Category: Travel (Page 2 of 4)

Articles that are mostly about the places we visit

Gibbish River Road

June 1, 2021 / fiandadrian

By Adrian

On our last morning in Derby, we had resolved to avoid the Gibb River Road and stay on the tarmac. The always dependable tourist information centre had advised it was un-graded and miles of slow bumpy road that serious 4WDs would enjoy… Not quite our cup of tea. Before leaving Derby, we headed out to see the towns main attraction, an old run down pier, where we happened across another Apollo snail. They had just completed the Gibb which was ‘in good condition and well suited to the snail’. It was a good morning for a plan change… Gibb River Road here we go. We ducked into the tourist information to check out camping information and they confirmed the road was now in good condition…

As it turned out the mighty Gibb is a veritable highway of well graded dirt conveying a procession of caravan towing nomads and frustrated 4WD enthusiasts. Our first stop for the night was Mount Hart some 50km from the main road with creek crossings full enough to justify low range and kindle feelings of remote outback adventure. We knew we were in the real outback when the the camp host complained of a snake under her chair and a group of 4WD campers cut firewood at breakfast with a chainsaw. A short drive from the camp site a small gorge provided a cooling swim, an array of bird life, our favourite red dragonflies and the back half of a slithery friend.

From Mt Hart we headed to Manning Gorge, described as the highlight of the Gibb, by our fellow Apollo snail travellers. The walk to the gorge requires a short swim across a freezing croc infested river before trekking through fields of vibrant wild flowers and finally descending into the gorge. Nothing could have prepared us for the huge volume of water surging over the black rocks and into the large swimming holes. A small ledge behind the waterfall provided a welcome rest after the excitement of swimming through the cascading water. All walks in this region should be modelled on this one with a refreshing river crossing to finish.

The next morning, we realised that we hadn’t changed plan for several days. Having completed the ‘highlight’ of the Gibb experience we decided to change plan and turn back. Behind us was Mornington (wildlife refuge far enough off the highway to deter many), Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge. After discovering Mornington was closed we headed to Windjana Gorge camp ground and walked up the gorge the next morning. Here you are allowed to get your selfies with the crocs but not swim in their river.

Tunnel Creek is one of those rare adventures still allowed on the modern tourist track. We followed the hot rocky path to a fissure in the cliff where the creek disappeared into the cool darkness. Wading gave way to swimming through freezing water under the watchful eye of the resident croc (we didn’t spot him but someone pointed him out on the return trip). After 750m the creek emerges into a delightful tree lined pool and aboriginal paintings.

Refreshed we headed south towards tarmac and Fitzroy Crossing collecting a Boab nut on the way. The red mountain ranges of Gibb gave way to horizon to horizon flatness so vast that we could see the flatness of the earth. Mimbi Caves was our next stop. Mimbi, meaning caves in local language, had a delightful campsite with great sunsets. The ‘Caves Caves’ tour the next day took us through the passages inside the local hills, past some local art and described how the locals had lived here for 50 000 years.

Next stop was Purnululu national park (Bungle Bungle’s).

Sweeping up the coast via Broome

May 28, 2021 / fiandadrian

By Fi

We last left off exiting Karijini National Park due to the unfortunate rain. I was excited in a way as I seem to continue to gravitate towards the coast, and this is where we were headed again – to Broome via Eighty Mile Beach.

Our first stop would be on the beach. We found a conservation reserve called Cape Keraudren that had a campground perched on a cliff with stunning views of the coast. With mobile phone reception, we took some time out to catch up with family. Alas, we later paid dearly for this time on the phone, with hundreds of sandfly bites, so a quick walk the next morning was enough, and we headed off further up the beach. Here’s a shot of Adrian apparently pondering the salt water at Eighty Mile Beach.

Our next camp we were hopeful would be sans sandflies. It was pretty good! Port Smith Caravan Park touted a picture perfect lagoon, and we wandered down the road for a quick dip. The people running the place assured us there were no problems with crocodiles, and in this case, and given the yummier people who had gone before, we had a lovely dip in the shallows.

