Photo shows Sundari anchored off the River Heads boat ramp at the mouth of the Mary.

We are anchored at the mouth of the Mary River, half way down the Great Sandy Strait, after a long 60nm sail down from Bundaberg's Burnett River. It was probably the best sail we have had this year, with consistent 10 to 20 knot north easterlies.

We have been in the Burnett for most of the time since our arrival from Mackay at least a month ago. Time has drifted by in the Burnett, as we have been hoping for a side trip up to Lady Musgrave lagoon. Sadly, this wasn't to be and we had Sundari hauled out for a bottom antifoul instead while we made inland trips to the Bunya Mountains and the Cooloola Coast.



Sundari anchored in its favourite calm spot in the lower reaches of the Burnett River.



Sundari getting its hull scrubbed and painted with new antifouling paint.

While we were perched up on Bundy Port marina's hard stand, a low developed for the third time this year in the Solomons. Unlike Cyclones Lola and Mal, which both tracked south and then south east, the new system moved into the Coral Sea and long range forecasts predicted a possible path right across Bundaberg and K'Gari. The new cyclone, named Jasper, was the first December cyclone to develop in the Coral Sea in an El Nino year since records began - how often have we have been hearing these records being broken lately?

After a rather agonising long 10 day wait, especially for Far North Queensland boaties and land based residents, the cyclone eventually crossed the coast just north of Cape Tribulation nearly a week ago as a category 2 system. While the wind and wave damage wasn't too bad (apart from to coral reef and seagrass beds), torrential rain falling from the stalled system led to the worst flooding to hit the area since (guess what) records began. Jasper crossed the coast at the Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal, all 300 inhabitants being eventually evacuated to Cooktown, mainly because of floods inundating their homes.



The tracking map published by the BOM showing Jasper's track across the Coral Sea.

At this time of the year, inland troughs tend to create northerlies ahead of them and late afternoon or evening thunderstorms on the coast. These can be very strong - a storm in the outskirts of Brisbane yesterday reached 80 knots! We are keeping a close eye on the radar when the northerlies are blowing as when the storm comes through it typically reverses the wind direction 180 degrees making sheltered anchorages a lee shore!



A line of thunderstorms shown on the BOM radar approaching the Sandy Strait and K'Gari this afternoon as this blog was written.

These same northerlies that brought us down to the Sandy Strait ease on Sunday, so we should be able to cross the shallows at Sheridan Flats and the Wide Bay Bar on Monday or Tuesday, in transit to Moreton Bay and our mooring off Lamb Island.

We still have to retrieve Matilda, left in Bundaberg, and help our Bundy friends with fitting a new anchor winch on their yacht "Kindred Spirit" but we are unlikely to stay in Moreton Bay for too long - it's just too hot here in summer! We will sail as far south as we can get to, weather permitting, while we are still waiting for our Oz citizenship applications to be completed. Hopefully, it won't be much longer, so we will be then planning on doing something more energetic and away from Australia next year.

It seems to have been a long year and probably, for many people in currently war torn parts of the planet, far too long. In many cases there seems to be no prospect of much improvement any time soon. Israel/Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and Ethiopia/Tigre are all sad places at the end of 2023. Simmering violence persists in Haiti, the Maghreb (West Africa), the drug wars of Mexico and too many other places to mention. Climate change is not yet being addressed sufficiently by the world's governments and the rise of the far right and right adjacent makes for a gloomy vision for 2024. This is possibly the first time for many years that wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year without any evidence that it will be so for many seems a trifle banal. Wishing family and friends both, of course, is another matter!

We have bought ourselves a joint Christmas present - a larger version of one of our 2 kayaks. The U.S. designed and manufactured Advanced Elements single kayak that we bought in 2019 with the French Itiwit is a bit rough around the edges but is still usable. The new kayak is the one up from the Advanced Elements kayak that we already have - it was sold second hand but in very good condition. It's capable of carrying more than the single kayak, so we will hopefully be using it for some multi day kayak adventures next year. We will also be planning at least one long hiking trip and one long bike trip - preferably not in Australia!



Geoff unpacks the new kayak and tries it out for size on the Burnett Heads foreshore.



Trial run in the new kayak up the Kolan River near the Bucca Crossing.



The 2 kayaks together on a sand bank in the Elliott River.

Update: We are now anchored off Tangalooma, Moreton Island, after another fantastic 90 nm sail down from the Wide Bay Bar. Very calm and sunny here with dolphins and turtles in attendance and a large number of 4WDs on the sandy beach.