Saturday 6th September - Fitzroy Island

Heading into Cairns today. There’s a bit of wind and rain coming, and we have a bunch of jobs to get done.

With the wind already picking up, I rigged the main with #2 reef before we set off.

Dropped the mooring and motored out into the wind, already getting quite fresh!

Hoisted the main and left the headsails furled up. The wind was SSE, so more or less dead downwind from Fitzroy to the headland just to the north of us.
With the main fully out we were getting some good speed down the waves, hitting 10knts a couple of times.

Once we got around the corner the wind was more on the beam and easier.
Easier until it picked up and we were getting 20-25 with gusts closer to 30!
Dropped the main just before the shipping channel and then motored up to the marina.

We had been given our allocated mooring earlier in the day, but we called back and asked if they had a “blow on” berth, as getting in was going to be tricky in this wind!
Thankfully they could swap us.

Stuart and Sanne (Vanetta) walked down helped Shawn (Ports/marina guy) catch our lines.
With three on the dock we had a relatively stress-free time.

Shawn was very helpful and checked us in as well. The Marina office is quite a walk from where we were and not that well located for regular visits.

ROAM1 was at the end of E arm, just 3 boats down from us. Peter came over to say hi as we were pulling in.

The girls invited Teagan for a quick tour of our boat, then she invited them back to theirs (Leopard 46!).
We left them there and went to the Post office and Woolies. We had 5 packages to pick up that we’d sent to the PO ahead of us.

Did Woolies and picked up a hot chook for lunch.

Enjoyed the showers and other usual boat jobs: laundry and rubbish. We had been warned by Sanne that the bottom-right dryer doesn’t work… turns out the top-right doesn’t work either.
Had to hang up our cloths when we got back to the boat.

Filled up our water.

With the plan to leave Cairns and head away to Lizard for an extended time we needed a big shop. So time for a bit of a stocktake and put together a LARGE Woolies order
(e.g. 1 month worth of long life milk!)

Quick dinner, and then we headed out to the Cairns Festival. Teagan came over for a visit just as we were starting to get ready, so we invited her to come with us.
We had fun with the whale puppet, bubbles, and a laser/light show at the lagoon.

The Whale by the “Spare Parts Puppet Theatre” is a 15m puppet travelling around Australia.

We then moved on to the bubbles, which was a bit like a DJ set with two guys that mixed bubbles instead of tunes.

Everyone had turns interacting with the bubbles and the people making them.

They closed the Lagoon for a light show. At the end they had fish lights displayed on the water.

The main walk way up to the marina was full of lights, lasers, and smoke. And a lot of people.

Stopped back at the whale for more fun again.

Walked down the light tunnel, and back to the whale.

Kristina’s recount about the Cairns Festival

When we were in Cairns we got to go to the Cairns Festival.
Earlier in the day we motored from Fitzroy Island so we could be sheltered from the upcoming swell and wind.
We got Lazuli tied up to the Marina at about 10am and met another boat with a kid my age.
Her name is Teagan. We invited Teagan to join us for the evening.

Our first stop was at the giant whale puppet. It was the size of a real life whale, with different strings that you could pull on to make the body parts move.
We all lined up for different parts, some of them being little animals on the side.

After we had finished there we moved on to the bubbles which were just up the road.
At first not much happened but soon enough two men in creepy costumes came over to get the party started.
There were several machines producing bubbles in all shapes and sizes.
Another one was making a bit of fog which kept on floating up.
Emma, Teagan and I made our way to the front of the crowd so we could get some bubbles on our heads.

The music was loud and funky but that definitely matched the vibe.
The two men made a bubble mix that ended up being a mix between foam and suds.
After getting that dumped on our heads, we decided it was time to go clean our hands.
We got them clean, but we still don’t have the bubbles out of our hair.

Emma’s recount about the Cairns Festival

We sailed to Cairns just in time for the Cairns Festival and to meet a new friend, Teagan!
Teagan’s parents wouldn’t go, so we took Teagan with us.
Soon we were at the bubble station where some creepy looking people (in costumes) made lots of different bubbles!
There were lots of bubbles everywhere, they even put some on our heads!

After the bubbles we walked over to the lagoon for the laser light show.
Teagan had already seen a tiny bit, but she still sat with us through it all.
Each section was five minutes long with pictures and music.
We couldn’t touch the water otherwise we could get an electric shock.
It was really beautiful and long but most people left at the end.
They didn’t know about the fish lights!
Luckily Teagan knew about the fish so we stayed next to the water, waiting for the fish.
The fish were so cute!
They swam away from us and tried to act like real fish.
The fish looked just like nemo, orange, white, and bigger than my foot!
Eventually the others got bored and wanted to go to the whale puppet.

The whale puppet is basically just a life sized puppet, we could pull on some strings to make the whale move!
It was heavy though. At night the whale lit up making it look beautiful!

Sunday 7th - Fathers Day

Started the day with pressies from the girls and Kristie.
Always special.

With presents done it was time to get back in the kitchen and make us breakfast.
Bacon and French Toast with maple syrup!

We had planned to catch the Skyrail up to Kuranda today. However the day started with rain, and didn’t look like it was going to stop any time soon.

We deliberated for a bit, but decided it’d be cool anyway to head up in the clouds.

Walked up to the road and booked an Uber to take us to Smithfield and the bottom of the Skyrail.

When our turn came it wasn’t raining, but it wasn’t long before we were up in the clouds and couldn’t even see the gondola in front of us!

We did the two stops. The first being the rainforest walk. We made good use of our umbrellas, and took our time reading all the signs.

The lookout was still in the clouds, so not much of a view.

Back on the Skyrail and to our next stop for the Barron Falls walk. It had stopped raining so we could actually see the waterfall.
There hadn’t been too much rain recently, so it wasn’t raging.

Back on the Skyrail for the last leg up to Kuranda.

We were lucky enough to see a couple of blue Ulysses Butterflies flying over the canopy below.

By the time we arrived in Kuranda, we were all a bit hungry, so stopped at the first place we saw to grab some lunch.

After lunch, we walked up the hill and to the butterfly house.

We all enjoyed this and spent a good amount of time inside.

The girls got given a sheet with a butterfly attracting spot.

They also both wore the butterfly cloths in the hope to attract more butterflies.

One of the rooms had a microscope and a few butterfly wings that you could examine.

Emma and Kristina also had their colourful loom bands that they thought would also help attract butterflies.

We had thought of getting a bus down (cheapest option), but discovered that the timetable had changed last week and they no longer ran a bus service up here on Sundays :|
The Shuttle bus was also booked out!
Girls played on the playground while we tried to find a way home.

