Townsville and the Outback (14th - 20th August)

One view from Castle Hill Look-out

We picked up the hire car (a special rental "4WD" Hyundai Getz) on Sunday morning and we are ready to hit the streets.  This isn't as easy as one would seem as we haven't driven a car for over 4 months!  The first stop is the Castle Hill look out which has some excellent views over Townsville and makes you realise just how big and sprawling this county town really is. 

Imperial Hotel
Ravenswood

 
We finally get out of Townsville and travel through Ayr and the Burdekin farming area on our way to Ravenswood which is pretty much a ghost town from the gold mining era.   We stopped at the Imperial Hotel for a quick drink and it is off again to Charters Towers - our destination for the evening. We stayed at a 'ye olde' heritage pub for our first night off the boat since we left Melbourne in April. It was a lovely spot w

Ravenswood

ith a big balcony over the main drag and even Juddy managed to make himself comfortable in the king size, 4 poster bed.  Before departing from Charters Towers on Monday morning we head down the the Venus Battery for an excellent tour and insight into this gold crushing mill that continued to operate up until the 1970's

Assay Room, Venus Battery - Charters Towers

We hit the road again along the Gregory Development road which is really in the donga and well frequented by road trains carrying ore and plenty of road kill as well. After quite a few hours on the road and without mobile reception for at least 4 hours we arrive at the Bedrock Caravan Park, Mount Surprise which is around 1hour from the Undara Lava Tubes. We stopped in one of their on-site cabins which was clean and comfy. The caravan park puts on a home cooked meal of an evening and as there are not too many other options in Mount Surprise we figure this could be a good option for our diner. How far do you have to go - the people we sat with for dinner just happen to live at Mt Martha - how bizarre

Undala Lava Tubes

Tuesday morning and we have booked in to do the tour of the Undara Lava Tubes which seems to be on the tourist run for the grey nomads (there are plenty of them still running around out-back Queensland). Prior to the tour neither of us knew much about the Lava Tubes or how they are formed which made it all the more interesting. As well as the amazing colours in the caves they are also inhabited by bats - luckily not too many were around during our visit. After the tour we are back on the road and heading towards Innisfail. The area we have been travelling in is called 'The Savannah' which apparently stands for not many trees and plenty of grass. As we pass through the little town of Ravenshoe (approx 80kms East of Innisfail) the land quickly changes to the lush paddocks and tropical rain forests of the Atherton Table Lands - amazing the difference a bit of water makes!!. As we arrive in Innisfail pretty late in the day we head out to the caravan park at Flying Fish Point for the night. Flying Fish Point is at the entrance to the Johnson River which passes through the township of Innisfail.

Cassowary - Etty Bay

After a good nights sleep we are off to the Australian Sugar Museum to catch up with my old buddy - Margy, who now runs the cafe. Margy and I became friends about 47 years ago when we both used to holiday at the Miami Caravan Park, Safety Beach so it is always good to catch up whenever the opportunity arises. We then travel down to check out Mourilyan Harbour and then out to Etty Bay for a spot of lunch where we happen to come across a couple of local Cassowary's that seem to enjoy checking out every one's lunch and the bins to see if they can find a tasty morsel or two. We have kept the afternoon aside so that we can hit all the op shops and $2 shops we can find in search of trade and donation items for our trip out to the Louisiades - which is now only28 sleeps away- OMG!!!

The 4WD Rental Car
Etty Bay

Thursday morning and we are back on the road to Townsville and just happen to somehow end up in 'The Convoy' that is heading from FNQ to Canberra to protest about the Carbon Tax!!  As well as lots of cars, trucks and utes sporting pick ribbons we are also joined by a pink Winnebago and a pink Helicopter! Luckily we find a way out and stop for a quick coffee and look at the Golden Gum Boot in Tully before we head off again. The Golden Gum Boot award is given to the wettest place in Australia and it is 7.9mts tall which is the height of the largest rainfall ever recorded at Tully. Quite impressive when Melbourne gets on average 300mm per year.

