East Coast Cruising

Well we are sad to say that we have landed back in Melbourne and are no longer sailing boo hoo! Its great to see all our friends again but we often let our thoughts drift back to the deep blue seas, the white beaches, friendly dolphins and that stress free life. We left the boat in Mooloolaba up for sale which was very sad to do as it has been our home for 6 months, unfortunately Melbourne is not a cruising ground and to keep a boat like that there with little use is expensive. We hired a car (a very large Kia Carnival) and loaded all our stuff into it (I really didn't think it would fit but it did!) and the children and spent 3 days driving 9 hours a day back to Melbourne. The kids were exceptionally good and we realised that 6 months on a boat have conditioned them to be patient and we will get there eventually!!
Laura is back at school and enjoying it although she gets very tired. She is having wednesdays off until she adjusts. Rayner loves kinder and headed straight for the toy box! Toys were limited on the boat.
The blog has been a great way to detail our travels and keep in touch thanks for all your support and comments, its been special. BYEEEEEEEEE

We made our way down from Port Bundaberg to Kingfisher Bay at the beginning of the Great Sandy Strait. We all like Kingfisher Bay as the resort there is very welcoming of Yachties and we can use their facilities which include a swimming pool, showers, bins, cafe etc. The weather was great and we spent most of the days on the beach and in the swimming pool. The kids did a fishing clinic which is part of the resorts activity timetable. They loved it and caught lots of fish.
After a few days we left Kingfisher and made our way down towards Wide Bay Bar. The winds have not been favourable for us sailing south and so as soon as an easterly or northerly comes through we want to be ready to sail the big leg (15 hours) to Mooloolaba. We have pretty much beat our way down bouncing over the waves since we left Airlie and turned south. Its an uncomfortable motion. The weather has been very monsoonal and the northerlies have not yet come through.
We met another couple, Ewald and Julie, who have been cruising on and off for a few years. They have spent the last six months just concentrating on the area between Brisbane and Port Bundaberg, a stretch of about 200 nautical miles, so they know the area very well. We all hit it off and it was nice to spend our finals days sailing down the strait and into Mooloolaba with them. They took us to a couple of remote spots where they took the kids fishing and we relaxed in the evening sipping our wine and watching the sunset. The remoteness was nice after the hustle and bustle of Airlie beach, MacKay and Yeppon.
We decided a couple of weeks ago that we would end our trip at Mooloolaba. We have been away longer than our budget allowed and funds are running low, the children are starting to niggle each other and they seem to be over being in each others faces all the time!! Vince's work are also wanting him back.
Its very sad its all coming to an end as we have had such a wonderful time and have enjoyed sharing it with everyone. We got the photo problem sorted and have posted our final pics.
We have been in Mooloolaba a week now and have unpacked the boat, cleaned her up and put her on the market. She has been such an excellent boat and our home for 7 months. We are very sad and reluctant to sell her. We know we will get another boat one day though as Vince and I just love the lifestyle but for now its time to come home, the kids to go back to school, and we look forward to new ventures.
Emma

And now the end has come, its time to face my new life..... Emma has done an amazing job keeping the family intact while i tried to keep us from hitting hard objects scattered about the coastline. The boat has been amazing and its is so sad to see her go. Cant wait to see all our friends and family again but wouldn't mind heading out to sea again some time very very soon.
Vince

