9lb bottle which we use as spare, but it wont fit into the gas locker. There are crocs here, tracks all around the island. Some quite large. Magic has arrived. They had anchor winch trouble. Melbourne Cup dinner aboard Taipan, complete with hats. Squadrons of about 20 Torres Trait Pigeons in tight formation storm the island form the mainland on dusk. They fly in very fast and very low. Apparently the used to be hunted here by men with lights and sticks. Yes the fishing is that bad. We caught a huge barracuda today and put it back they’re really smelly and full of worms!
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| Lizzard Island from Cooks Look |
Wednesday November 3rd.
Night Island to Flinders Group. Its a long run. Approximately 100nm so we are up and off at 500am. The Volvo is getting work out today. We have wind but its on the nose again. The course takes us through the complicated channel and shipping lanes of the Great Barrier Reef. Islands dotted about with just the odd palm tree. The coastal mountain’s outline just visible through the haze. There many trawlers anchored up and sleeping anywhere theres a bit of shelter. The trawlers here are much smaller than their Gulf brothers. We attempt to get into a bit of shelter in Owen Channel at the Flinders Group where couple of cats are parked but frantic call form one of them warns us that its very shallow and only a narrow channel in. The chart must be wrong again … or maybe they wanted the place to themselves. So we are anchored on the North side by Stanley Island. Its reasonably calm but still blowing 20+ knots. The islands which form the Flinders Group are rather high and rocky. Structures not unlike the Kimberley although lacking the colour and scale. On a nice day it would probably be very pretty around here. Fishing is quite good on the anchorage. One small cod and a Spanish Flag we throw back. A lot of bites and bait taken and eventually we land a reluctant little black tip reef shark Yum.
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| Taipan and Battle Flag |
Thursday 4th Novemberr.
Dawn and we weigh anchor and skedaddle for Lizzard island. 50nm South East. We have to go east to start around Cape Melville. The coastal ranges are now very high and as we near the cape they reveal themselves through the haze. Lizard Island is quite large island with a prominent high mountain Cooks Look. There is a very pleasant and secure anchorage on the NW side with plenty of depth in quite close to the shore. White sandy beach treed with casuarinas. The reef between the anchorage Watsons Bay and the Resort is a popular dive site and there is a high density of giant clams. Its dubbed the Clam Garden. Watsons Bay is named for the remnants of the small cottage on the beach once those of MR and Mrs Watson who enterprisingly believed they could make living collection beech su mere and processing for the Asian market. However the indigenous owners of the island had other ideas and one day visited the island while Mr Watson was away. Mrs Watson, baby and Chinese cook escaped in one of the big boiler pots to sea however they all perished and the bodies were later discovered on another island..
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| Lizard Island Grocery Delivery. |
Friday 5th November.
It was late anchorage last night. 9,30 arrival and its a sluggish crew this morning. Spectacularly clear water here. Pull the pick and make our way closer to the beach. There are some very large fishing and charter palatial water bourn conveyances parked here. Some with large fly bridge cruisers and marlin decks rafter alongside. These go off fishing early each day and return at sunset. Into the dingy and off to snorkel at the little bay east. Coral not fantastic but there are many wrass mooching about. Extravagant colour schemes these fish have. Emerald green with intricate patterns shot through in pink or orange. Pale blue and gold. Back to the resort beach for a look at the Marlin Bar. Its only open for drinks a couple of nights a week. There is a rubbish collection site and water available.
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| Taipan, Magic, Bora Scura, Winston. Lizard Island. |
Saturday 6th Novemberr.
We are heading out to Jewel reef for a dive. Its perfect weather There are already 5 boats anchored there. Caught a mackerel coming across. Its about 10 miles. Dropped the pick in 15 meters of water and into the dingy and off 100m to the reef. Its mostly a big sand cay with extensive areas of coral scattered over it. The water here is very very clear. Splendid colour and lots of pretty coral. Clouds of coloured fish. As we leave to return to Lizzard the other boats weigh anchor and we are off and racing. Taipan wins of course. We must have the biggest motor!! (Catchus, Slawane, Skinny Legs, Bora Scara, Mareva, Duality, Quoll 11 New Moon, Zarana, are tris or cats parked. at Lizard) Catchus is a large catamaran and they came closest to catching us! 4 fish got off on the way back. Magic has finally arrived at Lizard so there is to be a reunion dinner and a farewell to Huck.
