Scooter had fitted our new dodger, bimini and lee cloth and it looked great, so now it was time to think about moving further north. All our friends had left and we were feeling a bit lonely. We checked the weather forecast and found that a weather window had opened up for the next couple of days. After that it looked like inclement weather would keep people here for nearly a week. The swell is especially tricky with this Clarence River Bar, as it can turn very nasty when the swell rises. Friday dawned clear and calm and the tide enabled us to get out easily. We said goodbye to Yamba and headed for the Gold Coast. Two other sailing cats exited with us, so we had company all the way. By evening we were off Byron Bay and as there was a light breeze from the west we all decided to anchor there for the night. It turned out to be rolly for the first half of the night, but as the tide turned the rolling stopped and we had a peaceful sleep. Byron Bay would only be any good in light westerly and south westerly conditions because it is so open to the north and east.
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| Under the New Bimini |
By daybreak we were up and ready to continue on to the Gold Coast. Our sail from the Clarence to Byron was one of the best we have had on the east coast, there being a gentle westerly all day. Now we had a forecast of westerlies again, but as the day wore on the wind turned more north and even north east at times. Made it hard to keep sailing so we motor sailed. The reefs off Danger Point near the New South Wales/Queensland border provided choppy, disturbed seas and slowed us down as we fought our way around the shallow water. Eventually we arrived at the Gold Coast Seaway in the late afternoon and once inside headed north a short way along South Stradbroke Island and dropped the anchor for the night amongst a dozen or so other boats. Bliss! Quiet, calm and safe.
Gold Coast
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| Time for a rest, South Stradbroke Island |
Early in the morning we were awoken by tuneful birdsong - unlike the raucous, racket of the parrots at Yamba Marina. The magnificent day had us off the boat exploring as soon as we had finished our breakfast. We discovered that we had anchored just south of the Currigee camp site and from here walking tracks lead to the ocean side of the island. What a magnificent beach so typical of the Gold Coast, only no-one was there. We had the whole beach to ourselves. We decided to walk about 3kms or so south to the Seaway and as we approached the rock walls could see many surfers and jet ski riders taking advantage of the perfect surf conditions. Obviously this is a favourite place to surf. We watched some jet ski riders completing 360 degree somersaults up and over the wave faces. Nuts!! We also watched the board riders paddling from the mainland to South Stradbroke Island across the Seaway Channel dodging huge motor boats, yachts, runabouts, surf skis and any other craft imaginable. Nuts too!!
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| Good beachcombing, South Stradbroke Island ocean side |
In the afternoon we motored south around the corner to Marine Stadium to anchor opposite Southport VMR where we thought we might motor the dinghy over to the Australia Fair shopping centre to stock up on stores. We like to anchor there as "Bums Bay" is usually too full of anchored boats to worry about. Some people don't like the wake from the sea going traffic here, or the noise from seaplanes, helicopter joy rides or the quacking duck boat from SeaWorld, but we find it all settles down in the evening and it's as quiet for the night as anywhere else.
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| Sand Bypass Outlet, Gold Coast Seaway, South Stradbroke Island |
Lily's motor would not start. Peter spent some time trying to fix it and to no avail. I even suggested he let it quietly sink to the bottom. It has been getting less reliable with each passing week. Luckily it never started, as I would have been extremely angry if it had konked out half way back from Australia Fair in the middle of the bay with all the traffic and the currents swirling us in the wrong direction. We decided then and there a new motor was called for.
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| South Stradbroke Island |
The Boat Works
On Tuesday afternoon we motored 3nm back to South Stradbroke Is, this time to the Currigee North Camp. An interesting thing we discovered when anchoring here is that when the tide ebbs the muddy water from this inland waterway travels south and pushes the clear water out to sea. When the tide flows in the clear sea water pushes the muddy water north and it becomes so clear you can see the sand ripples on the bottom in 5m of water. We spent the night here waiting for the high tide to take us up the Coomera River to The Boat Works for our haul out and general maintenance. It gets quite shallow, especially at the entrance to the river so we needed to be within an hour or two of the high tide to give us plenty of room to clear the sandbanks. It took just over an hour to motor all the way up and we anchored opposite the travel lift to await our turn for lift out.
