Back to Mooloolaba

On leaving Brisbane and the warm hospitality of Michael and Sue O’Sullivan, Mike and I returned to Melbourne and Geelong. I was feeling a bit fragile after leaving hospital and needed to touch base with family and friends (and my GP). We spent 10 days down South and what a busy 10 days it was!! (no time for recuperation!!) In that time we put the house on the market and went to see our yacht broker friend Graham about selling Meander for us. No we are not giving up life on the ocean waves but plan to buy a bigger boat which is to become our home for the foreseeable future.

Our friends Cathy and John organized a wonderful wedding party for us which was a lot of fun. We also had a brief visit from Ptolemy (Mike’s middle stepson) which was a lovely surprise. My daughter Sara was in Melbourne for a conference. Because she lives so far away I don’t get to see her nearly as often as I would like, so having her in Victoria was an added bonus.

I was also able to spend time with my beautiful Indira (and her equally beautiful Mum and Dad), as Mike and I stayed over with them a few times. I saw my new great nephew Cody for the first time too, so all in all it was a short but rewarding trip home.

Our friend Andrew had kindly offered to help us sail the boat back to Mooloolaba (where we had already planned to spend the cyclone season), and we were delighted to take up his offer. We met up with him in Brisbane, and flew together to Rockhampton, and then bussed it to Yeppoon

We set sail south bound early on Wednesday, quite delighted at the proposed ENE winds which were forecast for the next few days. By Saturday, however, we had been at sea for 4 days and there had not been a northerly in sight!!

We decided to make the first leg of the trip an overnighter, taking us from Yeppoon to Pancake Creek (just south of Gladstone), a run of 71 nautical miles. What a trip that was!! Andrew and I were a bit off colour (well a lot off colour if we are going to be truthful) as we punched into SE wind and 2meter seas for most of the 16 hours it took to reach Pancake Creek. (Mike was just fine though, albeit rather cranky that he had to make all his own hot drinks and sandwiches!). We got to our first destination at 0335, and made our way into the creek in almost pitch darkness (no moon). Luckily we had been there on the way up, and Mike remembered enough of the entrance for us to feel our way past the cliffs and drop anchor in calm waters..

The morning after...

After a restful day of recuperation we set off again at midnight on our second leg, which was to Bundaberg. There was still no moon and still no sign of the ENE winds still promised to us by the weather bureau, however. We arrived in much better condition than at our previous destination, as the winds were somewhat lighter and our stomachs somewhat more accustomed to the motion of the waves. What was perhaps more important, was that we had regained our appetites, as our arrival coincided with the free lunchtime BBQ, which is a treat put on by the marina management each Friday for the hoards of hungry yachties staying at the marina!!

Jo

On our approach into Bundaberg we heard on our VHF radio a conversation that kept us entertained for quite some time. The conversation was between a yacht waiting at the Quarantine buoy and the port authority. There were actually two American yachts awaiting quarantine clearance but only one had a transmitting radio so he was relaying messages for the other yacht who could only receive but not transmit. We were very surprised to hear that the owner of the transmitting yacht had just arrived from Vanuatu on his own, and that the boat was only 32 feet. Our surprise was even greater (flabbergasted is probably a more apt description) to learn that the second yacht, despite having two POB (persons on board), was a mere 22ft long, and had no engine whatsoever. Furthermore, it had not merely sailed across from Vanuatu, but had in fact traversed the entire Pacific Ocean by sail alone! So hardy were these two (young) sailors, that they declined all offers of a tow into the marina, bur instead, insisted on sailing into the quarantine berth unaided.

The following day we headed off to Fraser Island, and then to Mooloolaba. This leg of the trip was relatively uneventful. On the upside we discovered that we could motor through the shallowest part of the Sandy Straits only two hours after low tide, and that the Wide Bay Bar was not too bad with one meter waves across it… Once again, the ‘iron genny’ did Trojan service getting us across the ocean: it ran for all except four hours of the leg from Bundaberg to Mooloolaba. So much for lazy sailing under wind alone – I don’t know how those Americans had managed to get so far without one!

Would you
sail around
the world in
this??

So now we are in the Yacht Club Marina at Mooloolaba, safely tied up and rested. [More importantly we are just 2 mins walk from the fantastic beach and 5 mins from the equally fantastic coffe precinct (Jo)]

Yesterday we had a great time cleaning up the boat and taking lots of pictures of the boat for the broker’s internet site. This entailed moving everything out of one cabin while we took pictures, then moving everything into that cabin while we took pictures of the next cabin, and so on. Pretty exhausting work: especially when Jo looks at the pictures and says ‘that cushion was crooked. You’ll have to shoot that again!’ Still, we got there. Graham now has 51 pictures of the boat. That’ll keep him busy – I’ll be interested to see which ones he chooses. (You could see for yourself in a few days’ time. Go to http://www.yarrasedgeyachts.com.au )

What was behind
the camera!

And in case you’re wondering, Jo’s doing just fine. Back to her normal cheerful self. She’s cooking up a storm as I write!

Mike