After our new mate the frill necked lizard had finished his breakfast of preying mantis the next day, we were off and headed to Broome. Broome was the place we were going to be able to stock up, get into the Apollo hire place for a few things we needed and hopefully enjoy cable beach. We sure did, we hired paddleboards and paddled out to sea, to play with the turtles off the beach.

It was afterwards our new friend at the paddleboard hire place mentioned that next month the crocodiles would be out there cruising up the coast. Right, I guess again we picked the right time to be on the coast – the previous time it was accidentally picking the perfect time to swim with whale sharks and manta rays.

Broome was also our kick off point for a beautiful weekend at Cape Leveque. Cape Leveque is just north of Broome on the peninsular, and we had chosen a wilderness camp called Kooljaman on the western side of the cape with stunning views over the Indian Ocean and some of the most beautiful sunsets we’ve been lucky enough to have.

We were able to enjoy swimming in their lagoon in warm tropical water without too much fear of crocs or stingers, and we also took some time out to complete a bushtucker tour of the area. I think we ate enough vitamin C that morning to keep us going for a year! The views were spectacular from our campsite and the place was just stunning with its white beaches, red cliffs and blue water.

We didn’t want to leave, but we had a tour booked at Derby, which involved going back to Broome (for more swimming at Cable Beach naturally – apparently with no photos on that day), then on to Derby.

We were picked up at our caravan park early (8AM is early…) and ferried out to the airfield. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but our pilot gave us a quick run through of the day. He would fly us out to the horizontal falls base where we would be greeted by the staff there, then taken for our boat tour of the falls. He would then pick us up and fly us low over the coast depositing us back mid afternoon.

Sounds simple enough. We flew out out over Derby and north-ish to the falls. The falls came into sight briefly, before our water landing near the houseboats. It was a really great setup there, morning teas before being ferried onto the fast boat for a leisurely cruise down “Cyclone Creek” named aptly as it is used as a cyclone bolt hole for boats, particularly their houseboats in the offseason. The water was absolutely pumping into the creek, and our skipper switched off the engines and let us float a few hundred metres down the creek through the narrow S bends.

Later is was time to visit the “Horizontal Falls” named as they appear like waterfalls. The tide rips through the two small openings so hard, that at the smallest part, the difference in height between the water on either side can be up to 4 metres. At 1.5 metres difference, the boat can take us through on a fast ride and drop through the cliff faces – much like a rollercoaster – so that was fun!

The scenery is special, and we were fed a beautiful barramundi lunch while appreciating this stunning area. Not content with just one trip through the falls, our skipper got us back on the boat for another fast ride through the second lot of falls, before we were put back on our plane for the 40 minute trip back into Derby. Pretty impressive operation there, we learned they have 32 flights in there a day, as well as overnight stays available, and to keep that many people going through the place, all fed and happy with their experience is pretty impressive.

Adrian and I however, were happy to ferry ourselves the next day, out of Derby (via a quick stop to look at the mud) and back into the dirt – on to the Gibb River Road.

The Pilbara

May 20, 2021 / fiandadrian

By Fi & Adrian

We had hoped to go for a microlight flight on our last day at the reef, but the weather conspired against us and we used to time to head inland towards the Karijini national park. We picked a suitable station stay a short distance from the park and arrived for sunset.

The next day we topped up the fuel and tourist information at Tom Price before heading to Hamersley Gorge.

A short steep walk into the gorge was rewarded by a cool swim and a massage under the waterfall.

We returned to a free campsite next to a dry riverbed that we had scoped out in the morning. But now the road in was blocked by 2 cones. Following the mantra of always leaving the camp site as it was when you arrived, we carefully replaced the cones across the road and found our quiet spot beside the river.

The next day we set off up Mt Bruce that is well known as West Australia’s second highest mountain (hill). A four hour round trip took us to the summit and back, with a few steep sections to negotiate along the way.

The Mt Bruce walk has fantastic views all the way to the top. On one side the mountains of red rock dotted with green spinifex and on the other a large iron ore mine with mega trucks and mile long trains.

