Final Chapter for Sailing Season 2014

Townsville 19th September

Today is the day we begin the trip home for the summer. Firstly we will spend four days in Sydney visiting Greg, Leisha and Jessica and checking out the new boat. A day or two on Sydney Harbour will bring back fond memories.

Since arriving in Townsville Peter and I have checked out the three marinas available for putting Rene to bed for the summer break. She is now berthed in to her pen in Nelly Bay Marina on Magnetic Island. She looks very secure there, tucked in behind the multi storey apartments and the background range of steep hills, hopefully out of the direct impact of any cyclones that may head this way over summer We have carefully and thoroughly cleaned her throughout and done our best to banish those nasty little mould spores for a few months at least. Peter is flying back to Townsville for most of December so he can help his family celebrate his father's 90th birthday, have Christmas with his family and of course check on his 'other woman' - Rene!

Townsville is a lovely place to visit, especially during the dry season. Being on a dry part of the coast the surrounding landscape is very parched and barren, so the numerous parks and gardens in the city seem to have a much greater impact than in other places. We have visited the Ross River on several occasions and admired the walking paths and parkland along both banks. Wildlife abounds - tortoise by the hundreds, pelicans, lilypad walkers, parrots and many others. Several reservoirs have been constructed along the river making huge billabongs throughout that part of the city.

Ross River

 

Interesting gardens there boys and girls

 

 



Since we were last here the council has completed the large parkland area at Kissing Point. This is an historical precinct with three groups of people represented. The Aboriginal history of the area is shown on the Ethno-Botanical walk, the military history at the Fort, Jezzine Barracks and the Military Museum and finally the early settlers are also represented. The coastal boardwalk affords beautiful views across Cleveland Bay. Connected to the Strand on the northern end completes a wonderful, landscaped, parkland area in the centre of Townsville city that is popular for recreation and tourists. It is a gorgeous spot and well worth a visit by any tourists to this part of North Queensland.

Andrew & Peter - The Strand in the background

 

We have had some memorable times in 2014. Looking back I remember the first day of sailing out of Lake Macquarie, when the day was superb as we sailed to Port Stephens.   During the night a huge swell developed and we found ourselves anchored, with many others, just a little too close to the breaking waves in Shoal Bay. New South Wales taught us the importance of getting it right when crossing bars at the entrances to the huge river and lake systems on that part of the coast. We began to meet many more people than last year, and their pets, so socialising became part of the deal - especially sundowners.  Queensland has the islands and reef. We have visited many islands, but still have many more to explore. Here we learnt about wind bullets, tides, currents and working with and not against them. I am looking forward to next year when we will continue further north and who knows where from there.

For the dog lovers - an interesting sculpture at Riverside!!

 

 

 

Andrew - Nearly ninety years young

 

 

 

C U again in 2015



Magnetic Island & Townsville 1st - 10th September

We departed from Gloucester Island and Shaggers early on Sunday morning in still conditions and motored across Edgecumbe Bay to just off Bowen before any wind arrived. From then on a good breeze blew us north to Cape Upstart where we made the decision to continue on to Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island. Cooking dinner was interesting as we had rolly, quartering seas and using one hand for me and one for preparations made things a bit slow and messy. As I was dishing up the meal I happened to look out of the window and nearly levitated as this huge black shape appeared about 50m away. Momentarily I thought we were about to hit something large. It was large and turned out to be a whale breaching. At least half of it came vertically, head first, out of the water. Peter saw it too as it repeated the performance, then followed up with some tail slapping. Maybe it didn't like us being so close, but as we never saw it in the first place and as it was almost dark, we obviously both got a shock. That was close enough for me and I hoped there would be no more whales on our night's path.

It was still dark at 5am as we entered Horseshoe Bay and slowly crept into the eastern corner of the bay and dropped the anchor outside the moored/anchored boats. Then it was time for a proper sleep. This bay is very beautiful and is one of our favourites. We spent three days in Horseshoe Bay and walked over the range on the national park walk track to Nelly Bay where we investigated the possibility of leaving Rene in the Nelly Bay Marina over the summer. We also walked to Balding Bay and spent some time at the coffee shop at Horseshoe.