We get back to Townsville latish on Thursday arvo and find that all is as we left it on Sally.  Friday and we are back to the op shops and like in search of more trade goods - we are now very much over op shops and $2 shops although it is amazing the things you can get. On Sunday evening we are hoping to catch up with John and Bev Waugh from SBSC who are up this part of the world in their caravan and then we are on our way northward bound once more on our way to Cairns

Bowen to Townsville (5th - 12th August)

Bowen Tugs

We know that we have arrived back in the real Queensland in Bowen as the locals all end their sentences with "AY" e.g. 'nice day ay'.   As planned we took the bus over to Horseshoe Bay on Friday which is the holiday end of town and is really lovely with some nice beaches and an excellent walk to the look-out.  We don't seem to be able to keep Rick out of the water as he was off for a bit of a splash in the waves before we stopped for a bit of lunch at the beach-side cafe which was rather nice.

Lookout at Horseshoe Bay (Bowen)

Saturday morning and we start the journey towards Townsville.  We have a few miles to cover so have around 40miles to travel each day but luckily we have some good winds for the first couple of days.  Saturday night we spent at Cape Upstart which is quite spectacular with rugged hills around.  Sunday night we are at Cape Bowling Green (or affectionately known as Rolling Green) and to be honest this is not one of my favorite anchorages.  It is quite bland, with flat sandy beaches, mangroves all round, muddy looking water and the slowly shoaling beach meant we had to anchor approx. 2miles off the shore. .  We did however have a comfortable nights sleep and luckily it did not live up to its rolling reputation. 

Drinks on the aft deck with
Grant & Leanne from Marsala

Monday, and as forecast, the wind has dropped off so it is a motor to Horseshoe Bay (the one on Magnetic Island). Horseshoe Bay seems to be a cruisers paradise as there are plenty of them at anchor in the little bay.  It is a lovely little spot and we can quickly see why it is a favourite with both cruisers and holiday makers.  After checking out the local scene we head back to the boat for a freshen up and ran across some fellow cruisers, Grant & Leanne from the yacht Marsala,who came aboard for a bit of a natter and a catch up since we last saw them at Brampton Island.  One of the hot topics was the impending Census which we didn't even know was happening and figured that we were going to avoid being counted this time around but low and behold the next thing we know a pretty rough tinny is pulling up alongside with a couple of pretty rough characters aboard handing out Census Papers - how far do you have to go!!   

Rick at Work!

Horseshoe Bay (Magnetic Island)

Dinghy Preparation

The Little Red Dolphin @ Horseshoe Bay

Balding Bay (aka Nudie Beach)

Tuesday and we are off on a walk to Balding Bay (now known as Nudie Beach - for obvious reasons) and Radical Bay.  The walk is pretty much all up or all down but through some really pretty scenery and the beaches are lovely.  Yes you guessed it - Rick is back in the water yet again.  Late in the day we wander off to the marina in Nelly Bay which reminded us all a bit of Martha Cove - great potential but not a lot going on YET.  


We took the bus down to Picnic Point on Wednesday for a bit of an outing and also discovered that the bus drivers at Magnetic only have 2 speeds - flat out or stopped.  Despite the rugged ride it was a good way to have a look at the island from a different prospective.  After our venture to Picnic Point we are off to the Breakwater Marina at Townsville however, as the entrance is quite shallow we have to wait for the tide so cannot get in until about 5pm.

Townsville is a great spot with the township quite close to the marina which means we can walk pretty much anywhere which is a big advantage.  They have down a really good job of  making the town a nice place to be and have done as excellent job on the foreshore area which is a real magnet for both the locals and tourists alike.  We hit the aquarium on Thursday which is really worth a visit and gives you a chance to view life on the reef without having to go under the water (not sure that Rick was too happy about this!).  We found plenty of Nemo's and Dory's as well many other reef fish.  They also have a tank for the predatory fish and were lucky enough to be there for feeding time.  Very pleased that they keep the predators in a separate tank as don't think it would bode to well for Nemo otherwise.

