Category: Australia (Page 3 of 8)

Melbourne – ODI Cricket & AO Tennis

January 23, 2015 / terry

January 15-22 2015

We flew to Melbourne for a week of tennis and cricket. The Virgin flight across was quick, taking only a little over three hours courtesy of a good tail wind and we used the excellent Skybus service to into Melbourne itself. This system is so good that Perth needs to consider something similar rather than wasting a fortune on a rail system that we can’t afford. For $30 each, we got comfortable transport, with never any more than 10 minutes wait, to Southern Cross Station followed by a personalised shuttle service to our hotel. The same ticket gets us a return pickup from the hotel and transfer back right to the door of the departure area. Amazingly, I’ve heard people say it is expensive, yet in Perth, we pay over $60 for a one way taxi ride to the airport.

We stayed at the Nova Stargate on Franklin St, really well located. Our room overlooked the Victoria Street Markets so there were always lots of cheap eats around. The room was a small serviced apartment and had all the basics, without being overly flash or expensive. Another bonus is that the nearby tram stops in Elizabeth St are within the new free tram zone so we spent next to nothing on transport for the week.

Most days, we took the tram down to Flinders St and then walked along the Yarra Walk to either the MCG or the tennis. The streets are always full of people off to sporting events at this time of year so we blended in with our green and gold shirts and often got questions from shop keepers or tram drivers on the way home about how things had gone with the Aussies.

We took the chance to catch up with Azba and Michael, staying the night at their place near Glen Iris so we could consume more red wine than was good for us. They both had a big weekend of a bucks’ night and hens’ party so we helped prime their livers for the onslaught. We caught a lift home with Azba from her work, located in a quirky little part of Richmond where light industrial is giving way to residential and professional. The area was a fascinating mix of derelict factories, old tumbling-down cottages and modern glass boxes. The streets were quiet, like something out of a post apocalypse movie. Azba was astounded when we said we had popped in to the local pub although she admitted that she had never been in but was speaking from its reputation.

The National Sports’ Museum

Housed in the MCG, the National Sports’ Museum is a wonderful place to spend a half a day. There are comprehensive exhibits featuring the Olympics, AFL and cricket, with lesser displays covering cycling, tennis, horseracing and a host of other sports. A display following the development of the MCG itself complements the whole thing.

My foot is next to one of Ian Thorpe’s shoes and Christine’s is next to Aaron Sandilands’

Entrance to the cricket display

Amazing holographic presentations from both Shane Warne and James Hird are particularly interesting. It was hard to believe that we weren’t in a small room with the champions themselves as they gave their ten minute talks. I’d love to see this aspect of the museum expanded to include others, such as Hewitt or Freeman.

Down in the AFL display, I tried my hand at kicking a ball at three targets set into a wall. I was doing quite well, scoring a few hits until Christine pointed out that it was actually a handball activity. Things went downhill after that. I need to stick to kicking.

The MCG is always a great sight

We spent about two and a half hours soaking up the “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” atmosphere before heading back to the hotel. We left a lot undone so a return visit is on the cards sometime. Well worth the effort!

The Cricket

We had tickets to the Australia – India One Day match, originally purchased for the Friday, the day after we flew in. The death of Phillip Hughs saw things rescheduled and our game changed to the Sunday, no big deal, but it did mean that we would be out late on the night prior to the tennis commencing.

The match itself was a ripper! Attendance was down for the MCG, with only 35,000. Of these I think there were 20,000 Indian supporters. We seemed to be surrounded by them and the old Bay 13 was a sea of blue and ornage shirts. There was much chanting and whistling. Christine actually resorted to shoving tissues in her right ear to protect against the shrill screaming of the mob next to us.

Part of the huge crowd of Indian supporters

India was out cheaply and Australia seemed to be cruising to an easy victory, until the usual middle order collapse brought on a nail biting finish. We just got there in the end and there was much wailing and sobbing from the sub-continent.

The Tennis

It is hard to imagine a sporting event better organised than the Australian Open Tennis Championship. We went to the first three days and the crowds averaged 40,000 a day, a figure that would put enormous pressure on most systems, especially given that the tournament runs for two weeks. The catering kept up, the transport is fast and efficient and the atmosphere has to be experienced to be believed. A lot of people just buy a general entry ticket and sit around eating, drinking and watching the giant screens, content to be surrounded by lots of sporty types. Others study the draws and court allocations to chase down the great matches on the outside courts that crop up during the first week of the tournament.

This year, HiSense Arena was opened up to the general public, providing 9500 undercover seats with top ranked matches available. Show Courts 2 & 3 also provide top matches in comfortable conditions if you work things right and get some shade. We managed things really well and enjoyed three wonderful days of top-flight tennis. On our final day, we left Show Court 2, having made the decision to have a beer at a bar then head for home. As we headed for the beer line, a woman approached us and asked if we would like two tickets to Rod Laver Arena to watch Roger Federer. The beer was put on hold and we headed in to the inner sanctum. Unfortunately, the seats were a great view but in the sun and things got really hot after a while. We stuck it for a set and a half then gave in, the beer being more appealing. We gave the tickets to two young guys who looked like they would handle the heat better than us. They were thrilled.

Matosevic serves it up

It was terrific to be part of the best Australian start to an Open in over a decade, giving us no shortage of Aussie matches to go and see. The weather was so much better than the 40 degrees plus of 2014. We will be back sometime.

Eats

We tried to ease up on the eats a bit this year but it is hard in Melbourne because there is so much on offer at reasonable prices. Street food abounds, especially around Victoria Street Markets. We gave a lot of patronage to a Vietnamese place in Elizabeth St called The Noodle Kitchen. Surprisingly, they have two outlets in Perth, one in Kardinya and one in Thornlie. The food is quite outstanding for the price. It was easy to pick because it was full of local Asian ethnics all day when the surrounding places were empty.

The Krispy Kreme mania is still in full swing and we again saw people lining up at the airport outlet to bring boxes of the things home. It makes no sense when every block in Melbourne has at least one amazing sweet food outlet with great looking do-nuts at half the cost of Krispy Kremes. It would be interesting to see a pie graph break-up of production costs vs profit and marketing.

Christine managed a very high standard of packed picnic lunches for the tennis and we were often the envy of those around us, although we did eye off their chips with salivating mouths. We resisted and saved our lapses for the beer sampling on the way home.

Westwards to Home

November 12, 2014 / terry

Thursday 9 October to 5 November

The Big Trip Home

With the Whitsunday sailing done and dusted, it was time to think about heading home, all 5,500km of it. We had some people to see on along the way and some places to sail so we gave ourselves plenty of time. It was pretty clear that Christine’s knee is ready for some serious attention and she was not ready for more sailing so, at some point along the way, we abandoned the idea of more sailing and really picked up on the idea of going home, so things accelerated somewhat.

From Airlie Beach, we did a quick run down the 150km to Mackay in the Greyhound Bus to pick up the car and trailer and a quick run back to Airlie. With Sandpiper safely back on land, we set off south once more.

