8) June to October 2012. Brisbane to the Whitsundays.

2012 ended up being the antithesis of 2011. We continually had storms coming up the coast from the lows that were centred in the Tasman Sea. You would look at the map of Australia and you would see a low over Sydney/Melbourne, one over Adelaide and another over Perth. So they would deliver three to six days of really windy and ugly weather. After this it would die down for two to three days of perfect weather, and this is when we made passage to the next destination and before the next low made it to the east coast of Australia. This weather situation followed us from Sydney and we were not finally free from its grip until we passed the Tropic Of Capricorn.



Leaving Brisbane City.

Finally the day had come to leave Brisbane and the weather forecast was going to be good for at least 4 days, which was plenty of time to get up safely behind Fraser Island. We motored down the Brisbane River and anchored behind Bribie Island for the night. Just on dusk a huge storm hit, with 40 knot winds it turned Moreton Bay into a raging torrent. We were tossed about quite a lot but the anchor held. At 1am the anchor alarm went off. On investigation we weren’t dragging our anchor but it had pulled the anchor chain taut and we were now too near the shore for comfort. With visibility down to one arm’s length, pitch black, wind and rain coming in sideways we would have to move. So here I was lying flat on the bow as the boat pitched and rolled like a bucking bronco. Hanging on for dear life with one hand and pulling up the anchor via the winch, with the other hand. We then motored further away from the shore and reset the anchor. After 10 minutes we were satisfied it was going to hold and went below to get out of our wet clothes and warm up. During the night we took turns every two hours to watch the GPS position and the anchor chain (anchor watch) to be sure we didn’t move. The next morning we noticed that the neighbouring boat was on the rocks. The wind and swell had picked up the boat and its mooring ball and with no one on board had flung it on the beach. Three days later the storm abated and we finally remembered to wait another 24 hours before setting north again.

We stopped overnight at Noosa Beach and then it was a quick sail up to Wide Bay, south of Fraser Island. We had arrived at the perfect time it would seem - calm water and midday on a bright sunny day. We could not see the daytime light leads so we followed our chart plotter to the letter to find the deepest channel across the shallow bar. It wasn't until we were committed that we realised that something was deeply wrong. The waves were standing up signalling that it was very shallow water. I suggested to Peter that we turn around immediately but as he pointed out we would take numerous large waves over the side, which could potentially sink the boat. So over the bar we went.

After this photo was taken it was too rough to take any further shots.

The waves got bigger and the boat was tossed around in what felt like a washing machine. The waves flooded into the cockpit and everything here, cushions and books, was swimming around on the floor. I scrambled around trying to close the hatch as quick as possible with one hand, as letting go would mean falling.

Meanwhile, Peter was madly trying to keep the bow into the waves to prevent us from being swamped and going under. The waves smashed into him and he nearly lost his grip on the wheel several times. During this time the keel just kept smashing into the sand below, each and every trough. We were bobbing around like a cork. The feeling it gives you is nauseating. You know the keel is tough but if it breaks the boat will turn upside down and you cannot help thinking of this every time it would hit the bottom. The crossing took about 20 minutes but it felt like an hour. We were utterly exhausted and shaking uncontrollably after crossing this bar (well I was). Later we were enlightened that it had the reputation of being the worst bar on the east coast of Australia. Great, our first bar crossing and we had to pick the worst. They don't call it "the mad mile" for nothing.

More bad weather was upon us but we were safe and snug up the river at lovely Tin Can Bay. Feeding 'Mystique' the local dolphin was a highlight. We met our now good friends, Patrick and Marie from 'Gael Force', at the yacht club. As we found out our chart plotter software was last year's model and was out of date for the quickly shifting sands of Wide Bay Bar and behind Fraser Island. Luckily for us Patrick and Marie had an up to date one, so we closely followed them safely through the shallow 'Sheridan Flats'. At one stage we had only 400mm below our keel. Sharing meals and sightseeing Fraser Island with them was great fun. But after Fraser Island we went to Gladstone, while they continued to Yeppoon, to refuel, provision and to have my tooth refilled (yuk!!!).




Coming into Great Keppel Island - just on dusk.

Ever onwards and north, we had to make passage during the limited good weather windows if we were going to get to the Whitsundays in time to enjoy the dry season and also make our rendezvous with our good friends - Karen, David and Frannie. So we made quick progress from Gladstone to Great Keppel Island, Port Clinton, Marble Island, the Mackay Marina, and then finally Airlie Beach.



Arriving at beautiful and safe Port Clinton.