Horseshoe Bay

 

 



Early morning, Horseshoe Bay

 

 



Townsville's Breakwater Marina had advertised a special deal for "Shaggers" so we took advantage of that and booked in for three nights to fuel up, clean up and meet up with Andrew (Peter's dad), Clive (Peter's brother) and other family members. Meanwhile we checked out the rates for leaving Rene at either Breakwater Marina or the Motor Boat Club Marina in Ross Creek over the summer while we spend some time back in WA. There really was no choice. Nelly Bay was about $1200 cheaper for the seven months so we booked in and made our way over there as soon as our short stay in Townsville was over.

Peter has taken the injector fuel pump off Rene and brought it over to Townsville to have it fixed and then he has the wonderful job of putting everything back together again. To reach this part of the motor he had to take off the entire exhaust and manifold system and the water pump before removing the injector fuel pump. It has kept him busy for a few days travelling to the island and back, organising a fuel pump specialist to do the work and ordering parts. It sounds like it will be ready by Thursday so he will have the job completed by the time we leave for WA. Whilst researching where to leave Rene for the summer we discovered that the Magnetic Island ferry cost $5 per trip for those in possession of a Senior's Card and if you buy a book of 10 tickets. This helped convince us that Nelly Bay was the place for us.

Unfortunately, we have decided to cut our sailing season short by a month or so because the tenant in our unit in Perth is vacating and we want to do a quick renovation and try to sell it before the Christmas break. We are both over dealing with the various problems associated with rental properties. Our plan is to fly to Sydney to see Greg, Leisha and Jessica for four days, on 19th September, then fly to Perth on 23rd ready for a session of painting, cleaning and gardening.

 

'Friends'  showing a great deal of interest in me putting on my shoes

 

 

 

 

Crab art, Balding Bay

 

 

All the other crabs just put their little sand baubles in a pile around the holes, but this one obviously has a bit of crabby imagination.

 





'Shaggers' (Shag Island Cruising Yacht Club) Rendezvous, Goucester Passage 26th - 31st August

 

Shag Island, Gloucester Passage

 

We spent three days in the Abell Point Marina stocking up and preparing Rene for the trip to Gloucester Passage and the Shag Island Cruising Yacht Club 2014 Vice Commodores Rendezvous. Just before we left Peter discovered that the fuel injector pump was leaking diesel into the bilge. That caused some angst and grinding and gnashing of teeth. Peter spoke to one of the mechanics at the marina and he advised us to sail on to Townsville and get it fixed there - quite complicated apparently. So, on Tuesday, I went with Sue and Dave from Duet to purchase a few last minute items before we departed. The day was beautiful, but almost no wind, so progress was slow for the first hour, then the wind began to pipe up and we enjoyed a delightful sail for the rest of the day along with half a dozen other yachts. We anchored in Edgecumbe Bay just adjacent to the Eco Resort. Many boats were already anchored there and many more had anchored off Montes Resort in the Gloucester Passage. All up one hundred and seventy boats arrived to participate in the Rendezvous. We enjoyed sundowners on the beach in the evening.

 

Lunch at Eco Resort



Wednesday saw a steady stream of boats coming to join those already there. Peter and I went ashore and walked around to Montes to see how the preparations were going. Ric and Val, Sue and Dave (Duet), Chris and Maureen and Peter and I met at the Eco Resort for lunch and later we joined a whole pile of people for a game of Botchie under the trees. Needless to say neither Peter nor I were on the winning team, but we all had a lot of fun.

 

Peter Julie and Andrew

 



On Thursday we decided we needed a decent bit of exercise so Peter and I walked south along the beach and over the rocks for a couple of kms. There were some very expensive houses nestled in the bush along this part of the beach. In the evening we participated in Happy Hour at Montes as an introduction to the Rendezvous. We caught up with Milton and Jenny (Magnetic Attraction) and Di, Russ, Evan and Helen (C Dragon) from Townsville.

 

Montes - Just a few dinghies on the beach

 



There was no shortage of activities and entertainment to participate in during the four days and three nights of the Rendezvous, but the two that I really enjoyed were the sausage sizzle on Shag Island and the' Hands Across The Blue' dinghy raft up for prostate cancer. Shag Island is very small and hundreds of people congregated there for lunch, in strong winds, on the tiny spit of sand and rock, the only flat part on the island.