We have had a computer melt down so we are unable to load photos at the moment.
The rain and wind finally subsided after five days in Keppel Bay Marina in Rosslyn Bay. The last day of Cathy's holiday was a little sunny but the wind was still strong. We decided as it was her last day we would risk the weather and get the ferry over to Great Keppel. 25 knots is far too strong for us to take out the yacht beating against it and after our so called 'Joy Sail' disaster we didn't even contemplate taking Sorcy out again. Cath and I went with the big kids, Laura and Charlie, leaving the little kids (yes there is that much of a difference between age 4 and 6!) Rayner, Sam and Nathan (Family with 3 and 4 yo that we met here) to the pool. The ferry ride over was a little bumpy and we had to hang onto our seats. I tried to stand up at one stage to look at the view and got catapulted back in my seat nearly causing serious injury! Still the trip was only half an hour and we had no vomiting! Once on the island we were well sheltered and it was like being transported into a different world, sunny, water calm and blue and no wind. On the mainland it was windy, raining and the colour of the water is worse than the Yarra River in Melbourne. We had a lovely day and I'm glad we went. Great Keppel is a great island with gorgeous swimming beaches and only 10 miles from the the mainland. It is one of our favourite islands because it isn't busy like the whitsundays and it has great anchorages for sailing boats.
Cathy left early the next morning and we also left heading down south. It was a glorious day, beautiful sunshine and light winds - sorry Cathy I know you don't want to hear this!! We did a day nighter to Port Bundaberg and arrived there at 7 am in the morning. Not the best night sail we have done as the wind picked up and it got rather bumpy. Port Bundaberg is a small town at the heads of the Burnett River which runs 15 miles into Bundaberg the City. Its a nice area, we know it well, as it was here we got delayed on the way up with Rayner when he swallowed a sinker! We anchor close to the harbour wall and its a short dinghy ride to the public jetty. There is a small marina here which holds about 10 boats but they are all liveaboard. Everyone is friendly and even though we are anchored we can use their facilities. One man who lives on the marina comes from UK. He was from Ferriby in Hull which is about 3 miles from where I came from - small world. It was nice chatting to him about my birthtown.
We are now on our way down Hervey Bay and will get to Kingfisher Resort on Fraser Island later this afternoon.
Oh I nearly forgot to mention our biggest catch to date - a real fish we call it! It was a spotty mackerel just under a metre long. Its our first catch off the back of the boat - we must be doing something wrong as everyone else seems to catch large fish that way and this is our first in 6 months! Anyhow it was very exciting and we didn't know what to do with it, we weren't prepared and didn't have a bucket big enough! It was very good eating. We gutted and filleted it and ate it all within 2 hours. The boat needed a bit of a rinse after! When we get the photos downloaded I will post them on the web.

OK enoughs enough - I was under the impression that Queensland's moto was 'Beautiful one day, perfect the next' I want everyone to know that that is rubbish! It should be changed to 'Blustery windy one day and pissing down with rain the next'. After being stuck in MacKay for a week with rain and strong winds, we finally got a three day break in the weather and did a day, night, day, sail to get to Great Keppel to meet our friends, Cathy and Charlie. We made it in good time and spent a couple of days on Great Keppel lapping up the beautiful island before leaving to go to Yeppon to pick up Cathy and Charlie. The night they arrived we had gale force winds and they have persisted for three days now. Tomorrow is getting even stronger from 25 knots to 40 knots (80 km/h) - yippe - can't wait!! These winds are predicted for the next two days so everyone here in the marina is literally battening down the hatches. All us yachties who are stuck here have clubbed together to whinge about the weather and bag Queensland! Looks like Monsoon has arrived early this year, wouldn't be surprised to hear a cyclone is coming next week! Its a shame that the whole time Cathy and Charlie have been here we have been stuck in the marina as we wanted to get out to Great Keppel Island, however, we have still had a good time and its really nice to have my girlfriend here for girly talk which we have done a lot of. The kids have enjoyed have Charlie too (Cathy's son) and all three along with other kids on the marina have had a ball playing up and down the marina tormenting the resident turtles and playing with fish. The Marina here is in a beautiful spot in Roslyn bay- there is a bar with alchohol so thats comforting in these strong winds! It is still warm though so things could be worse. I made Vince take us out in the yacht today to give Cath and Charlie a sailing experience - what an experience that was - it was windy and rough and poor Charlie was sick so we came back in. Probably wasn't the best weather for a joy sail! A break in the weather on Thursday will see us head down the coast probably as far as we can get before the next hurricane!! Photos will follow shortly.