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| Melbourne Cup dinner. |
Sunday 7th Novemberr
Plenty lazy day, Huck packing. David recovering. Cleaning and stowing. Hucks flight out is at 3.30pm so we all walk up to the air field and wave him off. What a great crew Huck is. We will miss his sunny smile and great fish!!
Sundowners on the little island in front of the resort. There’re thousands of birds roosting here each night and at sunset you are rewarded with squadrons of different birds arriving and fussing about. The bridled tern are the prettiest in flight with long graceful V shaped tails. White pigeons with a black band on their tails are from Torres Straits and there are numerous other species I don't know. Must buy a bird book.
The resort here doesn’t welcome yachts although while we went to the little shop, Chris and Daun drank at the cocktail bar!! They don’t serve meals to anyone other than house guests as its all included in the tariff. Even the multi millionaire on their floating bordellos cant get a meal at the resort. They have their own chefs anyway. Dinner at Morris on Lizard was superb anyway. Thai lime salad with grilled mackerel topped with whole marinated and BBQ’d Tiger Prawns.
Monday 8th November.
The Lizard Island research station does tours at 11.00 am so we pick up Magic crew and motor off around the island to the Research Centre. The station has been operating since the 70s. It was established by some American philanthropist and the Australian Museum. It runs on donations and provides facilities for researchers from all over the world to study reef environment and species The tour is conducted by Ruth, who together with husband, has been here 16 years. She is very informative and altogether the tour was well worthwhile. Lunched on the verandah then off to snorkel at Horseshoe Reef This small area of reef just offshore form the station has been tended by the staff for six hears now They destroy any Crown of Thorns star fish thy find here. The fish are quite shy but plentiful. Coral is really lovely and its easy to while way a couple of hours in the warm clear water just hovering above the verdant gardens. Still things to do however. Back to Taipan. Prepare some things for dinner and then off the climb Cooks Look. Well its rated “extremely difficult” and it is! 359 meters in scorching heat. No gentle introduction, just straight up. Nearly killed me by the time I was only 1 hour up. Finally I struggled to about 2/3 of the way up. Christo and Daun. low spirited wasters, make a spectacle of themselves going all the way up to the top!! The last part was the easy bit!! We get off the mountain just in time. Its dark I cant describe the view. I was too stuffed to notice.
Tuesday 9th November
We are having a day out aboard Magic. We are going to the renowned Cod Hole, a dive site, approximately 12 nm south east of Lizard on the outer reef. The coral spawning which only happens once a year is due at the end of the month a few day after the full moon. It is the big event for the Research people and apparently the Cod Hole is the place to see it. We wont be here. At about 900 pm in the pitch dark all the coral release eggs and sperm into the ocean. The fish sleep. Spawning is timed to maximise the opportunity for the fertilisation of coral polyps. It is a phonon-omen which was only discovered in the 80s. Which goes to show how little is known about the reef. We have an amazing film of this which we purchased from the research centre. Our dive at the Cod Hole is nevertheless still very spectacular. The water is REALLY clear here. Lots and lots of larger fish hanging in curtains. Spotted and golden waving slowly in the currents. Woven with other coloured pink and blue dotted, spotted and striped, long and short drifting effortlessly above and below. Whiled away several hours in a trance. Even the sharks aren't of any concern. Eventually we must head back. Magic is very comfortable but not very quick so we sailed back at about 4 knots A really memorable day.
Wednesday 10th November.