Arriving in Airlie Beach at 8pm and having to dodge all the unlit boats in the harbour and navigate through the 'S' shaped marina entrance, was challenging. The marina staff had told us to tie up on our starboard side - which we did. It wasn't until trying to connect the electricity and water later that we realised they should have told us the port side. We were paying $140/night here for this luxury but didn't want to go through the whole process again at 9pm at night, so we would have to do without the amenities overnight. We were just glad to finally be in the Whitsundays and breathing a sigh of relief as we had made it just in time to see off Marie and Patrick from 'Gael Force' at midday the next day and welcome our guests from Tasmania some hours later, at 4pm. 

After having dinner Peter checked the depth of the position the marina staff had allocated us. After rechecking his calculations he realised that at low tide later that night we would only have 100mm of water under our keel. Worse still, every night after that it would get shallower. This would see us take out the wharf and the catamaran beside us the next evening. So after speaking to the security guard we moved into the deeper water berths, usually reserved for the super-yachts (boy, do some people have too much money). When going to the office the next morning to pay they were annoyed that we were in this section and suggested a third move. Peter nicely pointed out all the stuff ups that had occurred and the fact that we could not contact their on-call staff the previous night to reassign another berth. So in their wisdom they decided to leave us there for the rest of the week, bless their hearts.



Peter, Denise, Frannie and KT.

Our guests arrived and we all spent the next five days stocking up on food, eating out and seeing the sights of Airlie, Bowen and the pretty coast in between. Then it was off to the Whitsunday group of islands a few hours sail away. We based ourselves around Hook Island, where we could easily see all the sights for the remaining week. It was a great sail over and we were greeted by a whale; breaching and waving its fin and tail. We anchored for two days in Nara Inlet and went ashore for a bush walk and to see the aboriginal art. We also spent our time snorkelling around the fringing reef and swimming in deep water off the back of the boat. Well the Tasmanians did this bit, as it was too cold in the water for us on these occasions. They breed them mighty hearty in Tassie.


 



KT, Frannie and David - on way back to Airlie.

Then we went around to another inlet on the west coast of the island. This had a spectacular fringing reef and even provided an opportunity to swim with turtles. On the last day we slowly motored back to Airlie, again seeing three whales together and a pod of dolphins. 9 year old Frannie was in heaven by this stage. Nothing can beat seeing whales, dolphins, turtles, stingrays and numerous birds in the wild.


 




Wendy, Richard, Denise and Peter.

We dropped our guests back at Airlie to continue their holiday and then did all the usual chores, before we could head out again. It was during shore leave that we met some lovely people, Richard and Wendy from 'Charon'. They convinced us to stay in Airlie for the annual race week and festivities that was starting the following day. After this fun week we were firm friends, so we followed them up to Gloucester Island and Monte's Resort for the annual Shag Island Cruising Yacht Club General Meeting.


 






Over 100 boats attended.

Members are affectionately known as 'shaggers' and the annual general meeting was basically a good excuse for a lot of partying. On the serious side, they did also raise $30,000 for Prostate Cancer. There was the welcome party, the Shag Island low tide party, the parrot party and a pirate party. There was even a wedding and of course the after wedding party.




  



Pirate party - Peter with other pirates.

These parties usually started at 10am and with most people going back to their boats by about 10pm. After 5 days of this regime Peter and I were absolutely 'shagged' (excuse the pun). We said goodbye to our new friends as they went north to Bowen and then onto Cairns. We chaperoned them to Bowen, only a short half day sail away and then returned to Gloucester Island for some much needed rest and recreation. This was a popular choice as some other shaggers obviously had the same idea. There was the usual knock on the hull and the invite for an impromptu lunch on the island for 20 of us, which helped fill in the lazy days. 



Beautiful Shaw Island.

We returned south with the agenda to see as many of the Whitsunday and Cumberland group of islands that we could fit in - Hook, Whitsunday, Cid, Haslewood, Long, Shaw, Lindeman, Scawfell, and South Percy Islands, before leaving to go south.






 



Peter and Richard - full after eating fresh oysters off the rocks.

At Hook Island we met another new friend, Richard from 'Sail La Vie'. Richard was sailing south to Brisbane as well, so we teamed up with him. As per usual for 2012 the lows were ever present off the south coast of Australia. As usual giving us days where we had to shelter behind islands and then pleasant days when the weather passed, and we managed to make passage south again. It was nice to have Richard with us on the rest days to spend time swimming, bushwalking, beachcombing and fishing. 

The biggest and best highlight of the whole trip was the last island. We arrived at South Percy Island late afternoon to find ourselves alone in the anchorage. Richard had decided to stay at Middle Percy Island for the night. To our delight two whales also decided the anchorage was to their liking, and they were swimming around the boat. We watched them up on the deck for ages until it was too dark to see them. Later we went to bed and listened to them through the steel hull, singing to each other.

All too soon it was the end of the season and we headed south to Brisbane to wait out the northern cyclone season. We would get work, visit family and friends and drive down to Sydney for Christmas.