Hello, Reef, Good Bye Reef? The Great Barrier Reef is deteriorating because of a lethal combination of ocean warming, acidification and nutrient rich run off from coastal agriculture, mining and an ever growing population. (Not our photos, by the way....yet!)

We are anchored near the mouth of the Burnett River, loaded to the gunwales with food, fuel and water to last us until we hit the next main supply centre up at Airlie Beach in the Whitsunday Group, maybe over a month or two away as we sidle up along and inside the southern section of the Great Barrier Reef.

While here we have met up yet again with our old time Bundy friends, Heather and John, who we first met while surveying the Louisiade Group in Eastern PNG on our then 60 year old kauri sloop, "Corsair" in 1998. We have kept in contact with these two as our paths have crossed up and down the eastern seaboard of Oz and NZ, where they sailed to in their 32 foot Adams sloop "Kindred Spirit" and even Greece when Heather made her first visit to Europe to see her daughter and grandkids in Belgium. Last week, Vicki and her two Flemish speaking daughters came to visit us at Port Bundy marina with Heather in tow. Vicki and her Belgian husband, Wim, and family, together with Heather's other two daughters, are now all living in close reach of Heather and John's home in North Bundaberg, while Kindred Spirit is berthed in the Mary River.

We have added a new dive compressor to our diving arsenal we first bought a couple of years ago before the bad accident up the Coomera River and Covid. Although we have had PADI diving instruction and experience we soon realised that having tanks and BCDs alone wasn't much use if the dive tanks were emptied after a single day's diving. The new Italian Nardi compressor should fix that, although it is heavy, expensive and difficult to fit in, even in Sundari's capacious space.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef has come under increasing strain over the last few decades, because of a number of assaults on its existence, particularly siltation from eroded rivers on the mainland, polluted runoff, overfishing, mining threats and more recently coral bleaching episodes due to climate change. Australia's conservative federal government, as well as Queensland's Labour government, are reluctant to tackle the root causes of the deterioration in one of the world's great wonders as it means head on conflict with powerful vested commercial interests.

Now, Unesco has finally had enough and is ready to delist the Reef from World Heritage listing. Political machinations are afoot to try and browbeat or bribe Unesco's Committee to avoid delisting because of the expected negative effect on the tourism industry, which at the moment is almost entirely local, but normally one of Australia's primary international tourist attractions.

The primary issue is the Coalition government's reluctance to show any recognition or responsibility for Australia's woeful CO2 emissions. It's not that the reef will be any better off if Oz does more to reduce emissions all by itself, but the more countries that take the problem seriously might just make a difference.....and it's not just the Great Barrier Reef's future at stake.

Strangely, the southern reefs (the Great Barrier Reef is not a single reef, but a huge patchwork of separate reefs, some longer or wider than others, stretching from lonely Lady Elliott island, 50 miles from where we are anchored now,** right up to near the Fly River mouth of PNG in the Torres Strait), have not been as badly damaged as the northern reefs. This is because they are in cooler oceanic waters, so less affected by warming episodes caused by climate change and generally further from the mainland, so less affected by pollution and siltation from rivers. We shall see how the dive sites we visit compare to the other lovely coral reef areas we have been to over the years and how the reefs we see along the Queensland coast compare to what we remember from the four long sailing trips we have made up this coast in the past.

As for an update on the nasty virus, since we arrived in Bundaberg a couple of weeks ago, the chickens have come home to roost over Australia's sluggish vaccine rollout. The Delta variant has managed to slip out of the extensive hotel quarantine barriers in more than one state, prompting Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Darwin in quick succession to lock down for a few days (Sydney for 2 weeks). It hasn't affected us but of course it's another reminder of just how our lives are still dominated by the pandemic. Update as of 18th July, Sydney's lockdown has been extended, Brisbane's, Perth's and Darwin's stopped quickly, Melbourne now shut again after transmission from NSW.



Beerwah, Coonowrin and Ngungun, 3 of the Sunshine Coast's Glasshouse Mountains as we sail up the coast of Bribie Island



Arrival at Double Island Point near the Wide Bay Bar



Anchored at the North White Cliffs with Rosie and Mike on Shakti, half way up the sheltered side of Fraser Island.



Lake McKenzie, one of the dozen or so perched lakes on Fraser Island, with crystal clear water and white sand beaches.