North again

The journey is continuing on from Townsville with the new motor being much quieter than the old one. We headed to Magnetic Island’s Horseshoe Bay where we had been before when the issues with the old motor were going on. We only spent one night here before heading off to Palm Island. Palm Island is an aboriginal owned island and permission has to be sought to go ashore which we hadn’t arranged prior, we looked around for a good place to anchor but decided that we would continue on to Orpheus Island where we could go ashore without any issues. On the way there the motor stopped, we couldn’t believe it not with the new motor. Ian found that there was air in the fuel lines, he got the air out and we were back in business. We later found out that the pipes had been put on wrong and the motor was running on the return pipe back to the fuel tank.
We arrived and stopped the motor as always Kathleen told us that she could hear water running into the bilge. Ian stuck his head to the motor room and found that water was coming out of the air filter which didn’t make any sense. We quickly turned off the sea cock and the water stopped coming out. What was going on??? It took until after midnight to fix it. The fuel injectors had to be taken out so that the water could be blown out without causing any damage this wasn’t the hardest part of the night. When the motor was turned over by hand with the injectors off the little caps inside and washers were blown out of the engine and into the bilge or somewhere in motor room. Kathleen said she would go down it and try and find it. The adults can’t fit down along side the motor. She found the cap after a while thank goodness. Ian put his hand over the other 2 injectors to stop anything blowing out of them when they kicked the motor over but the force was too much and both caps and washers from the other injectors went flying. This time Michael and Kathleen got dirty as Kathleen was having trouble finding the bits. Michael was lucky and found one almost straight away. It turned out to be a long night but what had happened was when the motor stopped the fingers on the impellor had spread out and water was able to travel through the holes and the valves must have been open which was very unlucky we are going to put a siphon break in so this can’t happen again.
We didn’t go ashore that night when we arrived but did the following morning. Orpheus Island wasn’t as attractive as the places we have been. There were heaps of mangroves and no real beach to speak of. We did go for a walk around the back of the mangroves to check it out as we had time before we would have enough water over the bar at the Hinchinbrook Channel our next destination. We found some interesting shells on the mud flats a lot of the shells there were black and old there wasn’t really new looking ones. The kids were looking for mud crabs in the mangroves but didn’t find any they did however find a hole that they thought might have a crab in it. The hole was in a sand/mud bank which wasn’t in a muddy spot, they thought that they would try and smoke out what ever was in there with dry grass. I don’t know if this would have worked if it was crab but the kids had fun trying.

We pulled up anchor which was stuck firmly in the mud and headed to Lucinda just inside the Hinchinbrook Channel. We had no trouble crossing the bar following the huge sugar loading wharf in. The wharf goes out across the sea for almost 6km as there isn’t enough water for the transport ships to get in, it is an amazing sight. We dropped anchor to check out the town of Lucinda which basically has one shop a general store/takeaway/hardware, a pub, and caravan park. We had hot chips in the park for tea before having a drink in the pub. We decided to stay the night here as it was getting late and couldn’t really be bothered pulling up the anchor again today.

Lucinda jetty, 5km long

Motor is in

Well after we got the old motor out we had to wait for the new Yanmar motor to turn up. We had to wait almost a week to get the new motor trucked up from Newcastle. We had time to kill so we went for a drive to Bundaberg with a friend so he could get stuff out of a storage shed and we took our old motor down to the storage shed so we can use it on the farm when we get back home to maybe drive a pump. We hired a mini bus and had organized a trailer to bring the stuff back in. We left early we were all in the bus by 3am we stopped a few times on the way down. We tried to stay in a caravan park near Bundaberg where the turtles come on the beach but they did not allow dogs so we stayed in Burnett Heads in the tents. Our friend camped in the bus in the night while we had a bit of a camping break. We were gone from the boat for 3 days in total which was a good break from the boat and helped to stop us going stir crazy waiting for the new motor to arrive.
We got back and returned the bus and went shopping for Amy’s birthday present and some special treats for her birthday the next day. Amy has been excited about her birthday for the past few months so this was a great time.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY, she was very excited and had fun opening her presents and having bits of paper everywhere. We went and saw the movie Shrek 3 in the morning. Then we went up the park for a few hours, the ABC was also having a 75th Birthday so there was some entertainment on in the park. We then had a birthday party for her with balloons, streamers and party poppers. We had her birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to her a few times. She had a great day it was funny watching her tell everyone it was her birthday and now she is 14 instead of 4.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN, he did really well for his birthday his new motor was delivered in the afternoon. The kids all sang and gave Ian his presents in the morning and I cooked him bacon and eggs for breakfast. We then went up town for a walk and had some morning tea. Then it was the waiting game for the motor. It didn’t take him long to unwrap his new toy. Ian didn’t want a cake so Kathleen went and bought a heap of iced donuts and snakes and arranged them on a plate with 39 candles all around.

