We
flew back to Rockhampton on Wednesday 22 August after Muriel's funeral,
reprovisioned the next day and headed out of Rosslyn Bay Harbour for Sea Hill
and the Narrows on Friday 24 August. We
got the top of the tide in The Narrows and continued through to Black Swan,
just north of Gladstone.
This was where
we were fogged in on the way up. High
tide was at about 0900 the next morning and we planned to be through Gladstone Harbour
while the tide was still going out. That
required a pre dawn start. We woke up at 0520, and we were fogged in yet again!
Fortunately the fog started lifting and there
was enough visibility to get away by 0625.
With all of the passenger and construction traffic in Gladstone Harbour,
we needed to be seen and be able to see them.
By 1345 that day we were at anchor in Pancake Creek, our intended destination.
As
we intended to move the next day, we anchored in the outer anchorage. The leads
and beacons into the creek are only lit at the entry to the creek. It does not have a bar, so as long as we did
not have a relatively strong wind against the tide, we could leave as early as
we liked. The destination was Burnett Heads
- 67.2 nautical miles from anchorage to anchorage. We left next morning at 0345. This was Sunday 26 August and Burnett Heads
was a long way away. The wind was coming
from where we wanted to go so it was a motoring day. We used both motors for the whole trip and
got into Burnett Heads at 1440.
The
weather report for Monday was for stronger wind on the nose again, so we had a
rest day in the Burnett River that day and did the washing.
On
Tuesday the weather was forecast to be southerly and south-easterly supposedly
going east to north-east in the afternoon.
We set off for Rooney’s Point on the inside top of Fraser Island. It was a fabulous day for a sail and we
sailed close hauled under main, headsail and staysail and ended up about 4
miles off the direct line route because we could not sail directly to where we wanted to go. So, four
miles out, we dropped the sails and motored in.
We were heading for the northern side of Rooney’s Point as the wind had
stayed from the south east and this would give us a sheltered and quiet
anchorage. We were focussed on the depth
as we crossed Ferguson Spit which has accreted north from Rooney’s Point. Chris was on the helm and yelled, “What’s
that – rocks?” and immediately turned away from the dark shapes in the shallow
water. “No, it’s whales!” Robyn eventually
replied in what seemed like minutes. Four
hump back whales were cruising along the line between the deep water and the sand
bank. They completely ignored us and
continued to cruise by. The Wildlife
Service warnings to Mariners tell us to keep 100 metres from whales, and do not
approach them from directly in front or behind. When they approach us, it sure gets the adrenaline
going!
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| Whales just playing about - tail flukes on the closer one |
Rooney’s
Point is magnificent. The beach is long
and the sand is a beautiful pale yellow. At night, the loom of Sandy Cape lighthouse
is visible from the anchorage. We had
Rooney’s Point to ourselves. We registered another “next time” for a walk on
the beach here too. Come Wednesday, we
were on the go early to see Wathumba Creek at low tide and then to Moon Point for
the night. The Fraser Island coast is
really beautiful – as good as the top of Moreton Island only more remote and with
far fewer boats.
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| Rooneys Point |
Maripi was
again visited by whales when anchored at Wathumba Creek. She was one of 3 boats “inspected” by a group
of 4 whales. One rolled over and swam on
its back for a while. It was all white
underneath. Two came back to have
another look at Maripi and then they
moved on. That day any time we looked
for whales we could see some.
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| Whales at Wathumba Creek |
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| Whales off the stern of Maripi |
At
Moon Point we were back at the start of the mangrove ecosystem and moving away
from the long sandy beaches. In Great Sandy
Straits, we were again working with the tides and rode the incoming tide to the
cross over point at Moonboom Island and then the outgoing tide to Garry’s
Anchorage. The anchorage was rough in
the northerlies, so rather than stay a few days there waiting for a favourable
weather forecast to cross the Wide Bay Bar, we moved on to Kauri Creek the next
day, Friday 31 August. “Catalina”, a Rogers catamaran made the
same decision and once in Kauri Creek we caught up for drinks that afternoon. We knew many people in common and their
visitors live a Scarborough. “Mistweaver” is at Tin Can Bay, so we
have talked to Dan on the radio.
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| Sunset at Kauri Creek |
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| Houseboats at Kauri Creek |
Father’s
Day is our last day in Kauri Creek and we plan to head out of the creek and
over the Wide Bay Bar on Monday morning’s high tide. The wind and swell are favourable and we will
stay in the lee of Double Island Point on Monday night. We will set off early on Tuesday for Mooloolaba. Then home on Wednesday. The forecast is good to do this so maybe it
will unfold as we plan!