Off to Cooktown. Very pleasant sail Arriving about 430pm. Uptown for a walk and dinner the RSL
We are going out to visit the Great Emu Cave with Barr from Barts Bush Adventures. Great country, fat cattle, lush pasture, glossy horses. Wouldn’t mind a ride. the art in the caves is not particularly impressive but Willie Gordon the Guide is enthusiastic and credible in his presentation. We were the only two people so it was a great tour. About 3 hours. We took a drive up Grassy hill overlooking Cooktown The Endeavour River and Reef. Bart drives. Fabulous views. Cooktown is getting fairly e expensive now with real-estate up to 1/2 million overlooking the sea. There is quite extensive plantation mango, pawpaw and passionfruit here
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| Rainbow Serpent. Left |
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| Teacher with hat. |
Big walk in the hot sun The build up is on The locals are complaining about the heat. muggy. The walk up town to the old Convent which now houses the Cooktown Museum is not too strenuous and passes a few interesting old Queenslanders and massive mango trees laden with fruit. We think we will do a midnight raid. The convent is an attractive old building with a very interesting addition to the rear housing an anchor and canon recovered in the mud off the Endeavour. Cooktown had a gold rush and here were 93 pubs and 30,000 people here durning the height of height of the rush. The small museum was excellent. A botanic garden was established around 1886 but it was forgotten for nearly 100 years. It was rediscovered during he 80s when some land was being cleared fro housing. Its now being restored and many old trees have been recovered and now flourish here. The walk to the botanic garden though has earned us a taxi ride back to town. Shopping for provisions then back to Taipan.
Saturday 13th November
Market day in Cooktown. Sandflies lay in wait for me. The Lions Park next to the Bowling Club is the venue for this weekly event. Large packs of hungry blood sucking licking invisible insects. The stall holders could do thriving business selling sand fly repellent. I I am driven off fairly quickly but David stays on to sample the wares. Purchased a nice bone carving of a Taipan to hang around his neck. Looks like a real yachtie now! Meanwhile I am doing breakfast at the little cafe overlooking the wharf. The locals hand feed huge mullet here for entertainment and the food is good. Set sail for Cairns about 11.00am. Must come back to Cooktown. July would be good. A big festival at Laura. Giant Horse Gallery and Split Rock Gallery would be interesting too. We are wending our way peacefully in soft breeze towards Hope Island. We are quite close to the coast. The island is tiny, barely a hectare. Quite heavily treed. Now we are into rainforest country. There are millions of pigeons roosting here but they obviously don’t eat pawpaw so we help ourselves to a few wild ones. pleasant evening for drinks ashore with crews from, 6 other boats anchored. Magic, Summer Breeze, Graeme and Marie. Winston, Sylvie and Dennis and dog. Reggae, Nickie and Luke and baby daughter Evie off Skiny legs. Don from Ceta Others didn’t come. Diets have started again Diet food aboard Magic
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| Inside out house in Cook Town |
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| Soverign Hotel |
Sunday 14th November
Leave Hope Island around 9am and weave a path back out through reef and bommies. Spectacular day. Gentle NE! It cant last! Making our way to the coast to travel south as close as possible to the lush rainforest, stunning little white beaches and a backdrop of high mountains thrown over with a blanket of green forrest. There are some bright red flowering somethings scattered throughout the hills. Bloomfield River and drop anchor to dingy in for a look. Disappointing! The forrest looks lovely but there is a lot of rubbish about. There is community here and apparently a few whites have places too. The bays and forrest gets better as we head south towards Low Isles just off the Daintree River, Cape Tribulation looks interesting so we drop anchor and go ashore. Rainforest right to the beach. Take a walk over the hill to Trinity Beach to watch the sunset. Drinks ashore. There is a backpackers somewhere in the forrest. Bitumen road in and a couple of dive boats doing reef trips out of here. Not exactly remote North Queensland.
Monday 15th November.
Cray fish season opens. We are 46nm from Yorkey’s Nob where we have a marina berth booked from tonight for 1 week After a restless nigh rolling in the swell we pick up the anchor and head south. This is a very beautiful coast so we are staying in close again passed Thornton there looks to be a reasonable SE shelter in Alexander Bay. Catch a Mackerel and let it go again. 9.30am and we drop anchor at the mouth of the Daintree River . A quick look. Not terribly inspiring.
