Wind  15 – 20 knts  Sunny

As it was Sunday we thought breakfast on Hamilton Island would be a change, so we upped anchor and headed round Lindeman for the 13 nautical mile sail to Hamilton.

Spoke to the marina there and they informed us the berthing fee short term was $31 per hour so we were looking upwards of $60 before we had breakfast. We decided to pick up a public mooring off Dent Island and dinghy across to Hamo.

The sail across to Dent Passage was brisk although the winds only seemed to reach about 15 knts. It was back to civilisation as we entered Dent Passage as  jet skis zoomed past us and Qantas, Virgin and Jetstar roared low overhead in preparation for landing on the popular airstrip.

We hauled up a rather large mooring buoy, good for 40 metre yachts , so much easier than anchoring , then spruced ourselves up to go ashore.

 

As we entered the marina we were told by the concierge in a boat we could not bring a dog ashore without a permit. We enquired about tying the dinghy up and she informed us it would be an $18 per hour charge for the dinghy. Stuff that said John, and more! That was just a rip off, $18 for the morning would have been acceptable. Obviously Hamo prefers to discourage grotty yotties especially ones with grotty dogs.

A disenheartend  Morgan , John and I went back to O’vive and enjoyed lunch with a very pleasant outlook over  Dent Island, then headed for Cid Harbour.

We anchored up the northern end of Cid in Dugong Bay near Daniels Beach in about 2 metres of water two hours past low tide in calm conditions. The bottom was mud so if we touched bottom at the next low tide we would not do any damage. The scenery was beautiful with Whitsunday Peak dominating the harbour like anchorage of Hoop Pines and rainforest down to the water’s edge.

Took Morgan ashore for a walk on pretty Daniels Beach and found plenty of large oysters on the shore. John headed back to O’vive  to get oyster knives and containers while Morgan and I explored. She chased several large fish in the shallows and tore up the course sand with her usual antics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We gathered several dozen large juicy oysters

and headed back to O’vive for happy hour and oyster Kilpatrick then roast chicken for main.

A spot of cast netting after dinner off the back of the boat gave us a dozen small herring for future bait supplies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wind  variable 10 knts  Sunny  slightly overcast in morning but beautiful in the afternoon.

Another lazy morning aboard O’vive. Jenny fished for a while but only pulled in small yellow lipped bream and a very small Trevally.

We motored up to Lindeman Island but the autopilot played up again and we had to go round in circles to recalibrate again. We have no idea why it suddenly plays up after working fine for weeks.

Finally it operated correctly so we headed round to the north side of Lindeman and anchored off Gap Beach.

Lindeman has been recently bought by the Chinese for 12 million, pretty cheap for a whole island in the Whitsundays. Club Med paid 15 million for it in 1990 and spent a heap of money on it. The new owners are going to revamp it, put a six star resort as well as other dwellings, a restaurant and shopping area, air strip for jets, a four hole golf course and a 50 berth marina for guests and charters boats. I guess it won’t be operating for a while and I am assuming the majority of the island will remain forested as it is now.

Gap Beach is a lovely spot with dramatic views of Pentacost with  Hamilton Island in the distance.

John dropped us off at the beach while he trolled around Little Lindeman in the hope of catching a fish. It was tricky to get ashore as the shoreline was dotted with small bommies.

We walked along the rocky beach looking for the track leading up to the ridge. It was hard to find but eventually we spotted a picnic table hidden in the scrub about two thirds of the way along the beach towards the west. The hidden path wound its way along the side of the hill for a kilometre until it reached a saddle in the middle of the island. The path wove through semi rainforest and dry schlerophyll  punctuated by stone steps and cool shady gullies.

Once again we were dazzled by swarms of beautiful Blue Tiger butterflies

congregating in the moist shady gullies and the occasional rustle in the undergrowth of a brush turkey. The turkey kept Morgan intrigued but she wasn’t allowed off the path.

 

We reached the saddle to find signs leading to the resort and Mt Oldfield and another telling us the path we had just come up was dangerous.

Not sure why the sign was there , obviously they didn’t want people walking down it and it definitely wasn’t dangerous.

We hurried back down the track to meet up with John as time was short and dinghied back to Ovive. We headed around to the southern side of Lindeman to Plantation Bay and attempted to anchor but there was too much coral. The only spot to anchor was taken up by two other boats. Headed over to Neck Bay and attempted to anchor but the anchor kept rolling over and the chain was twisted. Finally we anchored further down Shaw in the same spot as last night. The wind is supposed to turn round to the north tonight and get strong then swing back round to the south in the morning, hope this anchorage is good for northerlies to southerlies.

 

Wind SE 15 – 20 knts  Sunny  slightly overcast

Lazy morning aboard O’vive.

John donned his snorkel gear so he could retrieve his fishing line that had wrapped itself around the rudder last night.

We tried our new underwater video system and it works very well. We could see the bottom very clearly, the bottom was sand with sea grass dotted throughout, no fish though. I can’t wait to use it when we take up a mooring buoy over coral at some of the anchorages in the Whitsundays.