Sausage Sizzle, Shag Island

 

 



'Hands Across The Blue' for Prostate Cancer dinghy raft up was my favourite activity. The aim of the exercise was to have all the dinghies assemble and raft up to make the shape of the prostate cancer logo on the water. A helicopter flew over to take photos etc for the media and once all the dinghies were in place it would have looked amazing. Anchored nearby was a large motor boat with a broad back deck and a band entertained us and later the dignitaries spoke from this platform. Everyone took drinks and nibbles and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and self satisfaction of being a part of a large co-operative exercise that raised money for a good cause. I couldn't help thinking that I was very lucky to be me - sailing around this beautiful part of our coast, going where I pleased, the weather was perfect, the setting stunning and the company wonderful. In other places in the world people are killing and doing despicable things to each other. How lucky am I? Shaggers was fun and I hope we can do it again next year and meet up again with some of the lovely people we have met this year.

We made ready to leave for Townsville on Sunday and just before we pulled the anchor Ric, Val and Tiger motored past and waved goodbye. They are now on their way south to eventually end up in Pittwater where they base themselves. We will miss them, but hopefully will catch up again next year on the water.

Decorated boats at Shaggers 2014

Wonderful Weather & Whitsunday Cruising 17th - 24th August

 

The weather forecast looked better than it had for weeks so we spent Sunday morning stocking up on food, water, Rene and Lily fuel, gas etc at the Abell Point Marina before heading off to Long Island for the night. Long Island is next to the mainland, not far from Shute Harbour and has three resorts and some very lovely walking tracks connecting the bays and resorts. Finding an anchorage was not necessarily easy as Happy Bay is dotted with resort moorings. Once outside of these the water quickly becomes deep and along with the strong currents of Long Island Sound swirling past just outside of the bay, it took us a while to find a spot where we anchored in 9m. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Happy Bay Resort and then walked along the track to Palm Bay Resort which has very pretty gardens and is set in the most beautiful little bay. Our night at Happy Bay was comfortable and as the next day dawned it was obvious that the weather was going to be perfect for Whitehaven Beach.

 

Whitsunday Peak from Long Island

We motor sailed across to Hamilton Island where we planned to travel through Fitzalan Pass and on to Solway Pass, a narrow passage between Whitsunday Island and Haslewood Island.
As with most of the passages between the islands it is best to judge the tides to be running with you as they can be turbulent and strong making forward movement difficult if timing is wrong. Hamilton Island Race Week was on and as we motored up the Fitzalan Channel we were able to see the start of one of the races. Peter, thinking that the race would be a windward start had us placed for a front row view, but then they all turned and sailed downwind towards us, spinnakers set and bearing down quickly. We made a hasty run for the shore to get out of the way. It was a colourful sight.

Whitehaven Beach

Location! Location! Location! This is it! What an amazing place to spend a few days. We had two nights here, anchored close to the beach and listening to the murmur of the water lapping at the white sand all night long. This is a very white beach (for the east coast - they are whiter on the south coast) which stretches along the island for several kms. Many boats were anchored in the bay and we found a good spot in the south eastern corner near C Dragon and Magnetic Attraction, two yachts from Townsville. We had met these two crews in Cid Harbour one day when we all decided to climb Whitsunday Peak, where we introduced ourselves and had a good old natter. Later in the day Peter and I, with Jenny and Milton from Magnetic Attraction, walked across the island to Chance Bay. It was an easy walk which took about an hour, with some time spent on the beach admiring the view. Whilst chatting and walking we discovered that Jenny and Milton knew Clive (Peter's brother) well. It's a small world.

Liz, Val, Ric & Peter on Whitehaven Beach

A dozen or so people congregated on the beach as the sun sank towards the distant hills for sundowners. It was a relaxed and happy bunch of people on shore as the crews from C Dragon, Magnetic Attraction, Arkaydes, Rene and one or two other boats enjoyed the sunset. Arkaydes was anchored close by and Tige, unhappy at being left on board (National Park) howled and yapped, not understanding why he had been left out of his favourite pastime all of a sudden.

 

Poor ol' Tige has to stay home

The next morning Peter and I were up early and walked the length of the beach to Hill Inlet and back. It took two hours and we felt we had done a decent amount of exercise. Boats were anchored all along the bay. Everyone was taking advantage of the fine weather to spend a few days at this lovely spot. During the afternoon Dave and Sue from Duet turned up and --- guess what, we all adjourned to the beach in the late afternoon for another sundowner session. This is a hard life!

