Report Number 13

Saturday, and off to a leisurely start at around 8.30 on our way up the inland passage - a delta of three rivers that has a variety of streams and channels, some deep and some which have patches of ground between one part and another (watch out, Warwick!!). It is a navigator's dream - always something happening and navigation markers all over the place. We had a range of maps and managed to complete the maze without incident, which we felt was quite an achievement because a number of people including experienced boaties had told us they had run aground in this passage. Came out the end of the passage into Moreton Bay and the weather started to take a turn for the worse, with winds and waves increasing fairly rapidly. We had planned to stop in Raby Bay at the top end of the bay on the Eastern side, however the weather sort of made it look as though sheltering in the lee of a nearby island might be a better idea, so we anchored on the Southern side of Peel Island. Had been noticing a strange noise when the wind was blowinng over the previous couple of days, but had been unable to identify the source until we arrived at Peel Island and found the bimini (the upstairs roof thing) had collapsed. One of the support bolts had come loose and sheared off (Graham, let our mate who makes the world's best biminis know, would you?) and it took all our strength and a bit of lateral thinking to get it back up having taken fittings off and removed broken bolt and found a replacement. Slept well that night as we were well protected from both wind and waves, then went ashore to have a look at this wildlife sanctuary which is a natural habitat for platypus, dugong and turtle. We saw one turtle swimming in the very clear water off the beach. Warwick replaced the stop switch on the dinghy which makes using it much more pleasant. Forecast was for 25 knot (50 Km/hr) winds, so we stayed put. During the day the wind shifted around to the West and we lost some of our protection giving us a pretty unpleqasant night, although we did have the best TV reception since we left and watched ABC news and the Rugby.

Monday dawned sunny but cold. Anchor up at 8.25 and on our way through Moreton Bay after tho dolphins came by to say Hi! as we raised the dinghy. Water choppy and it and wind coming from the side, making it unpleasant. Changed course to go with the elements until close to shore and then resumed Northerly travel in the more protected inshore waters. Had a close view of a freighter as we passed the entranced to Brisbane River - it looked pretty big from where we were! Had a bit of excitement crossing Deception Bay when the depth finder suddenly went into rapid decline. Avoided going aground by turning around quickly and heading back then around the shallow part clearly marked on the map I was supposedly using, and on to anchor at Bongaree at the Southern end of Bribie Island (remember this last bit - it is important later!).

Only stayed overnight in Bongaree (made a quick trip to the shops on Monday) then Tuesday morning at 6.45 we set off again. Picked up a bit of a Northerly current and hurtled along at 7.1 Knots (around 14 Km/hr) instead of our usually sedate 6 knots. Water calm but cold wind as we went past the rather dull scenery on Bribie - just uniform height low trees growing in flat ground. Things got a bit more exciting off Caloundra when a large freighter came up behind us and we had to struggle to get out of its way - bit frightenoing, but got some great photos! Jeez, they're BIG!. On way to Mooloolaba waves and wind started to increase, but from South so helped us on our way. Forecast for next two days is pretty bad with 3 to 4 metre swell and high winds so we were pleased to get around Pt Cartwright and into Mooloolaba and anchored in the river. (Now the REALLY interesting bits start!) We weren't happy with the anchor so moved, and then moved further up the river to a better looking spot. Had just put the anchor down for the third time when who should appear in their dinghy but Alan and Trish! As we passed time of day Alan asked whether it was us they had seen doing strange things South of Bribie yesterday. So, I had to admit to the guru that I had made a serious navigation mistake. Why is there always someone looking when we do something silly? We hadn't noticed their boat at all, they were so far away. Anyway, clouds cleared and late afternoon sun made the houses beside the river look very Mediterranean with lots of white and blue trim. NOW - WAIT FOR IT - a local tourist ferry came past and the driver leant out and enquired whether Jess was "one of Col Kliese's boats" and when we said it was, he said - drum roll - "I thought so, I built it"!! We arranged to meet with him "sometime on Thursday".

