Back in the water (Bundaberg to Fraser Island).

Having revitalised ourselves on land for a few months over Xmas and the majority of the cyclone season, we’re off again.

It’s been wonderful to spend time in Sydney and reconnect with Charlie, the three of us enjoying time together as a family. Caught up with Monty and Al and their rapidly growing offspring. We went to Bangkok and Chang Mai for a months holiday from our holiday life!

Back in Sydney home once again I dived into some well needed jobs around the house and garden (fixed the roof, made some garden stairs and drained the swamp (previously a swimming pool!)

..and spent some time sorting out the admin side of our lives; taxman, bank and various utilities - a close to impossible task while sailing. Caught up with the Salty Ginger’s (always a delight), and had a mini break in Brissy (a surprisingly lovely little town), then back to the boat.

…and after some TLC, a new solar arch and a few licks of antifoul paint back in the yard at Bundaberg, yesterday saw us setting off once again..

Well, actually - no it didn’t.

Just prior to departure, whilst swapping the electric appliances for their gas counterparts, we realised we had two empty ..and supposedly unfillable Calor gas canisters.

This discovery led to me spending the day walking around the sun bleached outer suburbs of Bundaberg. A sweaty mission to pick up replacement gas bottles and fittings. This was a notable journey as my thong (flip flop) clad feet passed within a few meters of an Eastern Brown snake along the way - very graceful. That said - it is the second most venomous snake in the world after the Taipan (also unsurprisingly an Australian resident).. information I didn’t have as it raised its head and I told it that it; “You’re beautiful” as I walked by!

But that was yesterday..

Today finds us pleasantly motoring along (light breeze on the nose) Southwards towards our old friend Fraser Island - last visited …I’m gonna say 24 years ago.. December 2000 with a cuddly little Charlie and our mates Paul and Bob.

Leaving Bundaberg Marina we had two large butterflies keeping pace with us as we passed between the red and green cormorant topped bouys marking our way out.

As we left the channel, Neptune sent us a few dolphins to welcome us back - I’ll give him some raki later (I did).

Enroute to Fraser, I had my second snake encounter in two days! Drifting past us mid afternoon a large spotted brown sea snake about 1.5m long put his head up and had a writhe - not someone I’d want to meet out swimming.

Arrived to Fraser late afternoon, a good spot, a little roll, but nothing concerning. Nice to spend the evening up top, bobbing around and to feel our relaxing life back on the water slowly seep back into our briny veins.

Next morning bought these blissful feelings back down to earth: the outboard won’t start: spent an unhappy couple of hours cleaning the carburettor and after the appropriate number of swear words it eventually fired up.

Spent an enjoyable few days here- Couple of trips ashore for us to wash in the creeks and climb the sand dunes.

This turned out to be a slightly harder than expected task for some of the shore party, the hot sandy slope a bit too much for Chez after I don’t know how many days and weeks of skipping leg day!

Wildlife galore on Fraser: dolphins, dingoes, dragonflies, massive turtles and sufficient large splashes around the boat to hint at there being a lot of fish too. The only slight downside: some guys on the beach doing donuts in their 4x4s and playing really quite poorly chosen music for a large part of the evening last night: ‘Ice Ice Baby’ etc. Call me old fashioned, but is there nothing to be said for watching the sunset to the gentle buzz of cicadas??

Relocated, a gentle 4 hr glide down the beach. Explored the next day, (my phone advises that it’s a Wednesday) tender to shore, then along the beach to a protected lagoon where we were lucky enough to see a majestic sea eagle up close, a flock (?) of 40 or so stingrays in the shallow water under the dinghy and a couple of really large turtles - the array of wildlife here is truly amazing.

Last night we enjoyed what we both agreed was the best moonrise we’d seen: close to flat water, sitting up on the bow, with the stars of the Milky Way shining a swathe of light across the sky (until the moon rose) perfect temperature after the hot day.. then the full yellowish moon rose large. It’s not a bad life we’ve got here.

Headed around the island for some protection from an upcoming forecast blow. Our new home, just off the ferry jetty at the Kingfisher Eco resort. The resort is a welcoming one: with bars, restaurants and pools open for non-residents.

I discovered a new favourite beer: Wayfarer Tropical Ale… on a hot day, I can think of nothing better to quench the thirst.

Spent a lazy few days there, popping ashore for strolls, picking up provisions or for a swim. I did a bit of hand reel fishing off the stern - pulled up a small ‘Eastern Striped Grunter’ who did indeed grunt: like a phone on vibrate left on a wooden table.

..and today, we’re heading back around the island once more. This is to give us a head start tomorrow morning, when we’ll be heading back up to Bundaberg Marina to get our electrics sorted out (new solar panels, extra battery, new inverter). This should give us sufficient capacity to allow us to stop worrying about our power usage quite so much - but we’ll see!

The morning departure got brought forward; I woke up to pop to the heads at 2.30am, returning to bed, Chez said:

“Shall we go?” and we did - yay!

That - we both agreed - was a good decision, enjoying a close to perfect sail once the sun had come up. Engine off, made good speed with the main out and the wind behind us. Arrived shortly after lunch back into the marina at Bundy. - in time for fish and chips for me! Spent the next couple of days prepping the boat for the sparky; clearing out the back cabins and generally moving things from one place to another..

Fast forward a week or so.. the sparkie (a hardworking, amiable guy called Jason) has utterly changed our lives!

Adding an extra battery to our house bank, supplying and fitting two new (240w) solar panels to the recently repaired arch and swapping out our old inverter for one rated at 3000w… no more turning off the fridge and sitting around in the dark for us!!

We left the marina at Bundaberg at first light this morning, heading the 58 nms to Lady Musgrave Island…. Where the next entry will begin.