Friday morning and we have to say our farewells to Rick as he is flying back to Melbourne today.  We thought we would honour his departure but hitting the water ourselves and did a few laps at the local Tobruk Pool which was the training ground for many Olympic Champions including Dawn Fraser and Laurie Lawrence.

We have arranged to pick up a car on Sunday and will be taking a leave of absence from the boat for a few days as we do a bit of a tour of the area and are planning to venture out to Charters Towers then up to Mourilyan to catch up with some old friends before wandering back down the coast again to complete the loop before heading off northwards again to Cairns

Airlie Beach to Bowen (30th July to 5th August)

The Skipper

First Mate & Navi-guesser

After spending a few nights in Airlie, which included a lovely sail with Michael Arcaro + friends on his big cat "Verve" on the Saturday arvo, we were up early on Sunday to get ourselves sorted to get over to Hamilton Island to pick up Rick Potter.  Our timing wasn't all that great as it took us a bit longer to get over to Hammo (would you believe it - we actually had to sail to weather!!) and to make it worse Rick's flight was running ahead of schedule.  Eventually we did catch up and had a pleasant afternoon at Hammo which included a ride on the free bus around the island and a stop over at the resort for a holiday beverage. 

The Crew!!!

View from the Solway Circuit Walk

Monday morning and we were on our way to Whitehaven Beach to give Rick a little glimpse of the chaos that is Whitehaven Beach and it did not disappoint with the usual array of charter boats, ocean rafters, sea-planes etc arriving at various times during the day.  We took the very scenic Solway Circuit walk which has some excellent views over the Whitsunday Islands

Tuesday and we are on our way to the top of Hook Island to re-visit the snorkeling spots in the Whitsunday's with the first stop at Manta Ray Bay - Rick was champing at the bit to get in the water and before we knew it he was all suited up and off to check out the underwater activities.  After a couple of hours at Manta Ray we then headed off to Butterfly Bay night for a peaceful night on a mooring. 

aka Jacques Cousteau

Wednesday morning was a stunner and we are off to the pick of the snorkeling stops at Blue Pearl Bay.  On the way we were lucky enough to see a newly born humpback whale calf and mum, which as you can imagine, was pretty special.   As it has been a bit breezy the last few days we pretty much have the bay to ourselves which was excellent.  The fishies were as friendly as usual and the coral amazing.  Rick (aka Jacques) had the pleasure of hand feeding the Bat Fish that collected at the back of the boat. 

Feeding the Bat Fish @ Blue Pearl Bay

Drinks at the
Gloucester Passage Eco Resort

It is now time to leave the fantasy land of the Whitsunday's so after our time at Blue Pearl we are off through the Gloucester Passage to Monte's Resort.  As Mark keeps telling us - you haven't lived until you have been to Montes!.  We had a rollicking sail across as there is a good 20-25knts blowing.  After negotiating the passage we picked up a mooring in the bay but only got to see Monte's from a distance as we actually ended up going to the nearby Eco Resort for drinks and dinner which was rather pleasant

Cocktail Hour!

Thursday and it is a quick jaunt over to Bowen which is quite a tight little harbour but there is a pen at the yacht club that we can fit into so all is good.  We went for a wander into the township of Bowen and are planning to catch the bus over to Horseshoe bay this afternoon which is apparently a nice little beach resort area.

All going well the plan is to leave Bowen on Saturday as we start to make our way north towards Townsville with our first stop at Cape Upstart

Whitsunday Islands - Part 2 (25th - 29th July)

After snorkeling at Blue Pearl on Monday we decided that Stonehaven Anchorage would be a good and comfy spot to spend the night.  Luckily we managed to score a mooring which is pretty much surrounded by the coral fringing reef which is always nice.

