Keppel Bay Marina to Burnett River Mouth 16th - 24th August 2026

Keppel Bay Marina from Double Head

This blog will be a little different to the others in that it is going to be mostly photos as I think there are some interesting ones. 

The Blowhole on Double Head, the results of past volcanic activity. It is very deep, a bit like the gap in Albany.

We ended up spending 8 days in the Keppel Bay Marina, partly due to strong south easterly winds and also an accident I had. Chris and Jodie (Wiikirri) live on a farmlet 20kms out of Rockhampton, so as this is their home port they very kindly took us on several tours of the area. Firstly we went to a slipway out of town on the Fitzroy River, where Donny and Jacquie from Sandra, (also came across the top with us last year) were working on some serious hull jobs. He had cut out some rust patches, had installed a new motor and propellor and was sanding the hull ready for new antifouling. They were busy so it was a quick catch up, but nice to see them again. 

The Barrage on the Fitzroy River, Rockhampton. Keeping the salt water at bay.

Old Customs House Rockhampton

We spent the morning touring the sights of Rockhampton and then having lunch at a very nice restaurant on the waterfront. After lunch Chris drove us out to his farmlet to show us around. We saw the work he has done on the place, his cattle and paddocks. Then he took us on a tour of a neighbouring mango orchard and water supply infrastructure at a nearby creek. We had a lovely day. Thanks Chris.

Queensland Bottle Tree on Chris and Jodies property. It has studs in it for measuring years of growth.

The following day Chris and Jodie took us north along the coast to Waterpark Nature Reserve. It was interesting and the landscape changes from open woodland to rainforest. There was a very nice camping area there for bush camping and a large waterhole nearby. It is a really nice place to get away from it all for a while. Nearby is a cafe/shop where we had a really good lunch. I can recommend it for a yummy light lunch. Also located nearby was a pottery, but it was closed. Otherwise there seemed to be some small farms around the reserve.

This guy came out of the bush at Waterpark. Not sure where he came from.

Splat!

Chris and Jodie loaned us their car after our morning out and we drove into Yeppoon for some stores for our trip south to the Burnett River. We had several heavy bags of shopping and as Olivia was well out on one of the marina fingers it was a long walk. Some of the floats that make up the walkway stick up on the ends and I came to grief on one of them. The edge was raised up slightly and seemed to be floating differently to the others. Maintenance!!!??? I caught my toe and face planted. Splat!! My nose hit the cement and I just lay there for a few moments wondering what was broken. Luckily my fall was broken by the shopping, in particular the UHT milks which got squashed, but did not break.

I was lucky. No bones broken, not even my nose!

The culprit. It moved up and down very slightly.

Cheers for UHT milk. My elbow saviour. All four were all like this.

Several people came running and Peter helped me up and everything seemed ok bar from a very bloody nose which kept on oozing blood for the rest of the day. The following day nothing seemed damaged but for a feeling that the whole body had had a shake up. No bruises, sore patches or stiffness. Thank goodness for UHT milks. One of the marina staff came and took photos and the next day workmen were there doing some much needed maintenance. We decided to have an extra day in the marina just to make sure everything was ok.

The following day we visited a sail loft where Jenny works, another of Sandra's crew from last year. It was interesting to see what is produced there and how the industrial sewing machines work making sails, shade sails and other related items. The machinist sits in a work area below floor level so that the large sails etc are spread out on the floor for working on. Thanks Jenny. It was interesting to see you at work.

Sunrise at Burnett River Mouth

On Friday we set off for our voyage to Burnette River, via a night at Hummocky Island and Pancake Creek, behind Clews Point just north of Bustard Head. The whole trip was into S and SE winds which though not strong meant plenty of tacking. Our 20nm trip to Hummocky Island took 33nm. The anchorage was very rolly for part of the night, depending on wind and tide. The Pancake trip was not too bad as we did the prescribed 50nm from 5am and anchored at 4pm in a quiet lovely anchorage.

On the third day we had 61nm to the Burnett River. It was a long tedious day. Due to headwinds 60nm turned into 82nm and another after dark anchorage entry. Luckily we have been here before. This river goes upstream to Bundaberg and has a port for sugar exports just upriver from the outer anchorage. There is a marina in the river and a very nice shopping centre nearby. We had morning coffee at one of the best cafes that SACAS has assessed, 'Kellys By The Sea'. We gave them 9.75. Point 0.25 was deducted for the view, which was a street view. No sea or park view. 

Here we are in the Burnett River Mouth

Kellys. Really lovely country style food. Yum!

We rewarded ourselves with a day of rest in the Burnett River. We are thinking it is time to step on the gas as we want to get to Lake Macquarie in NSW to let Olivia rest there for the summer. So much for not much text and more photos this time. There is more photos -  but I seem to get carried away with the writing.

 More Rockhampton

More beautiful old buildings along the riverside.

 Mackay to Rosslyn Bay Marina, 6th to 17th August, 2026

Whales - a long way off

After spending two weeks back in WA, checking our house and doing a few odd jobs and catching up with Mum, I arrived back in Mackay Marina to find that Audrey, our long time friend, who helped Peter sail from Airlie Beach to Mackay was in hospital with two fractured ribs and bruising on her lung. She had a fall when Olivia was thrown about in a very boisterous sea some 6nm from Mackay. It took them a while to get into the marina as the wind was on the nose and tacking was required. A taxi came and Aud was taken to the hospital where she spent five days or so under observation and in much pain. After she was able to  leave hospital she stayed at a friend's house for a few days and has now made her way back to WA and is sooooo... happy to be home.