Well the new motor went in without and major problems from the time we lowered it into position everything pretty much lined up. It was great that everything just went so well with nothing much to cause stress. The new motor is a much quieter than the old one and much cleaner. We are currently at Magnetic Island again giving the new motor a run in. The motor has been working wonderfully and we are very happy with it, lets hope it continues like this.

Magic at Maggie

We got our parts back from the workshop and we got the motor going again. There was some water in the engine which caused all the problems to start with. We flushed out all the sludge and put new oil in. After a quick test run there was water getting in the oil. We worked out that it was getting in through the water pump, so after we bypassed that we went for a test run out to Magnetic Island, Maggie to the locals. We had a glorious time there with perfect weather but we had developed an oil leak. We tried to reseal some gaskets but no luck. Then as we were about to leave the starter motor wouldn’t work. After an hour or so it was going but it was enough for us to decide to get another motor. So now we are at the Breakwater Marina at Townsville waiting for a new Yanmar 29Hp. The motor now is a 20 Hp so there should be a bit of extra to spare and it’s got to be quieter.

Yesterday we pulled out the old motor. Altogether the motor and gearbox weighs 200kg but after taking the flywheel and gearbox off the weight was reduced to 150kg. It was a 5 person job. We used the halyard and toping lift to take the weight and slowly inched it up. Then today we degreased the bilge and pumped and scrapped out all the crap and lost tools that have fallen in over the last 20 years. Kathleen jumped in and got the very bottom as she was the only one who could fit.

Pull harder Wendy!!

Kathleen fits in the keel.

A productive day.

This houseboat belongs to Bob on Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island. He has been here for 22 years. The people that own water front properties are making it uncomfortable for him so that he will move, but I don’t think he is going anywhere. He has got to know the local wildlife intimately and feeds Whistling Kites, spangled Jacks and any other birds that come down.

With sunsets like these I know exactly why bob is staying put. That’s Daniel and Amy. Michael took this photo with Hayden’s Nikon D2X, a very expensive professional camera. We have some great shots of the Whistling Kite with this camera.

Trouble in Townsville

We had spent nearly a week in Bowen. There is a major film being shot at the moment with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. The end of the main street is shut off and has been set up as a military scene. It is meant to be Darwin during the war. We didn't get to see any shooting as they were doing night shoots but it seems that half the town has jobs as extras and all the locals are excited about all the attention.

We were also tipped off that there was good calamari fishing at Horseshoe bay. Within about 10 minutes we had 3 large squid before some swimmers spoiled our fun, not before Michael and I had covered ourselves in ink.

While we were there we sent away for our PNG visas. We have decided to go to the Louisiade Archipelago. They are a group of islands off the eastern tip off the New Guinea mainland. We have spoken to a few of other cruisers who have highly recommended there as well as Wendys dad, Grumps.
Leaving Bowen it was 120 miles to Townsville, which we spread over 3 days, Cape upstart the first night and Cape Bowling Green the second. Shortly after leaving Cape Bowling Green the motor suddenly died. We were able to sail all but the last couple of miles. Our sailing companion, Hayden towed us into the harbor and hasn’t let us forget it since. We sent the injectors and the injector pump to the workshop for a rebuild and are waiting to see if that gets us going again.


At the moment we are still waiting for the parts for the motor and still praying for the rain to stop and all going well we will go out to Magnetic Island to give the motor a run and then either leave for PNG from here or Cairns.

Amy the super snorkler

Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island.

For the last couple of weeks we have been cruising the islands of the Whitsundays. This has meant that there has been an anchorage within 2 hours of everywhere. It has been our first chance to snorkel in coral since Lady Musgrave Island, and the snorkeling has been pretty good. At first everybody would go in the dingy to the dive site and someone would stay with Amy while everyone else went snorkeling. However Kathleen decided that Amy shouldn't be missing out on all the fun and with a bit of time and a lot of bribing taught Amy to snorkel, and doesn't she love it. At first she couldn't stop talking through her snorkel saying look at this and that and now she goes off a little bit to explore for her self.

Amy, 3 years old and can swim as fast as anyone

Amy showing mum something "really cool"

So far the best snorkeling for coral has been on Border Island and the best fish and marine life has been at Manta Ray Bay and Bait Reef, which is on the Barrier Reef.
Huge wrasse that came up meet us at Manta Ray Bay. These guys are about 4 feet long and let you pat them in exchange for some corned beef or a sausage.

We left Bait Reef this morning and arrived in Bowen this morning, which is 50 miles in 9 hours with the wind at 10 - 15 knots on our beam the whole way. We managed to just beat Hayden, who we have been cruising with for the last couple of weeks, even though he was "just running the motor to charge the batteries".

We might stay here for a couple of days before shooting up to Townsville. After that we have to decide whether to go to the Louisiade Archipelago or continue to Cairns but at the moment we are leaning towards PNG.