We stayed within the national park at Dales campground, ducking into the gorge for a much needed swim after the days exertions. Small fish removed any excess skin on our feet and the waterfall provided our massage.

Unusually it rained overnight with the campground waterlogged in the morning. The tent people had mostly left by the time we crawled out of the snail.

Before heading out for our gorge exploration we checked at the nearby visitor centre in case the water levels were dangerous in the gorges. It turned out that the rocks in the park are so treacherous to the unwary tourist that all gorges and even Mt Bruce were closed.

Time for a plan change…we headed north to the coast.

Ningaloo Coast

May 12, 2021 / fiandadrian

By Fi & Adrian

The main stop on the way north from Denham was at Carnarvon where we followed a sign promising preserves, farm produce and the best mango ice cream. We weren’t disappointed and stocked up on everything from dried mangoes to sauerkraut. In this photo Adrian is still really happy with the purchase clearly. Carnarvon is also the start of the 300km Ningaloo reef.

After sleepy Denham, in Coral Bay we were met by a mass of humanity with the large caravan parks filled to overflowing. We had a quick dinner and prepared for our Manta Ray experience starting early the next day.

It turned out we chose a good tour as the boat was not full, the owner was a marine researcher and his team couldn’t have been more helpful. We performed the warm up snorkel (mostly to identify the ‘drowners’) and went searching for manta rays. After locating a ‘fast’ manta we got in the water and watched her ‘flying’ up and down collecting food.

With the manta ticked off we went searching along the reef. Suddenly there was lots of excitement as splashing led us to a group of sharks eating a turtle. We didn’t enter the water but watched through our masks lying on the back of the boat until a very large tiger shark checked us out. The large tiger took the remains of the turtle and headed off towards the reef. It was described as a happy dog with a bone looking for a quiet place to munch.

After a couple of snorkels on the reef another tiger shark was spotted and we were all herded into the water for quick encounter. Apparently they usually move on quickly when a group of tourists arrive so we needed to swim quickly. I (Adrian) had a moment of concern when I realised I was closest to it and it wasn’t moving away.

The next day we headed north to Exmouth and had a quick windscreen change before settling into the caravan park. All that bumping around on dirt tracks had big cracks walking across the windscreen!

We were back in the water the next day to chat to the whale sharks. A similar process to swimming with the manta rays, we were going to be told to enter the water quickly from the back of the boat, line up and wait for the shark to come past then start swimming.

“Go” came the command, and we were in and looking to the direction indicated. by our guide. Hours seemed to pass staring into the blue, but soon enough, a dark shadow appeared, then the shadow gained form, and out of the blueness, this giant fish cruised past, munching away happily on its krill, seeing us merely as flies.

These guys were much slower than the mantas and easier to swim with. We were able to let it pass, admiring its majesty, then swim quickly around behind it around to the other side where we could have an amazing uninterrupted view of this gentle giant.

A cracked rib (not ours) shortened our trip but we went out for a bonus snorkel on the reef to finish the day off and got to hang out with this guy.

On our last day at Exmouth we rented some paddle boards and explored the Cape Range coastal area. First stop was Turquoise Bay for a paddle around on our boards in the perfect little bay. It was quite busy so after some good body movement, we headed south along the parks coast to Sandy Beach for a swim and practiced some handstands because, why not.

Finally, we took off to the very southern part of the road in the park and paddleboarded Yardie Creek. Paddling down the creek, it wasn’t long before we felt numerous eyes on us… Looking up we clocked the local protected wildlife, the black footed rock wallabies staring at us from their perches on the creeks sheer cliff walls. A stunning little creek, it didn’t take us long to head up to the end and back, so we had time for extra swimming at Sandy Bay.

Sunset at the lighthouse is mandatory and didn’t disappoint.

Enough coast for a while. Its back to the hills…

Half way map and a bit about our temporary home

May 11, 2021 / fiandadrian

By Adrian

We can tell that we are a bit over halfway through the trip because the fridge is a bit over half full of magnets.

