We spent a few days in Urangan (Hervey Bay) which is always a nice stop. We had a couple of meals at the boat club and took the bus into town to top up on a few supplies. The weather window was looking good for us to head out to Lady Musgrave on the 4th of May so headed up to Bundaberg which is the best departure point on the 3rd May. We were off early and had a lovely and quick sail all the way to Bundy (~45NM). As we were only propping for the night decided to drop an anchor in the Burnett River rather than go into the marina.
The trip out to Lady Musgrave is ~55NM and as it is best to arrive during the middle part of the day, so that you have good visibility when dealing with coral, we had an early start and had the anchor up by 4.00am. Again we had a lovely (but chilly sail) out to Lady Musgrave in good 20knt southerly winds which was great especially as the wind dropped about 5NM from the entrance making the anchorage a whole lot calmer and nicer :) The entry into the lagoon of Lady Musgrave all went well and we managed to find a nice spot to drop an anchor amongst the coral bommies and other visiting boats.
We were very lucky to be able to spend three very calm days and nights out at Lady Musgrave and went for a couple of lovely walks on the rather small island and also had a couple of excellent snorkels near the entrance of the lagoon - we saw an enormous number of fish and some very healthy coral as well. We were lucky enough to spot a black tipped shark, heaps of turtles, a good supply of nemo's, plenty of BIG coral trout and all sorts of other reef fish - just wish we had a camera that could take underwater photos - but perhaps we have the solution to that!
We met and were lucky enough to be able to spend some time (including Sundowners) with Sue & Bill (from 'Dilligaf') who sailed across the pacific and are now spending the season cruising up the east coast before shipping their boat back to Seattle and also Graham and Suzanne (from 'Osiris II') that we first met up with in Manly. As we are all heading in the same general direction we are hoping to catch up with them again further up the track.
As much as we would have liked to spend more time out at Lady Musgrave the winds were forecast to build so rather than spoil a good thing decided we should head back into the coast on Wednesday morning. We departed from Lady Musgrave at around 8.30am and headed into Rodd Harbour which is an fairly easy anchorage to get in and out of as we were off the Gladstone on Thursday.
The night in Rodd Harbour was calm and peaceful apart from the sand flies which made their presence felt while we were in the process of anchoring so we headed down stairs, pulled across the fly screens and spent the night indoors! On Friday we sailed up to Gladstone, just a short hop of 25NM and have found a nice spot in the marina to spend a few nights.
Although Gladstone is a VERY industrial port and not always favoured by yachties as it can be a bit grubby and is a bit off the beaten track it is also pretty amazing the see as the port never sleeps. Apart from the coal loading terminals there is aluminium smelting and the well known LNG plants that are in the final stages of construction over at the nearby Curtis Island and also the massive power plant which is very much dominates the local landscape. Apart from all the industry it is also quite an attractive spot with lots of parkland etc. They are currently in the process of building a water front precinct with the obligatory restaurants and cafes as well as a water park which will make the place even more attractive to visit. We wandered over to the local yacht club for a meal which is highly recommended and also went into the town to do a bit of provisioning before we start heading north again on Monday. |
| Coal Loading - Gladstone Port |
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| Room with a View - Spinnaker Park, Gladstone |
Glad to see the photographer has got his act together...:)! All sounds wonderful, look forward to the next instalment...Leapy x
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