Wednesday turned out to be fine but with an increasing strength cold wind. We went ashore (which wasn't easy - they are pretty unfriendly about dinghy parking here) - did chores and looked around, including taking a ferry trip (different ferry) along the river. Had lunch at Hog's Breath and called on Trish and Alan to invite them to dinner because it was a special day for Warwick. Had an absolutely magic dinner at "See" restaurant (thanks, Darrel, for the wine) and spoke to brother Darrel, daughter Belinda and niece Carolyne by phone. Would have spoken to several others, but I hadn't told them of my changed phone number!!

Thursday we goofed off until 3.30 when Wayne Garnham came and talked about the building of Jess. She was built at Kliese's boatyard at Toorbul, just near Bongaree on Bribie Island (see, I told you to remember this bit!). I had some original paperwork and we were able to identify the boat accurately. Wayne rang Col Kliese and told him he was on Max Harvey's old boat built around 1978, and that we wanted to come and see him to see about having some work done, to which he responded "I hope it isn't a warranty claim!". Wayne then spoke to Col's wife Jean and when he said he was on Max's old boat, she said "Oh, Pisces!" which was Jess' original name. What memories!! We now have the name of the current owner of the slipway together with some great names to drop and all their phone numbers. Have since spoken to them about having Jess' hull looked at and possibly about three quarters of it replaced and at this stage have booked her in for 4th August for a couple of weeks surgery.

Friday and Saturday were cold and miserable with some rain. We went to look at a boat for sale - a Pacific 40 (page 341, George) just for fun, and found that Jess suits us just fine. Then we went by bus to Caloundra and back to Maroochydore, just as tourists. Trish had left to spend a week in Sydney so we invited Alan for dinner and Karen turned on a seafood feast followed by a smorgasbord of chocolates and accompanied by some nice red wine. Very pleasant (and late) night!!

Sunday and Monday the forecasts were still dismal so we goofed off doing odd maintenance jobs, reading and doing some splicing (I'm improving!!)

Tuesday the earlier forecasts had indicated that it could be OK, but the one at 6am was not encouraging, so again it was a day of odd jobs and goofing off while the drizzly rain came and went all day. Forecasts for next few days are not at all good with largish swells from the East - right into the side of us as we travel North - so we will just wait. Alan left today and rang us to say that the swell was "diabolical" - not dangerous, just very, very uncomfotable.

Hope everybody is fit, well and happy,

Love from Karen and Warwick

Report Number 12

Trip Report #12

Tweed Heads - 75 minute from Sydney by air!!!!! - Took us 5 weeks! Onward and upward! QUEENSLAND - but more of that later, its just that we saw it as we came into Tweed Heads which made us realise that we were a long way from home (unless we fly) Weather is noticeably warmer but still a cool breeze which is great when we get hot from walking. Talking of which, we set out to walk to nearby shopping centre by following a tourist map. Map was seriously misleading and two roads which were shown starting from the edge of the river and leading directly to the shopping area actually didn't exist! However, intrepid travellers that we are we took bearings and set out through the virgin grass on the golf course.Found that it was surrounded on all other sides by 2 metre fence topped with barbed wire. Asked various golfers for directions but found that they had no more idea than we did. Eventually reached the shopping centre where we had coffee. Also talked to a travel agent because Karen had heard that her mother was again very unwell and so wanted to fly back to see her. Back to Jess having walked for about 2 hours where we goofed off until State of Origin at night (wish we hadn't!).

Thursday dawned sunny with light breeze and Karen left for Coolangatta to fly back to her mum until Saturday. I went on sight-seeing/fact-finding trip in the dinghy and found a much more convenient shopping centre with wonderful dinghy parking at a jetty about the same distance from the shops as a car park.

Friday started well enough - got my chores done but then started to do some maintence but nothing I tried worked and after about 2 hours I had achieved absoloutely nothing (all right, smarties! Enough of that "So what's new?").Water getting low in Jess (drinking, not salt!), so I set out to locate fuel and water points. Found that they are pretty scarce in the Tweed area, but did find one which looked easily accessible in Jess. On the way back, I went a bit close to some shallow oyster covered rocks and managed to break the shear pin (propellor stops working) and cut a hole in the dinghy. Things then started to go bad and after a series of frustrations everything was fixed and working again, but once again, I hadn't achieved much (Oh! Maybe you smarties were right after all!).