I ended up being able to book the last 4 tickets on the train back.

At some point between the Butterfly house and booking the train we manged to loose one of our Bunnings umbrellas :(

Walked down to the station via the shops for some good window shopping.

These carriages were old. Very old.

Got on the train, one stop to get out and see Barron falls.

Emma didn’t like the noise nor the smell. The family sitting across from us all fell asleep for most of the journey down
(which was better than their young kid kicking everywhere)

1.5hrs later we were off the train and ready to be back on the boat.

I had suggested dinner on the boat, but Emma countered with a “sushi” request.
So Sushi train at the shopping center on the way home. Lots of tasty dishes were devoured.

We walk past this every time we go to the boat. Still haven’t been on there yet.

Kristina’s recount about Fathers Day

Three days ago we celebrated Fathers Day by taking the Skyrail up to Kuranda.
It wasn’t the best day to do it because at the start we got rained on, although later on in the day we got a sunny, blue sky.

The Skyrail was expensive but at the end we decided it was definitely worth it!
My favourite thing was when we got to open the window while the carriage was inside the clouds.
Emma and I both took turns getting mouthfuls of air and then trying to think of what it tasted like.

After we had passed the clouds, we got off at our first stop. It was a mini walk to a small lookout.
Mum said it was special that we got to do it in the rain, but I say it was kind of annoying trying to not hit the trees with the umbrellas.
The walk itself was only about 100m but that didn’t stop the view from bring great.
When we walked back we got into the Skyrail and made our way to the next stop.

After about 20 more minutes of enjoying the Skyrail view, we arrived at our next destination.
Barron Falls.
Again it was a short walk to a walkthrough lookout. The view of the massive waterfall was astonishing and we understood why we had to pay so much by now.

We walked back over again then we did the final little bit of the Skyrail, taking us all the way to Kuranda.
By the time we had done all of that, me and Emma were starving!
So, mum and dad spent even more money buying us lunch at Kuranda Hotel.

The meals were absolutely massive! For example I got the kids burger, but when it arrived, it was about half a centimeter smaller than dads!
I had nearly all my chips but I could only finish half of my cheeseburger.
We’ve noticed that the kids meals were more our size down in NSW but they have just been getting bigger and bigger the more we got up north!

After we had finished eating, we started the slow walk over to the butterfly house.
One of the facts we learnt as we went in was that butterflies like very vibrant colours and floral patterns.
They handed us a slip of paper with a neon target on it.
Apparently the butterflies would land on it!
When we got into the greenhouse I immediately saw butterflies everywhere.

We spent approximately 2 whole hours in there, waiting to get photos with all the butterflies.
There were only 2 we missed by the end.
Although that doesn’t mean we didn’t get photos of them on us!
I hope dad puts those in the blog!
It was a big day and one that will definitely stay in our memories.
Overall… it was awesome!

Emma’s recount about Fathers Day

On Fathers day we took and Uber to Smithfield for the Skyrail.
We got our tickets and hopped on our gondola.
Sometimes we stopped at different stations to do mini walks.

On the first walk we learnt about how plants survive in the battle for light.
We got back on the gondola for Barron Falls.
When we stopped we did the small walk to the lookout overlooking Barron Falls.

We hopped on our gondola aging for our trip to the tablelands in the cloudy sky!
Eventually we reached Kuranda, got off and started to walk to the butterfly house.

Kristina let me borrow one of her loom bands so the butterflies would land on me, it worked!
So many butterflies landed on me!

We got the train home and had sushi for dinner.

Monday 8th

Work and school.

Kent (Stitch Trim) came and took the infill so he could replace that.

Girls and Kristie walked to the Post Office, Kmart, and reject shop.

Kristie dropped the girls back off to Lazuli, and then took off by herself to Woolies and for some other appointments.

By the time Kristie had returned, it had started to rain, so I made Kristie a bit of a hovel with a tarp and umbrella or two.

Tuesday 9th

Kristie picked up a Year 1 day supply teaching.

Girls and I did school and work.

After early lunch I took the girls out for a walk:

• doctors for me
• shopping center (swapped some board shorts and got some presents for Kristie’s imminent birthday)
• OfficeWorks for some card making materials
• Bunnings - there’s always something to get at Bunnings!

Got back to Lazuli to find Kristie waiting to get in as her school finished at 2:30pm.

Wednesday 10th

Kristie picked up another day, this time supporting the swimming at Freshwater primary school.
She packed her togs for day in the pool.

I had work and daddy-daughter school.

Kent returned the infill. It looks great, but now it makes the dodger and bimini look worse!

After Kristie got back (from being in the pool), we took the girls and Teagan to the lagoon for a swim.

Ice cream on the way back.

Movie night on the boat, Kristina picked “Over the moon”.
We had dinner up top watching the movie on my laptop, and then popcorn once dinner was done.

Thursday 11th

Kristie had been booked to go back to Freshwater to do PE for the year 1-3 classes.

Another morning of work and daddy-daughter school.

We had decided that we’d also get Kent to replace the dodger while we were around Cairns.
I called up the Marina to extend our stay (we had been booked in until Saturday morning) so we’d have time for him to do it.

We couldn’t stay in our current spot beyond Saturday as another boat was coming in. They had space right next door though.

I finished my morning meetings and the two guys from the marina turned up to help me move the boat (better today than on Saturday when there was going to be more wind!)
Just the girls and I onboard, but they did well throwing the ropes.

Kent returned and took the dodger so he could make up the new one.
That left us very exposed for the rainy week we had a head.

Teagans dad Peter gave me a lift to Anaconda to fill up our gas bottle, and then next door to Bunnings to grab a cheap 7mx5m tarp.
Much nicer getting a lift rather than having to walk the 2km each way with a gas bottle!
(The marina is convenient for shops and cafes but not much in the way of services you need for a cruiser).

Once back, I set up the big tarp - it could do from the mast all the way back to the end of the boom and under the bimini.
Teagan came for a play and spent all afternoon onboard.

The deputy from Freshwater called up while Kristie was up showering, and asked if Kristie wanted to work tomorrow.
I suggest it was most likely she would, but I couldn’t (in good conscious) make that decision for her :)

Went all went to the night markets for dinner in the food court, and then walked through all the shops.

We all ended up getting a massage from there as well. The girls just got a quick 10min massage, 25min for Kristie and I.

I was in with Emma, and Kristie in with Kristina.

Kristina also picked out a temporary tattoo and got that for $5. We enjoyed watching the glass blowing that was in progress.

Friday 12th

Kristie was back to Freshwater again to teach Year 1.

