Category Archives: Sailing
Joining the Rally in Kudat
Leaving the Rig support vessels behind
At the beginning of the journey to Kudat a gentle breeze in filled our sails and gave us 2.2kts of speed, hmmmm this was going to take a while. We realised that the island was shielding us from the wind and, despite hoisting the cruising chute, we’d have to motor. We soon left the rig support vessels behind us in the distance. If you look in the foreground of this photo you can see the tips of part of a tree sticking up in the water. That’s the sort of thing we have to look for on this coast, the tropical equivalent to icebergs.
Mount Kinabalu shrouded in cloud
We had decided to do one more night sail mainly to catch up with the rally but also, with the swell that was running, any anchorage on this side of the peninsular would have been untenable. By 15.00, when the sea breezes set in, the mainsail and the cruising chute were back up and the engine was off; we were sailing again. By 18.00 the wind had got stronger and the cruising chute was replaced by the genny and the sea was getting rougher. By 23.00 the wind died completely and the engine was back on. I went to bed at 2am, although sleep was impossible in the swell that was hitting Camomile from the west. Bill came up on watch just in time for the squalls to start; poor Bill got soaked. The wind was up and down during the night, as the squalls crossed our path. At 6am I came back on watch and we were sailing although it was like a washing machine down below and I hadn’t slept much. Bill went down to try to sleep but by 10.00 he was back on deck as we started having 30/35kt squalls. This is Mount Kinabalu, I had hoped to see it in all its glory but it was shrouded in cloud for our journey. Unfortunately we had the tide against us giving us wind against tide and we were only achieving a boat speed of 4kts.
Approaching the northern tip of Borneo
At 2pm we rounded the tip of Borneo, this is the most northerly part of mainland Malaysia.
Much calmer on the eastern side
Thankfully the swell disappeared as we started heading south on the other side of the peninsular. I was hoping we would arrive in time for the trip the rally were running to a Longhouse further inland that was leaving at 4pm, the GPS was giving us an arrival time of 16.01! As we approached I called our friends on the boat Jackster and asked them if the coach would wait for me, although Bill wouldn’t be able to leave Camomile if we had only just anchored. As we arrived at the anchorage and dropped the anchor it was indeed 16.01, how clever is that? Dave very kindly came out to get me in their dinghy and I was whisked away leaving poor Bill to sort the boat out. Luckily he didn’t mind.
A traditional Long house
After a drive of about ¾ of an hour we arrived at the traditional Longhouse, which is one of the distinctive features of Dayak life. The longhouse was raised above the damp jungle floor on stilts and built alongside the beach. In fact this was the stretch of coastline we had battled along earlier in the day. Some longhouses have whole villages living in them but this one was available for guests. It consisted of a long covered veranda along which were rows of doors giving access to the basic rooms.
Drinking from a fresh coconut
We were invited to sit down inside the veranda and offered fresh coconuts with the top sliced off allowing us to drink the delicious liquid inside them.
Village girls in local costume
The rally was invited onto the beach to watch local girls performing some traditional dancing. Their costumes were beautifully made. The guy on the end seemed to be doing his own thing.
Clever dance using bamboo poles
The rocks behind the beach made a wonderful backdrop. After the sun had gone down we were invited into the living quarters of the longhouse for a meal. As we are in the time of Ramadan at the moment many of the locals fast from sunrise to sunset. A delicious buffet meal was served but with very little light it was difficult to see what we were eating; perhaps that was the idea! It all tasted very good and it was nice to have finally caught up with the rally.
Beautiful sunset
Kudat was a funny little town. It had quite a few Chinese hardware stores, a couple of small supermarkets and a handful of eateries. After 2 days of wandering around we decided we wanted to get out into the surrounding islands rather than sit in anchorage surrounded in murky water.
Scenery surrounding island of Banggi
So Saturday 5th July we left early and headed north to Banggi island. It was beautiful. We tucked ourselves into an enclosed anchorage with little islands to the south covered in jungle. We took the dinghy on a little tour of the anchorage but there were mangroves growing down to the waterline and we couldn’t find anywhere to land. For those following along behind us the waypoint for the anchorage is 07º10.15 North 117º09.5 East.