Butterfly Bay, Hook Island

Early on Wednesday morning we pulled the anchor and set off in glorious weather for Tongue Bay, just around the corner from Whitehaven Beach. We set the anchor and walked up the track, along with many people from the tourist boats, to the lookout to view Whitehaven Beach from above. Border Island was not far away so motored over there, picked up a mooring and had lunch next to some colourful coral bommies. The wind picked up a little so we motor sailed, with just the headsail along Whitsunday Island and were able to find an vacant mooring tucked well into Butterfly Bay out of any swell. Mountains surround this bay and it is quite spectacular. We spent the rest of the day exploring Butterfly Bay and Maureen's Cove nearby. In the corner of Maureen's Cove we found a rocky creek and climbed up a short way where there was a steep cliff face and a fresh water pool at the bottom. Unfortunately it wasn't clear. Probably because of the recent rain. As we clambered up and over the boulders in the creek we disturbed thousands of blackish/blue and white butterflies. Now we know why this is called Butterfly Bay.

Back to South Molle Island

Having nearly completed our circuit, we decided to spend the night at South Molle Island so we could do the Mount Jeffrey's Walk the following day. We set off on Friday morning, at high tide to dinghy ashore before the fringing reef was exposed and then set off up the hill behind the resort. Peter and I were walking quietly along admiring the scenery when all of a sudden he leapt aside shouting, "Snake!" I wasn't far behind and the poor thing, trying to get away from this noisy monster, slid straight in my direction. I screeched and yelled and leapt in the air as it slithered between my feet and over the cliff and into the bushes and grass below. I don't think I have moved that fast for years. It was about a metre long, quite skinny and black with a yellow belly. From then on we kept our eyes peeled, but no more surprises, thank goodness. The view from Mt Jeffrey's is beautiful as expected and after an enjoyable walk we had lunch and pulled the anchor and made our way to Airlie Beach to do the chores ready for our trip to Gloucester Passage and on to Townsville in a week or so.

Mt Jeffrey's summit

 



Abell Point Marina

We have booked three nights in the Abell Point Marina to catch up on housekeeping chores and for Peter to give Rene an oil change. Yesterday Clive drove down from Townsville to spend the day with us. Together with Di and Russ from C Dragon we decided on a surprise lunch together. They hadn't seen Clive for some years and wanted to catch up. We all had a very nice lunch at Sorrento's at the marina. A very enjoyable day.

Wind and Rain Whitsundays 11th - 16th August

 

Bush Turkey nest Whitsunday Island

 

We have decided to park ourselves in Cid Harbour and see what happens with this windy weather. Each time we look at the forecast conditions change and the lovely weather window we saw a few days ago appears to have shrunk to only a couple of days. Tuesday dawned clear and sunny with little wind so we decided to motor over to Nara Inlet to take advantage of a beautiful day. We anchored in the corner at the head of the inlet and explored the Ngaro Aboriginal site up the hill. A short, steep walk up a well formed track brought us to a platform where there was a wall in which short anecdotes from local aboriginal women could be heard by pressing one of the buttons. It was very interesting listening to the positive comments of these people. A little further on was a rocky cave where paintings could be observed. We enjoyed this site and thought it was really well presented.

 

Listening to the Aboriginal women's stories

Later in the afternoon we made our way back to Cid Harbour as more wind was forecast. We anchored in our usual spot in Cowards Corner and watched many more boats come in for the night. One afternoon I counted nearly sixty boats in the bay sheltering from the wind and rain. We climbed Whitsunday Peak for the third time and it doesn't get any easier.

On Thursday Val came up with the idea of home cooked morning tea on Arkaydes. My allotted contribution was scones. I have not used the oven much on Rene as I can't seem to get the temperature right and also I think it would use a lot of gas. I agreed to give it a go, with the back up of Arnotts pillow biscuits if things went pear shaped. We had the oven on full and the scones still took a few minutes longer than they should have. They looked Ok until I turned them over. Burnt!!  Everyone was very complimentary though and no-one even cut the bottom off, which I suggested. What good friends.

We have met Milton and Jenny from Magnetic Attraction, a beautiful 39' mono from Townsville. We had drinks on board MA on Thursday evening with another Townsville couple. Lovely evening. Then it began to rain and rain and rain. Lily looked like a swimming pool on Saturday morning when we poked our head out of the companion way to check out the scene. Still raining, but at least we had some beautiful fresh drinking water. Peter bailed the dinghy and went to discuss the weather with Ric and Val. It looks like the rain will lift and there is a few days of quiet weather forecast. We decided to take the trip back to Airlie Beach to restock etc and hopefully at last be able to go to Whitehaven Beach and the outer bays on the eastern side of Whitsunday Island and nearby islands. We will be out of range for five days or so.