Great Keppel Island

Well we made it to the Keppel Islands we were glad to drop anchor. We anchored at Svendan’s Beach. It felt better to be behind land even though we were still rolling around. The wind blew for the entire time we were here with gusts of up to 30 knots. There were also squally showers which made it hard to go ashore. We did drag while we were there and ended up moving to hide behind some small rocks, where we still managed to drag we ended up setting 2 anchors, one of one fell off and we had to dive down to find it when we were going when we had realized what happened. We did go shore everyday even if it was only for a short time.


Walking along the beach to the resort on Great Keppel Island.

The kids collected shells which we hadn’t seen on any other beach so far. It was really windy and rolly which made for not much sleep at night with checking we hadn’t dragged. We took the dingy for a ride to the resort the first time we went there as we weren’t sure on how to get there and Amy is getting too heavy to carry too far. We had tried to walk there but Ian said it looked like kilometers. We walked to the resort on the other side of the island when people told us the way they had gone and saw goats the second time. We had a camp fire 1 night which was a success despite not having dry wood which was fun to light but it got there in the end and we toasted marshmallows. We tried to have a game of cricket until the bat broke.

We stopped at Pearl Bay for a couple of nights it was a pretty place and is shut up at times for military training. We were asked if we could take some oars up to a man called Barry who had left them behind, we did this and he gave us a couple of mud crabs and fish which were great. We did a bit of exploring and collected more shells and had a swim. We saw turtles but didn’t see any dugong’s which have a protection area there. We then moved a little further up the coast to Island Head where we collected yabbies and tried a spot of fishing. Ian caught a small shark but it got off the line in the shallow water. You can go further up the river than where we did. It was a comfortable place to stay in the boat as it didn’t move much.



Ian and Amy walking along the beach at Pearl Bay.

From here we went to Middle Percy Island which was great and the water was clear. This is a place that you can only be visited in calm weather the anchorage is no good in anything else. As we dropping the anchor the gear box got stuck in reverse, yet another thing for Ian to fix. At first Ian was worried that we have broken the gear box but he found a crack in a tube which he was able to repair. There is an A frame building that heaps of people have left their mark on by leaving the name of their boat on different things from wood to a bra.



Can you find Saltheart's mark around the middle of the picture we all helped make it. It took a few hours.

The kids managed to make some friends here for the day before they left. We met the lady (Margaret) who has the lease of the island and told us a bit about the history of the place. We also went snorkeling amongst a huge school of bait fish which was amazing. We made a plague to leave here with the name of our boat which took the better part of the morning with a screwdriver and a soldering iron.

We moved onto Digby Island from here for the night before we went onto Mackay the start of the Whitsunday’s. We have spent about a week here. We needed to get the pipe that broke replaced or repaired permanently. Then the winds picked up to 25-30 knots so we stayed until it settled a bit. As it turned out the pipe wasn’t fixed properly and Ian had a hard time trying to get it to fit back where it came from after part of it must have been cut out. The marina is out of town, we have caught a cab a couple of times which is a bit of a rip off, we have walked back twice which was a bit of exercise it is a 5km walk. We got slightly wet once. We haven’t really done anything exciting here. We did stubble upon an event in a park where the kids got to do some volleyball, face painting, pillow fighting and jumping castles which were free. We are going to Brampton Island the wind is still supposed to be 25-30 knots but it wasn’t that strong today.

In the Tropics

Well all good things must come to an end and at Lady Musgrave this was sooner than we wanted. The wind was forecast to pick up and at high tide the anchorage here is exposed as the ocean swell can roll in over the reef. So we left at about lunch time for Pancake Creek, the closest all weather anchorage. Our departure time meant that we would be entering at night which was a bit of a worry for us as the entrance is narrow and unlit. As we got closer we could see other yacht anchored in the mouth which gave us some idea on where the sand banks weren't. We stayed here for two nights. It is national park and very attractive.


Pancake Creek

The winds had increased and we wanted to get moving before they strengthened more. So we pointed towards Cape Capricorn, a full days sail. It was named by cook because it lies nearly on the tropic of Capricorn, we are now in the tropics. It offers some protection from the swell but the night we stayed there it was pretty uncomfortable. Through the night the wind gusted to 40 knots and we dragged anchor a bit.In the morning we went ashore while we waited for the high tide to enter 'Yellow Patch', which is a creek that would have made our stay here a lot more comfortable, but as we approached the barred entrance to the creek we could only see surf on what we thought must have been the entrance.

Cape Capricorn, Curtis Island

The desire for a good nights sleep led us to Great Kepple Island, off the coast of Yepoon and Rockhampton. The wind was still 25 knots but the swell was barely noticeable and a couple of glasses of grog ensured a good nights sleep. In the morning we noticed that we had dragged again so Michael and I changed anchors to the larger spare and we are putting out more chain for the larger tidal range and we are holding tight now.

A bit of fishing on Great Kepple Island