The previous afternoon our marina cards stopped working. They’d open the laundry, but that was it.

I had work and daddy-daughter school.

While I was doing meetings, the girls set up a cubby up top. They lasted an hour or so until their iPads ran out of battery.

I had a quick walk to the Marina office to get our cards reactivated.

Walked to Woolies to get some sourdough for Kristie.

We had booked a hire car for the weekend, intending to do Mossman Gorge on Saturday, and Hartleys Crocodile Adventures on Sunday.
However, with a bike race and road closures taking place on Sunday we wouldn’t be able to get to Hartleys.
So we changed the booking to Sunday/Monday.

Saturday 13th

Heavy rain throughout the night meant Lots of water pooling in the sail bag ended up downstairs. I had left the companionway hatch open not realising it would come through :(

It was raining when the alarm went off for Parkrun.

Kristina had been up since 3:30am and decided it was too wet for her, and I let Emma keep sleeping.
I set off in a break in the rain and did the 3km walk to the start, then 5km run, and then the 3km walk back.
It only really rained a little bit on the walk home.

Teagan came over at 11am.

Rained all day, but girls were more than ok on their devices.

Kristie had a bit of an arvo nap, and was starting to get sick.

Kristie had booked to go out to Thai dinner with Stuart and Sanne.
The dinner was amazing. We followed it up with some ice cream.

During all of this we had left the girls onboard with Teagan.
(yes we did feed them before we went)

Sunday 14th

I walked down by myself to collect the hire car. Had booked a Toyota Corrola hybrid, but ended up with a KIA Sportage.
Met the others back at the marina, and we set off to Mossman Gorge. Got 20min north and discovered the road closed the whole way due to a bike race.
The same bike race that made us change our booking originally :|
Turned around, and went to Mossman via Kuranda and Mareeba! Just a quick 90min detour :(

Up on the tablelands we saw lots of ant nests; Kristina wanted to know if they were “rock farms”.

Kristina didn’t enjoy the windy road that much either… she gets boat sick and car sick

Got to Mossman Gorge carpark and lunch at the back of the car.

Paid the money and jumped on the shuttle bus to take us to the walk.

We had packed our togs and towels with the intention of having a swim once the walk was done.

We enjoyed the walk through the forests, and spent time exploring the creeks along the way.

Got changed and we all had a swim and explored the rocks.

Back to the car, and took off towards Port Douglass with the intention to have dinner somewhere there.
Went up to the lookout; it was very windy - gusting to 30knts.

Kristie figured we’d make the most of having a car and stock up on some cider for her.
It’s not the most common drink of choice up here so we had a to visit a few places before we had enough!

Parked at the end of the main street, and walked back to find somewhere for dinner.
Ended up at the pub, listening to the first of the NRL finals between Brisbane and Canberra.

Drove home along the coast road that we couldn’t see too much of; also lots of roadworks on that section at the moment.

I did a late night round of washing and drying all our wet cloths/togs.

Monday 15th

We still had the hire car and parked it overnight at the marina park.
We left at 7:30am to Hartleys Croc adventure, just 50min up the road.
Nice views on the coast road that we didn’t get to see much of in the dark coming home last night.

It was a great day out, and can highly recommend stopping there if you’re in the area!

Rough overview of our day out:

• Bird / raptor avery - owls and frogmouths
• Hand fed a Cassowary some fruit (I also chose to pick up and feed it a dead baby chicken - protein++)
• 20min boat ride in their man made lagoon - houses 30+ croc!
• Snake show
• Lunch at Cafe
• Croc feeding show
• Freshwater crocs
• Gallery of living art (reptiles/amphibians)
• Gondwana - feeding wallabies and kangaroos
• Croc farm tour (it’s a farm with a zoo on the side really).

As we were coming in one of the staff was unloading a Tawny Frogmouth to stand guard at the entrance.

First up was the raptor avery. A few cool owls (and the frogmouth) that you could get up close to.

The curlew wasn’t that impressed with a camera in its face, but it didn’t move.

The first actual show we went to was handfeeding the Cassowaries. We had two there, a male and female.

They had a bucket of fruit each that we could to feed them.

It was then time for the boat cruise. A 20min ride around their man made lagoon, full of crocodiles.

We did a snake show, grabbed lunch and made it to the croc feeding show before it started.

Good entertainment, glad it’s not me in there with them.

They keep the freshwater water crocs separate from the salties. This island looked a bit insane!

A few other enclosures for the crocs that need to be kept by themselves.

Gallery of living art had some cool exhibits.

The Gondwana section had a few feeding troughs for the kangaroos. The girls grabbed a few handfuls to feed a few of the animals.

The final attraction at the adventure zoo.

We had to have the hire car back by 3pm.

The rain stayed away while we were at the zoo, but as soon as we were back in Cairns and at Lazuli the rain came down.

I took the car back to Hertz and walked back via Woolies.

Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening catching up on a bit of work.

Kristina’s recount about Hartleys Croc Adventures

Yesterday we got a hire car and drove to Hartleys Crocodile Adventure.
Although after we saw the whole area it looked like an amazing zoo!

There was so many animals to see and shows to attend to but first of all we went to the predatory bird avery which had so many cute owls.
It looked like a small greenhouse that had a winding path through it, lots of both cool and cute birds, and double doors so the cheeky little owls wouldn’t escape.

We got to spend about 10 or so minutes there before we got to move onto the Cassowary feeding show.
The lady there talked about different types of Cassowary, what they did to survive, then about the ones they had at the zoo.
When she finished talking, we were able to pick up some of the fruit pieces and hand feed two of the massive birds.
Mum got a couple of photos of us doing so then we speedily walked over to the boat tour.

We waited in line for about 5 minutes before everyone started piling onto the 9:30am croc tour boat.
It didn’t cost any extra money (which is good as Cairns is already making us poor!).
We saw lots of crocodiles lounging on the bank of Hartleys lagoon.
Some of them had opened their mouths to cool down, while others were in the water waiting for the tour boats to dangle the chicken over the side.
After the crocs felt the vibration of him splashing the chicken, they crept through the water and leapt up to get their mid morning snack.

We did a coule of other things before visiting the komodo dragon. It was bigger than me, which would explain it’s massive enclosure and the bull skull sitting in one of the corners.
There was only one of the black and yellow beasts because komodo dragons are very territorial.

After we had finished up at that enclosure, we moved onto the last enclosure.
Out of the whole zoo this one was my favourite, containing the animal which in my opinion is the cutest, the Tamarin Monkey!
Their enclosure was full of small trees and little tubs containing fruit.