Saturday again fine and sunny - I decide to be Mr. Perfect and take all the dirties to the laundromat. Went to wonderful jetty - it was 20 metres from the water! Dragged the dinghy close enough to tie it up, and set off knowing that the tide would come in while I was at the laundromat. WRONG! Tide was in fact going out when I arrived, so I sat for two hours watching the tide come in before I could get near the dingy. (Smarties - you were definitely right!!) Tangled with a large bunch of speed boats all coming in to the little cove I had moored in as they were involved in some sort of a club event. Survived that, but on the way home I broke the makeshift shear pin I had used yesterday and had to row a long way back where I again fixed the shear pin and set off to pick Karen up as it was now 4.30! Well. at least I got the washing done!

Karen reported that her mother was not in a good way at all, but did seem to be a bit better than when she arrived there. Dementia is a terrible disease, especially for the carers. Karen feels she may need to visit every 3 or 4 weeks from now on.

Sunday we leapt out of bed early to use the high tide to take Jess for a big drink and to have a good look at the river in and around Tweed Heads. It is a very pretty sight, and is used a lot more than the Clarence. When we are anchored a continuous stream of boats of all shapes and sizes go past. Checked weather forecast at night and decided to go to Southport tomorrow. Karen does most of the planning, based on Alan's book and her other reading of tourist and marine information. I just work out times and she then decides which is the best move.

Monday engine start at 0638 and off across the bar and on our way. Problem today is that it is only a very short trip, and having got the tide right to leave Tweed, it was going to be totally wrong to arrive at the Gold Coast entrance. We drove very slowly staying in close to all the well known beaches between Coolangatta and Surfers Paradise. Had a great trip, but swell started to come in a bit high so we decided not to go past the entrance and up the coast a bit which we had thought of doing because we aren't going this way when we next move on - we are going up an inland passage to Moreton Bay. So we took the risk (after talking to the Volunteer Marine Rescue people) and came into Southport. WELL!! Talk about traffic! At the end of the entrance channel there is a "T" intersection and there were boats flying along creating huge wakes, a big old slow boat and several guys on jet skis searching for the highest wake waves. Now we are used to having huge areas of water for ourselves and this was a bit of a rude awakening! Of course, we handled the whole situation beautifully and proceded to our target anchorage spot in an area just behind SeaWorld Nara Resort. We relaxed for a while, and then went ashore to enquire about public transport for tomorrow. Stopped in at the resort and got our info from the concierge then decided to sit in a lovely bar area and have a quiet drink. It was certainly quiet, and why wouldn't it be? A bottle of Heineken cost $7.70 (about what I usually pay for a six-pack!! Well, nearly, but you get the idea! Rang grandaughter Ashlee in NZ for her birthday, then watched a video. Gee, its a rough life!

And it started getting even rougher on Tuesday when we caught a bus to the Southport CBD where we shopped a bit (boat bits - shear pins!! and other stuff which we had to order for Thursday delivery) and also DVDs including "Blazing Saddles", and a pair of wood mounted 240 volt lights to replace the two bare bulbs we have been using for a couple of months. Watched "Blazing Saddles" because there is no TV reception where we are anchored.

Wednesday morning bright and sunny, so off to do the tourist thing and visit SeaWorld. Gave the rides a miss but saw the dolphins (extraordinary) and sharks, water skiers, seals, 3D movie, aquarium, etc. Staggered back to Jess very tired. Planning to shop and do a few jobs tomorrow and leave for Moreton Bay on Friday.

Thursday got some jobs done but not enough to let us leave on Friday. While Karen was at Broadbeach buying some beaut new gear (thanks,Debbie, for the recommendation) and I was working on some jobs, a large trimaran dragging it's anchor drifted past. I rang VMR but they didn't do anything before the owners returned and got on board just when it was about to hit the boat behind it. Too much excitement! I then went to pick up the boat bits and when I got back we went to buy petrol for the generator, which we did but also saw a DeFever (one of our favourite brands of boat) for sale, so detoured and had a good look at both a 39 and 50 foot. Very nice, but not a lot more living area than the old Jess - just a teeny bit more classy!!