Writing from Broome we have covered a little over 9000km and still have three and a half weeks to go. We have had a request for a map, so the map below shows our track so far (the blog is a little behind the map ;-)) and the letters are the approximate locations we spent an evening or two. This plan gives us some time to enjoy the Kimberly and duck into Kakadu on the way back to Darwin. That is the current plan, but the only certainty is the plan will change…

The ‘snail’ (our Apollo Hilux pop top camper) has proved ideal. With the large distances to travel we rarely stay in a camp site more than 1 or 2 nights, so setup and take-down time is important. Setup isn’t much more than sweeping out the red dust, popping the top and opening the stove.

The 4WD won’t get us over ‘serious’ 4WD tracks but has got over some pretty rough tracks into remote campsites.

When the extra diesel jerry cans are full we have around a 1000km range which has been more than enough.

We can be off-grid which often results in quieter more remote camp sites. It has become a running joke how often there is an empty campsite with great views around the corner from the crowded site with showers and ‘toilets’.

We have also tried some caravan parks in bigger towns which has given us the chance to catch up on washing and refill water.

So far the snails only injury was a windscreen that ended up with too many chips and cracks. We replaced that in Exmouth.

Normal blogging to resume shortly…

Heading to the Coast

May 8, 2021 / fiandadrian

By Adrian

Leaving Laverton we opted to head to the coast rather than an inland route through the wheat belt. Our route took us west to Leonora and north to Leinster for the night before we could turn west for the coast.

Leinster was our first mining town catering almost exclusively to fly-in fly-out workforce from the local mines. It worked well for an overnight stop: $20 for a powered site, wide variety of food at the pub, and no reason to linger in the morning.

A visit to Mt Magnet was mandatory to acquire a Mt Magnet fridge magnet for Fi’s fridge magnet collection. Grids on the road announced the start of ‘sheep’ country. We spotted an occasional lonely sheep searching for feed where once there had been grasses. Now devoid of ground cover plants we had perhaps found the Australian desert.

Our habit of searching Wiki Camps for an appropriate overnight stop near Geraldton revealed a highly rated farm stay with a tour of the animals. It turned out they rescued injured and unwanted animals from ostriches to kangaroos. They all expected us to feed them and we spent a pleasant morning learning about their background whilst handing out breakfast.

The coast beckoned and after passing a pink lake we bypassed Kalbarri which was recovering from a recent blow, and made for Denham on the edge of the Francois Peron National Park. Unpowered sites are often ‘a field down the back’ but here we had absolute beach front with an uninterrupted view of our first sunset over the ocean.

Our tour the next day was with ‘Capes’, a local man who had grown up in the area when it was a goat farm and later helped the area gain National Heritage listing. After a short drive and introduction to the area we kayaked through the shallow turquoise waters of “Big Lagoon”, stopping to identify animal tracks, take in the views and learn how the native animals were returning to the area as in the invaders were being removed. Who knew that echidna tracks head away from their destination?

We spent the day like this, kayaking and learning about the area. We saw sharks, rays and fish, and the odd kangaroo. We went for a cooling swim in the turquoise before working out kayaking muscles and getting back to land for a fresh cook up of locally caught snapper and salad. Each time we landed we were introduced to the country as its not good to surprise the country.

The next day was moving-on day and we headed back down the peninsula stopping in at the beach made of shells. Next stop Coral Bay and Ningaloo Reef.

The Outback Way

April 30, 2021 / fiandadrian

By Adrian

We left the throngs to Uluru and turned right into the Gibson desert. The Outback Way is a million miles of dirt road traversing the continent, with the occasional short tarmac section accompanied by a sign proclaiming a federal government improvement project. Chatting to a worker at one of the upgrade sections he mentioned the dream of tarmac running from Western Australia to Queensland. I asked when he thought it might happen. He smiled and looked away into the desert.

The dulcet tones of ‘Dark Emu’ by Bruce Pascoe accompanied us as we headed deeper into outback. We were amused by the European definition of desert: ‘an area unsuitable for wheat and sheep’. Indeed the south Gibson desert was not sand dunes as one might imagine, but a series of vegetated landscapes. We had grown up learning the carefully orchestrated ‘hunter gatherer’ story taught in schools. In Dark Emu we found a very different Australian civilisation presented in the early explorers journals.