Happy Birthday Bill
This was the furthest north that we were going this year so the next day we headed south again. Bill wasn’t happy being on our own as we were now in the Sula sea, one of the areas in the world that claims to have pirates. The rally have arranged for us to have a naval escort when we get further south into the more notorious area. We headed to Silk island where many of the rally boats had arrived having just left Kudat. As it was Bill’s birthday we invited our friends Dave and Jacqui from Jackster to come and join us for a meal. We had a wonderful evening together.
2nd Week in Indonesia
Mum in July 2011
After hearing the sad news about Mum we sat for a day wondering what to do. I had already told my sisters if Mum passed away while I was in Indonesia I wouldn’t be able to get home but now it had actually happened I wasn’t sure it was the right decision. Our only options were motor to Bali and I could fly home from there, but I wouldn’t be able to get back into the country for a month and it would probably take quite a few days to get there, or continue with our cruise and go home end of October as planned. After a long struggle I decided on the latter. I had flown home for a short visit while we were in Darwin when Mum first became ill and we all feared the worse but she had seemed to be recovering so I returned to Aus but the infection in her heart was too much for her body to cope with. I console myself with knowing I had seen her one last time. I think she would have liked me to continue; she always enjoyed getting our postcards to see where we were. This photo was taken when I went home briefly in 2011 before her heart troubles started.
Bill on the back of the motorbike
Tuesday 6th August we left Kupang with our friends Norman and Sara to head south to the island of Roti. We had a couple of lovely overnight stops before arriving in the town of Ba’a. We landed in the dinghy and were met on shore by a bunch of lads from Sail Indonesia on motorbikes offering us a lift into town. Our first thought was no but life is very slow here and the roads are so bad you can’t go fast if you wanted to so we jumped on. I’m sure our boys would be horrified after I’ve told them so many times not to do the same thing.
Shopping in the market
They took us to the local market where we were able to buy some fresh veggies. The fascination continued with us and everyone wanted their photos taken with us.
Sara with our interpreter
It was useful having an interpreter although I’m sure the prices went up but when you’re only paying a dollar or two we certainly didn’t question them.
The turtle was gone so fast
While walking through the market we noticed a turtle laying on the ground in the sun, at first we thought it was dead but then we realised it was alive. Norman asked what they were going to do with it to which they replied ‘Eat it’. They keep animals alive so they remain fresh but this poor turtle was clearly suffering so Norman asked them how much did they want for it. After some bartering rp200,000 about £14 was agreed. It was carried to the beach and put down onto the sand, as soon as it realised it was free it was scrabbling to get into the sea. A wave picked it up and it was gone so quickly I could only get this photo with it’s little shell just showing in the middle of the picture. Hopefully it will remain free.
Back on the bikes
We jumped back on the bikes and were taken back to the dinghy further down the beach.
Delicious bananas
These are the bananas I bought in the market for rp20,000 about £1.40, they taste so sweet here having only been picked a few days ago. I also managed to get some beans, carrots, spring onions and tomatoes, but no other salad and no apples. I don’t think we’ll see apples for a while.
Norsa being ‘rescued’
Saturday 10th we decided to leave Ba’a and sail around the corner of the island to Nemberala. Unfortunately Norman’s anchor got hooked around a bommie (coral head) and was jammed. We asked our motorbike friends if there were any divers that could come and help. They sent out the local dive rescue, which consisted of a couple of guys in a canoe with a snorkel mask between them! With a lot of shouting forwards and backing after several hours Norsa was free although Bill thinks Norman probably freed her himself but the boys were trying to be very helpful. We arrived at Nemberala just as it was getting dark, which was a bit tricky as we had to pass through a reef but all were safely in by 6.30.
Lots of boats in anchorage
Pretty church
There were quite a few rally boats in the anchorage and the next day we all headed into the village to look around. I found this pretty little church tucked away and this…..
Local petrol station
…is the local petrol station. All of these bottles hold a litre of petrol, just enough for a motorbike tank. It’s decanted from a large drum of petrol usually with the use of funnels and tubes and sometimes while the guy is puffing on a cigarette! I kid you not. These ones have proper lids but we’ve seen them with little bits of rags stuffed into the top. Words like cocktail and Molotov come to mind!