Just because we hadn't had quite enough snorkeling it was back to Blue Pearly Bay on Tuesday.  On this occassion we timed our arrival for a bit later in the morning and managed to get onto a suitable mooring pretty quickly.  Again the usual herd of fish came out to greet us for feeding - amazes me that they all seem to have endless appetites!.  Before long we are donned in our wet suits and snorkeling gear to delight in the coral and fish that inhabit this lovely bay.

Nara Inlet - Sally at Anchor

As we haven't been off the boat for almost a week we leave Blue Pearl Bay and wander our way down to Nara Inlet with the plan to stop over for the 2 nights remaining before we head back into Airlie Beach.  We find a nice little anchorage and as it is getting a bit late in the afternoon we opt to have a swim off the back of the boat before settling in for drinks at sundown.  Apparently the rumour is that Nara Inlet is the local breeding ground for Hammer Head sharks!.  Luckily enough we didn't get the opportunity to see one however, the time in the water seemed just a little shorter than usual.

Nara Inlet - Ngaro Rock Art

Wednesday and we decide to wait until lowish tide before we head to the beach at Nara which has a short walking track up to the site of the Aboriginal Rock Painting done by the local Ngaro People which is quite fascinating but as with all these things it is now all roped off etc to protect it from the humans that visit.

After our 10 or so days wandering around the Whitsunday Islands it is time to head back into the chaos that is Airlie Beach.  We have heard from Michael Arcaro who is up at Airlie this week doing some work on Verve so we catch up with him for a spot of dinner at the Whitsunday Yacht Club which has a view to die for.  It is always good to catch up with someone from home to hear how things are going down south. 

We will be staying at Airlie until Sunday when we will head over the Hamilton Island to pick up Rick  Potter who will be on-board for the next part of the adventure to Townsville.

The Whitsunday Islands Part I (18th - 25th July)

Balancing Rock
South Molle Island

Monday morning and we leave the chaos of Airlie Beach and head to the quieter waters off South Molle Island.  We were hoping to drop into Day Dream Island for lunch on the way but as it is also awash with people and water craft we decide to go direct to Bauer Bay on South Molle.  As it is a lovely day we decide to tackle one of the walks at South Molle which covers the north east part of the island and takes us to Balancing Rock, Lamond Hill and back to Bauer Bay via Paddle Beach.  We have a quiet night in at South Molle and prepare ourselves to take on the summit of Spion Kop on Tuesday. 



Again the weather is sunny and warm so we head off on the walk to Spion Kop which is not all that long but does take us past some great look outs and the view from the top is excellent.  After a spot of morning tea at the Spion Kop look out we wander back to the boat only to find some very friendly bat fish on the way back to the boat.  Luckily we have packed some bread so couldn't help but to give them a few morsels.

Bat Fish Feeding
South Molle Island

View of Bauer Bay from Spion Kop

Wake Boarding at Whitehaven

As the forecast for the next few days is looking really good we decide to move to Whitehaven Beach on Wednesday.  The wind is back a bit today so we have a good sail around and as usual when we arrive the place is just going off with charter boats, ocean rafting craft, float planes and plenty of bare boaters to boot.  Luckily most of them leave in the afternoon and leave the rest of us in a bit of peace and quiet for the night, apart from some yachties that have taken up wake boarding at dusk!!

Whitehaven Beach - A Day in the Life!

We take the walk around the Solway Circuit and over to Chance Bay on Thursday morning before the chaos starts yet again!  Whitehaven is kind of one of those places where you can spend hours just kind of watching the coming's and going's and never get tired of it!

Friday morning and it is time to move on again (mind you the average sail these days is between 5-10NM so hardly taxing) with the plan to head to Tongue Bay which is at the north end of Whitsunday Island.  As we had been warned this seems to be the latest place for everyone to hang out and is looking really busy so we elect to move to Apostle Bay which is just next door and have the place to ourselves - apart from a couple of green turtles and also a couple of Dugong's which seem to call this place home.  We are pretty excited as it is really rare to see Dugong's.  Most of the afternoon is spent on the back of the boat looking out for more turtles and dugongs.

