Te Moana

It’s difficult to express the experience of living on a boat for an extended period and taking it to wherever the mood takes you. A deserted island one day, a convenient marina the next. Which is to say that we’re enjoying ourselves.

Occasionally something doesn’t quite go the way you expect it to (Joy’s phone went bloop in the plonk), but if it doesn’t can any worse than having to buy a new phone, we’re not complaining.

Another aspect of this cruise is that it has also been fun to meet up with other skipr users (and encouraging a few more to join). That’s been clearly worth the effort.

We might even be able to catch up with Mervyn, Joy’s cousin who is just ahead of us on Cool Change , anchored at Goldsmith Island.

Entering Gladstone makes you feel like a big boat. You’re expected to notify Harbour Control of your entry on VHF channel 13. There are a 10 or so bulk carriers waiting outside for a berth and another 10 or so being loaded inside. Not exactly Rotterdam, but lively and industrial looking nevertheless. For us it’s a novelty, we’re here just to stay overnight and as a logical stop.

OK, so the marina is a bit daggy and the town is a little run-down, but the sunrises are spectacular. We enjoy going inland wherever we can. We travelled up the Burnett river only an hour after low tide and at no time saw less than a meter under our (1.2m) keel.

The marina population here consists mainly of live-aboards who are friendly and very helpful. And of course the shops are within easy walking distance.  On our way back North, we hope to visit Maryborough by going up the Mary river.

We've really been enjoying the inland waterways on our way North this year. First Moreton Bay and now the Great Sandy Strait. Of course, Te Moana has an advantage here with its shallow draft. Nevertheless, with a bit of care most yachts can (and do) enjoy this area.

And with a chart plotter, even a dog can find its way.

Yesterday we had a long but easy motor-sailing day from Mooloolaba, leaving at 0400. We crossed Wide Bay bar, which was looking flat and un-threatening (not as much fun as last time) and arrived at Garrys Anchorage behind Fraser Island in late afternoon.

This morning we awoke to a glorious morning. We briefly turned on the radio and breakfast television, but decided that the world was a better place when undisturbed by politics and argy bargy.

We enjoyed traveling North from Southport "behind" Stradbroke Island.

After receiving encouraging reports from others on the "Beyond Barrenjoey" mailing list, we decided to take the Canaipa Passage rather than the Main Passage. We were very pleased with the well marked track, only dropping a touch below 2.0 meters on a couple of occasions. We also received some excellent local advice from VMR Jacobs Well and bypassed the Jumpinpin area by using Whalleys Gutter and Mackenzie Channel. Beacon to Beacon is definitely a must-have here. A screendump from our chart plotter is reproduced below.

We left Southport today and Joy says we’ve really left now :-)

We’re taking our time going “on the inside” of Stradbroke and Moreton Islands and are currently anchored at Short Island, our first stop and expect to get to Mooloolaba on Sunday.

That is six days later than originally planned, but this was never going to be a “planned cruise” in the sense of needing to be anywhere on a certain date.

If you would like to keep up with where we are and what we’re doing, here are a bunch of ways to do so: