Whoops time got away from us
Saturday, September 01, 2018
2018 Travels
Date: 2/9/18
Location: Deception Bay
S 27 11.12'
E153 05.23'
Weather: blue sky and warm
Author: Peter
Its been a while and we have done a lot since the last blog. After sailing across from Bundy, we anchored off another large sand blow, which we climbed the next morning. This blow was tall enough that Kylie and Mia needed to stop for a rest a few times. It was definitely the tallest one we have climbed so far. Still, not bad for someone recovering from Ross River fever. Well done Kylie. The view form the top was well worth it, including whales swimming between our anchored boat and the shore. They even managed to give us a wave, as they were directly between us and Jura.
After our morning activities on shore we then moved down to the entrance to Wathumba Creek. A lovely looking lagoon, although the tide was too low for us to explore when we arrived. So we set off exploring the entrance in the duck. The shallows just outside the lagoon were great for the kids with a variety of types of rays, a few turtles and a shovel nose shark. They weren't hard to spot, they were everywhere. Some were sand coloured, some a dark burgundy. After a short walk ashore we headed back to the boat and sat watching the whales playing next to the entrance.
As it got closer to sunset we noticed that a small chop was developing so we moved the boat a little further south and into deeper water trying to minimise its effects on us. The wind was blowing from the west and predicted to get up a little and then die down before midnight. By the time we went to bed the boat had an unpleasant hobby horsing motion, but we thought it was to be short lived so we would put up with it. How wrong we were!
The wind got stronger than predicted and lasted until about 5 am. The boat had the worst motion we have ever had in all our travels, so sleep was difficult. Kylie even moved to my pilot birth in the main cabin in effort to minimise the motion and to get some sleep. We both got very little sleep, although the kids had no worries. Think of trying to sleep in an agitating front loading washing machine, that's the best example I can give. Not very easy. The problem comes when the boat rocks aggressively side ways. Your muscles try to hold you still, the opposite of what I normally try to do, so you get a work out and get up in the morning exhausted and sore. Harvey Bay is wide and shallow. As a result the wind had a 40nm fetch over shallow water which produced a short steep wave with a small period. Even a light breeze of ten knots starts to produce this wave given long enough. As our boat turned side onto these waves in the current, our motion got bad, real bad.
The next day, tired and grumpy we moved further into the bay and anchored off the arched, coloured sands. The bay went smooth as the wind had died. After anchoring up and exploring the beach where we collected 6 different colours of sand for the kids travel sand jars and the wreck of a yacht buried in the beach we were visited on anchor by a pair of whales. After dinner Kylie, and I went to our bed to read. Being so tired from our lack of sleep the night before we both accidentally fell asleep before 6pm. The kids put themselves to bed when Giggle & Hoot finished. Well done kids! That's the first time that's ever happened, and they stuck to the normal routine which is awesome. Well apart from brushing their teeth!
The following day saw very little wind again, and spotting leaping whales just a short distance away we went out to watch. A calf and two larger whales where leaping, tail slapping, waving and just generally having a good time. Having stopped 100m away to watch and just drifting, we were pleasantly surprised when two of the whales swam over towards us for a look and then continued to play right next to the boat. During this trip we have been surprised at how inquisitive the whales have become since our last visit to the bay 10 years ago. It has been a regular thing to have whales swim around us while on anchor either late in the day as we are having dinner or first thing in the morning when having breakfast. One morning we even had one do a few laps on the boat, going around and under us before giving the anchor chain a gentle tap with its pectoral fin on its last lap as it began to swim away.
With guests shortly arriving we again anchored off another beautiful creek exiting Fraser Island before jumping back over to Pialba to re provision. Somehow by sheer luck rather than planning we managed to time our arrival perfectly for Harvey Bays Whale festival. So after doing all our shopping and spending more time at Queenslands awesome playgrounds, we got to enjoy all the activities of the festival ashore. We had anchored perfectly off the park where the carnival and stage were set up. The kids did some plaster painting and we watched some of the performances before settling down to watch the evening parade down the foreshore. The ocean theme was clear on all the floats and we all had a great time. Our day finished with a fireworks show, again, right next to the boat.
During the parade we saw a float for a local historical museum. So with it being a stunning day but with a bit of a breeze we ignored the paddle out for whales event and went instead to the museum. What a surprising gem. There was so much to see, do and learn. They have a fantastic large and diverse collection well worth the visit. Being a Sunday they had some demonstrations, so we went to the blacksmithing and rope making ones. Both were well done and informative. Even though we were there for a few hours the kids never once asked to leave which shows how good it really is. It was really good for the kids to see not only some of the history of the region but Australia in general. They even had some older houses showing what people would have lived in in the past. Mia and Joel asked the most questions in a rough sawn early settler log house. Wow it would have been drafty, but comfortable.
Monday morning saw us moving around to Urangan to pick up Kylie's parents. With the wind blowing from the west we decided to head south into the Great Sandy Straights to avoid any more uncomfortable nights. We ended up anchoring off King Fisher Bay Resort again. With the wind set to stay from the west for another couple of days Al suggested hiring a 4WD to explore the island. After much agreement, the next day we headed to shore to see if was possible. Although we could not get one the following day we could get one the day after, so a deposit was paid and we were booked in. That afternoon was spent enjoying some of the resorts facilities. Al and I had to do some training before we were allowed to take out a 4WD so another day was spent swimming, and using the resorts cafe and bar.
