We powered down alongside the Southern ('Auckland') Channel of Gladstone Harbour with a 3 knot outgoing tide, our speed peaking over 10 knots at times as massive tanker ships steamed at us or past us - awesome sites at close range. There were well over 20/30 ships outside the harbour in the open ocean waiting to come inside for a load of coal, alumina, bauxite, grain, cement products, sodium cyanide, ammonium nitrate or whatever. We reached the serenity of open waters and left the 'hustle and bustle' of industrious Gladstone in our wake - wondering at the mass of shipping traffic and crowds of tankers that will be queued up in the outside anchorages in future when the LNG export production plants being built kick in!
We had a pleasant trip to Pancake Creek - at first we anchored in the outer anchorage to await high tide before the depth was good enough for us to shift down to the inner anchorage - there were already about 20 boats in this somewhat remote place which is a handy (the only!) real stopover point. We navigated carefully down to the inner anchorage after hearing countless stories of boats hitting the underwater rocks in the shallow entry here - it was interesting though going the inner anchorage entry sideways with the incoming tide rushing through - we didn't hit anything and happily anchored in about 4 metres of water, lit the mosquito coils, put up the insect screens and settled in for the night.
I don't know why I woke up at 11.10pm - but thankfully I did - we had a 38' catamaran right alongside us just metres away. I had seen this cat earlier in the day upstream and obviously his anchor wasn't holding so he was either drifting past or into us on the outgoing tide? I was in my undies flashing the torch into his hatches and calling out his boat name with a calm controlled urgency - no one was waking up - or perhaps it was the sight of me in my undies! Anyway eventually I heard a noise and someone poked their head out and I told them they were slowly drifting to sea (or me) - thankfully they responded quickly, moving and re-anchoring - then back to bed. In the morning though a power boat downstream that we had anchored about 120 metres from was now only about 25 metres away from our bow - he too had drifted toward us this time on the incoming tide! Anyway it was light, calm and the tide was rising - so time to get out of here - we weighed anchor and headed to Port Bundaberg enroute to Hervey Bay.
There was a forecast southerly ('big highs' down south yet again!! - again driving hot weather and this time tragically fires down there - big thunder and hail storms in southern Qld - and big southerly winds up here along the whole NSW & Qld coasts to the Cape) - so Port Bundaberg would be our refuge. We had a pleasant trip - negotiated our way past a big dredge fixing the harbour entry channel after the floods - and tied up safely in the marina awaiting 'the blow'. After 'a hard day (well at least a long day) in the office' we enjoyed a great meal at the marina's 'Baltimore Restaurant'. A friendly catamaran had also pulled into the marina ('Hapia') and the guys gave us some fresh Spanish Mackerel. Life was pretty good.
Saturday we hired a car to go to Bundaberg town to have a look around - and specifically go to the Bundaberg Rum Distillery - which is a highly educational establishment. I would go knowing (as many cruising sailors do) that 'if you drink rum before 10 am you don't have a drinking problem - it just means you're a pirate!'
Anyway there was a huge crowd at the Distillery as today happened to be the release of a special 'Master Distillers Collection' (MDC) rum and there was a huge line of serious 'Rum Collectors' lining up for their special numbered bottle of rum - one guy paid over $4,000 for bottle no.4! This was an amazing insight into the 'subculture' of Bundy Rum and the marketing of this Australian iconic brand - it truly is a great success story and the whole tour was well worth the effort. We walked away with some special Bundaberg 'Royal Liqueur' which can only be purchased at the distillery - Neil of 'Billabong' put us onto this - so now we can repay a few after dinner nips! We left Bundy and went to Bargara for lunch - this is a nice coastal spot not far from Bundy - we enjoyed lunch at Kacy's and then back to 'Echo Beach' for a few chores in the afternoon (gas, diesel, etc). We capped off the day with the fine fish we were given the previous night dusted with a light Cajun spice and served with fresh salad - as the wind howled past. Yes it's tough in paradise.
Today we got the marina courtesy bus to and from the Bundaberg Markets and we now have more vegies than Harris Farm Markets at Bridgepoint! Not much fruit though which was suprising. There is also a great fresh seafood outlet at the Marina so we had the best (and I mean the best) local Spanner Crabs and Prawns for lunch - so tasty, fresh - the best! We also brought some Hervey Bay scallops and salmon for later. Some more chores this afternoon to get ready for departure as we hope to leave Bundaberg for Hervey Bay/Rooney's Point early tomorrow morning - and a yummy vegetable risotto for dinner.