Sailing out of the Marina and into Hervey Bay was perfect...again, the huge expanse of blue, blue sky and the shades of green, blue and turquoise in the water. There were quite a few other boats around, many of the catamarans. Listening to the radio, many of these were charter boats, checking in their position to the home base. After a calm start, we were soon under full sail. Tuarangi loved it, it is almost as if you change gear...the wind fills the sails and she lifts her skirts and leaps over the waves. We arrived at our destination, Platypus Bay, just as the sun was setting. We saw several whales slapping the sea with their fins or their tails, including a mum and babe who were slapping their giant and little tails in unison. We were just dropping sails, when suddenly a whale breached several times to our starboard side. A bit of a flurry and he had stopped by the time we got our cameras out and ready. Then another whale breached on our port side. I had just called to Simon that it was only a small one, when suddenly the mum came up...and up...and up....what a privileged to see it! We have tried our best with photography, but as usual, don't quite capture the scene...but trust me, it was incredible. As the sun set behind us, the full moon rose up ahead over Fraser Island. By the time we had anchored and tidied the boat, we enjoyed our sundowner/moon upper with the moon turning blood red as we experienced the lunar eclipse. The perfect end to a perfect day.
The wind was howling by the time we woke the next morning and we felt like we were back in the Marlborough Sounds! We motored a few miles further down the coast to try and get more shelter and then spent the rest of the day at anchor. We saw a few more whales, slapping their huge floppy fins on the water and saw several whale watching boats following them around. Fortunately, the wind had passed through by the next morning and we had a perfect, full sail trip along the coast of Fraser Island to Moon Point. The tides are strong here, so our average speed improves immensely! Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world (123km long) and is a World Heritage Site. It is incredibly diverse, with huge dunes, rainforests, lakes and a vast array of flora and fauna. It is famous for its native dingoes as well as wallabies, flying foxes, echidnas, possums and turtles.
Moon point was beautiful with fine white sand that squeaks when you walk on it. We were still not tempted to swim, due to warnings of sharks, stingrays and various poisonous jelly fish, but enjoyed a walk through the forest and back along the beach. Our anchorage was pretty tidal, with our log showing nearly 2 knts while at anchor!
Early the next morning, we set off to make us of the strong tide to start our voyage through the Great Sandy Strait. This is a very shallow maze of sandy channels that wind their way down between Fraser Island and the mainland. Fortunately, we had prepared well and purchased two charts of the Strait, which helped guide us around the many buoys and markers. With the tide, we were being swept along up to 3 knts faster than our usual speed! Someone we met suggested that we stop at Yankee Jacks, an anchorage about half way through the Strait. We got in there and it was like being anchored in a fast flowing river. There was no way we could have launched the dinghy, so we had coffee and waited for the tide to turn so that we could use the ebb tide to go through the lower part of the Strait. We headed for Garry's anchorage, a narrow passage between Stewart Island and Fraser Island. We had decided previously to go past Stewart Island and then back up to the anchorage, avoiding the shallowest part, but decided at the last minute, to follow another boat going in from the north. I was counting down the depths, which got to 0.6m under the keel as we were ferry gliding sideways at 3knts! However, Simon's skill on the helm soon had us back to a relaxing 1.5m and we motored gently for the anchorage. Going ashore, I could make out a sign that looked (from a distance) like it was describing large lizards. As we got out of the dinghy, there was an almighty splash in the mangroves beside us. Walking up to the sign, it was a warning for salt-water crocodiles!!!! No swimming here either!
We walked both that afternoon and again the following morning before heading to Pelican Bay, aptly named as there were large numbers of these landing on the shore and swimming past the boat. Again a tidal anchorage, but lots of activity to watch with ferries coming and going to Fraser Island, other yachts, lots of little boats with fishermen and the diverse bird life.
With the forecast for 30knts and thunderstorms, we booked in to Tin Can Bay Marina, a small marina up a river. Under just the genoa, we sailed down at 6 knts..trying to slow ourselves down! Once again, Simon skillfully brought us alongside, using the tide and wind perfectly. We went for a walk around Tin Can Bay yesterday. Again, vast investment in a beautiful coastal walkway, with public barbecues, picnic areas and playgrounds ..and two other people on it! This one even has outdoor gym equipment which we had a bit of a play on! The town is very quiet and feel like somewhere which nearly boomed, but didn't quite make it. More real estate signs and businesses than anything else! However, it suits us and chefs night off fish and chips were the order of the day.
From here we have to cross a bar crossing to begin our journey south. This requires the right tides, wind, swell and weather, which doesn't look like it is going to happen for the next week - so its maintenance time. The paint and varnish are really suffering in the hot sun and can be ignored no longer! Right now, the sky is lit with lightning, the thunder is echoing around the marina and the rain is steadily coming down, so time to catch up on blog, photos and emails!