Southport to Mooloolaba (23rd to 28th May)

Monday morning and it is time to leave the hustle and bustle that is Southport and head for quieter shores.  We are heading up the inside route which at times is quite a navigational challenge.  'Hope Harbour Marina' was our destination for Monday night.  The day was beautiful and quite warm although we know there is a bit of a front on the way which is due to bring some heavy rain.
Hope Harbour is a quite little marina up the Coomera River - not far from Sanctuary Cove.  As the boat show ended on the Sunday there was plenty of NEW BOAT traffic heading the opposite way!!

Ian & Karen - Tipplers Passage

Tuesday morning we headed over to a little anchorage called Tipplers Passage which was a  really pretty little place.  We stopped there for a spot of lunch on the aft deck before tackling the 'Shallow Part' of the inside channel near Jacobs Well & Steiglitz.  We timed our run to get through there close to high tide and almost made it through apart from a very gently nudge on the first lot of shoals.    After plenty of winding and weaving we got to our anchorage at Brown's Bay about 4.30pm just in time to see a spectacular sunset.  It was a pleasure to be out of marina's and back on the pick for the night.

BBQ Night - Manly Harbour

Heavier winds were forecast for the Wednesday and that is very much what we got with up the 30knots across the decks,.  We finally emerged from the maze of the inner channels into Moreton Bay and headed to Royal Queensland YS at Manly for a few days of R&R.  We caught up Leapy for a meal on Wednesday night at RQYS and also happened to run into Jimmy the Magician (from RMYS) who was trolling the bar.  The State of Origin game was televised at the club and luckily for us we were all barracking for the Maroons or else it might have become a bit ugly in the bar.

Thursday was another beautiful morning and we all had a leisurely day wandering around Manly.  Looks like we have also lined up a place to leave Sally on the trip south when we head home for Xmas.  Rose and Dave (Quinco) dropped in for drinks and it was great to catch up with them again - amazing how times flies - apparently they have now been living aboard for 7years!!

Sally at the Moreton Bay Boat Club

Friday morning and we were on our way to Scarborough which is right at the top end of Morton Bay.  We had a lovely sail and pulled up to Pontoon 1 at the Moreton Bay Boat Club for the night which happened to be right out the front of the club which was kind of handy!!

Deception Bay - Scarborough

The gang was up bright and early this morning for the trip to Mooloolaba which is about 35NM north of Deception Bay.  Upon arrival at the Mooloolaba Yacht Club Marina it was time for a late lunch of fresh prawns on the rear deck before going for a wander up into have a look at the town. 


We are hoping to get some good boogie board action here as we have set up camp for the week.
Tomorrow Karen and Ian will be leaving the boat and heading down the coast towards Ballina for a few days before heading back to Melbourne.
Michael and Monica are hoping to come and join us on Friday for the next part of the adventure