 

Our bucket is half full (We're still being positive!!)

Windy Whitdundays 4th to 10th August

Since I have been back in the Whitsundays after the trip to Perth and Albany it has been windy or very windy most of the time. We spent over a week anchored in front of the yacht club partly for the events of the Festival of the Sea and partly because it would have been even more uncomfortable sailing to another bay than remaining here. It wasn't such a bad place to stay either as once the splashy, wet dinghy trip ashore was accomplished we could walk, explore, sample the delights of the local coffee shops and keep up with the usual mundane daily tasks.

Beach front, Airlie

 

 Eventually we decided to move to Woodwark Bay, 6nm north of Airlie Beach, where we found many cruisers anchored in calm water at the head of the bay.  Bullets of strong wind blew consistently across the bay, but at least dinghy trips were not as wet as at Airlie Beach and the scenery was different. After two nights in Woodwark Bay the wind abated slightly and we motor sailed back to Airlie Beach for top ups of dinghy fuel, food, showers, laundry etc. We have checked the weather and have decided to take the one quiet day forecast to sail to Cid Harbour where we will sit out the next four or five days of strong winds. Here we will be able to walk, swim, fish, socialise and climb that challenging Whitsunday Peak for a bit of huffing and puffing when we feel we have over indulged and should do some serious exercise.  Cid Harbour, behind mountainous Cid Island, has suspect phone, radio and internet reception so we will probably be out of reach for a few days.

This week is Airlie Race Week and we have been watching the yachts racing in the distance. Ichi Ban, Condor and some serious racing yachts are taking part along with many smaller, but still very racy craft. We have been told that on the first day one yacht was dis-masted, one lost a keel and sank and many ended up with torn sails and broken gear. The strong winds are taking their toll! Hopefully we will still be able to see some of the action from Cid Harbour.

 

The Lagoon, Airlie Beach

Tige Sports a Mowhawk 3rd August

The Shag Island Cruising Yacht Club held a BBQ at the Abel Point Marina today. Peter and I both enjoyed catching up with people we had met along the way this year and also meeting new crews. Tiger was there with Ric and Val sporting a brand new haircut - a mowhawk. Very cute! One of Tiges favourite events is a BBQ. Much like all dogs he spends most of the time thinking of his tummy. After an hour or so, much to Tiges delight, nibbles began to appear and the lady with the dinner plate of tasty sausage bits wandered past. Tige began his doggie begging act - poor starving pooch! Ric sternly told him to 'sit and behave'! (No begging) As the lady and her plate moved by Tige stayed sitting, bum glued to the ground. He is a gentleman after all and he was obeying the rules. His bum slid across the ground as he stayed in front of the lady. "Pick me! Pick me! Sausage is my very favourite you know!," he seemed to say. What a character! He has provided us with lots of laughs this trip.

Whitsundays Continued 28th July to 2nd August 2014

Isabelle Rose Mitchell

 

 

Karin and Isabelle

Peter and I flew to Perth on 3rd July to check out our new granddaughter, Isabelle Rose Mitchell. She is of course gorgeous and we both enjoyed a week with Paul, Karin and baby. Greg came for a quick visit from Sydney to see his new niece, so we all caught up with the latest Scott family news. Peter then flew back to Airlie Beach and spent two weeks there before I joined him after a quick visit to Albany. My flight from Brisbane to Proserpine flew over many of the places we had recently visited on our way up the coast. Having a window seat afforded a fantastic view until clouds blotted out the landscape near Cape Townsend. I wondered how anyone crosses the Wide Bay Bar as breakers appeared to stretch across the whole entrance to the Great Sandy Strait.

For $18 (no Seniors discount) I secured a seat on the bus to Airlie Beach, about a 40 min trip through the cane fields and mountains to Abell Point Marina where Rene was berthed for 3 nights. Having joined the Shag Island Cruising Yacht Club we are entitled to 10 nights there at half price, $30 a night for Rene. We cleaned up, refuelled, restocked the galley and made ready for a trip to South Molle Is and Cid Harbour.