I loved the whole zoo and was sad when we had to go home. Hopefully we can go there again some day.

Emma’s recount about Hartleys Croc Adventures

At Cairns, dad got our hire car and drove us to Hartleys Crocodile Adventures.
Dad parked the car, we hopped out, got our tickets and then walked inside.
The first thing we looked at was the avery to spot all the birds and owls.
It took us a bit to find all the birds but we did find them all.
My favourite bird was the chubby curlew next to the path!
At night 9:30 we hopped on the boat for a tour of the tiny river to see crocodiles.
The man driving the boat made lots of jokes.
He dangled a piece of chicken over the edge the boat so we could watch the crocodiles jump.
After the 20min boat tour we walked over to the snake show.
They lady there showed us her snakes and told us lots about them and told some jokes too.
We saw a King Brown snake and learnt that they eat the worlds most toxic snake for breakfast!
In the afternoon we visited the Gallery of Living Art.
Like it’s name it had lots of beautiful reptiles and amphibious creatures.
There was a cool looking Skink standing on a small rock, looking at us looking through the glass.
We walked over to our next place, Gondawana. We grabbed some kangaroo pellets from the trough and slowly walked in.
When we walked in there were two kangaroos on our left so we spent time with them.
After a bit, me and mum went for a walk on the path looking for more.
We found a wallaby with other people so we gave them some food to feed it!
We had lots of fun and I want to go back!

Tuesday 16th

Rained. Still just a tarp up. Many of the eyelets have already pulled out, but it was a cheap tarp.

Work and school.

Heavy rain meant the girls did school down with me.

Kristie went to doctors and got antibiotics.
Woolies on the way back.

Hot chook for lunch.

Kristie back out for a remedial massage. (not one where she could pay for “Extra happy ending” that she was offered by another thai massage place up here!)

I got all hot and sweaty changing the engine oil.

Wednesday 17th

Heavy rain meant work and school downstairs again.

Kent turned up with the dodger and installed that back for us. It looks so good; we can finally see out the front clearly.

I tidied up downstairs to get ready to leave the marina tomorrow morning.

Kristie filled water and cleaned upstairs, including removing the remains of the last spanish mackerel (Thanks!)

Whilst hosing the boat, the hose nozzle popped off our dodgy hose and is now at the bottom of the marina.

Our Woolies delivery turned up; not a big shop this time as we had done our big shop earlier.

I went to Bunnings and Anaconda, I had to get some carpet to try and stop the tender rubbing on the davits, and some extra camping toilet paper for our heads.

Kristie did a load of laundry, thankfully the dryers on the left were free.

Another movie night, this time: Sea Beast.

Tomorrow we leave, heading to Fitzroy Island for two nights until we get the “reef weather” on the weekend. We’ll head out to the reefs on Saturday.

Booked into Cairns again next week when the weather turns for the worse again.

Tuesday 26th August - Magnetic Island

It’s finally time to say goodbye to Maggie.

We were up at 6am for a 6:30am departure, motoring towards Orpheus Island.

There wasn’t any wind, so motoring the entire way.

We enjoyed watching a pod of dolphins and a whale on the way north.

Quick lunch after we grabbed a mooring. There are a few moorings around this area.
Two yellow (10m - too ‘small’ for us) just at Yanks Jetty, and some blue and green just around the corner to the north.
These two were taken so we had to grab one a bit further away to the north.

Tender down, wetsuits on, and off to Yanks Jetty for snorkeling, fish feeding, jumping off the jetty.
The coral at the jetty isn’t much chop, but there are plenty of fish who were most interested in the bread we took along :)

The girls did some jumping off the jetty, and made good use of the lifting ladder (only Kristie managed to get her fingers in the wrong spot!).

We swam into the beach to do some exploring. There’s a little lookout with a short ladder to climb up.

Two cats (> 10m!) had come in and grabbed the two yellow moorings. One couple was at the jetty having a swim and a beer.
We had a good chat with them before we got back in the tender and back to Lazuli.

Kristina’s recount about Yanks Jetty

After we finally left Magnetic island we sailed on up to Orpheus Island.
There was still a couple of hours left in the day, so we got all our swimming stuff and tendered over to Yanks Jetty.
There was a big pontoon with spots to tie you tender, tables to eat at, and two ladders to get in and out of the water.

I was the first one to get wet, diving into the water see how cold it was. It was freezing at first but the more I stayed in there the warmer it got.
Everyone else got in then we really started to see how much fish and coral there really was.
Luckily we had brought some of our stale bread which all the fish still liked.

I quickly got bored of that but when I was heading up I realised how much fun the ladder was.
If you put pressure on it the ladder would go down, then when you got off the ladder would rocket up!
So while mum, dad, and Emma were snorkeling elsewhere I kept on jumping off in all sorts of wacky ways then using the ladder to get back up.

I loved it, but eventually we all got cold so we tendered back to Lazuli.

Emma’s recount about Yanks Jetty

We anchored at Orpheus Island near the resort so we hopped in our tender and motored over to the jetty so we could snorkel.
When we tied up our tender all the fish came assuming we had food.
We threw some tiny bits of bread at the fish then jumped in with them!
So fun.

On the beach there was a tiny tiny walk to a small lookout.
From the lookout we could see all of the small shells on the sand.

Wednesday 27th

We had been waiting longer at Maggie to get the best weather and tides for exploring Zoe Falls. Today was the day we wanted!

Up early to motor across to Zoe Bay; up at 6am leaving at 6:30am.
Kristie took the helm while I got in some work hours.

I had the lure out; we hooked something but lost it pulling in :(
Changed lures, then hooked some seaweed :(

2:40hr later, just after 9am, we dropped anchor in Zoe Bay in about 4m of water.

Tender down, and we all got in quickly to head to the beach. Pulled the tender up, keeping an eye out for big lizards.

We had about a 1km walk to bottom of the waterfall.

Stopped for a quick photo (taken by a hiker who’d just finished his swim), and then crossed the creek to scramble up to the top.

The hiker had beaten us up, but he didn’t stay long so we had the place to ourselves.

The “infinity pools” at the top were amazing. We spent some time in these, then got dry and explored the creek a bit.

Walked back down for a swim at the bottom.

We weren’t alone this time; there were 4 adults from two Cats also at the bottom.
We had a chat with them, one of them pointed out that all these fish in here were “Jungle Perch”.
We didn’t have any bread with us, but it turns out they like corn chips just as much.

Two of them got in the water, but we had the rope swing all to ourselves :D

We all had fun. Kristina jumped off the rocks to start with, then the rope swing.