We up anchored and moved further up Shaw Island to the second anchorage down from Neck Bay and anchored in 9 metres of water, so we let out 45 metres of chain.

Took Morgan ashore in the dinghy and played ball up and down the beach.

Back on O’vive we fished with John pulling in several  pretty Yellow Lipped breams and some grinners, all a tad too small.

 

The girls won the day ( well actually Jenny as Morgan just whined with excitement) with two decent size sweetlip which we had for dinner with chips.

 

The flesh was lovely and white and excellent tasting.

We felt we were a little too close to the coral if we swung round in the night so we up anchored and moved about a kilometre further south for the night.

Wind SE 15 – 20 knts  Sunny  20nmi

Departed the Newrys at 10:30 and enjoyed a lively sail to Shaw Island averaging 7 knts. Took us three hours to cover the 20 nautical miles to the most southerly island of the official Whitsunday Islands, and we still haven’t seen any whales. I think we are too early in the season, the whales are further south, I was looking forward to seeing them.

Dropped the anchor off Burning Point in 3 metres of water at half tide, the tidal range is only 2.5 metres here.

 

Apparently there are no fish here as the only thing Moor R & R could catch was a giant toadfish. The bottom is only sand.

 

 

 

 

John dropped Morgan and I off on the beach for a walk while he trolled for fish along the rocks. He caught a Pickhandle Barracuda which he kept for bait later.

Just after he dropped us off, a rain shower came through so we sheltered up a little sandy creek under the mangroves until it stopped. The beach wasn’t very long so we walked it twice while waiting for John.

After John dropped us back at O’vive he went fishing again but only caught small parrot fish which he threw back.

Lamb, mushroom and rosemary pies with butterscotch pudding for dessert while John swore at the Aussie cricketers for their poor bowling skills.  TV reception was intermittent so he ended up listening to the cricket on the radio.

Wind SE 15 – 20 knts  Sunny

We have decided to stay here another day as its a lovely anchorage and John wants to watch the start of the Ashes and the State of Origin football with good reception. We are not sure  what reception would be like elsewhere.

The morning was spent baking brownies and doing the usual chores which always take longer on a boat.

John and I took the dinghy ashore to Newry Island and walked the 2 kms  for a picnic lunch at Sunset Beach.

We sat on the rocks overlooking the narrow channel to Rabbit Is, the largest of the Newries, enjoying our simple lunch with brownies for dessert.

We sat on the rocks overlooking the narrow channel to Rabbit Is, the largest of the Newries, enjoying our simple lunch with brownies for dessert.

 

 

 

After strolling back through the rainforest to the dinghy, John dropped Morgan and I off on  Outer Newry Island to walk across the saddle. The short 5 minute walk was uninteresting ,hardly worth getting out of the dinghy for.

We were invited to a pasta bake dinner on Moor R & R  and to watch the sports. Lovely dinner and for John the excitement of the cricket  and football .

 

Need I say us girls sat in the cokpit and nattered while the boys watched QLD thump NSW in the footy and the Poms gets a good start in the first ashes test.

Wind SE 10 – 15 knts

Enjoyed a beautiful calm night although we had the screens drawn as extra large mossies descended on us at dusk, there was no breeze to blow them away.

John dropped Jenny and Morgan off at the beach on Newry Island then headed out fishing. Bryan and Deb had kayaked ashore as the water was flat and calm. We walked around the island on the track maintained by the National Park, it was a 1.8 klm circuit then an extra 1.2 to Sunset beach.

The views from all four corners of the island were spectacular, either looking east over the rest of the Newrys and Brampton Island, north towards Shaw island at the bottom of the Whitsundays or west over the cane farms on the mainland.

 

The track wound up through Hoop Pine and dry schlerophyll interspersed with grass trees then dropped down to Sunset Beach through typical island rainforest of vines, ferns and buttressed trees. Sunset Beach was very pretty although at low tide the waterline was muddy. Morgan enjoyed herself chasing fish in the shallows, they were leaping out of the water towards her.

Walking up to the north east corner we were regaled with spectacular views of the yachts in the anchorage.

John didn’t have any luck fishing he only caught small parrot fish and cod and barracuda.

Moor R&R arrived about 1:30 and anchored west of us and Back Friday.

After pigging out on lunch John decided he needed some exercise so we dinghied over to the island for a walk.

We walked the circuit then while waiting for the other crews to come ashore for happy hour John tried his hand at coconut getting. By throwing a rock and smaller coconuts he was hoping to dislodge green coconuts from the palms but to no avail.

 

We sat at tables under the original resort bar roof and enjoyed a mixture of nibbles, wine, beer and kahlua.

 

With the refreshments under our belts it was time to get serious about coconut gathering. John tied a rock to a long rope and after several attempts managed to get a rope around the chosen nuts.

With  plenty of advise from Paul and Bryan and a fair amount of laughter from all they finally brought down 3 green coconuts and about 5 small ripe ones. John husked the green one and we shared coconut milk and sweet soft coconut. Truly a tropical island.

Before the mossies descended Bryan and Deb paddled back and the dinghies speed back to their respective boats.

Wind SE 10 – 15 knts   24 nm

Time to leave Mackay and head north.