Hut on the beach
We walked along the beach and saw several huts like this that have people living in them. Can’t imagine what it’s like in the rainy season, maybe they live somewhere else then.
Sue having a pedicure
We walked right to the end of the beach and found a lovely resort with a spa, Sara and I treated ourselves to Pedicures.
Happy Hour
We found it was serving cold beers, something of a rarity in these parts as many people don’t have fridges let alone the electricity to power them. As you might expect the other cruisers had also found the place and it became our favourite spot for Happy Hour.
Cheers!
Arriving safely in Kupang
Our position at 9.00 Tuesday 30th July
10º 09.6 south
123º 34.2 east
Kupang harbour
A rickety Indonesian fishing boat
Our 4th day at sea had seen some wind and we sailed with the twizzle rig up all day. Now we had a dilemma because as the passage had been slow our predicted time of arrival was going to be after dark. We could motor, but probably still wouldn’t get there in time, or we could slow the boat down. We opted for the latter. I hate doing that, it seemed crazy to slow ourselves down but the approach to Kupang is through a fairly narrow channel and travelling through after dark would be difficult. We were 20 miles from the entrance at 22.00 with 5 other boats around us. After communicating on the vhf radio we all decided to hove-to for the night. We didn’t have the main up so we just winced the gennies in and let the boat drift. We were still travelling at 1½ kts towards the entrance. Bill had 4 hours sleep then let a bit more sail out. At 6am we proceeded into the channel. There were lots of fishing boats on their way back in with their catch plus lobster pot buoys everywhere so I think we had made a wise decision.
Our first sight of Indonesians was in a fishing boat coming towards us on its way out of the channel to go fishing. It looked very rickety with a tatty sail; I don’t think I would have liked to sail in it.
The Kupang fishing fleet
This is the local fishing fleet a little way away from Kupang.
Bill hoisting the Indonesian courtesy flag plus the ‘Q’ flag
When we arrived Bill hoisted our Indonesian courtesy flag along with our yellow ‘Q’ flag to await the customs. During the day the last of the fleet arrived, mostly under their own steam.
Tiare Tiporo III being brought in by the dinghies
This boat’s engine had broken down on the third day and they had sailed with whatever wind they could find. When they arrived at the anchorage I put a call out on the net to ask for dinghies to help tow them in the last bit. The camaraderie of the rally is starting to show.
Brampton Island
We stayed in Mackay marina for 4 nights. It was great to be able to catch up with washing and shopping as well as chatting to Norman and Sara about our adventures and theirs. It was strange meeting up in Mackay as it’s almost 3 years since our friends in the Blue Water rally checked into Australia here on their fateful journey home.
Approaching Brampton Island
On Sunday the 5th we were ready to leave after Norman, Bill and I had had one last jog (bet you didn’t think you’d ever hear me say that!) Bill fired up the engine and I released the lines as we reversed out of our berth. Suddenly, without warning, we lost propulsion. It was a strange feeling, like sliding on ice out of control. I called to some passing yachties to take a line, which they were happy to do and bring us back onto the berth. Norman and Sara saw we were having problems and came running. Bill made a quick assessment and found the throttle cable had snapped, fortunately he had a spare. Bill and Norman set about stripping the old one out and replacing it with the spare so that within a couple of hours we were on our way. Norman and Sara were a bit apprehensive as they haven’t sailed for 7 months. They didn’t need to worry because it was a beautiful day, although there wasn’t any wind, and we motored to Brampton island some 20 miles north.
Norsa, Camomile and Inspiration Lady at anchor
We dropped our anchor off Swordfish point alongside Norsa and Inspiration Lady.
Norman and Sara on Oyster beach
On Monday the 6th the 6 of us went ashore for a walk around the island. It was a beautiful day and the walk led us up over the top of the island with wonderful views from the top. We came out on the beach in Oyster Bay where we sat and eat out picnic.
I spotted this beautiful kangaroo
There was a lot of wildlife on the island; I spotted this kangaroo sitting below the path eating the foliage.