Audrey at Brampton Island

We have met up with our friends, Chris and Jodie from Merlot, who accompanied us around the top last year. They sold Merlot and now own a very nice cruising boat called Wiikirri and as they are almost ready to take their yacht to their home port of Rosslyn Bay, we have decided to accompany them south. Donny and Jacquie from Sandra (the other boat who we teamed up with last year) are in 'Rocky' doing major work on Sandra at present, so we will catch up with them briefly and then we'll go with Chris and Jodie to take a look at their farm near Rockhampton. Should be a good day.

In order to make it to Rosslyn Bay before the next blow we decided to do 77nm to Hunter Island in the Duke Group. We left Mackay before daybreak and slowly made our way out of the harbour in the dark. Once out daylight began appearing and the day looked beautiful. We have seen whales... many, many whales. We have seen them lounging, leaping, breaching, tail slapping, fin waving and any other action you can think of that a whale can do. Very impressive! After a very long day, caused by some slow sailing due to adverse tidal conditions, we arrived at Boomerang Shoal, just north west of the Duke islands. There are many shoals, rock outcrops, small islands and narrow channels here. The spring tides  are strong as the water streams in and out of nearby Broad Sound and Shoalwater Bay. It was pitch dark by then, no moon, no lights and only the chart plotter to guide us. You soon learn to trust it - what else can you do??

Tide affected stretch of water between Danger Island and Marble Island. Duke Group.

Luckily we finally saw Wiikirri's nav lights and they popped up on our plotter about 4nm in front of us. That helped us decide which was the best channel to take through Boomerang Shoal as we watched them go through with no issues. Then there was the problem of navigating through this island group in the dark. The "tidal ranges are large, up to 5 knots, and the currents strong. Danger Island and Danger Shoal to the west have rocky outcrops." - according to Cruising the Queensland Coast, by Greg Luck. We entered the western bay of Hunter Island and decided to stay there for the night as we had been there once before, about ten years ago. We crashed!! Not literally, but after a quick meal we fell into bed and didn't blink until daylight. Very stressful!!!

Next day we awoke as the light was just appearing in the eastern sky and realised we had anchored in a very good spot in the dark and made a pact that we would 'leave in the dark and arrive in the daylight'. How many times have we said that before?

Hunter Island to Port Clinton, 11th August

Sunrise at Perforation Point

Once we could see well enough we pulled up the anchor and motored through a very tide affected area off Marble Island and set out for Port Clinton about 56nm away. Yesterday we motor sailed most of the way, but on this leg we managed to sail for about half of the way without the motor saving us some fuel costs. The day was beautiful and the scenery stunning as we made our way south past Townsend Island and the Military Area around Island Head Creek and Pearl Bay. We decided to anchor behind Perforation Point as a light northerly was expected. As it turned out the anchorage there was perfect along with five other boats whose skippers had made the same decision.

Collisions at Sea...Nearly!

It amazes me how many times two vessels travelling in the opposite directions can be on a collision course on the wide open ocean. The rules dictate that if this happens both should veer to the right to avoid hitting each other. We did that. The other guy kept going left (this is the ocean buddy - not the road). In the end we turned left as well as it was clear he was not going to go right. He was on a course for Pearl Bay anchorage and that was that.

Half an hour later we had a much closer call and that was us in the wrong. I had noticed a fishing boat towing a dinghy a few miles north/west of us, chugging along steadily. We sailed out to sea and when we got abeam of Perforation Point tacked and began the couple of mile journey back in. By now the sun was setting, shining in a brilliant shaft of blinding light from the north/west of us. All of a sudden I noticed what looked like a ghost ship right in this shaft of light. It took a moment to realise it was the towing boat - very close. I yelled to Peter to flick the auto pilot off and I  yanked the wheel around and missed him by, maybe, no more than 50m. It was frightening and our fault if we had caused an accident. Our turn to give way! 

Moral of the story: Take care when the sun is low and causing a blinding silver light to shine across the water at you. 

The final day on our journey to Rosslyn Bay became a sail to Great Keppel Island. We anchored off Second Beach on the north side as although light northerlies were blowing then, the forecast was for a  southerly change at midnight. There was about ten boats already anchored there so we thought at least others had the same idea. It was quite lumpy in the bay after two days of light northerlies. As daylight began to fade more boats arrived and by night time about thirty boats were anchored in Svendsen's, Second and Leekes Bays. It looked like a city out there. Luckily we did because at 10.08pm the southerly came in with a bang and for a while the sea was very lumpy. Finally it all settled down and we ended up having a quiet night with everyone else. The reason we did not go straight to Keppel Bay Marina was that the tide was too low for us to get in. Care is needed on a low tide as parts of the marina become very shallow and we would not get in until more than half tide the next day. The entry is the problem.

The fuel jetty in Keppel Bay Marina at low tide

Several miles north of our anchorage we noticed that Olivia seemed to be wandering around more than usual and Peter thought there might have been a strong current here. Not so. After we anchored we heard a clanking noise coming from the stern below the deck. It turned out that the bracket that holds the autopilot hydraulic ram had broken. Luckily we were only 7nm from Rosslyn Bay and we had already booked in for a week. The next morning we hand steered across the bay and once in the marina Peter made some enquiries and found a welder/fabricator, Stuart Barndon, owner of Techweld, who welded the bracket for us the next day. He did a good job. Peter crawled under the cockpit floor, undid the part (with a bit of cursing and swearing) and managed to get the part out. Luckily he is small in stature. There are some large bruises on his arms and ribs in particular.

Broken

Fixed

Now we are enjoying our stay in Keppel Bay Marina and look forward to the next few days exploring the area, seeing Chris and Jodie's farm and catching up with Donny and Jacquie.

  

Osprey's nest in the Rosslyn Bay Car Park. Sitting on a light pole.