Monday 23 December and the Christmas/ New Year holidays had begun! So, after a weekend of generally getting Christmas sorted we set off at a gentlemanly 1050 from the Marina to head across Moreton Bay to one of our favourite anchorages, Little Sand Hills. It was cloudy, but still warm with a gentle South Easterly breeze.

Ah, it was good to motor out of the marina, and even better to raise Main, Yankee and Staysail at the end of the entrance channel. Fortunately we were pushing into the light wind and so could slightly increase the wind speed over the sails. After 2 months in the marina Tai Mo Shan felt draggy and we could imagine the build up of marina slime, barnacles and weed on the hull slowing us down. Still Tai Mo Shan soldiered on, making a steady 4 to 5 knots tacking to windward. We went through the gap between the beacons marking the shoals from Victoria Point and the reefs of Green Island and then eased off the wind and enjoyed a nice, easy beam reach. Unfortunately after a couple of hours the wind dropped to a whisper and so it was a case of motor sailing the last few miles to anchor in the shallow (well 3.5 metre) water on the mud flats some 500 metres off shore. Time for sundowners, and then the barbeque as darkness fell. We have a small LED light mounted on our aft bridge which illuminates the aft deck as bright as day, so there was no problem using the barbeque. Unfortunately a major formation of flying ants had mistaken the deck for a nice runway and down they came! Fortunately the ants were too busy lining up and landing to bite; perhaps the sundowners in our system helped! Shining a torch in the water we could see a host of fish rising up and catching any flies or ants that missed the runway. A few swimming crabs and a squid also joined the fray. Great entertainment.

Christmas Eve we went ashore. Paul clambered the first sand hills and came to the annoying sign banning people from walking further onto the sand dunes. Apparently the ban is required to protect the drifting sand dunes for ecological and cultural reasons. Really; on drifting sand dunes??? Still we will obey the ban, and one day Paul will walk around the edge of the prohibited area because he can! Back on shore we noticed that the sand had drifted on the beach and foreshore making the sea noticeably shallower. A couple of years ago we could swim in waist to chest deep water at mid to high tide; now at mid tide the dinghy grounded 100 metres off.

Overnight the wind had swung to the North. As a result there was quite a chop building up in the anchorage leading to some motion on the boat. We therefore decided to head south to Peel Island which offered good shelter. 1200 saw the anchor raised and soon after we were on a nice broad reach in a light to moderate wind. 3½ hours later after a very pleasant down wind sail in a strengthening breeze and we were anchored in the much calmer anchorage at Horseshoe Bay.

Christmas Day was spent in Horseshoe Bay. This large, scenic bay is sheltered from winds from West through North to North East and is very popular. However, ‘normal’ people were clearly spending Christmas ashore, so we had the benefit of the bay with only a dozen or so other boats. The weather was still cloudy and warm. However, the usual food fest, and flowing wine precluded swimming. Well, after a full fried breakfast, and then roast duck, trimmings, and fruit filled meringues mid-afternoon, washed down with nice wine, swimming was not on the Agenda. The fact that Paul’s present was the complete boxed set of ‘Game of Thrones’ (yes, 38 DVDs) also entered the mix as we started the ‘binge watch’!

Boxing Day saw the wind swing to the South. As a result Horseshoe Bay got somewhat choppy. We therefore weighed anchor and motored the couple of miles across to Dunwich, North Stradbroke Island. This anchorage provides more shelter from the south and east, the direction the wind was forecast for the next few days. It also provided good access to the small town/village of Dunwich and the bus service into the island. There is also an excellent beach nearby fronting a camp site. This is a shallow flat at low tide, but nicely chest deep for some distance off shore at high tide.

Stradbroke is quite a large island, some 20km wide and 40 km long; indeed it is the world’s largest ‘sand island’. The island has the small town of Dunwich to the north east, with the settlement of Amity further north, and Lookout Point to the north east. The Western side fronts the Tasman Sea and is essentially one long sand beach with rocky outcrops to the northern end. The Eastern side, where we were, is alongside Moreton Bay. The sandy soil meets the sand/mud of Moreton Bay with most of the foreshore covered by mangroves. A notable exception is the camp site beach and Dunwich. Stradbroke is quite a tourist destination with good beaches, surfing and bush activities available. It is well served by regular ferries from the mainland which land at Dunwich. Some of the slower car ferries have rather gaudy decoration; one is minded of ‘dazzle’ camouflage. There is a steady flow of vehicles, mostly 4 wheel drive, heading to the variety of campsites. There are also many foot passengers (the fast ferries only carry people) and, as a result, a good bus service from Dunwich to the two settlements.