A lizard in the undergrowth
These kangaroos were running wild around the resort
I think this is a Goanna, a type of lizard, we saw lots of them in the undergrowth. We continued on our circuit of the island until we came to overgrown resort. We had been hoping for a cold beer at the end of our 8km hike but the resort had closed down 2 years ago and now the only thing that inhabited it were more kangaroos. It was eerie walking among the empty resort buildings and past the deserted restaurants. The beachfront bar still had a price list up.
Beautiful beach in front of deserted resort
Sadly there were half a dozen sailing catamarans that could have been donated to a local sailing school for children to learn to sail in but they lay abandoned on the beach.
That evening we all boarded Norsa for a ‘pot luck’ supper followed by a game of cards; Jackie and Gary are teaching us.
Tuesday the 7th was wet and windy and we all stayed on our boats.
We left Brampton Island on the 8th to sail to the Whitsunday’s.
Sue’s Birthday in Mackay
The chartplotter as we approached Mackay
We sailed overnight from South Percy Island to Mackay arriving on Wednesday 1st May. Our friends Jackie and Gary on Inspiration Lady did the same. We arrived off of Mackay in the early morning to find lots of ships anchored in the approach. This is what the chartplotter looked like. Each of the grey arrows represents a ship and Camomile is the black arrow in the top right hand side of the photo.
Some of the ships at anchor
Mackay is a big coal mining area and we assumed these ships were waiting to be loaded. Our main reason for coming to Mackay was to meet up with our cruising friends Norman and Sara on Norsa. They have been in the UK working for 7 months but they were now back in Australia and we plan to cruise together up the Australian coast. It was great to arrive in the marina and see them standing there waiting for us.
Mini birthday cakes
The next day was my birthday and I started the day with coffee in the hotel alongside the marina. I’ve been really good recently about eating cakes and other fattening things but as it was my birthday Bill bought me 2 little cakes with my morning coffee as a treat – mmmmm.
Sue, Sara, Norman, Gary and Jackie on Camomile
That evening Norman and Sara and Gary and Jackie joined us on Camomile for a celebration drink, then we all went to the Thai restaurant on the marina boardwalk for a delicious meal – another lovely treat.
Sue, Jackie, Bill, Gary, Norman and Sara
April Update in the Southern Barrier Reef
Just a quick blog to post some photos of how we finished April.
Day tripper boat moored next to pontoon
Finally got away from Fraser island 19th April and headed for Lady Musgrave island, our first island in the Barrier reef. It’s an atoll with a little island in the middle surrounded by beautiful turquoise water and coral heads. Unfortunately it’s been commercialised with a permanently moored pontoon in the middle of the lagoon next to a large coral reef. Every morning at about 10.00 a catamaran carrying 100 +/- people arrived to moor up to the pontoon giving it the appearance of something out of the film Waterworld. The surrounding water filled with swimmers very quickly, some of them standing on the coral; an absolute no-no.
Too many footprints
Beautiful sunset over ‘Waterworld’
We landed on the island and walked across the beach but it had far too many foot prints for our liking. Fortunately the day trippers left at 3pm leaving the lagoon in peace and enabling us to go snorkelling. There were some nice fish and a fair bit of coral but nothing to compare with Fiji yet.
Anchored among the sandbars
Monday 22nd found us in Pancake Creek, a lovely little spot tucked up inside the creek. At low tide we were surrounded by sandbars, which was good because we sat out a blow there.
Amazing views
On the 23rd we landed on the beach with Jack and Zdenka off of ‘Kite’ for a walk to the lighthouse. We had a wonderful walk to the top and down the other side to the beach for our picnic. The views from the top were outstanding.
Looking south
We are anchored in the creek in the background
Misplaced buoy on the beach on the other side
Walking back up the hill
The lighthouse
The lighthouse had been lovingly restored and we enjoyed chatting to the old caretaker who still lives next to the lighthouse, although it’s now fully manned. It seems there used to be quite a community up there in the 1800s.
The little cemetery still contained some old graves which are now protected by pretty picket fencing.
One of the beautifully kept graves
Bill and Sue on the beach
Back on the beach – but it’s windy again!
The sandflies aren’t going to get me
We left Pancake Creek late on the 24th for a night sail to Great Keppel Island. During the night we passed Cape Capricorn, which is situated just above the latitude of the Tropic of Capricorn. Which means we are back in the tropics where we’ll stay, apart from our trip back to the UK by plane at the end of the year, for the next 2½ years. The next day we landed on the beach for another walk. Great Keppel is known for it’s sandflies, not wanting to be bitten again I arrived prepared.
