Tuesday 22nd
We’re leaving Moreton Bay and heading for Mooloolaba.
Forecast for today was pretty much perfect ~10knt SW winds and less than 1m swell.
We wouldn’t have to leave too early as we only had 30nm or so to get up to Mooloolaba where we’d booked two nights in the marina.
During the night before we’d had a bit of a squall and we and other boats had been swinging around a fair bit.
One of the other boats (Platon) that had come in after us ended up closer during the night and I’d stayed up a bit to make sure all was ok.
In the morning I was in bed and Kristie called out “this other boat is a bit close” and I was “yeah it was like that last night”.
I got up slowly and had a look - they were more than a “bit close” (“F’ing close” for future reference when describing how close another boat is!!)
I could almost hook their tender with our boat hook!
We tried waking them up with shouts and whistles, but no luck (we think they’d had boat drinks the night before!).
A couple from another boat near us (turns out to be Kriste’s Uncles neighbours) saw the predicament and jumped in their tender and came over and knocked on the hull and finally woke them up.
The skipper came up looking a bit sleepy and only in his boxers. He started up and moved away a bit then got his wife to take over while he got changed.
They moved further away and dropped anchor again.
We had a good chat with the helpful neighbours, then eventually pulled up our own anchor and got underway.
We motored to the end of the channel / SW corner of Bribie then raised the sails.
It was a slow downwind sail to the other side of Bribie. Once out in the channel we gybed and got into the SW winds and started reaching towards Caloundra.
We had flat seas and good winds, and spent most of the time doing 7-9knts SOG.
We ended up getting to Mooloolaba about 11:30am, dropped the sails, set the fenders and lines and headed into the river.
We had got there earlier than expected and before high tide. The shallowest we saw was 3.0m.
We had a hand with lines and got into E6 without too much effort.
With the boat settled we had a few jobs to do:
- Voting - we wouldn’t be anywhere near a polling both on Election Day, and with no home we hadn’t sorted out postal votes.
- Shopping - we needed some supplies for the trip north.
Spending $30 on Uber trips to vote in this election was most disappointing and unwelcome.
Back on the boat we organised to catch up with Neil & Nat on Waymaker who were also in Mooloolaba. They had their boat listed and ready to sell, so we met at a bar down at The Wharf.
We got messages from Kristina at 6:30pm saying they were out of iPad time and hungry, so could we please come back and feed them (yes, we left them in charge of the boat while we went drinking!).
Wednesday 23rd
Breakfast then got ready to head down the beach for a swim. The waves weren’t that big, but perfect for the girls on their bodyboards.
Back on the boat for lunch.
Kristie had invited Murray & Marie (one of her aunts & uncles) to visit as they live up the coast. We enjoyed coffee and afternoon tea with them onboard.
Kristie had also organised for Rach and her two kids to drop by after school and come and checkout the boat.
They got there about 5pm then went down the road for Fish ‘n Chips.
Once they left we walked into the shops and found and ice cream. We were enjoying them when we realised a storm/rain was nearly on us.
Kristina and I ran back to the boat and closed up the windows before the rain arrived.
Kristie and Emma got there not long after and we got the sides up just in time.
Thursday 24th
Early start today as we have a long trip up to the Wide Bay Bar and need to get there before high tide (5pm), and before sunset!
We were up at 6am and left the marina at 6:45. It was a cold rainy day with a bit of wind.
We motored all the way, but eventually we unfurled the jib to give us a bit more speed, but also reduce the roll somewhat.
We got to the bar in good time. We checked in with the Coast Guard before heading in. We followed the leads (on Fraser) in and matched up with the marks received from the Coast Guard.
The next leads (those on the mainland) are a bit off and need to go off the marks instead.
Even with the ~1.5m swell we had an easy crossing.
We motored all the way down to Tin Can Bay and dropped anchor.
Friday 25th
ANZAC Day.
Rest Day.
Saturday 26th
Parkrun was ditched in preference for Dolphin Feeding. The cafe has volunteers that organise and run the dolphin feeding each morning.
We got there about 6:45am and there was already a queue (not surprising given the last weekend of school holidays.)
It was $15 each for entry and feeding. There was about an hour of talking/watching before feeding started.
There were 7 dolphins there, so each group was sent to their own dolphin. As it was high tide, it was a bit of a wade to get there (almost up to Emma’s shoulder!).
We each got one small fish, handed that to the dolphin underwater, then moved out of the water.
We got back to the tender and I took the girls back to Lazuli while Kristie went walking/shopping (the local Foodworks).
As always there are boat jobs. The vang was next on the list. I had purchased 10m of Dynema at Southport but hadn’t yet got around to using it.
I had my fids and book, and with the help of YouTube I got the vang rebuilt (one final splice to do but I need to wait until the sails are up to ensure the length is correct).
With the splicing done, we had lunch and then got ready to head into the public swimming pool for the afternoon.
It was a longer trip around to the boat ramp as it was low tide.
Tender up, and I installed the Garmin Striker I’d purchased to be our depth sounder/fish finder on the tender.
When it was done I joined the others for a swim.
With Kristie diving tomorrow, we needed to move Lazuli 1.5nm up the river to Carlo for an easier trip to the dive centre in the morning.