Cairns
Tuesday November 30th
Farewell Cairns. Its a very pleasant stopover. Longer than planned due to inclement sailing weather. Started at Yorkey’s Nob. One week. Very good food at the yacht club. Moved to Marlin Marina in Cairns Central district. Very nice also, but food pretty patchy. Rained a lot which kept the temperatures in the mid 20s. So, very pleasant. We took a tour up the mountains to Kuranda on the Skyrail cable car and over the rainforest. What a trip. Stunning! Kuranda is a pretty picture post card type of place. Great markets and very good galleries
The trip back on the railway was also quite stunning The Daintree was disappointing. Its so built up. Lots of blocks hidden in the forrest detract from the general feeling of wilderness the brochures try to convey. One probably has to walk into the forrest a few miles to really appreciate the World Heritage listing of the “wilderness”.
Anyway the Magics farewelled us last night and so this morning we are not well. Late getting away. Trina is waiting for us at Dunk island about 60 miles south. The wind is on the nose so wet tac tac tac. Eventually, 80 miles later and still 26 miles north of Dunk Island we abandon our attempts and ghost into Mourilian Harbour in the dark. Volvo saboteurs are at work and we stop, just inside the harbour, no wind. Drop the dingy and push the boat around to the anchorage with the dingy. Janet and Peter Patrice, friends of Trina’s all turned up with beautiful prawn curry and a pleasant night had by all. Mourilian has big sugar loading facilities and is owned by CSR The entrance is 200m wide and passes between steep rain-forested hills and is not visible until you are nearly inside. Its very sheltered once inside and there is plenty of depth in the entrance. No shops or any other facilities here at all. Innisfail is about 15km north. Peter and Janet have house in Innisfail.
The trip back on the railway was also quite stunning The Daintree was disappointing. Its so built up. Lots of blocks hidden in the forrest detract from the general feeling of wilderness the brochures try to convey. One probably has to walk into the forrest a few miles to really appreciate the World Heritage listing of the “wilderness”.
Anyway the Magics farewelled us last night and so this morning we are not well. Late getting away. Trina is waiting for us at Dunk island about 60 miles south. The wind is on the nose so wet tac tac tac. Eventually, 80 miles later and still 26 miles north of Dunk Island we abandon our attempts and ghost into Mourilian Harbour in the dark. Volvo saboteurs are at work and we stop, just inside the harbour, no wind. Drop the dingy and push the boat around to the anchorage with the dingy. Janet and Peter Patrice, friends of Trina’s all turned up with beautiful prawn curry and a pleasant night had by all. Mourilian has big sugar loading facilities and is owned by CSR The entrance is 200m wide and passes between steep rain-forested hills and is not visible until you are nearly inside. Its very sheltered once inside and there is plenty of depth in the entrance. No shops or any other facilities here at all. Innisfail is about 15km north. Peter and Janet have house in Innisfail.
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| Katrina settled in. |
Wednesday December 1st.
Stunning morning low could hanging in broken curtains over luscious rain forrest with the Morton river lying like a plate of class mirroring the beauty. Little bit of filter changing and cursing the fuel barge at Lockhart River. Water and dirty fuel. We are now on our way again. Fair winds and following seas. Trina thinks we’ve put sedatives in the water and said so as she goes down for more sleep. A barracuda manifests itself in a tussle and we let it go after retrieving our lure. Yesterday we landed nice size tuna. They are excellent sashimi, soup and patties. Better than no fish at all anyway. OK grilled after a good soak in teriafk sauce. Dunk Island looms on the horizon looking very inviting in the afternoon light. Ashore and a long walk looking for the legendary Artist Colony which we had heard as been sold for 1.2M with 13 acres freehold. Not bad. Couldn’t find any artists so we adjourn to the bar at the resort. Wedding preparations are underway but we wont know any of the guests. Oh well, more adjourning to the beach side cafe for more beer. Its hot and we’ve just walked miles Hot, happy and tired we make our way back to Taipan for dinner. Tuna!