Each spear head had as many as a dozen butterflies on each one
We had a lovely walk. The island has lots of butterflies attracted by the long spear-like plants. It was magical walking among them, I haven’t seen so many butterflies in one place before.
Eating our picnic looking out to sea
We continued up through the bush onto the ridge of the island and continued right along to the lighthouse, where we sat and ate our picnic on the edge of the helipad.
Look for the little newborn goat in the foreground
On the other side of the helipad were some goats and if you look closely at this photo you can see a little white one in the foreground which had been born that morning. It was wobbly but seemed well.
This stone said ‘Rest your legs, dream a while’
Wonderful views
On the way back to the boat we found this little resting place overlooking one of the bays. The chairs had been painted to blend in with the surroundings and cemented in place so that some joker couldn’t through them over the cliff. It was a beautiful spot.
Inspiration Lady
Sunday 28th saw us sailing to Island Head creek alongside our Canadian friends Jackie and Gary on Inspiration Lady. Jackie and Gary had stayed with us on Camomile in Sydney for Christmas while Inspiration Lady had stayed in Brisbane. They were now joining the great exodus heading north for the Indonesian rally in July. It was nice to have some company.
Bill on the helm
After an overnight in Island Head creek we sailed to the Percy islands the next day. Jackie and Gary went to Blunt bay and we anchored off of South Percy. It was very remote, even though it’s only about 40 miles from the mainland, and very very dark in the evening.
Camomile waiting in the bay
The next day we went for yet another walk (the islands are quite small and each one has different features). South Percy was totally uninhabited so there weren’t any tracks to follow. The grass was only ankle deep but spiders and snakes kept running through my thoughts. We reached the top of the hill to be rewarded with a wonderful view across the bay and Camomile sitting in the middle waiting for us.
View down the other side
Looking down the other side there were some delightful little bays but they were exposed to the strong winds.
Red soil of the landslip
The soil had some great shapes in it
Through the middle of the island there had been some sort of land slide exposing the rich red soil underneath.
Sand art created by the crabs
We walked back down the hill onto the beach, completely untouched except for the ‘crab art’. The little crabs collect balls of sand as they burrow into it and push it out onto the beach creating amazing pictures which get washed away at high tide. The hole beach was covered in their artistic patterns.
Watching the crabs
Camomile in the bay
We walked right along the beach enjoying the solitude before getting back on board for a night sail to Mackay for my birthday.
Heading north through Mooloolaba and Fraser Island
The entrance to Mooloolaba harbour
The first week in April brought strong winds that delayed our departure from Moreton bay until Saturday 6th April when we were able to sail to Mooloolaba, I love that name. We spent the weekend anchored in the harbour. Monday morning we contacted the marina and got a berth for 2 nights. It was great to use the showers, washing machines, etc. The marina was also close to a huge shopping mall so we were able to restock the boat. Lawries boat services was next door to the marina and after talking to Kieran the manager, we arranged for Camomile to be lifted at 3pm and held in the slings overnight on the Tuesday. While Bill jet washed the hull I scrapped the little barnacles off. Bill scraped and greased the prop and also managed to get a coat of antifoul on the keel. The hull still has the Cuprotec coating, which seems to be holding up although Bill has had to repair it in places. We don’t have any photos because we had to work quickly before it got dark plus it rained most of the time we were out. Kieran arrived at 7.30 in the morning to put us back in the water for our second night in the marina. More rain.
Bill found another tool box
Thursday 11th we went back to anchor out in the harbour to find our friends Dave and Jacqui on Jackster had arrived. It was great to catch up. They were interested in hearing about the storm as Jacqui had been a tower of strength texting me throughout our ‘ordeal’. With more rain falling we took the bus to Maroochydore, another lovely name, for a mooch around the shops and Bill found another big toolbox, this one had a beer fridge!!