We motored to South Molle Island passing through Unsafe Passage, which is safe enough for yachts, following the leads on Daydream Island. We anchored in Bauer Bay on the Lamond Hill side of the bay and spent a peaceful night there. Coral bommies line the shore for some distance out so care is needed when choosing a spot to drop the anchor. No sooner had we dropped the anchor than a huge batfish swam by obviously looking for a feed. It invited two friends to join in and we soon had three large, grey, striped, restaurant dinner plate sized fish swimming around the boat. They hoovered up the 9 grains bread Peter threw to them and hung about for more. Later in the evening we found they love mushroom peelings, but show no interest in onion skins or broccoli.

In the late afternoon we went ashore, walked through the resort and found the path that wound up the bushy slopes to the eastern end of the island. Here clinging to the side of a steep hill known as Spion Kop, a scenic lookout gave us a great view of the surrounding islands. The National Park walk tracks are well maintained here and made walking pleasant and easy. We noticed that some burning had been done recently along the track.

We had decided to stay a second night and enjoy this lovely anchorage and island for another day so on Thursday we set off on the 4.5km walk down the island to Sandy Bay. Again the track is well maintained and the walk lovely. On the way back we diverted towards Paddle Bay on the northern end of  the island and came across some National Park workers who were preparing to begin a controlled burn to complete what had been started a few days before. They warned us that we might like to move as Bauer Bay would soon be filled with smoke and ash. We had a quick lunch and sure enough just as we were finishing our sandwiches dense smoke began billowing down towards us from the hillside. Time to make a hasty retreat to Cid Harbour.

Time to leave

Just over an hour later we arrived in Cid Harbour and spotted Arkaydes anchored close to the shore not far away. Ric came and invited us for sundowners so we caught up on the last three weeks activities. The next day Peter and I decided to tackle Whitsunday Peak for the second time. It seemed much harder this time as there was no breeze and the humidity was high, but once again we were able to appreciate the wonderful views from the rocky platform at the summit. Later in the afternoon, in glassy conditions, we motored in to Airlie Beach and dropped the anchor in front of the yacht club where we plan to stay for a few days. The Festival of the Sea is on and we would like to see some of the events. Also strong winds are predicted for 4/5 days and we will shelter there from the south easterly until kinder winds prevail.

Friday night found us on Arkaydes with two other couples enjoying Ric's amazing enchiladas for dinner. Afterwards we sat on the front of Arkaydes and watched the fireworks across the water. Tiger has become very 'woolly' and has been promised a haircut asap.

  

Whitsunday Peak

Whitsunday Island 24th – 26th June

 

Arkaydes and Rene in Turle Bay Whitsunday Island

 



Arkaydes was already anchored in Turtle Bay as we approached then claimed our own spot nearby. It didn’t take long to settle in and drive Lily ashore to explore the beaches. After having a good look around we met up with Ric, Val and Tige on the beach. They had the toys out – a paddle board and kayak. Ric talked Peter into having a go on the paddle board. He managed to stand up and paddle without losing his balance, despite the helpful advice from the rest of us on the beach and came back without falling off. Then they suggested I have a go. After some hesitation I decided not to be a whimp and clambered on the board. I had just stood up, legs wide as instructed when Tige decided he was not going to be left out this time. He hopped on, shot through my legs and took up his position as lookout on the front of the board. That was almost my undoing. Due to lack of expertise I had no option but to continue on my wobbly way with Tige on board. We did pretty well actually. At least we didn’t fall off, although Tige began whimpering as the board wobbled alarmingly in the 10cm surf near the beach. I want one of those boards! It was fun and I can see myself happily paddling around these beautiful bays for hours in this perfect weather.

 

After lunch we called into Hamilton Island to purchase some dinghy fuel before motor/sailing to Cid Harbour for a few days. This lovely anchorage is sheltered from all winds, except perhaps westerlies, and many boats anchor in this calm bay on the western side of Whitsunday Island. We found room in the southern end in a little bay known as Cowards Corner, for those who do not want to put up with any sou'wester. We spent three days here exploring the national park walk tracks that lead out of Sawmill Bay. One follows the shore 1km to Dugong Bay, a pretty, easy walk through the rain forest. The other is much more difficult and winds its way up to the summit of the 437m Whitsunday Peak. It is well worth the effort as the view from the top is stunning. A short track across the peak affords a view south to the skyscrapers of Hamilton Island and beyond.