As we have down plenty of walks we figure it is now time to get in some hot snorkeling action so on Saturday morning we head off to the north end of Hook Island .  Our first stop is into Manta Bay (luckily we are the only ones here - yet!).  We pull up a mooring and before you know it we are feeding fish off the back of the boat.  This place is pretty awesome for snorkeling so we are both in the water pretty quickly to check out the coral and endless supply of fishies.   Just as we get out the water the charter boats start to arrive so we consider our timing to be "spot on".
In the afternoon we move down a couple of bays and pick up a mooring for the night and again go for another snorkel to check out the scenery in this bay. 

Sunday morning and we are hoping to get back into Manta Bay but unfortunately miss the chance as all the moorings are taken so we move along to the next bay which just happens to be empty and also has some lovely snorkeling so we can't complain!

Seems like we still cant get enough of this snorkeling stuff so we head over to Blue Pearl Bay which is on the western side of Haymen Island.  Luckily there is a mooring left and we quickly grab it as they are very sought after in this part of the world.  With a name like Blue Pearl you can only imagine how pretty this place is and again how good the snorkeling is.  Wish we had an underwater camera but we don't so you will just have to imagine how good it is.

At this stage we are planning to head back into Airlie on Thursday so will hopefully get to write another update then on the rest of our time in the Whitsunday Islands.

BTW I had a triple thriller weekend regarding sporting activities.
Carlton quite easily accounted for Essendon (and Eddie got 8 goals - *YAY*)
Stoner won the Moto GP at Laguna Seca
Cadel Evans - the first Aussie to win the Tour de France



AWESOME!!!

Brampton Island to Airlie (via Hammo and other islands) - 9th to 15th July

After a few lovely days at Brampton Island we started to make our way north towards Hamilton Island (more affectionately known as "Fat Island")  The first trip we did on Saturday was a 10NM hop to Goldsmith Island  We had a lovely sail with gentle winds and arrived at Goldsmith at around 11.30am.

Sunday we had a similar jaunt but this time around 10NM to Thomas Island sailing via Coppersmith and Silversmith Islands.  The winds were a bit more lively and we made good time into Thomas Island.  As there are plenty of fringing reefs in the anchorage at Thomas it was an excellent spot to go for a bit of a snorkel and check out the local coral in the arvo.  To our surprise we happen to come across 3 turtles during the swim which was pretty awesome. Not sure who was more surprised - the turtles or us!!

We know we must be getting close to the madness of the Whitsunday's as we spotted our first bare boat today!  Monday and we have another short hop to Shaw Island which is part of the Lindeman Group.   Today we did a PB and managed to get our anchor down well in time for morning tea at 10.00am.

Tuesday morning and we are off to Fat Island.  We took the scenic route to Hammo via Pentecost Island as they wont allow arrival's before 11.00am.  The marina crew at Hammo are fantastic and not only lead you to your berth but also help out with lines, setting fenders and anything else that might be required at the time.  Hamilton Island, as is expected, is a hive of activity and there are plenty of holiday makers which is great to see as many of the other resorts are looking a little down in the mouth or shut.

Cocktails at the Bommie Bar - HIYC

We went up to the new yacht club for a couple of pre-dinner drinks and watched the sunset which was pretty nice before heading over to Romano's for a swish dinner!  The next day at Hammo we decided to take the bus ride around the island and went over to the main resorts to check out life on the other side!

As the winds are forecast to blow again on the weekend accompanied by some rain we decide that it would be prudent to head over to Airlie for the weekend - via Long Island.  This will also enable me to go and watch the big game of Carlton V Collingwood (not sure if that is a good or a bad thing yet!)