Looking down on the beautiful beach from Point cartwright
There were strong winds blowing all week but on Sunday evening it was forecast to drop so, after a fantastic walk along the beach in the afternoon, we motored out of the harbour at 9pm with Raven I and Far Star for an overnight sail to Fraser Island. It was an uneventful passage, we managed a couple of hours sailing before the wind died completely. It’s been such a problem travelling up this coast, there’s too much wind for 6 or 7 days then it drops completely for a day or two before building up again. We have to watch the forecast constantly and as soon as there’s a weather window drop everything and go.
The entrance to the Sandy straights leading to Fraser island has a notorious bar across it called the wide bay bar. To avoid it would mean a 24hr passage at least around Fraser island so we called the VMR to check the condition at 9am. They were reporting rough conditions but no breaking waves so, after taking the entry waypoints from them, decided to cross it. The bar itself was fine, although we had 3 metre waves around us; the worse bit was travelling along the inside of it. As it’s name suggests it’s a wide bar and it’s very important not to cut the corner off and we followed the waypoints the VMR had given us but there were hugh waves breaking across the shallow part of the bar making the passage feel like we were in a washing machine. It took half an hour to reach the calmer water inside when I was able to radio back to Far Star and Raven to let them know what it was like. As they are both single handers they were brave to come over but we all survived and proceeded to motor up the Sandy Straits to Garys Anchorage. There wasn’t a breath of wind there but unfortunately it enabled the dreaded sand flies to fly out to the boat and Bill and I were badly bitten overnight.
The pool at Kingfisher resort
The next day, Tuesday 16th, we motored up the Sandy Straights to Kingfisher resort, a favourite of ours with its yachtie friendly facilities of a pool, shower and nice café that sells delicious lunches. We stayed there for 3 days waiting for the start of the wind to take us north to our first island in the Barrier reef.
Hanging around in Brissie
The moorings in front of the Botanical gardens
We got back to Camomile on the 21st March after our little mini break. Several people had advised us it wasn’t a good idea to go north until the end of March because of the threat of cyclones. Having been lashed by the tail of one we had no intention of encountering another so we decided to hang around Brissie for a while. We like Brisbane; Sydney was charming but very expensive and vast whereas Brisbane is an affable place. As the capital of the state of Queensland it has such a get-up-and-go feel about it. Enveloped by the Brisbane river the tall skyscrapers of the CBD sit neatly around some beautiful colonial buildings. Camomile was tied to the pile moorings by the Botanical gardens, which were very convenient and, apart from the wash of the occasional ferry, were very protected. The shopping precincts of the town were only a 10-minute walk away.
The CBD at twilight
The Story bridge lit up
Bill, Sue, Judith and David
While in Brisbane we had special guests to supper. Judith Symonds commodore of the Westerly Owners Association and her husband David were visiting family in Brisbane and we had invited them to join us on Camomile. It was great to catch up. They in turn invited us to dinner at their daughter’s house. We took the ferry there giving us a chance to see the CBD lit up in all its finery.
The sewing machine came out again. When we tied our lovely new dinghy to the dinghy dock on the river it looked very new and shiny and almost had a sign on it saying ‘steal me’. We still had the tonneau cover from the old dinghy, it was very tatty but I set about making a cover out of it to make Rocco look ‘grotty’. We used an old fender sock to cover the outboard, especially the 15hp label, which apparently makes it very desirable.
The old outboard finally goes
We enjoyed time with our friends Gary and Jackie off of the Canadian boat Inspiration Lady who had spent Christmas with us on Camomile in Sydney. Gary is a bigger collector of ‘rubbish’ commonly referred to as ‘spares’ than Bill is. He spotted our old broken outboard still sitting on the outboard bracket on the stern. Bill hadn’t decided what to do with it. As it’s the same model as his he asked if he could have it for spares. It was useless to us and completely un-repairable so we gave it to him. Jackie will never forgive me!
Bye bye to the old outboard
Bill, Sue, Cate and Chris
Our lovely Aussie friends Chris and Cate who live in Brisbane came to fetch us one morning and took us back to their house for a delicious lunch. Cate let me use her washing machine and we took the jerries along to fill with diesel on the way back home too. They had kindly taken in a parcel for us that my sister Amanda had sent with our new dinghy wheels and outboard bracket in. Once back at the boat Bill fitted the wheels to Rocco so the dinghy is as good as it was before but even faster being lighter and having a more powerful outboard.