Kristie had been taking photos of us, then came over for her swing. Nice jump in, then realised that the prescription sunnies she was wearing were no longer on her head!

The girls swam back out with their googles, and Kristina quickly spotted them at the bottom.
Too deep for the girls, so Kristie borrowed their googles and went down to get them!

We swam over to the waterfall. There was a nice rock/ledge to sit/stand on and get a good back massage from the water.
The water coming down was also warmer thanks to the hot rocks/sun it was coming down from up top.

Had some snacks, then back to Lazuli.

Too rolly/bumpy to spend the night here, so sailed back to Pioneer Bay (Orpheus Island) and grabbed a mooring there.

Caught a baby shark with the lure. Flake for dinner.

Kristina’s recount about Zoe Falls

We’ve been to lots of cool places on Lazuli but my new favourite is Zoe Falls on Hinchenbrook Island.
The walk there had lots of rocks and a creek that you could cross using stepping stones.
The walk to the falls took about 25min and it hurt my feet a tiny bit.
Although it was definitely worth it when you got to that amazing place.

The first thing that I noticed was all the little jungle perch sitting in tht water, practically begging to be fed.
Of course, me and Emma didn’t let them down. There were several adults that were already there but most of them were just leaving.

As we swapped places with them one of the men mentioned a rope swing on the other side of the plunge pool.
If you know me well, then you would have guessed that I explored around the edge to find it.
If so, you’re right. That’s exactly what I did. When I got to it, I called over to mum and dad so they could come over and help.
At first I was nervous that it wouldn’t hold me but after dad had a go, I felt carefree!
It was amazing and I had a great time at Zoe Falls which is why I was sad when mum said we might never ever be able to go there again.

Emma’s recount about Zoe Falls

We motored Lazuli over to Hinchenbrook for the Zoe Falls walk.
There was crocodiles in the nearby creek so we had to pull the tender up quickly.
The walk to the top was about 1km long, and the path was very uneven.

Eventually we reached the waterfall at the bottom, but we had to go to the top.
When we reached the top we got on our togs (no wetsuits) then we went for a dip in the infinity pool.
It was then I realised how cold it was in the water but I still had fun at the top.

Soon it was time to go back to the little lake below.
It was still just as cold at the bottom but way bigger so I could move around!
There was also a rope swing going into the water.

The waterfall was so fun!

Thursday 28th

Work and School.

We had hoped to go to visit the Orpheus Island Research Station (my sister Jess had been there a few times over the last year or two).
However, when Kristie finally managed to get through to them they said they were too busy (60+ guests) so they weren’t doing tours this week :(
(maybe on the way back south?)

Also, the giant clam garden is dead, so we didn’t really bother snorkeling.

We moved down to Hazard Bay thinking we could get off the boat, but the wind was 20knts from the north instead of the 7knts NE it was supposed to be.
It got quite uncomfortable, so we motored back to Pioneer Bay and got a mooring there, which was much nicer for us all.

Friday 29th

My work calendar had me with 4hrs of meeting today (2hrs in the morning, 2hrs after lunch).
We had worked out the maybe the best option would be to head back to Zoe Falls and the girls could spend the morning there,
and then during my afternoon meeting we’d motor back towards Lucinda to go inside Hinchenbrook Island.

So another early start, up at 6am for 6:30am trip to Zoe Bay.

Tender down, dropped the girls into the beach and watch them walk off.

Got back to the boat, checked email… morning meeting cancelled!!

I couldn’t contact the girls, and couldn’t move the tender by myself. I was a bit annoyed.

Thankfully managed to get the afternoon meeting rescheduled and done in the morning.

The three girls had lots of fun back at the falls.

Kristie had carried in their mermaid tails and wetsuits.

More fun on the rope swing, and feeding the fish.

I finished my meeting, and went in to pick them up.

Lunch, and then we motored to Lucinda while I worked a bit more.

Slow trip in across the shallow bits, then following the channel up around the island.

Lure out but no bites.

We stopped at Haycock Island for the night.

There was one other yacht there.

Sip’s ‘n dips. Then midges gate crashed our afternoon/evening!

Lit a few mozzie coils, then we all abandoned Kristie and went downstairs to escape the onslaught.

Saturday 30th

More midges in the morning.

Lazy start, off at 10am to continue motoring around Hinchenbrook.
Had the lure out the back and hooked something. Got it all the way to the boat then it came free as we were trying to get it in the net :(
Not exactly sure what it was, but it looked like a salmon.

We were aiming to spend the night anchored off Goold Island.

About 0.5nm out I started winding in the lure getting ready to drop anchor. Had it halfway in before it took off on me!

Good fight, and finally got it alongside. It hooked up good and proper, and this time Kristie got it in the net and we got it onboard.

Turned out to be a nice 85cm Spanish Mackerel. So good.

With it onboard we turned around and got back to where we needed to anchor.

Fish preparation (which is code for ‘splattering Lazuli with blood and guts’).

Boat cleaning.

Fish and chips for dinner.

Kristina declared it was the best fish she’d ever had, and would only accept Spanish Mackerel in the future.

After dinner, we were upstairs and could hear something nearby breathing loudly. We assume it was a Dugong.
We had our spotlights out, but never saw it :(

Sunday 31st

I’d been neglecting some of my regular boat jobs and suffered the consequences.
While Kristina was using the front toilet, it overflowed :|

Off to Dunk Island today. Our friends Stuart and Sanne (Vanetta) were already there after experiencing their worst night ever anchored at Zoe Bay!

We had our anchor up and sailing away from Goold at 10:45am.

It was only 15nm to Dunk, bit of a slow sail but weren’t in any rush.

Anchored at Dunk, dropping anchor not too far from Vanetta.

We had Stuart and Sanne over to Lazuli for nibbles followed by Spanish Mackerel for dinner.
Sanne brought over a salad and some delicious GF apple crumble. Boat friends are awesome.

Monday 1st

Kristie was up at 3am as it was a bit rolly. The rest of us up at normal time.

Work and School.

Kriste had a quick nap while class was underway. The girls didn’t mind :)

Vanetta were off to the beach but swung past and dropped in a tray of delicious boat baked “Kanelsnegle” (Danish - “cinnamon snails”).
Something like this I guess: https://scandinaviancookbook.com/kanelsnegle-danish-cinnamon-rolls/

Sanne (who is Danish) had baked them that night we first met them at Middle Percy Island at the start of June.

Full of gluten, so the girls and I (to be fair mostly me!) had Kristie’s share :)

After lunch had swim at the beach and play on the mat.

Vanetta joined us and shared their coconut. Girls were still not much of a fan of coconut.