Thursday December 2nd
Dawn and the z’s are rising from the open hatches Eventually we are on our way again Destination Hinchinbrook Channel No wind. Mirror surface broken only by us and the occasional dolphin Hinchinbrook Island is roughly 630sq km of National Park Mountainous. 1140m high. Crocodiles in the channel and lovely beaches on the eastern side. The forecast in not looking to good for the next few days though so we wont stop. Keep heading for Whitsunday Magnetic Island off Townsville is the stop for the night 930pm anchor drops.
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| Whitsundays |
Friday 3rd December
Out of Magnetic its 400 am. Sleeping pills in the water working for Trina though. Magic is 80nm ahead of us this morning. Destination the Whitsunday Islands Probably Nara Inlet. Uneventful downhill run. Couple of fish. Barracuda ugh! Ghosting silently into Nara Inlet about 1.00am. Magic at anchor.
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| Manta Bay |
Saturday 4th December.
Magic is coming to take us all walking to he aboriginal cave. I’m going to do a side step and take a dive over the side instead. The cave looks like a fake to me. Farewell to Magic again! They are off to Sydney like a rat out of an aqueduct! We will follow at a more leisurely pace when Katrina leaves us. Off to Hamilton Island for the night.
Sunday December 5th
Delicious seafood smorgasbord at the Resort Restaurant last night. Night Club. No prospects. hamlet Island has changed hands The development is amazing $$$’s housing and units all over the Island now. Shopping has doubled in priced and over night in the marina is double too. Same price as Albany. Had our fill fo superb. Even hired a buggy and did a run around the island. Very picturesque. Off off off Syds Harbour, about 1 hour north tonights anchorage. Steep high islands clothed in gums and cypress pine. misty rain around but warm and calm.
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| Hook Island |
Monday 6th December
Journey ashore for a walk over the hill to Dugong Bay. I think the dugongs are long gone but there are plenty of turtles. Pleasant walking trail with a lot of resident monitor lizards up to 4ft long, to break the boredom. Yikes, swimming at Dugong Bay a welcome relief from the heat. Oyster catching next. David and Trina are off hunter gathering. We’ve been told we “are 200 years too late for oysters mate” but undeterred David, the tenacious oyster eater, is gone. One hour later they’re back with about 10 dozen, and big smiles. They’re not so large but I’m sure they’ll be pretty tasty. Afternoon sail north to Butterfly Bay past Hayman Island Resort, Superb afternoon, gentle breeze, flat sea, and sunny. Perfect. Butterfly bay is full. Darn! Back to Woodcutters Bay. Breeze beaut to air us out. Oysters for canapés. DELICIOUS. Dinner. Try this. Roasted large thin slices, potato ,capsicum, eggplant, pumpkin, Arrange of a bed of Deb potato mixed with liberal garlic. Place chicken pieces, BBQ’d (Soaked 1/2 hour in lemon juice and tamarind) The sauce. Lime juice, 1 Tsp Palm sugar, fine chopped chilli. Heat and pour over stack. Yum Yum. Its a tough life but someone had got to do it.
Tuesday 7th December.
Birthday eve. We re off to McKay Trina has a nephew here to catch up with. Big rain last night clean boat this morning. Wet book . Buggar
1.5m Swordfish…
The Mackay Marina is pretty impressive and pretty empty We arrived at 700m tie up and get off for dinner ashore. Terry from Endless Spirit loaned us a key to the gate for the night
Thursday 9th December.
Early am call from Magics with harmony Happy Birthday la la la Michelle called. Mum and Dad and so on. Trip the the shops to re-direct the darn mail, Australia post cant cope with yacht mail. Trina is picked up by her nephews wife at 300pm and we are off south again Into the evening we pass through a fleet of 30 or so huge coal ships at anchor
Friday 10th December.