The next few days merged as we did a range of activities.

Even with the cloudy weather Paul swan around Tai Mo Shan each morning; well, all that food had to be burned off somehow. On a couple of occasions Paul used the plastic scrubbing brush to scrape and scrub the hull. The tidal current can be quite noticeable in the anchorage. This can make swimming a case of ‘intervals’; gentle with the current and then sprint into current. It also has the advantage of taking away the rubbish scraped off the hull (and there was a lot!); albeit at the penalty of having to kick hard whilst cleaning to keep position – more exercise.

Most days at high tide we took the dinghy ashore to the camp site beach and enjoyed gently swimming off the beach. The weather improved after a couple of days. Floating and drifting gently in warm water under sunny skies with only the occasional cloud was extremely pleasant.

On Saturday 28 Dec we caught the bus to the settlement of Lookout Point. Unusually in these times, the bus only accepts cash. These odd occasions justify us carrying small amounts of cash. $10 per head covers the return fare from Dunwich to, well any of the stops outside the town – i.e. Amity and Lookout Point. Indeed we suspect that the fare could cover Amity and Lookout Point. We were tempted but soon discovered that the service only connects to Amity every 2 to 3 hours and there is not a lot at Amity; certainly not enough to justify a 3 hour stopover. So, Lookout Point it was. As we noted earlier North Stradbroke is quite a size and the 18 km trip from Dunwich to Lookout Point took about half an hour on the good quality tar sealed roads. The bus was air conditioned; a welcome relief as the clouds had gone and the resultant sunny weather was hot. As usual the bus trip allowed a good look out at the countryside as we passed. The island is covered with typical Australian bush with only a very few houses, camp sites and small hotel developments outside the settlements. We could clearly see blackened areas where Stradbroke had suffered some significant bush fires earlier in the year. Lookout Point was a small settlement consisting of several houses and apartments, most of which appeared to be holiday lets. It also had several cafes and souvenir type shops to cater for the throng of visitors. Once off the bus we took the cliff line walk. This was very well presented as mostly wooden walkway supplemented by good paths. The view out to sea was excellent, from the sandy beach and its attendant breakers stretching to the south all around the rocky headland with the surging swirling surf. A small pod of dolphins were easily visible as were a few turtles and even the dark mass of a ‘bait ball’ of fish. Walk completed we adjourned to one of the eateries for a fish and cider lunch. A quick walk around the settlement and we were ready for some excellent ice creams from the Oceanic Gelataria. 2 ½ hours was enough for Lookout Point – did we say it was small? – and so it was back on the bus for the return to Dunwich.

Monday 30 December saw us heading back to Dunwich. This time we headed to the ‘Little Ship Club’ at the northern end of town. The club is the yacht club; however, it is noticeable that the water around Dunwich is very shallow with extensive shoals. The population of Dunwich (and indeed, Stradbroke) is limited. The club therefore welcomes visitors. Unfortunately for us the club does not do food on Mondays; even Mondays in the busiest period of the years. Our lunch plans therefore had to be liquid and so we enjoyed a glass of something cold on the club veranda. This was very pleasant as the veranda was covered to shade from the sun but open to the breeze. Sitting at a table we could look out over the well-kept lawn to the sea and Moreton Island beyond. With a few dozen other people enjoying refreshment quietly chatting we were reminded of Suva Yacht Club; similar but different; not least as the Little Ship Club was in far better condition.