When the swim was over we made good use of the public shower facilities.

Tuesday 2nd

School and work.

Early lunch.

More work.

Off the boat to head into the beach to go walk up Mount Kootaloo.
The track starts at the end of the beach, and you can do a loop up to the summit and around the bottom of Dunk Island.

There were great views from the top.

Also the remains of a radar / listening station that was in use briefly during the 2nd world war.

The walk down was quicker/easier.

Kristie had posted on a few of the FB sailing pages to see if anyone wanted to meet up this afternoon for drinks/catch up on the beach.

One or two boats replied in the affirmative.

Running a bit behind on the walk, we rushed back to Lazuli, showered on the back, and then tender back to the beach.
Only Jason and Kym from Argo ended up coming in.
We’d seen Argo on AIS for a while, so was good to finally catch up with them.

Back to Lazuli in the dark.

Wednesday 3rd

Woke up to rain.

Work and school with more rain.

While we had ok weather (other than rain) for the next few days, it was going to get worse.
Our plan was to be in Cairns, with a day or two at Fitzroy Island beforehand.

Anchor up at 10:15am. I had figured we could stay at Russel Island instead of going all the way to Fiztroy.

We (I) hadn’t decided if we were sailing or motoring. We undid the rope that holds the boom still, but left the infill up.
Wasn’t long before a few waves had us rocking about and the infill tore. :|

Took the damaged infill off and started sailing. I made a call to see if we could get a new one made in Cairns.

As always, we had the lure out. We hooked something, but it came off pretty quickly.

Lure back out. Hooked another fish. This one stayed on until we got it along side.
Saw it was a Mac Tuna and decided it could go back into the water :)

Dropped the sails.

I had a meeting; Kristie put the lure back out.

Hooked another fish. This one took off. Whatever it was, it was much bigger than the tuna we had just hooked.

At various points it just took off and all I could do was to get Kristie to turn Lazuli around and follow it!

Eventually got the monster Spanish Mackerel alongside and I gave the rod to Kristie while I got the gaff hook out (no way it would have gone in the net!).

Got it onboard and into the wheel well while we got stuff sorted.

By this time we were at Russell Island, and it wasn’t going to be suitable to stop for the night, which meant pressing on to Fitzroy.

With that decision made, Kristie took the wheel while I processed the fish.

Finally got the chance to measure it: 130cm. My record for a fish.

My 55cm filleting table was not built for this sort of work! A Beneteau First is also not the ideal fishing/filleting platform!

I got it all filleted and deboned, and ended up with a fridge full of delicious fish!

I cooked dinner (not fish) while underway and before it got dark.

We got to Fitzroy around 8pm; we did a few circles looking for somewhere to drop anchor.

Vanetta were on mooring but there weren’t any free ones, so we ended up near the port channel marker.

Kristina’s recount about Dunk Island

We spent a few days exploring Dunk Island. There was a perfect spot to swim over near the spit of the island.
The water was clear with a sandy bottom and it got very deep very quickly.
This meant it was the perfect spot for us to bring back out big foam mat.
When you’re playing on the mat there is lots of things you can do.
My favourite thing is to make up little tumbling routines then backflip into the water.

On the second day we were there we didn’t do much. There was a lookout walk we did but it was kind of rushed as mum had organised some sundowners with another boat.
There were drinks chips and cheese for all of us to share. At first the sunset wasn’t very good, but then the colours really came out.

Emma’s recount about Dunk Island

We spent a few days at Dunk Island to explore and play.
On the first day we went for a swim near the spit.
It was nice clear water without any rocks, so it was the perfect spot for the swimming mat.
I liked doing front flips off the mat into the water!

On day 2 we headed over to shore for our walk up Mt Kootaloo.
The walk was a bit steep, very hot, and a tiny bit uneven (but the workers were fixing that).
When we started the walk some people came down and said “There is a excavator up ahead”. I was like how is there an ‘escalator’ up ahead, but I misheard them.
When we finally made it to the top the view was great, looking over all the Family Islands.

Thursday 4th

A few boats left early that morning, so we quickly moved to one of the moorings that were now free.

Work and school.

Kristie jumped off the back and swam in towards shore for a snorkel by herself.

She ended up getting a lift back to Lazuli with Sanne. We gifted them a bag of Spanish Mackerel (I had processed the fish and we ended up with 6 large clipsal bags).

There was another cat in the bay with a kid onboard.
We took the tender over to try and meet ROAM1, but we were too slow and by the time we got there they were pulling up anchor and then steaming off to Cairns and all we could do was wave.

Lunch.

We all geared up for a family snorkel. We spent ages in the water. There were a few decent sized clams, and a very friendly turtle that the girls loved.

Emma was having fun taking Kristie’s dive camera down to take photos of the clam and turtles.

I dropped the girls back when they were cold and then came back to Kristie and we kept snorkeling for a bit longer.

Mackerel for dinner. So delicious.

Friday 5th

As I had an afternoon meeting, we took the morning to go for a walk.

There’s a loop walk up to the Lighthouse, then the Summit and back down.

It was HOT, and lots of spots on the track had no breeze at all.
Many skittle stops were required.

Good views from the lighthouse and summit.

The walk down was easy, with some stunning views back towards Cairns and Lazuli.

Down the bottom it was time for our ice cream. Walked down to Foxy’s Bar.

We ended up getting lunch there first, and then the ice cream :)

Started to head back to Lazuli for my afternoon work meeting.

Kristie took off for another snorkel from the boat, asking me to come pick her up when my meeting was done.

Back on the boat Kristie got changed and the two of us snuck back to Foxy’s Bar for happy hour cocktails.

Whilst there it started spitting, so messaged the girls to ask them close up the windows and take cushions down.
Kristina went above and beyond and covered the generator with a tarp to keep it dry.

It was still running… so it ended up melting a bit of the tarp.

I messaged to thank them for being so thoughtful, and also ask her to turn it off!

We took hot chips and delicious mango and avo salad back to the boat to go with another round of spanish mackerel for dinner (2 bags down - 3 still left)

Back to the boat just before more rain came, we had time to put the sides up and then cook dinner.

Tomorrow we’re off to Cairns. We need to get the infill replaced, pick up a few deliveries from the Post Office, and resupply (and hide from the weather).

Saturday 16th - Magnetic Island

Today we’re heading out to John Brewer Reef, which is the location for the Museum Of Underwater Art.

It’s about 30nm (~55km) out from Maggie, so we wanted an early start to a) get there at the best time for navigating reefs, and b) to make the most of our time there.

We left at first light with the sun coming up.