Kilcoy – Our new friends, Steve and Denise, had some upcoming commitments so we made Kilcoy our first stop and caught up. As with our previous visits, the food and wine flowed to excess and we all had a wonderful couple of days stacking on the kilos. It was also a great opportunity to give Sandpiper a serious clean and take care of a few urgent running repairs. It was nearly tears all round when we finally pulled out of Kilcoy. It has become our second home.

The Sunshine Coast – With so many good friends from PVI on the Sunshine Coast, a stay back in that part of Queensland was essential. We had a truly wonderful time, catching up with a good PVI crowd while staying in Noosa with the McKennas, then more sailing and good times staying with Glenn and Gail in Wurtulla, near Caloundra. Glenn and I managed another sail in “Shiraz”, winning as usual. Christine and Gail got into the quilting together, which means that the knitting has been put aside for some Xmas quilts. We spent some more time in a caravan park at Alex Beach, near Maroochydore, and did plenty of walking, cycling and exercising to try to negate some of the excessive living.

Cycling around the Maroochy River

Christine needed an invasive body test after getting a bad reading on a routine bowel cancer scan. Fortunately, Gail managed to secure her a colonoscopy without the usual nine week wait so we hung around for an extra week. As we suspected, all was good but it was best to be sure before pressing on. Somehow though, during that week, I grew accustomed to the idea of going home and so we abandoned plans of more sailing and pushed on south to commence the 4570km trip ahead of us.

Ballina – No trip down the Pacific Highway could be complete without a stop at Kilcoy to catch up with Jack and Jude. These two are such good company. We all share a love of the sea, fine food and a good wine. Jack and Jude are planning to rejoin their boat, “Banyandah” in December but are yet to decide on a sailing destination. So many tough choices. We spent a couple of nights with them and took a trip down to the Bangalow markets on the Sunday in search of some suitable hedging plants. It was a great excuse to further explore the area and an even better excuse to stop at Lennox Head for a pub meal and a beer or two. We left them to return to their peaceful life with promises of catching up should their sailing take them west to Albany and pushed on south to Taree.

After an overnight stop at the Taree show grounds, we followed the Pacific Highway down to Newcastle then turned inland and up the Golden Highway to Dubbo. This is one of the easiest passes up the Great Divide and we enjoyed the chance to get away from the heavy traffic of the A1. The drive to Dubbo was very pretty, with the vegetation gradually changing from forest to woodlands and then to more open grasslands.

Dubbo – Dubbo is a significant regional centre with a population of around 40,000. The town looked reasonably prosperous with an interesting town centre. We stayed a couple of nights and spent part of one day at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo. We usually aren’t “zoo” people but this one is different enough to attract us. Instead of the usual cages and small enclosures, the animals live in large paddock sized environments and there is heavy use made of moats and electric fences to restrict movement. The grounds are very extensive, the full circuit being 6.5km in length so we used our folding bikes to do the tour. It is possible to drive but this would mean a lot of parking and walking. Hiring a golf cart is another option and would be a good choice for family groups. For us, the highlight exhibits were the giraffes and the rhinos, both black and white types. The zoo tends to concentrate on breeding endangered species and has notched up many notable successes. It was a most worthwhile visit.

Around Broken Hill – The long dry drive from Dubbo west to Broken Hill rivals the Nullabor Plain and the Barkley Tablelands for sheer boredom. Long, flat and straight roads are the rule. Emus outnumber vehicles and towns look like wearing a six shooter is compulsory. The temperature was in the very high thirties and a punishing headwind saw the vehicle temperature climb a little. Turning the air-conditioner off solved the problem but made the discomfort levels soar. The Darling River cuts across the road at Wilcannia, once the third largest river port in the country but now a forlorn collection of incredibly beautiful old stone buildings. We stopped overnight just out of Wilcannia on a station called Warrawong on the Darling which has established a very nice caravan park.

Making friends with an emu at Warrawong on the Darling.

The owners put on a barbecued goat (of which there is absolutely no shortage) and invited all guests to share a meal free of charge. It was an entertaining night and the goat was excellent, so much so that Christine sliced off sections to supplement our lunch meals along the way. Once past Broken Hill, the far distant Flinders Ranges became our target, crossing into South Australia and pushing west to Petersborough. The head-wind was intense but the temperature had at least eased a little so the climb into the Flinders was not too bad.

The Nullabor Crossing – Our fourth Nullabor crossing this year was the first without rain. Except for another day of fierce headwinds, the weather was quite mild and conditions comfortable, boredom being the only real enemy. We drive strict 100km rotations, to keep our minds active, the body rested and the waits between drives short. Christine at least has her quilting. I just sit or managed short naps. I have difficulty reading in a moving car. Some 40km short of the WA border, we came across a 4WD and caravan roll-over. Thankfully, no one was hurt, the driver being a retiree from Wanneroo travelling alone with his lovely miniature collie dog. He had just lost control of the rig and it ended up sliding down a short embankment and rolling. We weren’t first on the scene and others had managed to get him out safely. A police escort for an over-width convoy happened on the scene within minutes and organised help from Eucla so we elected to stay with the driver and his dog to watch for signs of stress or shock. When the police team from Eucla showed up around 40 minutes later, we pushed on, through quarantine and finally back into WA.

Quarantine inspections are a process that involves more rules than logic or understanding. We had the Internet, lots of road signage, advice from traveller forums and a guide book but still we couldn’t get a handle on what is allowed and what is not. The inspectors could not handle the concept of us living in a boat, preferring to hunt through the back of the car for plants and food despite being clearly told that we lived in the boat and that there was a fridge and lots of food. Only one inspector even climbed the ladder into the boat and he wouldn’t actually enter the cabin. Perhaps they tend to suffer from sea-sickness.

Walkers and Riders – It is hard to imagine just how many people are currently riding or walking around Australia, either to fulfil a personal goal or to raise money for charity. We saw a lot of cyclists crossing the Nullabor. One time, we pulled over to change drivers and then realised that there was a very skinny little Japanese fellow pulling a cart and heading straight towards us. He obviously thought we had stopped to talk to him and he beamed as he put down his cart and came over to shake our hands. He showed us his cart and the map on the side, illustrating where he had been. He was following Highway One right around. He had virtually no English and our Japanese matched that so it was a conversation filled with lots of bowing and pointing.

The Last Night – We spent our final night of our big road trip parked in woodlands next to the Bodallin Memorial, a sad remembrance of the three truckies that lost their life in the tragic bushfires of 2007. After a drive of over 4000km in around a fortnight, our respect for truckies has been strengthened. There are a few impatient ones out there but in the main they do a great job of looking out for the touring public, despite the fact that there seems to be too many caravanners and backpackers on the road who don’t know how to handle their rigs. We were home in Dowerin by 11am the next day, ready to start the big unpack. The sight of the weed growth in the yards was heartbreaking, especially since I had left the place clear at the end of August during our last trip home. Some good October rains have produced a whole new weed crop. The bonus is that the fruit trees are bearing and the passion vine is loaded so all is not lost. The work begins.

We were away from January 4 to November 4 2014

travelled 27,500km in the car
travelled about 800km on the water
came home three times during the trip, driving from Port Lincoln once and flying from Sydney and Brisbane
spent $500,000 on fuel (at least it felt like it)
met lots of wonderful new friends that we remain in contact with
caught up with lots of old friends from previous travels

Wow! Must start getting ready for the next trip.

October 13, 2014 / terry

Whitsundays – Hamilton Is to Airlie Beach

October 13, 2014 / terry

We had fallen in love with Hamilton Island, the facilities, the ambience, the food opportunities and the excellent service. There! All that and we aren’t even sponsored. It really is a great place to be. With great reluctance, we tore ourselves away to sail away for a day, while we waited for our booked helicopter flight out to the outer Great Barrier Reef.

Our sail took us through the Fitzalan Passage along the southern end of Whitsunday Island to Cid Harbour, a safe and calm anchorage in most winds. There are a number of suggested anchorages and shore based camp sites here, some connected by established walk trails. We went ashore to walk the Dugong Beach to Sawmill Beach trail, which snaked up and down the hill side through some really beautiful forest paths.

Cid Harbour, Whitsunday Island

The march flies saw us coming and prepared themselves. I had doused myself in insect repellant in case of sandflies so avoided most of the attacks. Christine, who is immune to the sandfly bite, hadn’t bothered and was subjected to wave after wave of kamikaze march flies. I had the wonderful experience of slapping Christine on the back with a thing every 30 seconds and killing dozens of the creatures. It was like a really good episode of “Buffey the March Fly Slayer”. The views were worth the effort, at least from my point of view. Christine was a little less impressed.

Sawmill Beach

The most amazing thing was the way Cid Harbour filled with boats. We are now well and truly in the heart of “bareboat charter country” and the number of boats on the water is beyond belief. We shared our anchorage with at least thirty boats. There is no going outside for a pee stark naked in this part of the world.

The next day we sailed back to Hamilton Island and resumed our decadent lifestyle, even taking a bus ride around the island to take in all the amazing apartments and properties.

Then it was off to Hardy Reef via helicopter. We had to go on separate flights because the best we could book at such short notice was the fill-in seats on booked flights. For me, this meant I got the front seat next to the pilot. Christine scored a second row seat but still with an excellent view. The flight proved a highlight of the entire trip. The Whitsundays are beautiful from the sea. From the air they are stunning. We got to fly over many of the places we would visit over the next week and get advance knowledge of the best spots to anchor and explore. It also brought home the sheer number of people and boats in the waters around the islands. Every protected anchorage had clusters of boats at anchor or on moorings and the various beaches had groups of people at play.

Christine’s chopper

Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet

Heart Reef

The flight over the Barrier Reef was even more impressive, bring in to sharp focus the amazing extent of the coral system. We did a couple of turns around the much publicised “Heart Reef”, more impressive in pictures than in reality. The reef platforms stretched endlessly in all directions, yet the Hardy-Hook system is just one of hundreds that make up the vast Great Barrier Reef. Our destination was Reef World, a floating platform anchored in the narrow channel between Hook Reef and Hardy Reef. It back right up onto the reef wall, rising steeply out of sixty feet to the exposed areas of the reef itself. This is where all the big fish live, with a huge 250kg groper, hump headed maori wrasse and 70kg giant trevally all living under the platform.

The Reef World platform

We joined the masses, who had arrived by boat, and donned stinger suits to snorkel over the corals. The danger from marine stingers at this time of year is probably low, the menace from sharks almost non-existent, but the danger from fellow snorkellers was extreme. We were kicked, bumped, head butted and ploughed into, all with much apology, but still very off-putting. There were simply too many people in the water, most with minimal swimming skills. The organisation was supberb, with all gear being washed throughly between uses, safety supervisors patrolling, lots of swimming aids and good safety briefings.

The crowds of snorkelers spread out along the reef wall.

Terry takes in the sights

A beautiful little butterfly fish

There is a semi-submersible coral viewing boat making continual 20 minute circuits of the reef wall, allowing those less confident swimmers a wonderful of the life of the coral community. When we went, the tide was quite high and we were able to get right over the reef top, providing a great view.

Lunch was a sumptuous affair, with a glorious smorgasbord of salads, meats and prawns. We were left with little choice but to do it justice. We even had an ice-cream to celebrate our successful sortie on the lunch.

The trip home was via the ferry, a large and fast catamaran. Once clear of the protection of the reef system, we had 20 nautical miles of open ocean to cross. The crew of the boat prepared themselves by stuffing their pockets full of sick bags and standing watch, trying to catch the suffering before they shared their smorgasbord with other travellers. It was rough, but relatively short lived, given the speed of the boat and soon we were inside the protection of Hook Island and swinging past Cid Harbour, where we had overnighted just a coupe of days before.

We left the joys of Hamilton Island once more and sailed off through the Fitzalan Passage to the famous Whitehaven Beach. This is a spectacular 7km long stretch of pure white silica sand and consistently scores in the top ranks of the “Best Beach in the World” ratings. It certainly was beautiful, with the hundreds of people lounging on the sands paying testimony to its many fine qualities. There were big private boats, small private boats (like us), big charter boats, big tour yachts, huge tour yachts, humungous tour boats, and them some that just defied description. The combined value of the boats anchored off Whitehaven Beach would have exceeded the GDP of some nations. Where the hell does all the money come from? The day trippers swarm like ants over the beach, ferried to and from the various yachts, oversize inflatable craft and luxury cruisers in small rubber ducks, crammed in to a point where a capsize seems inevitable.

Whitehaven Beach

The Whitsundays seems to be a bit of a retirement pasture for some of the famous 12 metre racing yachts. We saw Apollo, Southern Cross and Siska, each carrying groups of tourists sitting along the rail as the boats heeled under a full set of sails. They certainly looked good in the water, although the signs of age and wear were obvious.

Tongue Bay, Whitsunday Island

The next week was spent sailing from one incredible location to another, through numerous islands and bays, snorkelling across glorious corals and taking in the amazing ever changing vistas that the mountainous islands of the Whitsundays group offer. The amazing corals of Cateran Bay on the northern end of Border Island were a snorkelling highlight but then nowhere was a real disappointment. At Cateran Bay, we watched a beautiful big coal trout being picked clean of parasites by a couple of tiny cleaner wrasse and watched a gorgeous hawkesbill turtle swim by us totally unconcerned.

Hill Inlet

The sailing was generally easy, as long as we paid strict attention to the tides. The seas here can be really quite awful when the the wind is opposed to the tide, creating confused lumpy seas in areas one would otherwise expect to be protected. We sailed through areas of whirlpools and amazing tidal overfalls, all without mishap. Although these phenomena can look frightening and should not be treated lightly, their bark is usually worse than their bite and the experience of sailing through tidal rips is more exhilarating than scary.

Nara Inlet, Hook Island

When the weather turned a little nasty for three days or so, we holed up in the lovely Nara Inlet, a place that we came to know well. We even met a fellow West Aussie named Stewie and his two parents from Duncraig who were visiting at the time.

Collecting oysters

Oysters Kilpatrick at sunset

It was with great reluctance that we turned for the mainland, after 22 days at sea out of Mackay. The wonderful people at the Abel Point Marina at Airlie Beach made us feel most welcome and we certainly enjoyed the wonderful bar and restaurant facilities they offer.

Abel Point Marina, Airlie Beach

The final sunset, Airlie Beach

A day’s bus ride down to Mackay to retrieve the car and trailer and return saw our Whitsunday cruise at an end. It is hard to imagine that we had ever considered abandoning our long-held dream of sailing in these waters. I can see us coming back one day, probably renting a bareboat for a couple of weeks. The choice is unlimited, with catamarans seeming to be the most popular. Whether we return or not, this has been one big experience ticked off the long list.

Sailing the Whitsundays – Mackay to Hamilton Is

September 30, 2014 / terry

We launched Sandpiper in Mackay Harbour, an excellent facility. Arrangements had been made with the Mackay Marine Tourist Park to take care of the car and trailer and a simple taxi ride brought me back to the marina to get us on our way. The first stop was the joint St Bees/Keswick Islands, a trip of some 17 nautical miles. The seas proved easy to handle, the trip totally enjoyable and the destination wonderful. We anchored in a gorgeous bay, with butterflies all around, a cacophony of bird calls coming from a heavily forested tropical beach. What more could anyone ask for.

The next few days followed the same pattern, sailing from island to island in calm seas with spectacular vistas all around.

A favourite was Brampton Island, once a glorious holiday resort, but now a sorry and abandoned shell of its former glory. A devastating cyclone in 2010 had wreaked damage on the jetty and adjoining light rail system, leaving the resort itself with a hefty repair bill. The high Aussie dollar and lure of cheap overseas holidays has obviously made investment in repairs too much. The resort sits waiting, with jet skis, surf cats, pool tables, made up rooms and all. All it needs is power, water and people.

Brampton Is

The once glorious pool.

The remains of the tramway that connected the jetty to the resort.

Later, we visited Lindeman Island and found it to be in much the same state, a piece of paradise awaiting a clientele. Apparently, there are more in the same situation, South Mole, Daydream etc. Perhaps the now falling Australian Dollar will help.

The empty Lindeman Island resort

The islands themselves are very scenic, most with mountain peaks 3-400 metres high. Ancient volcanic cores rise up out of some islands or sometimes straight from the sea, creating some stunning vista. Early morning often saw a cloud hanging off an island peak, creating a real South Seas effect. The vegetation ranges from tropical rainforest to dry scrub on some of the rockier islets. The hoop pine is common, a glorious tree reminiscent of a Norfolk Island pine but with fewer branches. The timber was prized as a boat building material and logging around 1900 saw the loss of much forest but after years of National Parks, many forests have come back well. Butterflies are everywhere, beautiful blue triangles, common swallowtails and monarchs. They are even common at sea.

The weather has been kind to us so far, with only one patch of rather blowy weather lasting three days out of our thirteen at sea and a couple of days of rain. During that time, we lay up in a lovely bay on Goldsmith Island, enjoying the company of Zane and Julie in their big catamaran. Their life was interesting, cruising with three dogs and two cats, which, unlike our cat Simon, were all well and truly alive.

High and dry, Goldsmith Island

The temperature has been beautiful and even the water is warm enough to swim in comfortably. We have bought ourselves some all over stinger suits to guard against the nasty jellyfish present in these waters. The real stinger season starts in November but stings have been recorded at other times. The pair of us encased in figure hugging body suits is not something that anyone else wants to share so we are fairly discreet.

Sailing through the southern islands was pretty quiet. Usually, we would share an anchorage with only one or two other boats, except at Brampton Island where we had a night with seven others. However, with school holidays on in Queensland, the northern islands around Whitsunday Island itself are very crowded, with more than thirty boats in Cid Harbour one night. Once north of Shaw Island, there was usually a sail or powerboat visible in every quarter of the horizon.

It is sad to say that large power boats have become the enemy. Even though we are power boat owners ourselves, it does seem that something happens to the psych of skippers. The more power they have, the less thoughtful they become. Some of the boats up here are more like small ships and they create really horrendous bow waves and wakes. In a narrow channel with limited manoeuvring space, a big vessel creating a series of breaking waves can wreak havoc with the small yachts like ours. Commercial operators too, seem to regard private vessels as fair game and that all channels belong exclusively to them.

Many of the boats we come across are bareboat charters, meaning that you hire the boat and skipper yourself. Amazingly, no qualifications are needed, other than to say that you have steered a boat before. We enjoy listening to the bareboat charter companies talk to their clients on the VHF. It goes something like this:

“Razzle Dazzle this is Fun Charters. What is your position? Over”

“Gday mate. We are out at Border Island. It’s beautiful.”

“Razzle Dazzle It might be nice now but there is no protection there. We have 15 to 20 knot south easterlies forecast.”

“OK. We’ll think about it and see what happens this afternoon.”

“Razzle Dazzle. I need you to move.”

“Yes, we’ll discuss it. Where should we go?”

“Razzle Dazzle, you might try Chalkies or anywhere that get protection from the south east. You can’t stay there.”

“OK then and while we’ve got you, the fridge door catch is broken.”

The radio operators for the charter companies have incredible patience.

The fishing has been ordinary. Despite the tropical climate and the abundance of coral, fish life seems scarce. The real fishing is much further out on the outer Barrier Reef but even that is only a shadow of its former glory days. I have managed to catch enough small reef fish to get us a feed when needed but as a sport is leaves a lot to be desired. According to locals, there are a lot of hours of input required to get much reward.

Navigating is all about the tides. The tidal range here is around 6 metres so the currents can run pretty quickly through the narrow channels between islands and reefs. If the wind is against the current, the waves build up rapidly so planning the trip accordingly is very important. So far, we haven’t had anything that has worried us so we must be doing something right.

As always, Christine has revelled in her cooking. She has a new addition to the arsenal in the form of a thermal cooker. It is like a large thermos flask that surrounds a couple of inner pots. She prepares the ingredients in the pots, fills the thermos with boiling water and lower the pots inside. Over the next six hours or so, the meal cooks itself. The system works very well and is ideal for sailing and camping. She also uses the thermal cooker as proving environment for bread making and the dough rises magnificently. There has been no shortage of great meals.

Lamb shanks done in the new thermal cooker.

Lamb burgers with boat baked whole grain buns.

Sandflies have been a bit friendly in places and I always seem to be nursing a few bites. I use Vicks Vapour rub to sooth the itching and it works well but after applying insect repellent, sun screen and Vicks Vapour Rub, the pores of my skin take a hammering.

A two day stay in the Marina at Hamilton Island was wonderful. After twelve days on the boat, a bit of luxury was most welcome and there is plenty of that available on Hamilton. A berth in the marina buys access to the whole island, including the facilities at the resort. The shops are varied, the bakery first rate and the prices quite acceptable. Regular free shuttle buses run around the island, making al parts easily accessible or electric golf carts can be hired by the day. Everyone was so helpful and friendly. There is no comparison with Rottnest. Hamilton rules.

Tiny Sandpiper nestled amongst the big boys at Hamilton Island

Relaxing at the pool, Hamilton Resort.

Overlooking Fitzalan Passage between Hamilton and Whitsunday Islands

We were very taken with an advertised helicopter flight and snorkelling trip out to Hardy Reef, one of the outer reefs. We organised a trip and booked a berth to return after a cays exploring Cid Harbour. More about that next time.

So far, the trip has been everything that we had dreamed of and has made the whole big trip over here so worthwhile. It is going to be very hard to tear ourselves away and leave. Fortunately, we still have time and there are lots more islands to visit.

Kilcoy, Ballina, Gold Coast, Brisbane

August 22, 2014 / terry

Once our sail of the Great Sandy Straits and Fraser Island was finished, we had a week and a half before we were due to fly home to catch up with our commitments at the Dowerin Field Days. The weather forecast was full of rain, with a major rain event forecast for the intervening weekend. A big rain would be most welcome in SE Queensland and even more on the western side of the Great Divide. The forecast promised just such an event, so we put aside any thoughts of sailing again for a while and mapped out a touring session.

We had five priorities:
– Get back to Mooloolaba for the August PVI (Project Vietnam) meeting.
– Bed down Sandpiper for our trip home.
– Catch up with Jack and Jude, friends in Ballina, NSW
– Catch up with my Aunt Rube who lives on the Gold Coast
– Spend some time exploring Brisbane after an absence of 25 years.

Quite a bit of driving for ten days!

We spent a couple of days in Tin Can Bay, washing clothes, cleaning the boat, recharging etc. We met a wonderful couple, Gary and Trish, originally from Tasmania but now retired to Queensland. Their travel mode took the attention away from us with their wonderful three wheeled Harley and its amazing camper trailer. They camped next to us and we couldn’t believe how the tiny trailer expanded into a glorious canvas mansion. We enjoyed some great times together swapping yarns.

From Tin Can Bay, it was off back south to Maroochydore, to stay for the night in what must be one of the biggest caravan parks in Australia. If we were booked in for longer, we would have got the bikes out just to move around the park. On the one side is the beautiful Maroochydore Beach and on the other, the calm waters of the Maroochy River. The regulars watch the sunrise over the sea and sunset over the river. It is a very beautiful spot, but then too many people know about it and the place was booked solid. Checkin time was quite chaotic.

After a PVI meeting and a great session at the Maroochydore RSL with our friends from the Vietnam projects, we packed up in steady rain and headed off inland, climbing the mountain range up from Caboolture to Kilcoy, where we would leave Sandpiper for a few weeks. Our contacts, Steve and Denise, came through via the trailer sailer forum that we subscribe to. Steve had offered accommodation on his beautiful property just out of the town of Kilcoy in the Brisbane River Valley. The GPS took us to their property and we found the open gate, Steve and Denise being away in Brisbane for the day. We parked Sandpiper and got out of the car to take in a truly beautiful scene. The property is ringed with wonderful mountains. The house sits nestled under some enormous Moreton Bay fig trees and the neighbouring properties sport horses, goats and a few cattle. The mountains created a wonderful vista with rain squalls scudding across the peaks and the sun highlighting areas of forest on the slopes. This was a location to die for.

Steve and Denise arrived home in the afternoon and gave us a very warm welcome to their beautiful home. We spent some wonderful hours swapping sailing yarns, comparing trailer sailers (they have a lovely Noelex 25) and sampling the odd wine or two. We rapidly found that we had a lot in common with these terrific people. We have been so fortunate with the people we have met along the way. The trailer sailer community has certainly produced some very hospitable people.

Around Kilcoy

The next day, Steve and Denise took us on a tour of the area, showing off the glorious scenery to be had around the nearby Somerset Dam and the delightful hamlet of Esk, where we enjoyed a terrific lunch. The diet has taken a serious hit lately and things didn’t ease up that night once Christine, Denise and Steve collaborated to produce a meal that would have won any episode of My Kitchen Rules. I sat back and watched. After all, someone needs to be the judge. They scored 10s all round.

We said our farewells to Steve and Denise, locked down Sandpiper knowing she was in safe hands, and set off down the mountains back to Highway 1 to head south, through Brisbane and on towards NSW. The rain followed, unrelenting, making it hard to stop and enjoy the many charming little stops along the way. We tried exploring the Tweed Coast, but the rain was so heavy we had trouble driving, let alone stopping. We managed a stop in Byron Bay, but half the population of the area was in town trying to find something to do other than watching it rain and the CBD was a real crush.

Eventually, we made our way to Ballina on the Richmond River and followed the GPS to find the house of our friends Jack and Jude, who we had met in Monkey Mia in 2013. They were anchored there waiting on a weather window to head south in their yacht Banyandah (www.jackandjude.com). We spent a few days together and quickly became good friends. Jack and Jude live in a beautiful self built house just out of Ballina in the middle of a sugar cane growing area. The cane is all around an the river across the road so the setting is quite charming. Jack used to be a joiner working with native timbers so the house is alive with marvellous grains and timber tones.

The rain had followed us south and continued for a day, soaking the ground but not causing any local flooding. It did keep us pretty much confined to barracks. We all did enough talking to keep everyone happy, although Jude’s voice started to disappear down to a hoarse whisper. Once again, we dined like kings, enjoyed a few wines and slept well. This is becoming a habit.

The rain cleared, giving us the chance to get out and see something of the area. Jack did a terrific job of playing tour guide while Jude navigated, taking us to the head of the Richmond River to watch the swell push across the bar. It is not a place I would like to be in a boat and there have been a few boats come to grief over the years. From there, we drove up into the hills to walk around a small patch of rainforest, one of the last remaining stands. The forest was beautiful, with some really big strangler figs and a variety of hardwoods. One very common plant was known as “waitawhile”. It grew to around shoulder height and put out a fine long tendril at the top, fully armed with rows of tiny sandpaper-like teeth. If you brush against it, there is no choice. You “wait-a-while”.

Jack and Jude’s in Ballina

Our drive wove through the hills and we stopped in a small town to catch up with one of Jack and Jude’s sons and his family. With young boys in abundance, I could see Christine becoming jumpy to get home and see our own tribe. Watching Jack play all manner of crazy games with his grandsons even made me a little homesick. Still, only a week to go.

After a stop at a cute little country pub for a refreshing ale, it was back down the hills to Ballina, where we stopped at a seafood outlet to pick up a kilo of fresh local prawns. Christine spied some gorgeous scallops in the shell at a bargain $10 a kilo so we decided to have a real seafood feast. Jude and Christine had terrific fun in the kitchen creating a culinary masterpiece so once again we let the diet rest. There is going to have to be a lot more bike riding.

We left Jack and Jude the next morning and pushed on back northwards, through Ballina and on to the Gold Coast to catch up with my Aunt Rube. She is in her 80s but looks and acts much younger, as she always has. Rube lives in a park home right on the beautiful Nerang River next to Metricon Stadium, home of the Gold Coast Suns and venue for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. It was a visit to her way back in 1989 that convinced us that the park home concept is a good one and led to us buying our Kingsley park home.

As always, Rube hadn’t changed and we spent the afternoon catching up on all the news and filling her in on family matters. Then it was off over the road for a drink and meal at the golf club. It was a popular venue and very handy to Rube’s place. In four years time, this part of the Gold Coast will be really humming and Rube will be very well placed. Imagine being able to walk to the games! We may have to visit again.

The Gold Coast

The next morning, Christine and I checked out of our motel, parked the car down at the Pacific Fair shopping centre and hopped on to the new tram. The service has only just commenced, having been a few years in construction and the subject of much controversy. The line runs straight down the Gold Coast Hwy and its construction proved very disruptive to the businesses along the way, particularly those in Surfers Paradise. However, the project also included upgrades to roads, footpaths and cycle paths so the result to quite stunning. The whole length from Broadbeach through Surfers and down to Southport is now integrated and looks really great, a definite improvement. The tram is excellent, with long carriages giving plenty of room and enough stops to make it a very convenient way of moving up and down the beach areas. Of course, we used our Senior status to get cheap fares.

After wandering around Surfers and checking out the beach (too cold for swimming), we caught the tram back and took off to Brisbane for a stay of three days.

We booked the RFH on Gregory, a set of serviced apartments really well located in Spring Hill, only a kilometre from the Queen St Mall and other inner city attractions. The room is excellent value and at $99 for the location with views represents a bargain. We later found out that it is owned and run by the CWA. The car proved too high for the underground but we found outside parking. We intended on leaving it there for the stay, determined to walk and cycle where ever possible. A quick tour of the immediate vicinity, however, showed us just how hilly Brisbane can be. We might be doing a bit of pushing with the bikes. The afternoon was a lazy one, the last few days catching up with us a bit.

The weather was forecast to be fine so we planned a full day of exploring the city by bike. From the hotel, we followed the rail line down through parkland to Roma Street Station, Brisbane’s central station, and then rode through the beautiful Roma Street Gardens. Ahead was the towering skyline of downtown Brisbane, where glass and steel monsters tower over some delightful old sandstone masterpieces. We parked up the bikes in King George Square and walked for a while. The CBD has many squares, malls and open spaces, giving the city a light and airy feel. We wandered around the Queens Street Mall, so named but spreading over a couple of other streets as well.

Down in Post Office Square, an extensive produce market had been set up, only operating on Wednesdays. This has to be the best street food market we have seen anywhere. The food was mostly home baked or organically grown, with a lot of really interesting dishes on sale. We had a great time wandering from stall to stall, sampling bits and pieces. We bought a sugarless desert made with chia seeds soaked in almond milk. The chia soaks up the milk, swelling into a soft jelly-like substance reminiscent of tapioca. Dotted with blueberries and topped with ground coconut, it made a refreshing change.

We made our way back to the bikes and walked them down to the river, stopping back at the markets to tuck into a serving of paella. The paella stall had four huge pans on the go at once, cooking up different paellas. At $10 for a serve big enough to feed us both, they rightfully did a roaring trade.

The river is a real bonus when it comes to moving around, with several types of ferries always on hand. The little red City Hopper is a free ride to a few tourist stops down river, the City Ferries a fleet of tiny slow boats that connect a few inner suburbs with the CBD and the City Cats are big high speed jobs that run from the University through the city and well downstream. We rode a City Cat for a while around Kangaroo Point and under the beautiful Storey Bridge to get out at Sydney Street and wait for a return trip. We alighted at Southbank and spent a while cycling along the foreshore and doing some serious people watching. It is rather amusing to see all the people sunning themselves in bikinis and bathers on the sands of the artificial beach on Southbank. A few brave souls were swimming but the temperature wasn’t all that conducive to water based recreation. It is amazing though, that if you create a patch of white sand alongside a strip of water, people will come and remove most of their clothes then lie down. It goes without saying.

Brisbane CBD

A stop for a beer by the river cost us almost as much as the flight home, but then you tend to get that in places along any stretch of water. The ambience made up for the cost and the beer tasted great after all the walking and riding.

Our ride took us up over the Victoria Bridge back through the market so we had no choice but to stop and buy a selection of pepperonis and salamis, after sampling them all of course. Our return to the hotel largely followed the trip down, although we got a bit lost in the Roma Street Gardens. This was actually a good thing because it meant that we covered all parts of the gardens. They are arranged in differing bio-zones and we found ourselves down in the fernery area, a dark and tropical area with enormous tree ferns. Large water dragons are common in the gardens and have so little fear of humans we sometimes had to ride around them. Back in the hotel, we crashed.

Our second full day in Brisbane was similar to the first, except we left the bikes at home and did a lot of walking. The first place we explored was Fortitude Valley, which takes in China Town. “The Valley” has probably seen better times and parts looked quite run down, with many empty businesses. The China Town was a disappointment, although it might be more interesting at night or a weekend market. The huge McWhirters shopping centre was an interesting building, reflecting its past glories that used to see it as one of the major department store complexes in the city. Back in 1909, this store employed 270 people but today it looks sad and run down.

Having walked enough, we jumped on a bus to get back into the CBD. Unfortunately, it stopped at a ferry jetty along the way and when the driver turned the engine off and got out for a smoke, we figured that it was time to switch transport modes. It was back to the ferry system for us. We have had trouble getting a full handle on Brisbane’s public transport system. The ferries are easy enough but the buses remain a mystery. They have a free system around the CBD but it isn’t as simple as Perth’s CAT or as well signed. Even the ferry let us down, forcing us to change ferries after one leg of our journey so it could refuel. Still, we had plenty of time.

The lunchtime rush was in full swing in the CBD. All the walking had produced a hunger so we found a large food hall area and perused the usual fare. One stall stood out, selling a strangely named Bimbi Asian Streetfood, which turned out to be like a Turkish Kebab with Asian innards and a soft wheat based wrap. Delicious.

We managed to locate the bus that would return us up to the hotel in Spring Hill, which was a good thing because the journey was mostly up hill. Once again, we got in to the room and collapsed, a sure sign that we had done enough walking.

Tomorrow we fly home, leaving the car at the Brisbane airport. The grandchildren await.

The Great Sandy Straits

August 12, 2014 / terry

Our route through the Great Sandy Straits and return

We launched Sandpiper at Crab Creek near Tin Can Bay on Friday 1 August, the first time back on the water since Jervis Bay back in June. We did almost everything right and launched without incident, then motored our way down the tiny channel to deeper water. Tin Can Bay isn’t really a bay as such, but rather a series of deep mangrove inlets with associated creeks feeding into it. We followed the system north to overnight in a lovely spot called Pelican Bay. From here, we could see the steady parade of 4WDs lining up on the beach to cross over on the barge to Fraser Island. Beyond that lay the notorious Wide Bay Bar and the Coral Sea.

The Great Sandy Straits separate Fraser Island from the mainland. They are mostly shallow and low lying islands and mangrove thickets abound. A few deep channels travel the length of the straits and most are well marked with navigation aids. Sailing through the Great Sandy Straits is like navigating a hire car through a European city. It is a two person job, one on the tiller and the other keeping an eye on the chart and another eye out for the next mark. We had purchased a wonderful guide book published by the Queensland Government called “Beacon to Beacon” that became our bible for the ten days we were on the water. The scenery is constantly changing and the tidal races in the narrower channels are beautiful. In warmer weather, it would be a truly wonderful place, but for us, it was spoilt by the terrible weather we had to endure.

Most tourists get to see Fraser Island from the perspective of its eastern coast, a vast hard sand beach running the length of the island. Moving the length of the island is relatively easy with a 4WD. From the eastern beach, a number of tracks lead inland and criss cross the island, leading to various camping sites, beautiful fresh water lakes, rainforest pockets and abandoned logging mills. Most of the island is covered with glorious forest, once heavily logged, but now sporting an excellent coverage of regrowth. There is satinay, blackbutt, blue gum, scribbly gum, kauri pine, cyprus, banksia and many more species in abundance. Three accommodation areas have been established, each catering for different budgets. Eurong and Dili Village are on the eastern beach side of the island and Kingfisher Bay is the ritzy spot on the mainland side.

No swimming in the Coral Sea today thank you

Barge landing at Kingfisher Bay

We ended up spending a bit of time at Kingfisher Bay Resort, at least anchored off shore from it. The place is welcoming of cruising people and in the summer would provide some great relief in the form of a pool and restaurant right down near the water. Another barge operates here, coming from River Heads near Urangan, and we found the comings and goings of the cars, trucks and buses to be an entertaining spectator sport. The barge actually comes in to a jetty then drops it vehicle ramp onto a specially built ramp, half way along. The vehicles rattle their way along the jetty. The jetty also serves as a fishing platform for the resort hopefuls. We often saw a very keen fisherman, the kind that wears a jacket adorned with the logos of fishing tackle suppliers, marching back and forth across the jetty directing his three very young boys in their fishing endeavours.

Our anchorage from the Jetty Bar (where else?)

They were charged with catching his live bait and weren’t allowed to slack off at all. “You won’t catch a fish if you’re not in the water!” he admonished one boy. Christine was beside herself watching such young children be allowed to fish on the edge of a 5 metre high jetty with so little supervision.

The beautiful architecture of the resort itself.

Each day is bound around what clothing to wear, finding beanies, wet weather jackets, warm leggings etc. On a couple of occasions we got down to shorts and T-shirt, but these times were short lived, before the icy southerly started up again or the grey clouds and rain rolled in. When we had to go ashore, we dreaded having to put our feet in the water because it was so cold.

Perhaps Toyota would like to sponsor us.

From Kingfisher Bay Resort, we hired a Land Cruiser for half a day and toured parts of the island. The forests were everything that was written about them, lush, green and incredibly beautiful. On the day we went, the eastern beach was a horror place, with many lines of huge breakers crashing down and a piping cold south easterly wind making life there unpleasant. The tracks across the island are pure sand, so undulating that the imposed 30km/hr speed limit makes perfect sense. Once on the beach, the limit blows out to 60km/hr but in our case we had to keep slowing to cross the numerous freshwater runoffs caused by all the recent rain.

Beautiful rainforest near Central Station

Our favourite place was the strangely name Central Station, which I assumed to be just a ranger station, but proved to be the site of a small town and saw mill, operating in some form right up until 1992, when all logging ceased. There were a lot of very interesting displays, that showed the history of saw milling and logging on the island. The kauri pines and cyprus could be rafted out along the creeks and towed to the mainland, but the hard woods needed to be barged out. McKenzies Jetty, the ruins of which we had sailed past earlier, was built for just such a purpose.

From Central Station, there are a number of walk trails of varying length, but time was short and we had to content ourselves with a short walk along a wonderful wooden boardwalk built along the valley formed by Wanggoolba Creek. The vegetation was breath taking, with the most amazing birds-nest ferns clinging to the trunks of the towering trees and long streaming arboreal orchids in abundance. The creek itself was crystal clear, even after the heavy rain, the water having been thoroughly filtered through all the sand.

Kauri Pine regrowth, Central Sation

We had two main wildlife targets in the area. Fraser Island is famous for its dingoes. It is hardly possible to land anywhere on the island without seeing the warning signs about these savage creatures. We studied up on the drills, mentally focussing on the guidelines about keeping arms in close to the body, standing back to back, avoiding baying like a wolf and not carrying dog biscuits in your pockets. Alas, we didn’t see a dingo. Even on our trip around the island, visiting touristy areas where they are said to lie in wait, we avoided them. Once, while fishing near a beach, a lone female wandered down to check out if I’d left any bait, but because Christine didn’t see it, we can’t count it. It is now official! The Fraser Island dingoes are extinct. (Note: Two days after leaving Fraser, a man was stalked and attacked by three dingoes on one of the eastern beaches. Perhaps we were lucky not to encounter them.)

The other icon of the area is the Hervey Bay Humpback Whale. Ever since I first saw a documentary of Mimi McPherson, that lesser known sister of Elle, running whale watching tours in Hervey Bay, I wanted to come here. The hype is huge, the pictures glorious, the tourist potential unlimited. However, we didn’t see a whale. We sailed into Hervey Bay. Christine had listened to the latest radio whale report and we sailed right through the area where they were reported to be hanging out but they must have decided that a meeting with Sandpiper was not to be. Unfortunately, the weather conditions meant that we couldn’t give them a second chance so the humpbacks of Hervey Bay are also declared extinct.

Garry’s Anchorage. Our little floating salad garden is getting some sunshine.

We enjoyed some lovely anchorages, notably the popular Garry’s Anchorage, which is in a narrow channel between Fraser Island and Stewart Island. Weather conditions kept us in this lovely spot for a few days. The collection of 6 or 7 boats in the anchorage would have accounted for quite a few million dollars, of which our contribution was minimal. The size and number of luxury boats in the this part of the World is amazing. Catamarans are particularly common, mostly ranging between 9 and 12 meters. At times, while sailing through the straits, we could see five or six vessels doing what we were. I can’t imagine how busy it gets in peak times.

Deep Creek, Ungowa

Another beautiful anchorage was at a place called Ungowa, once the site of a milling and sand exporting port. A number of wrecks lies on the beac or up Deep Creek, one being the Ceratondus, a sand carrying barge.

The Great Sandy Straits are excellent cruising waters, with plenty of safe anchorages, scenery to die for, excellent fishing and lots of wild life. I can see that crowds could be a definite problem but then that it happening everywhere these days. The area certainly deserves its World Heritage status.

Christine's 60th at Mooloolaba Beach Caravan Park

Relocating to Somewhere Warmer

August 2, 2014 / terry

We flew back into Sydney from Perth and drove through the early evening and night south to Shellharbour, where we had left Sandpiper. The drive was a worry because I didn’t really know how the idea of driving on an unlit four lane highway through mountains would go at night. How would the visibility be? How much high beam can one use? Fortunately, the traffic was heavy enough that we always had the lights of other cars in range so we could see the twisting winding road ahead.

At Shellharbour, we set up the little tent and plugged in the $14 electric heater to ward off the worst of the freezing cold. Then we hit the local for dinner and filled up on carbs in a big way before heading home and crawling into bed.

The boat had been well looked after in a storage at Albion Park Rail and we had few issues hitching up and heading north, back through Sydney. The drive was reasonable easy, with only one false exit from the motorway (good for us) and relatively few nasty traffic filled roads. Crossing the harbour was a big step, moving us on into a different part of the World and a different stage of our journey.

The beautiful Lane Cove River Tourist Park

We pushed on through the city to Lane Cove River Tourist Park. What a wonderful place, a small patch of wilderness eating into the hustle and bustle of north shore Sydney.The Lane Cove River is a lovely little waterway nestled in a beautiful forest filled with tall eucalypts and huge tree ferns. There are numerous well defined walk trails and lots of signage to educate the ignorant on the many things to see and experience. We had a ball, marvelling at the many bush turkeys wandering around, the huge brush tailed possum that came aboard for a visit and the rainbow lorikeets that will happily sit on your hands or head.

Our purpose for stopping in Sydney was to pick up our auto pilot, which had been repaired at the Raymarine headquarters in French’s Forest. Having navigated our way there and picked up the repaired equipment, we pushed on to the beach at Dee Why, a charming place, packed to the hilt with coffee clubs and restaurants. We treated ourselves to yet another hit of carbs that we didn’t need and made solemn promises about increasing the exercise regime.

We loved the huge tree ferns on the river walk.

From Sydney, we made a 100km dash north through Kuring-Gai. Here the M1 acts like a giant roller coaster, with enormous climbs from the river and creek crossings to the equally scary long sweeping drops down to the next valley. We were very glad that we had the big V8 diesel to give us the oomph we needed to tow Sandpiper on this leg. Our target was Newcastle, full-filling a long held promise to drop in on some friends from Kalumburu days. David and Coral are a part of our good times in Kalumburu and we looked forward to catching up with them. We chose to stay in Stockton, over the Hunter River from the Newcastle CBD, which was easily accessible by a regular ferry service.

Newcastle is the World’s busiest coal port.

Our friends picked us up at the ferry terminal and gave us an afternoon’s “Cook’s Tour” of Newcastle, along with the obligatory stop for a beer on the beachfront. I must say, David was very successful in selling Newcastle, and dispelling my pre-conceived image of an industrial city of little merit. The “new” Newcastle is a place well worth visiting in its own right, with some incredible beach vistas, some beautiful old street-scapes and plenty of interesting eateries. It is not just all about the Hunter Valley. Newcastle is worth a visit.

The cute little ferry makes a regular crossing from Newcastle to Stockton.

Newcastle boasts some beautiful old street scapes.

It was so good to catch up with two very genuine people and it was with regret that we left the next morning and continued north, seeking warmer climes. The idea was to drive until we could see people swimming without wetsuits, and by the Sunshine Coast, at Mooloolaba, we found the spot.

Besides the warmth, the other reason for stopping along the Sunshine Coast was to catch up with some other great friends from Project Vietnam. PVI is largely a Sunshine Coast organisation, with a few other members scattered around the country. The members come from the surrounding areas of Mooloolaba, Maroochydore, Noosa, Caloundra, Paloma and many other spots along this beautiful stretch of coastline. The Sunshine Coast is like the Gold Coast on a “chill pill”. The towers are smaller and less numerous, the pace is slower, the people on the street are less scary. The Gold Coast reminds me of the 51^st state of the USA. The Sunshine Coast is definitely Oz.

The beach front at Mooloolaba

Within minutes of posting our arrival on Facebook, the phone calls came in and we arranged some meets with some terrific contacts from PVI. The next few days were hectic, what with catching up with friends, riding our bikes along the beach front, sampling the many culinary delights of the area and chatting to all the fellow grey nomads in the Mooloolaba Beach Caravan Park. We seemed to be a bit of magnet for fellow yachties, although Christine did point out that all the people stopping to chat for long periods were male. The place had to be a tight community, because the whole caravan park was designed for the 14 and 15 foot caravans of the 1970s and not the 25 foot monsters of today. Every day, there was a cooperative effort to get someone in or out of a spot, with cars shuffling, lots of directing and much discussion about the old days. Throughout all the chaos, we managed to maintain our self belief that we were among the young ones on the plot. Some day that belief may falter.

Our PVI friend Glen, had invited us out for a very casual Wednesday yacht race with the Mooloolaba Yacht Club on a friend’s 39 foot Contessa named Shiraz. With Christine aboard a yacht called Shiraz, we were certain to win, as we did, beating the other four boats on the day. We ended up with a crew of six, so no one was over taxed on the day and we all enjoyed a lovely sail around the island and back into the harbour. On the downwind leg, Glen somehow produced a birthday cake to celebrate Christine’s 60^th. What a wonderful birthday! The prize for winning was a bottle of Bundy, but since we aren’t rum lovers, Christine declined the prize, leaving Glenn well pleased. We added to his cheers with a bottle of Ord River Rum that we had been carrying around unopened since a visit to Kununurra in 2010.

After a couple of beers at The Wharf, we crawled our way home across the road to the caravan park, to hit the traditional “5sies” with Glen and Jan from Tassie, who were camped next to us. They were another couple of sensibly retired teachers and full of great yarns. Somehow, we still managed to drag our way out to enjoy a birthday meal of fish and chips at the Wharf before collapsing in bed.

The next morning, we packed and pulled out of Mooloolaba and headed north along the Bruce Highway to Tin Can Bay. The name of the place intrigued me. A special message in an old can? The last survivor’s meal? No! The place was known in indigenous term as Tincanbar, and it somehow got translated very badly. You get that. Tin Can Bay for us was to be the gateway to the Great Sandy Straits, the wonderful stretch of water that separates Fraser Island from the mainland. Fraser Island is the World’s largest sand island, and an absolute must see destination in itself. We can’t wait to get back on the water and explore the riches that await.

Category: Australia (Page 3 of 8)

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Relocating to Somewhere Warmer

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