Watches. Sleeping watches etc et Light relief a heavy and huge something… Sword fishy thing is landed on the deck It took some doing too. he weight about 40 or 50 lbs. 10 to 15 kg of meat anyway, Trina wasn’t much of a fish attractor but we’ve got plenty now. Spinaker is up this afternoon 8 knots pleasant sailing. Will go through the night again and hopefully make Frazer Island tomorrow sometime. Just finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Definitely a recommended read Evening draws in spinnaker still up Watch keeping has settled into a routine now Tending be 4 hours with a 6 hour one somewhere during the day to break the monotony Tonight Get the 2am till dawn one. Spinaker down around 900pm Testing process although its not windy its dark somehow we get two halves for the thing into its bag with a shroud in the middle. Sense of humour sorely tested as we pull it our and star again Rolling and pitching around and its as black as the inside of a robbers dog.
Saturday 11th December
My watch. Its still very rolly. Not a lot of wind, and from astern, so defiantly could be worse. No moon but stars ablaze. Theres been a lot of cloud around at night lately so its a pleasant change to have the stars. Fraser Island is our aim for today. Passed Gladstone and Yepoon during the night. Passing Bundaberg round midday. Still good weather. We are safely into Great Sandy Straits and anchored for a welcome nights sleep behind Woody Island. Lights of Maryborough fill the sky to the west.
Sunday 12th December.
2.30am start we have caught up with “Big Buzzard” George and Melissa. Boat designed by Malcome Ranalds who kindly found me some big boat plans for my thesis at UNI. Coincidence. We first came across “Big Buzzard” in Darwin, then again in Cairns. George is American. Anyway they have just “run aground” 3 times in 11m of water! So a quick consultation with the coast guard reveals that the charts are inaccurate. Great! We are following the channel markers now and “Big Buzzard” is in hot pursuit. They draw 3m so we tell them the depths before they run aground. Well were thru the Great Sandy straits for the 3rd time now. Pretty painless. We are off over the Bar and heading south to Coffs Harbour. Bar crossing convoluted but coast guard around here is very good. Across the bar uneventful and weather beautiful. What is that huge black thunder head coming straight for us??? Quick! Down with the sails!!. 2 reefs in the main and furl the headsail !!!Shit )*))%&%$&###@^%^^%!!!! Rain like you've never seen! Wind!! When I finally got a chance to look it was still 50 knots. And thats after the worst. Our main sail is in tatters and our staysail is damaged. Out with the storm jib 20 minuets of serious “I would rather be FAL shopping” kind of weather! Lightening, thunder awful!! So change of plans. Its fine again and seas are flat! Were about 5 hours out of Mooloolaba. Sail Maker has been phoned. 4 hours out of Mooloolabah and another storm building… doesn't look like it will be as bad. Well it cant wreck any more sails anyway. Nothing much in this one. Nerves on edge however. Mooloolaba looks good. Its 9.00pm and we are in and tied up. One end of the jetty a sign reads Visitors Welcome Reasonable Rates. The other end says “tying up on this jetty absolutely prohibited” We choose to ignore that one. Sail makers are coming in the morning.
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| Port Macquarie NSW at dawn |
Monday 13th December
6.00am Phone ringing its the sail makers. They be here at 8am. 9.30am sail makers have arrived and prognosis is not good There is no cure for the old C88. It seems she’s rotten to the core. We can however salvage her hardware and use it to build a new one. There goes the water maker. Rain and storms all around. Its hot and very muggy.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
We finally have a sail we can use while Gary Saxby from Halsey Lidguard in Brisbane builds us a new one. We will have to sail on to Sydney with the temporary sail. Its new but built for a furling boom system so has no reef points which means when the weather gets heavy we cant short sail. We can only drop it totally. Not great.
Friday 17th December
Its time to go, the South Easterlies have come and gone through and its NE for the next 3 days. Rob from “True Blue” who we sailed with quite often on the leg from Darwin to Perth after the Splash, has just called by for a howdy doody, and its great to catch up. We were supposed to go to Tasmania together this summer but something like work has come up for he and Sally. 400pm are we are finally saying farewell to Mooloolaba. Its just south of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast if you are looking for it. Dest.ination Coffs Harbour Night sail, very fast, following seas, and 9 knots, sail looking good Drowsey.. sleepy its pretty rolly.
