18/10/2009, Tweed River
We have spent a nice couple of days in the Tweed River however I want to be on the move again and just waiting for the wind from a favourable direction and tomorrow looks like the day. We will leave about 0830 and arrive at the Ballina Bar about 8 hours later all being well. This is about the last port and river on the coast that is navigatable for a yacht that we have not explored. John arrived yesterday and will probably stay till we reach Sydney. I have decided not to do the Clarence River cruise this year but we should meet up with some of the CCC boats in Iluka
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16/10/2009, Coolangatta
We left Mooloolaba at 0530 on Thursday morning and had a great days sailing and arrived at the bottom end of Morton Bay about 1600 where we anchored in the lee of Coochiemudlo Island. It was not the best of anchorages but allowed us to get some rest. It was another early start on Friday morning, 0430 as we had to get the top of the tide to cross some shallow spots near Jacobs Wells in the Broadwater. We stopped for awhile at Tipplers while we had Breakfast then about 1100 motored down to the Gold Coast Seaway and sailed the 16 miles to the Tweed River entrance. Excellent conditions' crossing the bar and this was the first time we had visited this port. The Tweed River is only quite narrow and we had some difficulty finding an anchorage. We will be here at least until Monday waiting for a wind from the north and I think John will arrive on Sunday. In the mean time we will take in the sights of Broadbeach and catch up with Geoff's friends Pat and Bill. As we entered the Tweed River yesterday we were not sure what the time was. Queensland does not have daylight saving and NSW does. It must be very confusing for people living and working close to the border. The weather has been very warm and as I type this today looks to be good as well.
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13/10/2009, Mooloolaba
The story is familiar and here we are in Mooloolaba weather bound again. We certainly made the correct decision to cross the Wide Bay Bar when we did as the last 2 days have been NW winds at around 30 knots and although the direction is good much to strong for us old guys. Last night we caught up with Graham and Sue and had a meal at a local Indian restaurant. It was a good night. Today John picked us up to take us shopping and as he had to go to Noosa to pick up a painting we went along for the ride. We had lunch at the Trewantin RSL club and drove around the area. The plan being to do our shopping at the local Aldi store. We were back in the car after lunch and had been driving for awhile and I was starting to think that the Aldi store was further away than I had thought. Oh well it appears that the nominated driver (John) forgot all about the shopping! We will do it tomorrow as the weather is going to keep us here another day. John is just getting over a lurgi he picked up on an outback 4 wheel drive trip so will not join us here but may come onboard in the tweed river when we get there in a few days.
The weather is very warm 30+ but the wind is the problem.
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11/10/2009, Almost Mooloolaba
We awoke this morning at Garry Anchorage expecting a leisurely day and an easy motor to Inskip point all ready to cross the Wide Bay Bar on Monday morning. The weather forecast changed all that and we are making a belated run for the bar now. We will see what the conditions are when we get there.
We have had a nice couple of days firstly anchored of the Kingfisher resort for 2 nights and then last night in Garry's Anchorage. The resort still looks really great and appeared to be quite busy with ferries and barges going back and forth each day.
The weather today is overcast and I would not be surprised to see some rain today. We have about an 11 hour sail ahead of us to Mooloolaba so it will be a long day.
8 hours later
We have been sailing all day and should be in Mooloolaba in a little under 3 hour at 1930. Crossing the bar was a bit rough and we were punching the tide so it took quite awhile but other than that it has been an uneventful trip so far. The weather has been variable with some showers but mostly sun.
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07/10/2009, Urangan Boat Harbour
Urangan claims to be the whale watching capital of Australia I they could be correct. Every day tour boats are going back and forth packed with people whale watching.
As we are at a marina we spent a good part of yesterday cleaning the boat and it's good to be rid of the dust and other rubbish that had accumulated during the 2 months at Bundaberg. We will be leaving here today about midday and go to an anchorage on the west side of Fraser Island and from there will move down toward the Wide Bay Bar and await the required tide and weather conditions to cross. Last night a SW change came through and although the weather is clear and sunny it has dropped the temperature a few degrees. From what I can see on the weather charts on the NSW coast I am glad we are not there at the moment as they are having some very unseasonable cold and windy weather.
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05/10/2009, Hervy Bay
We managed to fill in the 2 extra days stay at Bundaberg and were glad we stayed as the wind from the SE was quite strong. On Sunday we went to the RSL club for a drink and when we discovered the $10.00 steak lunch stayed for that as well. They were selling tickets for the meat raffle so both Geoff and I purchased$5.00 each and we both won a tray of pork chops. What we are going to do with 16 large pork chops will challenge my cooking skills. On Tuesday morning we followed the tide back along the Burnett River and arrived at the entrance at midday. We anchored just outside the marina and had a very quite night. I started pulling up the anchor chain at 0530 this morning and getting the liberal coating of mud off it took a while. We are currently sailing on a calm flat sea with about an 8 knot SE breeze in perfect conditions. Our destination this afternoon is Urangan Boat Harbour where we will probably take a marina berth for the night.
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Geoff don't get sick; your new medicare card arrived. Esk is getting very dry with the heat. Though we did get one mil of rain on sunday. Happy Sailing!