Friday 29th March after provisioning the boat, washed everything on the boat that could be washed, and topped up with water, we released our mooring lines and motored back down the Brisbane river to start the next part of our adventure beginning with the Easter weekend in Moreton bay.
Family Reunions in Queensland
We made our way up the Brisbane river late on Wednesday 13th March ready for the arrival of the family the next day. The following evening we excitedly waited outside Kate’s hotel for her arrival. Bill’s sister was flying into Australia from NZ with her husband Barry and the teenagers, Will and Daisy. We hadn’t seen them for over a year and were really excited. It was late by the time they arrived dragging huge bags with them for their 10 day stay. We just had a drink with them then left them to settle in.
Will, Barry, Kate and Daisy in the gardens of the Southbank
The next morning I went for my little run-walk ending up at the hotel where we all enjoyed the hotel swimming pool, which fortunately we had to ourselves. We all walked into the city for lunch and around the gardens on the Southbank. They enjoyed their second night in the hotel in Brisbane then checked out and joined us on Camomile for a cup of tea before exploring more of Brisbane. After spending their second day in the city they were picked up by cousin John and taken out to Boonah, a couple of hours outside Brisbane, for three days.
Catching the train
On the Sunday we got up early and caught the train to Ipswich where John picked us up to spend the day altogether. John would have been Bill’s father’s cousin so he’s Bill’s cousin once removed … we think!!
John and Helen’s home
They have a lovely home high up in hills behind the city surrounded by about 20 acres of land, complete with their own lake.
Daisy and Kate in the canoes
Helen’s lovely garden
Kate and Daisy decided to have a paddle around in the canoes. Helen has a beautiful garden which she spends long hours in.
All ready for our guided tour
Beautiful countryside
Koala sitting high up in the trees trying his best to ignore us
After lunch John took us for a walk around his land where we were fortunate enough to see a koala sitting high up in the trees trying hard to ignore us. Our first wild koala in his own natural surroundings, we were really lucky.
Kangaroos
On the way back to the station John drove through an area where he knew there would be lots of kangaroos, so I enjoyed watching them too.
Bill and Barry with champagne to celebrate
On the Tuesday the tribe decamped to their apartment on the Gold Coast where they were to spend the second half of their holiday. We packed a bag and joined them for two days. Also to arrive was Susan, John’s sister, who had brought along a selection of photos of the family, young and old, from her collection. We were able to show some of our collection too and we spent an evening puzzling out family connections.
The family gathering
So for the benefit of the family at home we have from left to right cousin John (also Nan’s nephew), Bill, John’s wife Helen, Kate, Barry, John’s sister Susan and Sue. Barry cooked us a wonderful meal.
Wednesday 20th Bill and I were dragged kicking and screaming to Wet’n’Wild!! Only joking we all choose the water park out of the 5 available. Cousin Susan decided to join us, brave lady. Fortunately it wasn’t very busy because the school holidays haven’t started yet but that also meant that some of the rides were closed. I enjoyed the ones that you sit on something to slide to the bottom but tried one of the flume rides that you slide down on your own back and managed to wrench my shoulder so decided against any more of those. Bill very bravely joined the kids on some of the ‘sudden drop’ rides – very brave.
John and Helen
We all left on Thursday to allow Kate and Barry to enjoy the rest of their holiday with Will and Daisy. John had come down from Boonah on his BMW bike while Helen had driven down with the others in the car. So she was able to give us a lift back to the station to catch our train back to the city and Camomile. Thank you John and Helen and Susan for having us, we had a wonderful time meeting you.
Will and Daisy are both taller than me now
We took these pictures before we left, not sure when we’ll see them all next. Bye guys, good to see you. x
The Redgrove’s and the Tomkinson’s
Camomile’s new friend, Rocco
Camomile ready to go
We were weather watching once again and, this time, I wanted something like perfect sailing conditions to restore our confidence on this first passage since our force 10 trashing. I was confident in Camomile as she is a tough old bird and all her hardware, with the exception of the dinghy and outboard had been brought back up to scratch. It was the human-ware which needed to get back in the saddle to repair the psychological dents and scratches.
Looking over the harbour wall to see what the conditions were like – no, not going yet!
