Saturday 3rd May
We had a bit of a bumpy night and morning.
We got some school and work done, before deciding we’d move on rather than head into the beach down here.
We had planned to head to Wathumba Creek as we’d heard good things about it.
Half way there we saw 5 of other yachts at Arch Cliffs, and it looked calm and very pleasant, so we went in and dropped anchor.
We’d only been there half an hour or so when there was some commotion on the beach. It looked like someone was being carried up the beach from a tender.
Not long after the Rescue Helicopter turned up and landed on the beach.
They were there for a while before taking the person back with them.
We had felt it wasn’t right to head to the beach while that was going on, so after the helicopter left we went in for a swim.
We met another couple who were also on the beach: Viv and Russell. They are sailing on a 45ft Jeanneau ‘Bella Amalfi’.
It turns out it was them in their tender that had gone to assist the charter boat and picked up the victim (luckily Viv is a nurse!): a 14hr old girl had an arm and left chopped up badly by the prop from the tender the family were using on their charter boat.
The girl was air lifted to Hervey Bay hospital and had surgery that night.
We invited ourselves to sunset drinks on the beach before they took off.
We enjoyed a nice afternoon on the beach.
There were dingo tracks on the beach:
There’s a freshwater creek to play in, and up the end where the campers were is a rope swing for some fun!
Back to Lazuli to get dry and ready for drinks/nibbles on the beach.
Russ and Viv came over on their tender to tell us there were heading in to the beach.
One of the other boats came over as well to say hi on the way in: Nic and Kenny and their 9yr old daughter Charlie (on a cat ‘Exhale’).
We all went into the beach. Our dip and biscuits couldn’t match the platter Viv produced! The girls had fun playing with Charlie.
We also met George and Smiley who were on a cat and based in Tin Can Bay.
Back to Lazuli in the dark and cooked dinner.
Sunday 4th
Woke up to a rainy morning.
I tried to fix the watermaker. The end of one of the high pressure housings had blown off so I attempted to pull the entire thing out.
Bit of a mess. I got it back in, but no luck as I couldn’t get the pressure above 300psi, and only saltwater was coming out the sample pipe :(
Kenny dropped Charlie over to play with the girls. As I’d pulled downstairs apart, they played upstairs making loom bands.
Lunch then into the beach.
Kenny had pumped up their tube and the girls were super excited to have a go of that. With only a 8hp outboard, it was one kid at a time only!
Bit more of a swim, then up to the rope swing for some more swinging.
Was too wet for sunset drinks on the beach :(
Monday 5th
Labour Day - so no school or work!
We got ready to head into the beach to meet Charlie. A new cat (Nauti Kitty) had turned up so went over to say hi to them.
We had a chat and mentioned we were planning to head into Bundy for supplies as we would soon be out of meat.
They generously offered some of their fresh tuna if we wanted some. Yes please!
It started raining, so we took ourselves and the bag of loot (tuna) back to the fridge.
We’d told Kenny and Nic that’d we’d got tuna, and he suggested (insisted?) that we bring the tuna to their boat and he’d happily make sushi/sashimi for all!
Yes please!
Rain eventually cleared so we got to the beach. We walked up the sandhill and flew our kites from the top.
With the SE winds, up the top was the best/only spot to fly with good wind.
Pete from Nauti Kitty came in with his two boys (7 & 9).
The kids spend ages playing in the creek with the coffee rock.
Back to Lazuli to get ready for lunch. We took our swim mat over as well.
Kenny had whipped up the best sushi I’d ever had. Fresh tuna sashimi as well. Amazing.
Emma smashed the tuna as much as the adults did!
The kids then enjoyed jumping off their boat and playing on the swim mat.
Back to the boat for only a little time before we were back on the beach with everyone for Sips ‘n dips.
Fun times on the beach with everyone, with a lovely sunset over Lazuli.
Kenny got his drone out, and we all gathered for a group photo.
Another late night back to Lazuli for dinner.
Tuesday 6th
Kristie went for a SUP down the fresh water creek.
With our dinner supplies dwindling we had to make firm plans for what we were doing next.
Our fridge had been struggling with the low voltage (with a few days of rain), so we were looking at options to get it fixed.
Our built-in freeze hadn’t been working well since ever and we’d been using dads 40L Engel as a freezer; but if we have guests we’ll be short of space.
I had no luck getting anyone able to look at it in Bundy, but Gladstone was an option.
We had two days of good weather for sailing, so we could manage it.
I booked us into the Marina at Gladstone on Friday, and then booked Bundy for one night on Wednesday; we’d have to anchor overnight somewhere up that way on Thursday.
We then got the invite (via the Party Chanel - VHF #69) to come on over to Nauti Kitty for more sushi/sashimi.
Yes please!
We also took our mat across for lunch, and the 5 kids spent ages jumping off the cat and swimming.