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| Our Turn Next |
This is a busy place and finally we received our call to make ready. Once we entered the travel lift structure the Boat Works staff took over and we just did as instructed. The boat was lifted, we climbed off and were presented with coffee and muffin vouchers and the workmen took Olivia off to wash down the hull and park her in her spot for the next week of work. What an amazing place. Every business pertaining to boats is here, in multiples. The place is huge. We had arranged with Nautilus Marine to replace the cutlass bearing, a big job, involving taking off the rudder, sliding?? out the shaft and replacing various parts in a spot inside Olivia's stern that would fit an elf. Neville was no elf, but he managed to get at the offending part and by Friday lunchtime all the bits were back at the workshop ready for work on Monday morning. Nautilus Marine reps were at the dock waiting for us to arrive to survey the job. We were very impressed.
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| Olivia gets The Boat Works Treatment |
New Yamaha Dinghy Motor and New Life Raft
Our decision to purchase a new dinghy motor had Peter searching for suppliers. Just down the road leading away from here there are many more boat dealers, manufacturers etc. He had always fancied a Yamaha and after a bit of research in the area decided to buy a new 5hp, 4 stroke Yamaha at $1650. It is now happily perched on the stern, fitting perfectly on the old motor's bracket. The dealer has given the old Evinrude 4hp motor to his new apprentice to work on. Should provide him with some entertainment during the slack moments. Now we can't wait to try out the new Yammy.
The next job was to have the life raft serviced as it was now a year out of date. We had had it serviced at a business in O Connor, south of Fremantle, before we started on this journey and as we're now thinking of sailing to New Caledonia next year we need to have everything ship shape. There are courtesy cars here, available for use for up to 3 hours. Fuel is an honour system where you decide how much to put in the box. Peter had found the only business that serviced our make of life raft and it involved a trip of 40kms north up the freeway towards Brisbane. We struggled to half lift and half shuffle the old life raft down the steep steps to the ground and off he went to Marine Safe at Slacks Creek.
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| Best not to look down. We had to shuffle the old life raft down here. |
The man insisted on opening the life raft in front of Peter as he said that way he can tell him what will be needed. As they opened the plastic cover sea water poured out - not a good sign. It became apparent that the job in O Connor had not been done properly. It was supposed to have been sealed, some of the parts were not the correct ones and the sea water had corroded all the metal fittings, gas bottle, zips etc. What a mess!! Anyway the whole thing was unsalvageable and Peter (life raft man) told Peter Scott that he could not lawfully fix it anyway. Then he proceeded to show Peter how the life raft worked, some tricks and tips for operating it and what it looked like when it is deployed. We have now purchased a new Ocean Safety ISO 4 man life raft at $2650. It is made in the UK.
The boat Works is a very impressive place to come for lift out and maintenance. They are very helpful and friendly and nothing seems to be too difficult to accomplish. You are able to live aboard while here, so no motel costs needed. There are keyed ensuite bathrooms, laundries and common room with TV and coffee/tea making facilities. This is all part of the deal. The place is as clean as can be expected with all care taken to reduce dust. We are towards the southern end of the row, with views over the sugar cane fields, so in the southerly breezes we've had, the wind blows most of the dust away from us.
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| The result of hitting a sandbank in the Clarence River |
Today we had a visit from Ray Gibson, from yachting days in Geraldton, who now lives just south of the NSW border in a retirement village with his wife Janet. Janet has pulled her hamstring muscle and was not able to come, but it was good to have lunch at the Galley (a great little restaurant here) and catch up with their news and relive some old Gero sailing tales. It's now Saturday evening and we are looking forward to completing our jobs here and to our lift back in the water next Wednesday 23rd May.
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| Up the Coomera River |
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