We picked up the 4WD drive the next day shortly before 9 and with a rough plan based off the time we had and past experience from school excursions we set off. We hit the sand within a couple of minutes of turning on the vehicle leaving the resort on a steep down hill that had Al looking a little stressed behind the wheel (he did really well all day given it was his first time in a 4WD on sand). We were warned that the inland tracks would be rough due to the lack of rain which proved to be correct. After crossing the island to Eurong, we jumped onto the Fraser Island highway (the beach) and made our way north. The tides worked out perfect for us as we had no restrictions on the beach all day. Our first real stop after morning tea at Eurong, was the Pinnacles. Coloured sands that were shaped like a tall city of stalagmites by rain over the years. Although still beautiful it was disappointing to see a fence now stopping people from getting very far in to see them in all their glory. Trees block any close up view. The best view is now back form the beach. It is a pity that people in the past have not respected the site enough, causing the authorities to erect the fence.
From here we made our way back south to the wreck of the Maheno. Plenty of history surrounds this wreck which can be found elswhere and although I can see further natural deterioration of the wreck since I was here 2 years ago it is still worth a visit. Our next stop was the famous Eli creek, seen on all tourist commercial for Fraser Isalnd. A perfectly clear water creek flowing through fringing forest out the beach and the Tasman sea. Both Joel and Mia had a float down the creek in their life jackets. Mia did need some convincing as she is always reluctant to try something she does not feel comfortable about. We also had a picking plate lunch here and Joel managed to get 5 good sized splinters in his hand after running his hand along a railing. After some tears and some attention attracting screaming we had his hand sorted out. Luckily we brought our portable first aid kit off the boat with us.
After exiting the easy driving of the beach back at Eurong we the then made our way back inland watching Al's stress levels increase as we hit the soft and now very rutty sands. Our plan was to get to Central station, and the nearby creek but our day was quickly running short on time, so we made our way to Lake McKenzie, another of Frasers picture post card spots. In hindsight we should have come here first that morning. Still stunningling beautiful, it appears at its best in the morning with the sun over the clear lake setting off its colours, not in the afternoon with sun behind us. It would also have let us have a swim here. Still well worth the stop. A one way, very rough track, saw us on our way back to the resort. We enjoyed a proper shower and mexican back on the boat for dinner. A great day all up. Although Al was very tired from his upper body workout behind the wheel.
Our next day saw us heading north up to the bay. Notably, with guests on board, the ever present whales decided to make themselves scarce until we finally anchored up back off Wathumba Creek. Still it was a fairly pleasant day. The whales made up for it the next morning when shortly after breakfast we upped anchor and moved a short distance out to some playing whales. We stayed with our 1st group for a couple hours before moving on. Our third group of whales came over to our drifting boat, swimming and playing around us. When we finally tried sailing on, they stayed with us, swimming around and under us a few times before following us closely for at least another half hour. It was amazing for everyone to get such a close whale experience. Kylie will get the video footage edited soon, you wont believe how close those whales come.
Much to our surprise, late in the day while making our way towards our intended anchorage we spotted a whale thrashing about. We altered course a small amount to watch only to discover a Southern Right whale and her new born calf. It is my belief that when a say new born, I mean, new born. I think the thrashing we saw was part of her birthing. By the time we got near her we could see her propping her calf up on her back to breath. After some quick internet research we discovered that this behaviour is only present in the 1st hour of the calves life, helping to let it recover and breath. Believing this to be the case we only stayed near them for a short period of time letting them recover without extra stress for us. These were the first Southern Right whales we have ever seen and are not common this far north anymore given how much they were decimated by whaling before becoming protected so we felt very lucky to see them and to experience them with our children.
We spent some time ashore was again at the coloured sands before continuing south to anchor off Moon Point avoiding more westerly winds. Our guests final day onboard, we had planned to anchor off Big Woody Island and walk up to its heritage listed light house, but the weather intervened forcing us to anchor off the south western corner of the Island. Although now a boat bound day I'm glad this is where we sat out the new weather system as it was smooth and when a 34 knot storm came through we had no problems. Monday morning we headed back to Urangan, dropping off Alan and Linda, filling up with fuel and water, before heading back out to Big Woody and walking up to the lighthouse and reading all about its history on a perfectly calm and warm day.
From there we shuffled down the Great Sandy Straights, riding the currents finally anchoring up late on Wednesday at Tin Can Bay where we did school work, a butcher order, some more playgrounds, and Australia Post. Friday's forecast was good for crossing the bar and heading south so we took the opportunity and rode the forecast 30 knots south. The bar was placid, we used big bird for the first three hours before heavily reefing down as the northerly increased just after lunch. With the wind directly astern it was a quick fairly smooth ride back to Moreton Bay and we were anchored up in Deception Bay on the bottom of Bribie Island shortly after 10pm. Rather tired from a big day we all fell asleep quickly. Obviously the following day was rather lazy, cleaning up the boat, and moving 5nm towards Scarborough and taking it easy.
Happy fathers day to all the dads out there.
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