 

 

Dugong Bay walk track



 

 

Whitsunday Peak

 

We started our walk down there at Sawmill Beach

 

Shag Island Cruising Yacht Club

We have joined the Shag Island Cruising Yacht Club, so we are now known as ‘Shaggers’. It seems to have started a few years ago as a bit of fun and quickly developed into a huge organisation. At present it has almost 3,000 members from all over the world. We met Ken, the founder, yesterday and received our Vice Commodores burgee. Every member is a Vice Commodore and you have to nominate a place to be VC of. Peter is VC of Emu Point and I am joining as soon as we get internet reception as VC of Johnson’s Cove, which is near Emu Point, Albany. It sounds like fun, but also has a serious side in raising funds for Prostate Cancer Research. A ‘Rendezvous, 4 days and 3 nights of Riotous Fun and Frivolity’ is scheduled for 28^th to 31^st August, at Montes Resort in Gloucester Passage, so we intend to participate before making our way to Townsville soon afterwards. Many of the friends we have met along the way will be going so I’m looking forward to it. The club is so influential now that members are able to access various deals at Airlie Beach Marina and Yacht Club and two courtesy cars are now available to hire for 3 hours at a time for the price of topping up the fuel tank and a donation to the Prostate Cancer fund.

Goldsmith, Thomas and Shaw Islands 21st, 22nd & 23rd June

We spent a night each at these beautiful islands in the southern Whitsundays and could easily have spent more time in this area, but it is not long before we fly to Perth. Time is limited so we must not drag our feet too much.

 Isabelle Rose Mitchell

 

 During the night of the 22^nd we received a text message from Karin, our daughter, with the exciting news that she and Paul now have a baby girl, Isabelle Rose, 7lb 1 oz who is the spitting image of her father. Both are well so we are relieved and looking forward to seeing them next week. We received this news in such a magnificent spot – Thomas Island. Every time I think of this delightful place I will remember the birth of our second little granddaughter.

 Goldsmith Island

 

A 10nm motor/sail to Goldsmith Island was very pleasant after all the sailing we have done in cloudy, rainy, blustery weather recently. Bright sunshine brought out all the colours of this beautiful landscape, the aqua sea, golden beaches and dark green of the vegetation. Plenty of recent rain has ensured that the plants look crisp and refreshed and are shooting out new growth. As far as we can see into the distant north are islands, rugged, mountainous and dramatic. Of the two recommended anchorages on Goldsmith Island we chose the eastern bay. Ric and Val took their BBQ ashore and with us and Judy and Ray from Noosa, we sizzled the sausages and steak and sat gazing at the beauty surrounding us as the sun slowly sank below the horizon. There was little interference from the current in the bay and we had a comfortable night.

Barby on the beach

 



 

Thomas Island

 

 

 

Rock orchids on Thomas Island

I can’t believe it! The scenery just keeps getting better. Thomas is a rugged, rocky island and on approach from the south east appears to be predominantly bare, rocky, high hills sparsely covered with pine trees and bush. As we rounded the eastern end a series of superb beaches and rocky points greeted us. The north side of the island is densely wooded, with many large pine trees covering the hillsides. As usual several boats were anchored before us, so we chose a suitable spot between Young Tom’s Island and Thomas itself. It is such a pretty place and I would have to say one of my favourites. Only a few nautical miles to the north is the long, mountainous Shaw Island with its rocky, southern satellites which adds even more drama to this spectacular place. Beautiful! We have had perfect weather for the last couple of days and what a difference that makes. We now feel we have reached paradise.

 

Rene at anchor - Thomas Island

 

 

 

Shaw Island

Shaw Island is not as spectacular as Goldsmith and Thomas Islands, but it is larger and has a couple of good anchorages. We rounded Burning Point on the western end and anchored in a large shallow bay a long way from the shore. Peter and I took the dinghy ashore and enjoyed a walk around a long beach before retiring to Rene for our evening meal. The evening was cloudless, with no moon, so a million stars lit the night sky. Next morning we headed off early for Whitsunday Island via the eastern end of Kennedy Sound, around Lindeman Island and past the steep, craggy Pentecost Island. There was no wind so we motored in glassy conditions and enjoyed the magnificent scenery along the way. Our destination was south facing Turtle Bay on Whitsunday Island.

Pentecost Island