They also spent ages jumping off the front, and then swimming underneath the cat to the back steps/swim mat.
Quick lunch then back to Lazuli for me to work and also confirm our plans and arrange trade visits.
I dropped Kristie and the kids into the beach and they spent ages there.
A dingo had been walking up and down the beach all afternoon.
As soon as Kenny and left to go back to his boat (Jess came in) the dingo started approaching the group and bailing them up and following them into the water.
Kenny jumped on the radio and Russ, Pete, and myself all sped in on tenders to rescue the women and kids.
Pete and Kristie went back into the beach armed with paddles to get the beach toys that had been left when the dingo turned up.
With a big sail tomorrow, everyone (including us) was getting their boats ready and there was no beach gathering.
Wednesday 7th
We had set alarms to get ready for a 6:30am start (as that’s what Kenny and Russ had talked about the day before).
We got up on deck at about 6am to see ‘Exhale’ already off, and ‘Bella Amalfi’ pulling up their anchor.
Without rushing too much we got going and were off at 6:30.
We motored out to the wind and set sail. They waited for us to catch up a bit which was great.
‘Exhale’ was going along nicely until the halyard detached from their main, so they had to take that down and motor on with just the headsail.
Kenny was the first to catch a fish, and then Russ not long after. We got nothing.
We eventually caught up and continued on past them both to head into the marina only a few minutes in front of them.
We got to our berth easily enough with a help from the marina staff. Help catching lines is always appreciated.
As soon as we got our boat tied up we walked down to catch lines for Russ and Viv.
I checked in and paid for the night.
Heading back to our boat we saw Kenny who had discovered they were in the wrong ‘blue’ arm of the marina and had to move. Russ and I went over to catch lines in their new spot.
Kristie called up the IGA who offer a service to come pick you up from the marina and take you back to the IGA, then back to the marina when you’re done. Handy!
I bought some bait with the hope of fishing when we got done tomorrow.
Charlie came over and the girls got stuck into the box of lego.
We got cleaned up met the others at 6pm to walk into Burnett Heads to go the pub for dinner.
It was about a 20min walk. The kids all had fun together, and the adult end of the table had a good laugh and feed.
We talked the publican into getting the courtesy bus going and dropping us all back to the marina. Handy!
The girls (mostly Charlie) proceeded to incriminate themselves in front of the driver in how they could hit the side of the chocolate-money-wasting-machine and get more chocolate out of it.
Said our goodbyes and got ready for the sail tomorrow.
Thursday 8th
With a big day today we were up at 5am for a 6am departure.
We had about 80nm to do to get up towards Pancake Creek or Rodds Bay.
Nauti Kitty followed us out of the river, aiming for the same area. A few other boats left not long after.
The day started with ~10knt SW winds, so good fast reaching and minimal swell/waves.
Eventually the wind swung around to the SE and matched the swell. Downwind sailing is not much fun. Lots of concentration.
I prefer to sail without autopilot when going dead downwind. Hard work but the autopilot can be a little slow to reach to going down waves.
We finally dropped anchor about 4:30pm down at Seven Mile Creek. A good calm anchorage with only one other boat there.
I didn’t have time for fishing before dinner as we’d sat down for a drink to relax after the big day.
With dinner done and the girls in bed I got the fishing gear out. I only had some frozen squid but that’d have to do.
Lots of small nibbles but couldn’t ever land them.
With time about to be done, I put two squid on and a bigger hook, and it wasn’t long before I had a big bite and definitely landed something.
I broke my rod getting it in, and it managed to splatter a bit of blood around the place. A quick photo then back into the water it went.
Then time to clean up and get to bed.
Friday 9th
Another early start, departing at 6am. We had about 4.5hrs to get to the marina.
We put out the headsail and just ran with that for a time before the motor went on (the sail stayed up) to help with going against 2+knts of tide.
Checked into Gladstone VTS (VHF #13) and proceeded into the harbour.
Got into the marina around 11am. Kristie did a few laps while I got lines and fenders ready.
There were two marina staff ready to catch lines, and with a big gap between our marina arm and the other it was an easy approach.
Kristie checked in while I got the boat sorted (shore power, sail bags zipped up, etc).
We had the technician for the fridge turn up and had a look at things. I’ve ordered two new Dometic units to replace the ones on the boat.
He disconnected the freezer one, and it had no gas in it (probably explains why it wasn’t working!).
Kristie had walked off to go do a small shop (bread). She got back just as the girls and I were on the way back to Lazuli after showering.
Amazing facilities at the Gladstone Marina - the best we’ve been to so far on our trip.
We had collected Emma’s new mermaid tail from the marina office - mum had posted it up to us at the marina.
Streak for dinner.
We’ll be here for a week, waiting out the strong winds, but more importantly doing boat jobs (and work!).