Ragamuffin

Thursday and we leave the madness of Hammo and on the way to Long Island we spot our first Maxi - Ragamuffin - heading over to Whitehaven Beach.  We pull up a mooring in Happy Bay which is just off the Club Crocodile resort and make our way to the beach.    The resort hasn't changed very much since we were up here in 2003 but seems to be doing quite well and we find out that there are some nice walks on the island so figure the walk over to Palm Bay would be a nice way to spend the afternoon.  Along the way we spot a wildlife in the form of a scrub turkey.  There seem to be plenty of these on the island along with the usual Curlews that hang out in the resort and also the Lorikeets which flock around the resort at dusk for the daily feeding.  After having a couple of sun-downers at the beach bar whilst we wait for the tide to come back in we then went back to the boat for a quiet evening on board.

Long Island - Scrub Turkey

Curlews @ Club Crocodile

Friday and the forecast is pretty much holding up so we are going to head into Airlie Beach for a few days to do the usual marina stuff before heading out for a couple of weeks exploring the Whitsunday's

Bird Feeding @ Club Crocodile

Mackay to Brampton Island (3rd to 8th July)

After a few good days in Mackay, while the wind continued to blow, we finally made our escape on Sunday (3rd July) and the forecast is looking good for the next week at least.

Scawfell Island Camping Area

Our first destination is Scawfell Island which is about 20nm North East of Mackay.  We had a great (and quick) sail with a lively 15-20knot beam reach!  We decided that a leisurely afternoon was in store so retired to the aft deck for some reading and as always the obligatory swim. 

Scawfell Island Beach

On Monday morning we were both keen to go and have an explore so the dinghy was quickly inflated and we were off to the beach.  Scawfell Island is pretty much untouched so it is virtually impossible to do too much walking apart from the beaches but they are pretty nice so we didn't mind.  It also gave our dinghy a nice chance to catch a few rays whilst waiting for us on the white sandy beach.  We have heard on the grapevine that there is some pretty good snorkelling at Scawfell so we make plans to check out a few of the bommies in the afternoon.  As with all these places tides seem to make a big difference to everything you do.  Unfortunately for us it just happened to be high tide on the afternoon of the 3rd so although the coral and the fishies looked great they were all about 12 feet below us.

Bearing this in mind we decided to change to order of proceedings for Tuesday and snorkeling was on the list for morning activities.  This time we decided to go a bit further afield so the dinghy came with us and after finding a suitable rock to tie it to we were both in the water having an excellent time exploring all things underwater.  The coral was amazing and in really good condition with little sign of damage from weather etc.  

Blue Tiger Butterfly
Brampton Island

Wednesday morning and we decided that it was time to move on again so we are off to Brampton Island which is around 20nm North West of Scawfell.  We arrive and there are plenty of other boats in the anchorage and it seems like this is a popular place for boats of all types to visit especially as it is renown for having some excellent walking tracks.  We have also been told that the resort has recently shut down which is again a bit sad but there are also rumours that it may be redeveloped - I guess time will tell. 


After our first shore party on Tuesday afternoon we have re-named Brampton Island as Butterfly Island as it is literally swarming in butterflies which is just beautiful.  Wednesday and we are off to do the Island Circuit Walk which takes you on an 8km jaunt around the island.  There are some amazing sights with one of the most special views being that of Oyster and Dinghy Bays.  We stopped for a bite of lunch at Turtle Beach (they do have excellent names for their beaches up here) before finishing off the walk followed by a refreshing dip off the back of the boat.

Oyster & Dinghy Bay's

Turtle Beach

Carlisle Island

The one walk everyone must do at Brampton is the Brampton Peak walk so we are up early to hopefully get the best of the wildlife on this walk.  It is not all that challenging but it is a couple of km's uphill so you certainly know you have been on a walk when you get to the top.  The have put up a couple of excellent lookouts so again you get some great views of Carlisle Island next door and islands further afield.

Tomorrow the plan will be to head up to Goldsmith Island and then keep moving north as we close in on the Whitsunday islands proper