On New Year’s Eve we took the dinghy south along the shoreline. The water was mostly clear with occasional cloudy patches, depending on how the current flowed. As we motored gently just off the mangroves we could clearly see the seabed only one metre of so below. Shoals of small fish darted away from us along with the occasional ray. We also saw at least half a dozen turtles underwater; they are surprisingly agile and quick as they escape the big white monster on the surface! We passed several areas staked out for oyster farms; the white posts marking the extent of the claim readily visible. Only one farm appeared to be in use, and even here the baskets in place did not seem to hold any shells. As we progressed on we looked through the mangroves for passages leading to the shore. Over several km each gap in the mangroves soon closed out with thick growth blocking any progress. Finally, as the fringing mangroves thinned to some 50m deep we saw a gap that seemed to lead to shore. We headed in and, after ducking and weaving a bit, came to shallow water and the shoreline. And there, sitting among the mangrove roots on the sand and mud shore was a small (about 2.3 metres long) inflatable dinghy. The dinghy had a few cm of water in it but was otherwise in good condition. It has no oars or motor. The shoreline here was very thick bush with no tracks visible through the near-impenetrable grass. We concluded that the dinghy had fallen off a boat and drifted ashore here rather than some poor soul being marooned. We soon had the dinghy cleared of water and towed it out in to the open water and then back to the anchorage. Just in case we slowly towed the dinghy around the two dozen or so boats at anchor; no one claimed the dinghy. Once back on Tai Mo Shan we made a couple of radio calls on VHF Channel 16 advising that we had found the dinghy; no one came back. An interesting point here. Normally VHF Channel 16 is the calling channel and is quite active. However, we have noticed that it is comparatively quiet in Australia. We contacted the local police at Dunwich. They seemed surprised we had called. After some discussion they agreed to contact the local Volunteer Marine Rescue organisations to see if anyone had lost a dinghy. (As we write on 4 Jan we have not heard anything). As a last check we called in to Dunwich Post Office. The Post Master knew everyone (it is one of those sorts of places!). He didn’t know of anyone who had lost a dinghy. So, as the police said ‘finders keepers’; or is it marine salvage – we had scored a dinghy!

We only had two sets of visitors on board over the period. First on 30 December was John, or ‘Johnno’ as he liked to be called. Mid-afternoon we heard a call and there was Johnno in his dinghy saying hello; he liked Kiwis! As usual we invited him aboard and we were soon sitting it the cockpit. Johnno can best be described as a character ..! Our chat started off with Johnno declaring he wanted to kill the PM, and did we have any guns? We laughed at the joke. Johnno had his own beers and the refreshment flowed. The conversation also ebbed and flowed from normal topics like boats, sailing and cruising to some pretty extreme political views. Interesting … After a couple of hours or so Johnno had got through at least 6 beers to Paul’s two. Johnno had also wet himself! Subtle hints gave way to less subtle directions to use the head. Johnno eventually did so, and then after more gradually less subtle comments about the time, left. A relieved Helen then scrubbed the cockpit with bleach. That evening we heard a loud voice arguing with, well, the moon. An even more relieved Helen watched the yacht Bright Morning Star depart the day after. Our second set of visitors was on New Year’s Day, Isaac and Anne off Bon Accord were more ‘normal’ yachties. Isaac recognised the yacht design and called in to check he was right (and he was!). They then continued onto to Dunwich and came aboard on the return leg. Isaac had circumnavigated the globe and both he and Anne had cruised extensively. The conversation flowed – yes, boats, cruising, fishing etc. – along with moderate quantities of wine. A good afternoon closed out after sundown.

And a word on numbers of boats out. As we had noticed Christmas day saw a dozen or so boats in Horseshoe Bay. Later as we anchored just off Dunwich in Deanbilla Bay we counted between two dozen and 55 boats. However the extensive anchorage meant that we were not crowded. During that time Horseshoe Bay lived up to its reputation of being ‘loved to death’ by the boating population. At night there was a new constellation from the multitude of anchoring lights. From our anchorage across the channel Helen counted up to 91 boats before giving up. It is always good to see boats out on the water, and even better when our anchorage is not crowded!

Our freshwater pump had died just after Christmas. We had an old, spare, pump which we fitted. This worked, albeit with a limited flow. However, come 2 January the forecast was for reasonable North Easterly breezes, dying out over the following days. We decided to take advantage of the weather, and fix the water pump, and so left a day earlier than planned on 2 January at a leisurely 1115. We had the sails up about 100m from where we had anchored and sailed a nice easy reach right to the entrance channel of the Wynnum Manly Boat Harbour. 3 hours in a gentle 10 to 15 knot breeze to cover 14 nm from anchor to berth; it must have been all that hull scrubbing!

Photo – warm water, blue skies; a nice start to 2020!