It didn’t take long and we were more or less opposite the channel into Carlo.
Sunday 27th
Early start to get Kristie and her dive gear into Carlo / Wolf Rock Dive Centre by 7am.
The girls and I had an easy day on the boat.
Picked up Kristie about 2pm.
Did some more sorting - one of our boxes was a mess of charging cables and adapters. We sorted that as well as sorting our other boxes of First Aid stuff.
Sips ‘n dips and a few rounds of Uno.
Monday 28th
School & Work (we’d had last week off, so it’d been a while since the last school lesson onboard.)
After lunch we moved 1hr north to the end of the Tin Can Bay inlet. We needed to get closer to help with the trip the following day.
It was low tide so we went into the mud flats to explore.
We saw some shovel nose rays in the shallows. Flew kites, explored.
Afterward, Kristie when for a SUP but didn’t see anything.
Tuesday 29th
Today’s mission was to get to Sheridan Flats just before the high tide. The various soundings left by other boaties indicated a depth ranging from 0m to 0.6m LAT.
Given our draft of 2.3m, we needed to get it right :)
Up at 6am and motoring by 6:30am.
School and work while underway.
For the first hour we had tide going with us (incoming), but that then swapped to tide going against us (still incoming).
We got to Sheridan Flats at about 9:30am. It’s a very short shallow section.
The minimum depth we saw was 2.8m. This corresponded to a 2.8m tide at Boonlye Point, and 3.6m at Turkey Island.
I had a client meeting scheduled for 11:30am. At 11:15 we realised we wouldn’t quite make it to Kingfisher by then.
We turned straight into the beach and dropped anchor with 5min to spare.
With the meeting done, we moved 5min down to Kingfisher and dropped anchor there (the last - most southerly boat in the group).
With lunch done we went into the beach, taking the tender in close to the Sunset Bar.
We had some fun herding the Soldier Crabs, then went up to have a swim at the resort. The spa was not heated - very disappointing!
We had to drag our tender quite a way back down the before before we could head back to the boat to change and get supplies for sunset drinks.
It happened to be the lowest tide they’ve had for a long time. We found knee-deep mud!
Fun fact: our tender scoots along nicely on top of the mud :)
Back to the beach (we parked closer to Lazuli - and a lot further away from the resort).
Sunset drinks, then joined my parents for dinner at The Stone & Wood.
Late walk back to the tender then back to Lazuli.
Wednesday 30th
Work and School.
Then back to the pool. The spa was heated today!
Mum and dad joined us at the pool, and we had lunch there.
More swimming, then we went back to their room for a shower.
They had room 243, which was a perfect spot for birdwatching! I think dad ended adding 10 birds to his 2025 list.
There was a bit of rain, so only dad and I went for the Bush Tucker walk. This was especially interesting. We tasted several berries.
Sunset drinks - we’d ordered a (small for the price) bowl of prawns and enjoyed them with some other chips and cheese.
Back to the resort for dinner at the Dune restaurant. A bit too fancy for the girls and not much on the menu for them other than prawn crackers and rice.
Dad had very generously booked us into the Night Walk with him and mum. We wandered quite a bit: the creek for eels, logs/UV light for scorpions, jetty for fish/stingrays.
Kristina managed to drop her head torch into the water from the jetty, so she and Kristie ran down the jetty and out to get it (fully clothed with the water up to her armpits!)… It floats, and still works!
Just at the end of the walk we saw a Sugar Glider do a nice glide right outside the reception area.
Back to Lazuli in the smoke from the light show, another late night.
Thursday 1st May
Work and School.
Mum and dad were on the 4wd bus tour today, but we had a key to their room!
Early lunch and then back to the resort to use the pool and heated spa.
Chips and gingerbeer/cider for lunch.
Showered and then got an ice cream.
Sunset drinks. Mum and dad joined us after getting back from their tour.
We also met Matt + Maddy + Flint + Olli who were anchored near us on their boat “Skyus”.
The kids played together well.
Dinner back at the Stone & Wood.
We went to see if we could find a Sugar Glider for mum and dad. Took us about 30min, but we eventually found one.
Emma was the first to spot it glide, but it did a few more glides and dad saw them as well. We got a good view when it landed in a low down tree/branch.
There was also a light show on at the resort. My parents had done it the night before and enjoyed it.
We went back to their room as their balcony overlooks that area. Saw a reasonable amount, enough to be happy we didn’t spend $100 for the 4 of us to go.
It was still good though.
Another late night trip back to Lazuli.
Friday 2nd
Mum and dad were checking out today. We waved at them when their barge went past.
School / Work - though Kristina didn’t wake up until 8:45!
Kristie took the girls in to do the Bush Tucker walk, while I stayed onboard to do some more work.
I picked up the girls and brought them back to the boat while Kristie stayed ashore to do some washing.
The wind had picked up, and it was pretty bumpy where we were anchored. We decided we’d move up to Platypus Bay past Moon Point.
Got a bit of rain on the way.
Reasonably calm once we were in close and anchored.
The weather forecast isn’t that great, so we’re not sure what/where we’ll go in the next week or so.