There wasn’t any wind first thing in the morning, so we had a bit of a motor until the wind came up, then a nice sail all the way out to the reef.

Dropped the sails as we were coming around the bottom of the reef.
It had dropped and was coming right from behind us. At 4knts SOG it was time to motor!

The girls also took the opportunity to tell me I was wrong again about Starlink.
I said I was 99.9% sure we won’t have it (it’s 30nm offshore). But we did have it, and I was wrong!
My chances of me ever being right around these three are minimal ;)

There are two public moorings (for boats our size), and both were free. We opted for the western one that looked like it might have more protection from swell.

We geared up and Kristie and I jumped in the tender to go for a dive. It’s about 1nm from our mooring to where the MOUA site is.

There’s 3 private ($250/day) moorings, and 2 x 10m public moorings.

We geared up for a dive, at which point I realised my mask was still back on Lazuli :(

So I did surface watch while Kristie went for a dive.

Kristine enjoyed an hour-long dive, then we went back to Lazuli to unload dive gear.

I got my 3mm wetsuit and spear gun and jumped in for a quick swim/spear. Ended up with a Goldline Rabbit fish.

Back on the boat for a quick rinse, then sip’s ‘n dips.

Fish and chips for dinner :)

Sunday 17th

Weather was perfect again today. Still nobody else out here.

I geared up and got my gear (and mask!) ready to for my first solo dive of this trip.

Got to the moorings and still nobody else about.

I had even better conditions than Kristie did yesterday. Easily 25+m vis.

I enjoyed my dive; I had a quicker dive than Kristie had, but saw all the sentinels and coral greenhouse.

Went back to get the girls so they could come back for a dive/snorkel.

Just as we got back to MOUA, a rather large dive/snorkel tourist boat turned up and tied on to two of the private moorings.
They then proceed to unload 30+ divers and snorkelers on the reef that we had to our self previously :(

Kristina had a good 15min dive on the Ocean sentinels and around the reef. The dive ended when I swam back to Kristie with a dive pouch she’d dropped and not realised.

Emma had troubles with her mask, but then we swapped to another mask (thanks Nick!) and that had a much better fit.

She was still having a bit of troubles equalizing so she didn’t get much of a dive. They both did see the structures though.

After the girls were done, Kristie took off for another quick solo dive to go and photograph the sentinels she’d missed yesteday.

The sentinels are quite remarkable.

The one above: https://www.moua.com.au/visit/ocean-sentinels/molly-steer

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Molly Steer is a remarkable young activist who took action against plastic straws at the age of nine. 
Inspired by the documentary 'A Plastic Ocean,' Molly embarked on a mission to eliminate 
single-use plastic straws by encouraging schools across Australia to join her 
'Straw No More' movement. Her initiative has garnered support from over 3,000 schools in Australia 
and has gained traction globally with hundreds of thousands of individuals pledging 
to stop using plastic straws. 
Molly's campaign showcases the power of young voices in effecting real change.

https://www.moua.com.au/visit/ocean-sentinels/sir-charles-maurice-yonge

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The late Sir Charles Maurice Yonge is a renowned marine zoologist known for leading the 
Great Barrier Reef Expedition in the 1920s. 
This groundbreaking 13-month voyage opened up the scientific world to the marvels of the 
Great Barrier Reef and laid the groundwork for modern coral reef biology.
Sir Yonge, an Englishman, made significant contributions to the study of marine 
invertebrate feeding and digestion and dedicated his life to teaching and
inspiring future scientists.

Back to Lazuli for lunch and Kristie started filling our tanks.

Kristie then got ready for another solo dive on bommies not far from where our mooring was.

The visibility was still on point!

Was hot up top though!

We got back to the boat, and I was keen for another go with the speargun. By the time I was in the water it was 3:45pm.. getting a bit late.
Swam a bunch but didn’t see anything, and then two reef sharks came swimming past. Back in the tender.

Came back to Lazuli and had a nap :)

Monday 18th

The wind was up a bit this morning.
We had contemplated taking the girls back for another dive an MOUA, but it wouldn’t have been much fun getting across there, or trying to gear them up on the surface.

We waited for the tide to drop a bit before leaving. Not too hard to drop mooring, do a 180, then head back out following our track in.

Motored to Loadstone with thoughts that we could stay there if it was ok, but the swell was wrapping around the smaller reef so we decide to head back to Maggie.

Kristie did a few circles in the protection of the reef while I got lunch sorted.

She had company up top - a few whales, 6 dolphins and a turtle.

Once ready we got the sails up and had a good upwind sail back to Horseshoe Bay.

Maggie feels like our 2nd home now!

Tuesday 19th

Rained during breakfast, so put the sides up.

School and work.

Lunch.

More work.

I dropped Kristie in to the beach so she could catch the bus across to Nelly bay to buy three water jerry cans from the Mitre 10.
Our watermaker isn’t working, so we’ll just use these to top up when we’re at Lizard.

I took the girls in to the beach to meet Kristie. They had tyre swing while I took the water back to Lazuli.

Kristie went to check that the milk situation at local shop. Still none.

Wednesday 20th

School and work.

Kristie headed into the campground after lunch to make use of showers and free wifi there. The tables at the campground also don’t move so much ;)

She enjoyed the butterfly walk on the way back to beach.

Thursday 21st

School and work.

I dropped Kristie in to do a big walk after lunch.
Started at Horseshoe Bay, and did Radical Bay, Florence Bay, Arthur Bay, and then walked up to Forts Junction. Bus home from there.

Friday 22nd

School and work.

We enjoyed watching some dolphins hunting near the boat.

Had lunch then got the tender in to get bus to go for a swim.

We turned up and were going to have to wait 40min for the next bus.
It was quite hot, so an ice cream helped pass the time until we could get back on the bus.

The buses here are great. $1 to ride all day.
One of the locals was saying a few years back when they had a power outage, he just spent all day on the bus in the aircon. Smart!

We took the bus to Alma Bay. The waves weren’t quite as big as when we were there last week with Rod and Chris.

Enjoyed a swim, exploring/climbing some rocks, and a quick turn at the playground.

Changed there, and then took the next bus to IGA at Nelly Bay. Grabbed a few bags of groceries to last us until our Woolies delivery on Monday.

Bus back to the beach.

Saturday 23rd

Got the bus up to the Forts Junction, then did the 700m walk down hill to Arthur Bay.

It wasn’t too busy when we got there, but over the time we were there quite a few more turned up.

We had a quick snorkel, our first on Magnetic Island. Girls declared not very good coral and hopped out.
They were correct. Compared to the reefs they were a bit dull. Not much fish life either.