Every few hundred meters along the Outback Way another abandoned car pays homage to the fragility of modern technology. Shaken out of existence these vehicles are left to rot where they died forming a sort of museum of automotive history. Ford’s from all ages seemed overrepresented although its unclear if due to popularity or engineering.

Our pop-top 4wd Hilux was referred to as a ‘snail’ when we visited a station in the East MacDonnalds. It seemed appropriate as we slowly traversed the landscape carrying our home with us. There are many un-signposted camping areas just off the road. We can sneak into these as the flies go down, light a fire and watch a billion stars appear over the fading carcases of bygone cars.

Camels cross the road ahead and pause to observe us as we slide to halt behind them. The look of bemusement on their faces suggests this may be the first camera toting white snail full of excited waving tourists they had seen today. They meander slowly into the bush no doubt more worldly and with stories to tell the grandkids.

On day 3 we rattled off the last section of dirt road and arrived at Laverton, a type of civilisation with which we are familiar. The friendly staff at the information centre made approving noises at our outback expedition as they served us coffees and cake. The books in the information centre told of early European explorers enduring hardship in the outback, but likely nothing compared to a million teeth clattering, bone jarring, buttock clenching miles in a white snail.

Glossary:

Corrugations – road surface designed to shake vehicles to destruction

Outback Way – parking lot for vehicles that take on the corrugations and lose

Rough Surface – a smoother section of road in an otherwise rough road surface

Floodway – section of road where vehicles travelling at 110kmph meet piles of sand and rocks

Washout – section of road now located downstream

Point of interest – an unusual tree, a wooden cross, a large rock, writing on a burnt out car

Corner – a rare road feature worthy of signposting

Mountain – any land 20m or more higher than the surrounding land

Road train – large red dust storms moving across the landscape

Tyres – temporary vehicle attachments mostly used as road art

Federal Road Sealing Project – a signpost, 2km of sealed road, 50km of road works

Waving – competition to get the most responses from oncoming traffic

Oncoming traffic – 3 hourly occurrence indicating time for driver change

Grid noise – compulsory ‘weeeeehhhhyuuup’ noise made before crossing a grid

Tarmac – a mirage made by heat on red dirt road

Red dirt – stuff coughed up after 3 days on the road

Far from the ocean – the Red Centre

April 16, 2021 / fiandadrian

By Fi

When we last blogged, we had completed our sail up and down the east coast of Australia, starting in Sydney, heading to Bowen, then back to Brisbane. Since then, we spent some time in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast of Australia, enjoying time with family and friends, seeing a little more of QLD, before driving ourselves back to Sydney. In Sydney we had more family and friends time, as well as the huge job of packing up our belongings, putting some into storage, and the rest in big boxes to get sent to France for our upcoming sailing adventures in Europe (more news on that coming soon!!)

Before we head to France we wanted to see more of Australia outside the capital cities. So we hired a campervan and have a couple of months to see as much of central and northern Australia as we can. Here’s Fi in Darwin when we picked up the van. Both Fi and the van appear clean here – oh how much will change in the coming week…

Picking up our 4WD campervan in Darwin, we drove south to visit Litchfield National Park. Stopping at the Wangi Falls, we managed a quick walk to visit the waterfalls which were stunning, before cooking dinner in the dwindling light. We are pretty used to mosquitos and sandflies from our recent sailing adventures, but nothing prepared us for the onslaught of tiny gnats and mozzies that were attracted to our internal lighting. This would end up being a theme, given we are here at the tail end of the wet, and the bugs are keen for a feed of tourist meat. Its okay, it means we are learning to eat when the sun is still up, go to bed when the sun goes down, and get up at dawn. Oh, and that the fan we bought in Darwin is worth its weight in gold to keep the humid hot air moving.