Saturday 18th December
The sea has built up wind backing to south, Just where we need to go to. Ugly. One consolation. While we were i Mooloolaba we did a lot of work on Taipan leaks. The front hatch has always leaked. Well we took it completely apart and re-bedded and sealed the whole caboodle. No leaks It was amazingly simple too. Anyway its 27 knots now so we have to pull the sail down. Back to 4kn and destination, Yamba - Iluka. 60nm short of Coffs Harbour. Huge dolphin in this country. Into Yamba fine. Could be tricky in SE strong weather. Keep close to the northerly groyne. But beware very lee shore if rough Lovely once inside. There is a very sheltered walled anchorage inside on the north. Quiet and peaceful. A large trawler fleet here and seem very friendly.
Sunday 19th December.
Dawn. 5.30am Off we go again. Well not quite. Why are we the only boat facing east and all the others are facing North?? And thats a strange motion. None! Yes we are aground! The tide is going out. Start up, pull anchor aline tight, pull up sail. Being side on to the wind causes the boat to lean over and lift the keel a few inches, all thats needed, and we are away free. Phew lucky it wasn’t the Kimberly tides. I swear you can see the water go down there. Its like pulling the plug in the bath. Anyway just a slight hic-up. Motor out confident in the fact that there is the promised northerly blowing. Seas flat except for the Pacific swell. Wind behind. Destination Coffs Harbour. 54nm south / SW. Well we are 5nm north of Coffs. Its 2pm, and the promised thunder storms are building. We, along with 4 other yachts, are racing for the haven that is Coffs Harbour. Big sail down, and big iron spinnaker going at 2000 rpm. Caught a small bonito earlier .It will make great bouillabaisse with a loaf of home made bread. Wind is blowing hard but were finally parked on a too small jetty, in a too full marina, and pretty pleased to be here.
Monday 20th December
Wind still howling. Going nowhere. Patrick is arriving to sail down to Sydney with us.
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| Patrick ye ol. crew mate! |
Tuesday 21st December
Weather improving. Were out of here. Its 4pm fuelled up provisioned and fed. Sloppy sea. Wind on the nose but not much. Were all feeling crap. La- la- la- destination Port Stevens.
Its late evening. The galley was closed due to a lack of interest. Miso soup and hard boiled eggs are it. Fabulous stars and the moon is about 3/4 so quite good company on watch. Patrick is being a low spirited waster and hasn’t done any watches. Mal du mere. Much yawning and sleeping!! We have caught and passed 2 yachts one is Tequila Wayne and Mary. Port Stephens and Tequila has pipped us in, taking all the short cuts. We will follow them into the anchorage outside the big marina here. Coast Patrol along he east coast seems very vigilant and most stations in NSW are 24hr. They will happily supply weather details on request.
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| Taquila alongside in shitty sea. |
Wednesday December 23rd
Simon and Kerry are flying in today. Jo is picking them up from the airport. WE will probably make it to Pittwater with luck. Its 70nm so a big day. We are out of Port Stevens by 600 am. Its sloppy and golly although we done feel so yuk today. A low curtain of grey cloud deadens the colour and its cold. Sydney. Its 900 pm and were through the heads having successfully dodged another thunderstorm right outside the entrance Well we’ve arrived. Tired and a little sickly. Drop the pick in Rosebay and ferry poor Patrick ashore. I think he’d forgotten about sailing in swells he is swooped up by his relieved beloved and whisked away for a wash and a massage. I don’t think he feels much like dinner. Simon and Kerry are also ashore to meet us and much relieved that they are staying the night with Jo too.
Thats the return trip to Sydney for Taipan. Done and Dusted!!
Thats the return trip to Sydney for Taipan. Done and Dusted!!
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