It is just the start of spring here, and we plan to hang out around the
Brisbane area until it gets warmer. Then we will go south towards
Sydney and Tasmania. This plan works out well with waiting three
weeks for our new sail to be made and friends flying in and out of
Brisbane for visits. There is a big bay here (Moreton Bay) and some
lovely islands (Moreton and North Stradbroke) to explore.
Coincidentally, our friends Ollie and Linda from Big White Ski Resort in BC, Canada,
happen to be in Brisbane visiting friends and family. They came out
to see us and take a look at the boat. We had a lovely lunch and
catch-up with them. The next day, Beth, who we met during our second
season skiing in Japan, arrived for a week. We did the local tourist
highlight of strolling along Bee Gee’s Way, a short laneway full of
Bee Gee memorabilia, statues, photos and music in Redcliffe.
The winds were predicted to turn during the night, so we had a day-sail
to Lucinda Bay on Moreton Island for lunch. With the winds picking up
from the north, we had a romping sail south, with a few dolphins, to
Manly, just south of Brisbane. We pulled into the Moreton Bay Trailer
Boat Club and had a high-wind, high tension docking experience. It is
frustrating when marina staff are inexperienced and let go of the aft
spring line and pull the bow line in hard. Luckily we just bumped the
dock lightly.
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| Beth took a turn steering the boat |
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| Malcolm and Beth at the bow on the way to Moreton Island |
The winds were crazy overnight, but started to settle in from the south
by morning. We left the marina and had a very fast sail to the NW end
of Moreton Island and anchored at Bulwer for the night. The next day,
Beth and Dina set off in the dinghy to explore the wreck on the beach
and hike to the lighthouse on the NE tip of the island. They were
sidetracked by a couple of humpback whales lazily swimming through
the bay. After following along with the whales for a while, they
turned the dinghy back towards to the beach. They walked a few hours
in the hot sun and deep sand before realising they were barely a
quarter of the distance to the lighthouse, so they hitchhiked back to
the beach.
The anchorage at Bulwer was a bit rolly so we moved about 5 nautical
miles south to Tangaloma and planned to spend a few nights. In the
morning, Beth took out the paddleboard and then Malcolm took her for
her first snorkel (ever!) around the 300 metre line of wrecks just
off the beach, Dina found a great hike up the sandy island, through
forest, to a great view of the expanse of sand dunes inland.
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| Dinghy sailors out enjoying the wind |
We sailed back to Newport Marina on the Friday as Beth was leaving
Saturday morning. The wind was back from the north and a bit strong.
It was a pretty quick trip and we should have reduced the amount of
sail we had up, but it was too much fun and we were almost there by
the time the wind was too strong. We had a nice dinner with Beth and
then got a message from our snowboarding friends, Natasha and Dane
(who we thought were arriving the next evening – Saturday - after their season in New Zealand). They
had landed in Brisbane and would be at the boat in an hour! Whoa,
what?! There had been a bit of a mix up but luckily we had come into
port to drop Beth off. It all worked out fine and the five of us had
a lovely evening onboard Friday night!
The majority of anchorages in Moreton Bay are good for easterly or
westerly winds. There are one or two good anchorages for southerly
winds and one or two good for northerly, but no anchorages that offer
good, all around wind protection. For the first few days of Natasha
and Dane’s visit, the winds were switching direction nightly. We
spent Saturday provisioning and Sunday walking along the Scarborough
peninsula before sailing to Moreton Island on Monday.
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| Natasha and Dane relaxing on the sail to Moreton Island |
We anchored between Big Sandhill and Little Sandhill on the southern tip
of Moreton Island. The weather wasn’t great, but they were able to
explore the mangroves and see rays and turtles. We then sailed around
Peel Island to Dunwich on the northwest side of North Stradbroke
Island. We grabbed a mooring ball, with the nice new boat hook, and
Dane and Tash made plans with the local surf school for the next
couple of days. While they surfed, we enjoyed Cylinder Beach,
Deadman’s Beach and North Gorge Point Lookout. Along the gorge
walk, we saw lots of birds, whales, rays, turtles, dolphins and
finally, koalas! That's the day Malcolm left the fancy camera on the boat.
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| Surfers |
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| Kangaroo just hanging out near the bus stop |
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| Koala! |
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| North Stradbroke Island is Koala friendly. |
Our last day in the bay, after a calm, windless morning, a cold front
came through and the wind picked up to 25 knots from the south in the
afternoon. Good as Gold was rocking and rolling in the waves. Malcolm
checked the weather twice to confirm it’d be dying down and the
anchorage would be comfortable by 10pm. The four of us were inside
having a rousing game of Codenames, when Malcolm heard a whistle and
shout.
We went on deck to see a couple in a small, wave-swept dinghy, being
pushed towards the rocks. Malcolm jumped in our dinghy to rescue
them. They had come within 20 feet of the rocks when Malcolm tied
their dinghy to Tubby, making sure the lines wouldn’t get caught in
Tubby’s propeller - good thing Malcolm is fast with those knots!
Although Tubby is a tough dinghy, his 3.3 horsepower motor was
struggling trying to tow another boat against the 2-3 foot waves.
Malcolm suspected that Tubby was low on fuel, so he aimed for Good as
Gold which was closest. On VHF channel 16, Dina asked if anyone with
a larger dinghy in the anchorage could assist the dinghy in need.
Another sailor responded, jumped into his dinghy, swiftly came over
to Good as Gold and just as swiftly ran out of fuel and started
drifting towards the rocks.
Having tied the first rescued dinghy to Good as Gold, Malcolm took Tubby out
to rescue the second dinghy and towed it back to our boat. Dina
placed another call on the VHF and called the local Volunteer Marine
Rescue (VMR). The waves were large, coming in quick succession and
the boats where these rescued people needed to go were a significant
distance upwind from Good as Gold. A third sailor came out and towed
the two dinghies back to their boats one after the other. Once we saw
that the third dinghy was safely back to its boat, Dina called the
VMR and they turned back. Dane and Tash thought it was all quite
exciting!
The wind died down to complete calm that evening, just after dark, and it
stayed down the next day. We motored a few hours from Dunwich to
Manly, stopping a few times to watch dolphins frolicking around the
boat. We docked at Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club, this time calmly
and quietly, said goodbye to Natasha and Dane and realised our next
guest, arriving in November, is yet another friend from the ski and
snowboarding industry!