We drove through Litchfield National Park, admiring the magnetic termite mounds, and passing landscapes. We stopped at Florence Falls for one night, and enjoyed an afternoon swim in the waterhole, complete with waterfall shower. That evening, we cooked and tidied up, and were inside listening to our favourite sailing podcast before the mozzies even realised we were there.

Our next adventure was to be Kakadu. We set out from Litchfield, driving the 6 or so hours to Jabiru where the Kakadu visitors centre is located. Alas, the big wet season this year would foil our plans again, and almost everything in Kakadu is closed. We decided Kakadu would need to wait until the end of our trip, so we found a place to kip for the evening, and then high tailed it south, putting in a big day to get to Mataranka and the thermal pools.

Floating in a thermal pool, at 34 degrees is a delight I recommend all partake in. Floating on my back, I stared at the canopy above, as the water filled my ears and drowned out the sounds of the other people. We stayed in the pool for a few hours, and the next morning also had another quick dip before heading further south.

The Devils Marbles were the next stop, a spectacular landscape, red ochre, flat, except for these giant structures. We managed a walk around the these structures, respectfully at a distance of the particularly sensitive cultural areas. The photos can never do it justice.

Happily, we stayed awake after dark enjoying each others company outside the van, watching the sun set and the masses of stars light up the skies overhead. No mozzies 🙂 and the temperature dropped to such a point we both needed the extra blanket – ahhh to be in the drier, cooler climate. We’ll revisit the top end once the dry season is a little more set in we’ve decided. At dawn, we watched the sunrise while and I sipped on my freshly ground soy latte (you can take the latte sipping, left leaning inner westies out of the innerwest, but you can take the… you get the idea) and then we packed up ready for another big day driving south to get to our next exploration area – the Macdonnell Ranges.

In the coming weeks, we plan to explore the Macdonnell Ranges, Uluru and head West into WA. Keep up to date with us on our instagram (@fiandadrian) and also our facebook.

An exciting announcement

January 31, 2021 / fiandadrian

Some of you may be aware that Adrian and I have grand plans of sailing the world starting with a move to France where our new boat is being built. This is scheduled for July 2021 in Cherbourg in northern France.

Our priority for our remaining time in Australia is to see as much of the country as we can. In Addictive, we had planned to sail north and see some of New South Wales then Queensland and eventually get to the Northern Territory and around the top into Western Australia. Unfortunately, COVID-19 border closures put a dampener on that plan and we stayed on the beautiful east coast for this season and we are certainly not complaining about how lucky we have been.

We didn’t get to sail to the Northern Territory, so we are planning to fly there and live in a van for 2 months before our big move to France. Which means our beautiful Addictive is up for SALE!!

So here’s what we are doing: we have moved into an AirBnB on the beautiful sunshine coast of Queensland for a while to enable us to sell Addictive. Our car has been transported to Brisbane so we can move our belongings off the boat. In early March we plan to drive to Sydney to visit friends and family and pack for France. Then in early April we go to Darwin, and borders allowing, travel through Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia finishing in Adelaide.

As an unexpected bonus in late March, we have accepted an opportunity to sail to Lord Howe Island, 3 days off the NSW coast. It will be a different experience heading out into the Tasman on a luxury catamaran and we hope that the COVID issues won’t scupper that opportunity.

So, there are some logistical challenges approaching but nothing Adrian and I can’t handle. We’re super proud of our achievements in Addictive and think she is an absolutely fantastic boat for sailing up the coast and we hope she gets to do it again and again! And if you know anyone who would like a super solid Jarkan 925 that has a history of racing and cruising, tell them to give us a call!

Yes, we had pancakes at Pancake

December 4, 2020 / fiandadrian

By Fi

Pancake creek, where I can only guess the name was aptly applied due to the sandbanks looking like pancakes, is a stunning part of the coast, and one I’m so happy we stopped in on now that we’re heading back south. As you may recall, we had a bit of a hairy time coming in to the anchorage after a big day, so all 3 of us were keen for some chill out time. So we spent a day enjoying the scenery and just doing some boat work. As low tide and sunset coincided, we enjoyed the vista over the massive sandbanks. Later in our stay here Bernie would enjoy running and skipping as he does on these banks and chasing the little bait fish.