The girls (it was Kristina’s idea) and I enjoyed making a largish sandcastle. It wasn’t nice sand, very course. Fingers were sore from digging (no tender = no shovels).

As always, Kristina wanted to go off exploring on the rocks. I went with her and we ended up at the top fo the rock overlooking the beach!
Emma and Kristie joined us after a bit as well.
Great views from the top.

Got changed, shoes on, and walked back up the hill then got the bus home.

On our previous stay we’d met Gavin, one of the locals. He invited us to come and join them (locals) on their next catch up.
They were having it tonight. Heated up some sausage rolls in the oven, and brought them into the beach in the billy boil.

I’d fed the girls earlier, so they happily stayed on board this time.

Vanetta had just turned up in the bay: we’d last seen them back at Stonehaven in the Whitsundays.

Kristie had invited them in as well. They stayed for a quick chat and then went off to find dinner.

Kristie and I left around 7:45pm to get back to the girls.

It was fun to hang out and chat with the locals and some others that had come in from their boats as well.

Sunday 24th - My Birthday!

Birthday pressies to start the day. Got some more fishing gear (can’t have enough!), and a Sharkbandz to wear when I’m in the water spearing! Thanks Kristie and girls :)

At one point I said out loud: “I’m so lucky to have 3 beautiful girls in my life”.

Emma said (in all seriousness): “I’m confused, is it me, Kristina, and Lazuli?, or me, Kristina and Mummy?”

I’m going to be Taking the 5th on that one ;)

The girls prepared the scrambled eggs while I cooked bacon (Emma got spurted by hot bacon fat last time we tried to do it at the same time).

With the bacon safely in the billy boil, Emma could work her magic on the stove with the scrambled eggs.

With breakfast done, and the tide up, we took the tender around to Radical Bay.

We had a good time at the beach. We played with the beach balls, frisby, cricket, and mermaid tails.
We met another family on the beach that had two young kids. Grandparents were taking one of their kids and two grandkids out for a few nights on boat.
Had a good chat with them, and the kids had a good time together.

At various points through out time there we had whales breaching (full out of the water) just off the point.

We hadn’t taken any lunch, so had to get back to the boat. Saw two turtles on the way back.

After lunch Kristie and I took the tender in and filled up the three water jerry cans.

Back on Lazuli I baked some chocolate cupcakes for my birthday cake. Kristie had bought candles, but at some point during putting stuff away they got lost. So no candles.

Tender into the beach and then walked to campground. One last hot shower, a load of washing, and then we had dinner.
As it was Sunday, the pizza oven truck was there. I enjoyed the “Red Devil” again! And a ginger beer or two.

The girls had another go at the darts, and a few tries at ping pong.

Kristina had been wanting to have Sticky Date Pudding ever since Scarlett had it in Airlie.
Tonight was that night! One of the restaurants on the main street served it.
She and I both ordered it. She only got through half of hers :(

Monday 25th

Work and school.

We had a Woolies delivery that was going to turn up at the boat ramp sometime today.
Our plan was to head to Orpheus as soon as we had it.

Dropped Kristie to the boat ramp to wait for the delivery. She got the message saying we were next in line, so I came in.

An hour later it still wasn’t here. She called up and spent 20min on the phone, only to find out that the order had been cancelled as the truck was overloaded.
Sadly, the driver hadn’t updated the order so we didn’t know :(

Kristie eventually got transferred through to supervisor, and managed to get a $40 credit and free delivery to try and make up for mix up.
Their next available delivery was going to be Friday :|

Back to lazuli to get the girls. Kristie took the girls (and their backpacks) back in to get the bus to the IGA to get the essentials to last us until Cairns.

We invited Stuart and Sanne from Vanetta to pop over for drinks and nibbles with us.
Enjoyed a good catch up that was interrupted briefly by what looked like an out of control BBQ, large flames, on the back of the boat next to us.
We couldn’t see anyone doing anything about it so Stuart and Sanne went over to check it out while I got our fire extinguisher ready.
This was the same boat (American couple) we’d been next to in Townsville marina.
He came up and was like “yep that’s how I cook”. No thanks for coming to check on him.

After this episode I was reminiscing with Stuart and Sanne about a conversation I’d had with him in the marina.
I had been talking with this American guy about diving (they had tanks on board) and I had mentioned how good it was in QLD.
He was: “I doubt that, my yardstick for diving is pretty high. Oh, that’s an American thing, you wouldn’t know what a yardstick is”.
LOL.

We continued our nibbles.

Tomorrow we head off to Orpheus. Without our Woolies delivery.

It’s been fun exploring Magnetic Island, but time to move north.

Kristina’s recount of Sunday

Yesterday we celebrated Dads birthday with bacon and eggs then a trip to the beach.
Me and Emma helped make the scrambled eggs by cracking all 12 of the eggs then putting the rest of the ingredients in.
We then did our Duolingo while Dad cooked the bacon.
The birthday breakfast was amazing!

After everyone was full of food we headed into the beach for a play.

Instead of doing the walk we got in the tender and motored over to Radical bay.

The sun was shining and there was no clouds in sight. It was the perfect day for the beach.

First off we headed to the rocks as Emma wanted to find some quick sand. She did find some.
Eventually she sunk to her knees but it stopped there. I had to go get Dad to pull her out but even though he pulled and pulled he wasn’t strong enough.
After about three minutes the sand started to loosen and Emma got free.

We then went into the water and had a play there. I got the balls out so we could play catch and piggy in the middle but then someone else saw some whales doing back flips about 6 kilometers out.
Emma and I then started to try and swim like the whales, diving down then doing backflips in the water.

After that we came back to Lazuli while Dad claimed he was so happy to share his day with his four girls.
Me, Emma, Mum… and Lazuli. This gave us all a good laugh.

A Poem by Kristina

We motored to Radical By,
So that we could all have a play.
It was such a beautiful day,
Which we spent at Radical Bay.

We went there for Daddy’s Birthday,
And had muffins along the way.
It was such an amazing day,
For Daddy to have a birthday.

Emma’s recount of Sunday

It was dads birthday so we motored our tender around the corner to radical bay.
We were at radical bay because it was way more clear than horseshoe bay.

Kristina and I went to go check on the quick sand in the creek. I found some that pulled me down almost to my knees.
I was stuck so I asked Kristina for help, she tried, she failed!
I asked dad for help, he tried, he failed!
But dad got me loose so I got out!

For dads Birthday dinner we went out for pizza. I ordered a mini ham pizza and ate all of it!
It was a 8 inch pizza. I was so full my tummy hurt!