We motored over to the fuel wharf to fill up with diesel  although we only put a 100 litres in each tank. The tanks still had 150 litres in each  and they hold 440 . We later realised we forgot to get unleaded for the dinghy outboard. It could spell disaster for Johns fishing trips.

Departed the marina at  approx.10:30 and headed north for the Newry islands. This little group of islands lie 24 nm NW of Mackay quite close to the coast and are zoned National Park.

We didn’t appear to have much wind plus it was behind us most of  the way so we only averaged 4.2 knts. Quite a come down from previous days. The sail was very uneventful, John got bored and had a sleep on the trampoline but got sunburnt whilst Jenny sat at the helm and crocheted. We had both rods out and caught nothing except a chunk of weed, saw no boats, whales or dolphins.

Arrived in the anchorage at 4:15 and anchored amongst 6 other boats including Back Friday and Bojangles.

John , Morgan and I put the dinghy down and motored ashore past Bojangeles to see if they wanted a lift. They didn’t have a dinghy at all now since they damaged it as they sent it from Mackay to Airlie beach for repair. They will pick it up in Airlie. It turned out they had plenty of outboard fuel so we topped up our tank. Nothing like bartering on the water.

We took the dinghy round to a shelly beach on the SE side of Newry Island and wandered through the picnic and camping area. A resort had been started in 1935 and ran successfully until it was closed by National Parks in 2001.Remnants of some of the original buildings were still there including the  old concrete bar. The buildings had been ingeniously built from local resources

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thai green chicken curry for dinner with full TV reception much to Johns delight.

Wind SE 10 – 15 knts

Another beautiful day in Mackay although the breeze is a little cool. Temperature is only about 23 ° in the day at the moment. I sure hope it gets warmer. At least its better than Khancoban at  9°.

Gave Bryan a hand to take down his baby stay for his storm jib which he hardly ever uses. It is getting in the way when he wants to tack the jib. Deb, John and I hoisted him up the mast on two halyards for safety. Deb and I had some fairly hilarious moments with John guiding Bryan into his harness.

Bryan and Deb had hired the car for the arvo so I hitched a ride with them and got them to drop me off at the botanical gardens. It was time to see a little bit of Mackay other than shops and marina.

The gardens were lovely and peaceful and green, quite a change from the blues we have being eyeing lately. They stretched for several kilometres along a man made lagoon. The wide variety of habitats was rather interesting as they ranged from tropical to cool temperate. I even saw everlasting daises which I can pick in the Snowy Mountains.

Just after I ordered lunch at the cafe overlooking the bird filled lagoon Paul and Kath arrived with friends and invited me to lunch with them. Very pleasant interlude especially as they gave me a lift back to the marina.

Paul , John and I strolled up to the sports club for some oyster shooters ( best I’ve had) and to meet up with Joel our nephew who is currently working in Mackay.

 

Oyster shooters are only $3.50 which is a pretty good price considering they have vodka and the oyster and tomato juice. We had 18 between the three of us, Joel abstained as he had to drive and also isn’t fond of raw oysters as he put it. Great to see Joel.

Wind S SE 15 – 20 knts

John and I hired the marina car for $39 for 4  hours for the afternoon. John played a round of golf in the comp at Mackay Golf Club and Jenny went to Canelands shopping centre for supplies.

Deb and Kath were already there so we had lunch together then

perused the shops and grabbed a few groceries. After dropping the girls back to the marina I drove back to the Golf Club and picked up John to find he had had a shocking game. Whats new?

perused the shops and grabbed a few groceries. After dropping the girls back at the marina I drove back to the Golf Club and picked up John to find he had had a shocking game. Whats new?

The tidal range in Mackay is about 6 metres so the ramp to the pontoons is extremely steep at low tide especially when bringing down a loaded trolley.

Strolled up to the Sports Club (formerly the Yacht Club) at the southern end of the marina for dinner with Bojangles and Moor R & R crews. Some friends of Rob and Lesley also joined us. The Back Friday crew were still recovering from the pizza night so they had a quiet night at home.

Wind S SE 15 – 20 knts

We have been allocated the end of X finger which made it very easy to tie up on. The other three boats are only 50 metres away at the most. The marina looks a little empty although they said a lot of boats left yesterday morning.

Construction work on the rock break wall around the marina was a little noisy as they are placing very large rocks along its length to build the height up against high waves from intense storms and cyclones.

John and I strolled to breakfast at Casu Jacks a cafe out on the main road with quite reasonable prices and good food.

Mid morning Rob and Lesley borrowed a car from friends and we drove into town to pick up some much needed supplies ( beer and wine) and a replacement part for the gas burner on the stove.

Apparently Mackay is feeling the downturn in the mining boom and many shops have closed. Last year 20,000 people left town due to the lack of jobs.

Happy hour on Bojangles turned into a jolly affair with us all moving to the pub for Friday night $10 pizzas. A great bargain, lots of laughs and very tasty pizzas.

Morgan and I walked over to the tug harbour to have a look at the Rainbow Warrior but the security fence prevented us from getting close. It is here on a Save the Reef mission