The Sea Change happened!

The sea change really happened! The past 2 months have been filled with new experiences every day. It has been a big learning curve and we certainly know much more about sailing than we did. Most experiences were great, a few of the more challenging moments we would like to avoid in the future (eg gale force winds and sand bars!!) The abundant water life (turtles, dolphins, schools of fish and the whales) was magnificent, the scenery beautiful and meeting and making friends with other yachties very special. We look forward to the next chapter.

Final Leg of our trip

We have arrived back in Newport and will return to Perth within the next few days. The trip down the coast included highlights like some great sailing which Peter loved (4 hours with speed to 9 knots ), a lovely night anchored in the picturesque Garry's Anchorage and a F1 11 passing right before our eyes as we sat having a cuppa. It would have been 300 mtrs away and 75 ft off the ground!! We crossed the treacherous Wide Bay Bar at day break along with 8 other boats who had, like us, been waiting for the right conditions. The trip to Mooloolaba went well but because of winds from the wrong direction we were then anchored there for 6 days. At least it is a good place to be stuck although it was rather wet and we must admit to being rather impatient to get back to Newport and pack up and head home.

Our first live-on-board visitor

It was great for us to have Janine, Christine's daughter come across from WA for a 5 day visit. She flew to Brisbane and then caught the Tilt train to Maryborough. This meant a 40 minute bus trip to Hervey Bay to meet us at the Marina. The weather was not kind for the first three days and conditions on and off the boat (even though we were in the Marina,) were far from good. Janine coped well with the conditions. Fortunately because the weather was great on her last two days we were able to get across to Kingfisher Bay (which included a nice sail) and enjoy the warm weather, the resort (which Janine took to very well) and a little fishing. To ensure a calm night we went across and anchored at the mouth of the Susan River for one night. She seemed to enjoy life aboard Family Affair which can be described as a cross between caravanning, a house boat and a sailing yacht. We also managed to have some retail therapy (mainly due to the weather) and Peter took us out to dinner one night. We thoroughly enjoyed her stay and hope to have others join us in the future.

Photos by Janine

Peter and his boat, fishing our style, Sunset at Susan River and a dodgey photo of the three of us looking very natural and relaxed (ha ha)

Photos of Family Affair

Photos of the boat, in the Marina, at anchor and us aboard

Bundaberg - a highlight of our trip

The Marina is new and the owners seen to go out of there way to make yachties feel welcome. As it is a 15 minute drive to Bundaberg, which is the centre of the Sugar Cane industry(population of 70,000), a courtesy bus was provided. The countryside is lush and green with very rich soil (Peter was looking a little green) The cafe also offered special meals and entertainment for the yachties and there was a market with live music on the Saturday we were there. The town itself impressed us, wide streets, good shopping ( I think I visited River's at least 4 times!) with plenty of activity ín what appears to be an active, healthy community. The markets on Sunday were superb with plenty of locally grown prime fruit and vegies. It was great to meet lots of yachties, some from overseas with wonderful stories to tell, and others travelling either north or south. All seemed to be eager to share either a wonderful anchorage, tips on what to avoid or other information that really is invaluable. Of course once meeting people you are always looking out for them or their boat on your travels. Boats of all shapes and sizes and people, some single others with a crew, from all walks of life.

Ocean Farer's

We were very fortunate to berth next to ''Greshon ll " which had just arrived before us from a 8 day passage from Solomon Islands. It was a great to get to know the owner's Steve and Cheryl who originate from Hawaii and their crew member Ross, a New Zealander, who is a long term resident of the Solomon Islands. The boat is a 50ft Steel hull which Steve affectionalty calls his ''4 wheel drive of the ocean''. Steve has been sailing all over the Pacific for 20 years (between being a lawyer in Hawaii) and has many adventures to relate. It was wonderful to meet a couple who has so much experience and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them and sharing some of their adventures.

Whales

Platypus Bay seems to be the whales playground.  As we passed through on our way to Bundaberg we sighted 10 to 12 of them, some as long as the boat,  mostly busy moving through the water.  We were the only boat in the middle of what is called Wide Bay with no land in sight when we noticed a spectacular show way off on the horizon.  We could see their tails, which looked surreal as they were big shinny and silver in the sunlight  and huge sprays of water from their breaching.    We changed course to try and get closer until finally we spotted one about 100 metres ahead.  We were under sail at the time with no engines running, so it was very quiet.  We dashed to the front of the boat to try and catch it  on camera  and waited and waited for the whale to surface.  All of a sudden we heard this very loud rush of wind at the rear of the boat which startled us somewhat!  A whale had surfaced about 3 metres from the stern and wouldn't you know it we were in the wrong place!  Christine dashed up the back and was able to sight a second whale passing close by  just under the water and  saw its eye and body clearly.  After that another 5 or 6 whales passed under us (none came close to us though) and then continued on there playful way.  It was very exciting, we just wish we could have managed that  photo.