8 Jan to 19 Jan 2015

Moreton Bay

8 to 10 Jan. Well we had to try out the crab pots and that was a good excuse for a trip out to Little Sand Hills. The anchorage was fairly quiet so we had plenty of room for the pots without annoying anyone or getting in the way. We put all 4 pots out in a line some 20m or so apart, each with a good chunk of frozen mullet as bait. Whilst some pots were almost empty most had a several crabs and, surprisingly, large starfish. The Queensland state law only allows us to keep legal males some 11.5cm across. Each session would yield some 20 or so crabs, of which three or four would be legal. Still our first two sessions, afternoon and overnight, yielded 6 crabs. These we put in the freezer to anesthetise and kill them, and then boiled them up to make a very good feed. The weather continued to be very hot. Fortunately high tide was about 1000 which allowed us to go inshore and swim in waist deep water at the beach at high tide; a good way to cool off. Of course, Paul then did some exercise by swimming around the anchored boat five times, to cool off again!

Sun 11 Jan. We went to two friends’, Phil and Gill for a BBQ. They have a house perfectly situated at Victoria Point. There is a lovely view across the water, which literally reached the bottom of their garden. It is typical Moreton Bay as the tide goes out and leaves the mud flats for a 100m or so. Even then the view is nice, and at high tide it is beautiful. Helen and some of the other girls enjoyed a quick dip at high tide, the chaps remained to chat and guard the BBQ! Good company, good food (the fresh crab went down well!), a good day!

16 Jan. We decided to have a road trip to Twowoomba, a city some 150 Km inland. This would let us see the landscape and, as the weather continued to be hot and fairly humid, benefit from the car’s aircon! It was a good drive on good roads through the countryside. Surprisingly, there was a lot of agriculture, but still with some open bush. The city is on the Great Dividing Range. This is a range of hills where the rain falling on the East side flows into rivers, including the Brisbane River, and out into Moreton Bay, some 150 Km or so away. The rain falling on the Western side flows into rivers that empty into the sea at Adelade, Southern Australia some 1500 Km away. We visited the Cobb and Co museum, named after a stage coach company, featuring, unsurprisingly, a range of carriages. We found the museum very interesting with good exhibits and information boards. We had lunch in ‘Picnic Park’ which has some excellent views East across the plains towards the hills adjacent to the sea.

And to show all does not always go right … The diesel engine needed a service so off we went to Repco. Now in NZ Repco is a large chain of well stocked car accessories shops, and the Westgate branch has very helpful staff. Not here in Wynnum! So along a bit to Supercheap Auto who had what we wanted and helpful staff. Back on the boat, and Paul drained the fluids, flushed the freshwater coolant (necessary after our water leak and ingress of air), cleaned the primary fuel filter/water separator bowl and changed the oil and fuel filters. He had refilled the coolant and had just touched the oil filler cap when, bang! The primary fuel filter glass bowl just cracked and blew apart under the pressure of the seal – just like that! There had been no crack or defect visible when Paul had washed the glass. It was a case then of finishing filling the oil and off to the Marine Engineers at the end of the Marina. They were helpful; ‘no, we don’t have any of those!’. Ah, so onto the Internet. For the record on EBay a Cab Primary Fuel Filter and Separator complete costs about $A80 including postage, delivery one week. We wait …

And it’s a small world. This weekend we were sitting on Tai Mo Shan in the Marina watching the world go by when we noticed a Water Policeman on the dock a couple of berths from ours. He was videoing a yacht coming in. We watched and it was a Hong Kong registered yacht; not many of those hereabouts. We didn’t catch the name at first but watched them berth (they had plenty of crew, and a policemen to help), and the policeman talk to the skipper. When the policeman had gone we strolled over. The boat was familiar, a Bavaria 44. The boat name, Harlequin, was definitely familiar, as was the smiling skipper, Jim. We had last seen Jim, and his wife Sue, in Nelson! Drinks and nibbles on board the next night and we discussed our journeys. Jim and Sue had left NZ to Fiji, Vanuatu and then Darwin. Sue had to return to the UK for family matters, but Jim had assembled a crew and sailed from Darwin via Bundeburg and Mooloobaba. He was just stopping a few days and then heading for Sydney and possibly Tasmania. Sure enough he left at 0500 the next morning to catch the tide for the inland trip to the Gold Coast. And the policeman? Well Queensland (and indeed all of Australia) has drink driving rule for boats. Jim was breath-tested on arrival at the marina, with video evidence of who was skipper! (Of course, as a responsible skipper Jim passed easily!).

And the rest; it has been hot, very hot and humid. Top temperature in the boat was 39 dec C (but at least then the humidity was only 50%). We have had to buy two new fans for the cabin!