We didn't end up leaving Airlie Beach for another week which was ok because we got to watch the Grand Final - Vince goes for Collingwood and we didn't want to miss it. So our goodbye drinks at Cid Harbour the week earlier was a good excuse for a party because we saw everyone again when they came in to restock! In fact we all went to Club Crocodile, a resort in Airlie Beach, and watched the Grand Final - what a game, can't believe they are making the poor buggers come back and do it all over again a week later what a disappointment not to get a result. Who makes these rules? Still looking forward to seeing another footy match lets hope its a good game again and not a draw - Go St Kilda - oops sorry Vince!!
We are now in Mackay. It was good to finally leave Arlie and start sailing again, leaving the crowds and hustle and bustle of the place behind. We have both missed being on the open sea. We are now officially heading home! We spent three days getting to MacKay which is 65 nautical miles from Airlie Beach - a short hop but the trade winds are still blowing south east which makes sailing in that direction slower. Sailing through the southern islands is magical and the scenery is amazing. We stopped at Shaw Island for one night and then onto Port Newry which was a pleasant surprise. We were going to go to Brampton Island but because of the winds we could only head for the coast, so Port Newry it was. We are very much in the hands of the winds! Port Newry is a group of very small islands close to the mainland and it was a great anchorage, very picturesque and a short dinghy ride to another island had a beautiful beach lined with coconut palms and good walks. There were about five other boats here and we were invited to join them for drinks on the beach. We would liked to have stayed here longer but we knew bad weather was coming so wanted to get to MacKay. One couple were local from MacKay just out for a weeks holiday and they said when we get to MacKay we can use their marina berth for nothing which was great and saved us a lot of money. We really have met some amazing cruising people, everyone is friendly and helpful.
We are now in MacKay and have met a lot of people that live on the Marina permanently. We are boysitting Jordan today, a 10 year old, today whilst his parents work.
Looks like we will be in Mackay for a while as the weather has turned savage. Its due to blow 30 knots from the south east for the next 3 or 4 days. We had another massive downpour of rain and a big thunderstorm. All the electricity went out for a few hours and places around MacKay flooded. While this was happening our kids were swimming in the swimming pool getting pounded by the heavy rain! Everyone is surprised by the weather and say its typical of moonsoon weather not supposed to happen at this time of year.
We will be watching the Grand Final again here and then looking to try and find a window of opportunity to keep moving south. We are meeting friends at Great Keppel a week on Saturday so the bad weather better let up soon!

Well we are still here in the Whitsundays, but about to turn around and head home. Vince is doing some work for a few days so we are in the marina and then we will get the boat ready for our return journey. The whole boat could do with a good clean!
We have spent the past four weeks sailing around the Islands up here. We go out for a few days then back to Airlie to restock and then back out again. We spent time on Hook Island and did lots of snorkelling. Laura snorkelled for the first time and took to it really well. Once she got used to it she was going off the boat and swimming a fair distance. She loved seeing all the coral and her breathing escalated when we came across five Maori Wrasse which are large fish about a metre long - thats just about the size of her! Rayner wore his goggles and was pretty game too for short periods. He preferred to get pulled along in the large rubber ring we have and put his face over the edge to see everything. The smart way to do it I reckon! We went to Border Island which is one of the outer islands and had excellent snorkelling there, seeing lots of fish and coral. We are hoping to go to Lady Musgrave on the way down which is an outer reef and Island. Its a lagoon and supposed to be fantastic snorkelling. We spent a beautiful day on Whitehaven beach swimming, walking and playing. There were a lot of boats anchored off and helicopters and light planes. Its a very popular and busy place especially on a nice day but it is so long that you can always get your own patch. One of the highlights for me up here is watching all the turtles. They are so big and pop their heads up quite often. When at achorage my favourite past time is looking out for them. I was lucky enough to swim with one the other day. They are so graceful under the water.
Vince's cousin, Fulvio, has been with us for the past week which has been great and we have taken him all around the islands too. He has had a ball and seen a lot more than he thought he would have. We had a good day snorkelling and also a good day walking up to the highest peak of Whitsunday Island. I thought it would be too much for the kids so just Fulv and I went. Its a 4 hr return walk and is steep arriving at 490 m above sea level. The view from the top is magnificent. You can see over all the islands and its really like being in a plane. It was definitely a highlight. We raved about it sooo much that Vince, Fulv and Laura did it again the next day. Laura walked the whole way up the steep hills and didn't complain once. I obviously under estimated her walking ability! She was also impressed with the view.
We caught up with some other boaties here in Cid Harbour who we have met along the way and have had a few beach gatherings with drinks and nibbles. When there are a few of you its easier to meet on the beach then in each others boats! Its actually been quite sad saying goodbye to people we have travelled up with who are not ready to turn around yet, some are going up further. In fact all the people we have sailed up with are not returning the same time as us so we will leave alone. I am sure we will meet a different crowd going home.
The weather is pretty hot up here and muggy. Its usually about 29 during the day and only gets down to about 22 23 at night so its hard trying to sleep. In fact we bought a fan today! On our way back into Airlie Beach yesterday we had the biggest down pour of rain. We were sailing in it and all standing out in the boat and showering. I also did the washing. Vince had to keep getting in the dinghy and bailing it out! It rained heavily all day and Airlie recorded its usual months rainfall in one day. The airport was closed due to flooding and the lagoon closed due to all the rubbish washed into it. It feels like rainy season here. Both kids have good suntans and Laura's hair has blonde streaks! They are both loving the lifestyle up here and spend about 90% of the day in the water. Rayner is swimming like a fish now with no aids and in deep water. We hear Melbourne has had lots of rain which is good for the drought situation and its also good that we have missed it! A message from Vince - 'Go Collingwood' !