Friday, didn't leave, it rained on and off all day so caught up on maintenance and improvements (got rid of exposed bare light bulbs!). Will look at weather tonight on the internet and decide what to do then. Meanwhile, to all the club members, have a great dinner tonight - we will be thinking of you, however I'm looking forward to Karen's roast veal dinner which right now is smelling fantastic! She has been doing all the cooking, and seems to be really enjoying it.

Love

Karen and Warwick

Report Number 11

unday 2nd we finally and reluctantly left the Clarance River, Yamba and Iluka. We have really enjoyed this part of our trip. The Clarence River is so wide and deep and has almost no boats on it, it's amazing. Iluka was tremendous - lots of walks through the largest remnant of littoral (I think that means it has been spell checked!)rainforest in NSW - part of Iluka Nature Reserve in Bunjalung National Park, informal lunch at the pub, etc. Alan and Trish Lucas were there and Rod and Jane (the folk we were next to at Coffs) were also there so the 6 of us spent a fair bit of time together. While in Iluka, Warwick changed Jess's oil and fuel filter, but other than that it was all relaxation and fun, though Warwick says that the oil change debacle was a long way from "fun". It seems that the equipment he has is not quite adequate, so he didn't get all the oil out. Then he didn't have an oil filter spanner, so hasn't changed it yet. And, on top of all the frustration around this, he discovered a continuous fuel leak which he tried to fix. One of those "15 minute" jobs which took a total of 6 hours!! However, all is now well with Jess' heart. We tried to get someone to do the work, but no-one wanted the money, all the fishermen on the trawlers do their own and are not interested in doing other people's. Through the guru, we had a contact name at the Iluka Chandlery but we didn't know where it was so rang up to find out: "Hello, is that the Iluka Chandlery?", "Yes", "Where are you?", "I'm in the Iluka Chandlery!". That was our introduction to Allan, who was very helpful once you managed to accept his very strong sense of humour. He did intrduce us to Graham Duff, a trawler owner/shipwight who came out to Jess and answered our questions about water leakage ("nothing to worry about - all the trawler owners would love to have as little water getting in as you have"). Very nice, helpful, patient, thorough guy who seemed to know what he was talking about. After Graham left we just goofed off, though Warwick did some work on fuel consumption figures and it seems Jess uses an average of 7.35 litres per hour. This is equivalent to about 60 litres per 100 kilometres, which sounds a lot, but that is for our fares and accommodation and amounts to around $40 per day for the two of us ($20 each) for the 41 days we have been travelling which we think is very reasonable.

So, this morning we left at about 8.00am and headed for Evans Head. The weather and seas were great so we had a very pleasant and short trip. Evans River is VERY shallow and we ran aground twice while trying to find a place to anchor (and we only went about 500 metres!). Eventually found a spot and put the anchor down. The water was so clear we could see the anchor and chain! However, once again our estimated time of arrival was way out, so Warwick set about refining our method of estimating travel time and we hope it will be more accurate in future. Had a bit of a look around the town - it has a fair range of shops all close together, and lots of open public space with good paths through well kept grass areas and good picnic facilities. Had planned to leave early Monday morning, but decided against that when we saw the nature of the sand bar. So we did a little bit of food shopping and prepared to leave at midday for Byron Bay.

Monday we had a charmed trip to Byron Bay with a gentle following sea and wind. We drove from upstairs for a while - something we only do when the boat is very steady, and which we have only had a couple of chances to do since we left. We get a good view from up there, and the engine noise is much less, so it is a terrific experience. Our time estimate was much better, and we arrived and anchored in Byron Bay in the fading light accompanied by lightning all around which was beautiful. It had a slight down side, though, because the lightning had put the local Coast Guard radios out and we couldn't contact them to let them know we had arrived. This is vital because otherwise an alarm could be raised, so we found their phone number and rang them. Had a great night's sleep - our first anchored in open waters, and planned to leave Tuesday morning at around 8 for a 5 and a half hour trip to Tweed Heads. Had an extremely rough trip up to the Tweed - waves over the windscreen and much rolling - but arrived safely (saw Queensland!!!) and anchored in the Tweed River directly behind the Fingal Head lighthouse at about 1.30pm. Want to stay around this area for a few days and do some "tourist things" and not go out again until the elements are a LOT more friendly!.

Cheers

Karen & Warwick