Monday the 4th March brought the kind of windy conditions we would have normally contemplated at a push but it was not right for this occasion. Tuesday was less windy but the swell was still large and so it was Wednesday before we finally bade the nice folks at Coffs g’day, thanked them for all their support, especially Graham for the loan of his car, and headed north on the 166 mile passage to Southport. Sue was so so brave and pretended not to be apprehensive but after a few hours of rolling around and being pressed back by the adverse current her butterflies got the better of her when both breakfast and lunch made reappearance on the lee deck. (sick with fear more like. S)
The high rises of Surfers Paradise
Motoring at first with the single reefed main up for stability the southerly wind eventually struck up and after one false start we were able to twizzle the two genoas, finally starting to make some headway against the current which must have been running at more than two knots plus. We passed Byron Bay, the most easterly cape in Australia, and pressed on back into Queensland.
I was apprehensive on the approach to the Goldcoast Seaway as it is not far from a place called Surfers Paradise and, like most entrances hereabouts, is shallow. This might make it a paradise for surfers but it can also make it Yottie Hell in onshore conditions.
All was well though and we dropped our hook in the quiet, shallow Broadwater protected from the sea by its massive sand bank.
Camomile dinghy-less
The following morning it was back to business and we headed up the Coomera River to the City Marina where several of the local dinghy suppliers were based. I was particularly interested in a Sirocco ex display model which was heavily discounted as it had some marks on it. Perfect! Arriving at the showroom though I was devastated to be told it had just been sold. We spent the rest of the morning looking around other suppliers but it was really starting to seem that the new tender was going to cost well above the insurance cover.
Beautiful riverside house
Returning down the river to the anchorage at Broadwater we admired the multimillion houses lining one side of the river which came in all possible styles and sizes with swimming pools, moorings at the bottom of the garden and, a little strangely we thought, meshing around the balconies which we assumed was to keep the sun from the fair skin of the Aussie elite who occupied these palaces.
Some of them were unreal
Most with pontoons at the bottom of the garden
Sitting back at the anchorage on Saturday afternoon and back on the internet I was surprised to see the dinghy I liked had been re-listed and thinking this was a mistake phoned up to ask “is it sold or not?”. I was elated to hear that the sale of earlier that day had fallen through so arranged to meet at the shop the following morning. We hauled up the anchor straight away and hotfooted it back up the river arriving at the marina just before dark.
As I was securing to a mooring buoy though I suddenly noticed that I was surrounded by a fine buzzing noise. I looked straight up in case I was under a power line (not good when you have a mast) but there was no sign. I peered out into the gathering gloom and saw that I was surrounded by the biggest mosquitoes I have ever seen. Suddenly the mesh around all the houses balconies made sense and we went into MosCon 5 locking down the boat and setting out on an extermination spree down below where some intruders had already penetrated. They were the size of sparrows, fair dinkum!
Shaun and Bill unloading the dinghy
The following morning we put Camomile alongside and went off to find her new tender.
Launching the dinghy
Mission accomplished
Shaun was quick and efficient so within an hour we were back with a shiny new inflatable which was duly introduced to Camomile and they were both told to “play nicely” Guess who?
Bill with the new dinghy that’s going to be called Rocco and is a boy.
Sue had the first sit in Rocco
And guess who had to have the first go in him too!
Rocco on Camomile’s stern
So with the dinghy davited, again we motored back down the river to the anchorage. We could now get ashore and it was great to be mobile again as we rowed to the beach that evening. We walked across the sandy spit by the Broadwater to walk along the beach where the surf pounded the shallow approaches.
Mike delivering the new 15hp Yamaha
Rowing is all right but it is overrated when you need to travel a proper distance so it was anchor up the next day and into Runaway Bay marina where we could unload the bikes and cycle to the outboard suppliers. After cycling more miles around Labrador than our bottoms are used to and some thorough interrogation of the local suppliers we became the proud owners of another outboard motor which was duly delivered to Runaway Bay Marina the following morning.
Wahoo!
My turn to play wahoo! The boys are really going to enjoy having a go with this one too.
Camomile was finally complete again so we were all set to make our way up to Brisbane where we were planning a family reunion with my sister Kate and family and our Aussie cousins.
Mission accomplished.
Camomile 