However; the boat is a small space, and so we were keen to get off, and explore the area. We walked up to the Bustard Head lighthouse to enjoy the views of the coast, and were intrigued by the Bustard Head cemetery. On the way back, we couldn’t resist a trip down to the deserted surf beach to have a look – and quickly realised that the south end of the beach was a super protected bay with a little bit of swell, and all 3 of us could get in for a beautiful swim and cool off. It was like we were on our own deserted island – totally back to nature 🙂

Paddleboarding was another opportunity here that I didn’t want to miss. I spend so much time paddleboarding using my knees rather than standing because I have the Bernie on the front with me, so I decided Bernie would have to chill out on the boat and wait for me to hone my standing up skills. After a few minutes of wobbling, I got the balance point and was soon across the channel admiring the massive sting rays near the beach. I’ll try Bernie with me next time while I stand. He does move around a little which can put me off balance, so it should be interesting!

After 6 or so days of this idyllic pattern of swimming in the crystal clear waters, paddleboarding and exploring, we had hit on a day that would be excellent for a trip to Bundaberg. Apparently EVERYONE else in the anchorage agreed with us, and just after dawn, the first boats started their engines, and thus began the procession. We counted 14 boats, of which we were about number 5 coming out of the creek and setting sail south. One day we will be the first to leave!!

It would be a fair to roughish day. We had snacks at the ready, and prepared ourselves for what we knew would be a long and rolly passage. Fortunately, both Adrian and I don’t suffer from seasickness, but Bernie had a pre-emptive anti-nausea tablet that his vet prescribed precisely for days like this.

It was rolly coming out of the creek, which we navigated successfully using our in-bound track. Now at HIGH tide we had a much greater safety margin. We set up our sails, handed a coffee to the catamaran following us (about 10m off our stern if they were 1m), and ended up motor sailing for the best part of the morning. Blissfully, the wind filled in, and we could have the sails set wing on wing (our fastest sail plan) and were consistently clocking over 8 knots which is pretty fast for us.

As the day wore on, we noted the waves getting larger, and our ability to properly sail them becoming – hazardous. I suggested that we were perhaps overpowered, after a particularly nasty round up as we fell down a wave, and Adrian agreed. We decided to reef our sails, which maintained our speed, but stopped us from being just that little bit out of control. It felt more comfortable and we learned that we can do this without having to turn into the wind, which in this case was a blessing as the waves were pretty much getting uncomfortable to say the least.

Video’s and photos can never show how it really is, but this clip is us trying to show the rolly sea. The noise you hear is our autohelm working hard to keep us on track.

Not far out of Bundaberg, we noted that the wind and waves were increasing even more and even with reefed sails we were again overpowered – another reef was needed and so we did that, again our speed didn’t change too much, but the comfort and safety of our passage was much better.

Bundaberg was in our sights finally! Given the rolly sea state, we decided to keep our headsail out, drop the mainsail and motor into the Bundaberg channel (Burnett River). As we made the right hand turn to get into the river, the waves were on our beam and smashing over our bow, we were strapped in and getting very wet as each wave splashed over the boat, we were trying to steer a straight line to get through the heads – Adrian was shouting as I was steering “its only 50 more metres!” as we saw the waves crashing OVER the breakwall.

This is a little video when Adrian had a moment. I am steering from the companion way using our remote control for the autohelm. We later heard the breeze was gusting to 28 knots!

Through the breakwalls finally, the noise was still overwhelming, but we could see the marina – our destination and so we kept pushing.

Rounding the corner into the marina, we rang up and got some help to dock. The winds were pretty strong, so an extra hand on the dock is very helpful. Safely tied up, we did our usual high five on a successful passage, and watched as another yacht who came in after us limped in with a ripped headsail.

So after a passage like that, we like to chill for a while, and so planned to stay in Bundy for about a week before heading south again. Apparently Adrian pulled a muscle furling our headsail…