Mountain biking in the Washpool NP

We escaped from the heat and headed to the Washpool NP in the  Gibraltar ranges

 

Lots of leeches as well as a few stacks led to some loss of blood. But the scenery made up for the hardship that some experienced.

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Wollemi / Colo River on New Years Day

 

On new years day Dave, Will ,Gab and I did the Wollemi to Colo river walk. With all the rain in the past weeks the river levels were up. So we spent more time swimming than walking.

 

Compared to most canyons in the Blue Mountains region, the water temperature was a very pleasant so it was easier to swim down the river instead of bush bashing along the banks.

After nine months on the boat we really felt our legs turning to rubber on the walk out of the Colo gorge.

Rainforests of Northern NSW

NW view from MT Warning

For the past week we have been visiting the World Heritage sub tropical rain forests of Northern NSW  and Lamington national park east of the Gold Coast.

Our first stop was Mt Warning and then to Natural Arch.

Natural Arch

 From Natural Arch we drove to the superb Lamington national park. This park is situated 30km east of the Gold Coast, unfortunately the views to east are marred by sight of that vile place.

Coomera Falls

The walking is easy on well marked trails and once you walked more than 1km from the car we saw no one.

From Lamington we drove back south to NSW and ended up in the Toonumbar national park. This park is World Heritage listed and has a large stance of  Red Cedars .

Red Cedar

Mooloolaba to Yamba 15/12/2010

We spent two days in  Mooloolaba in torrential rain. The Mooloola river was a fecal brown and the beaches were not much better.  We decided to adventure into the heart of Sunshine Coast, the Pacific Fair shopping centre. A terrifying place, people everywhere, like ants attacking a carcase. We escaped back to the boat and made plans to depart for a quieter location. 

Our options were, to go to Surfers Paradise  on the outside of Morton/Stradbroke Islamds, or to sail to Brisbane then motor on the inside of these Islands. On the way up we had a few bumps getting past Jacobs Well so we elected to sail the outside.

The weather report was for light North East to North West winds and a chance of thunder storm but the next day, there was predicted thunderstorms for the Brisbane region.

We left in blue skies and light winds and made rapid progress south, passing Morton Island and North Stradbroke Island thanks to the (3 knot) east Australian current.
But.... to the South West the skies were getting dark....

We  altered course to get further out to sea as the storms appeared to be tracking towards the Brisbane area.

On the radio we heard that the Logan area got hit with hail and damaging winds. If we went on the inside of Morton Island we would have been hit with hail.

We are now well out to sea in light winds and 4.5knts of current watching the sun set over the high- rises of Surfers Paradise. The storms had passed and with only 90 Nm to go to Yamba and more storms predicted the next day, and not wanting to get stuck at Surfers, we elected to keep on going over night.

With not much wind,  we pulled the sails down and motored all the way to Yamba, arriving at 9am Thursday. Storms arrived a few hours later...

Lady Musgrave to Mooloolaba 10/12/2010

Lady Musgrave to Mooloolaba

With a north easterly wind blowing we weighed anchor from the delightful Lady Musgrave Island. We had to make a decision whether to go via Bunderburg and the inside of Fraser Island through the Great Sandy Straits and then Wide Bay Bar. Wide Bay Bar must be crossed at high tide and in good conditions and has claimed many boats.

The outside route is longer but there are no tidal considerations and hence will be shorter in time, not having to wait for high tide in a number of locations.

With the north easterly winds blowing, we elected to go on the outside of Fraser Island to Mooloolaba, 156 Nm away. We expected to arrive late  Saturday night.
The east Australian current  is a bonus this time heading south and at times we were doing 9 knts with 12 knts of breeze. We sailed to the edge of the continental shelf to maximize our speed. We arrived at Mooloolaba at 14:30 Saturday.

East Coast Current

 

Lady Musgrave Island 8/12/2010

Lady Musgrave Island is a small coral cay with a surrounding lagoon that can be entered via a very narrow passage.

Entrance to the Lady Musgrave lagoon

The stay at Lady Musgrave was one of the highlights of the trip. The island is the second last island in the Great Barrier Reef, Lady Elliot is the last island and is just north of Fraser Island.

Lady Musgrave's lagoon is a great anchorage in moderate conditions not rolly and one faces into the prevailing wind, but if the weather turned nasty it would be an ugly place to be.

The water in the lagoon is crystal clear with plenty of sea and bird life.

Common Noddy

Turtle "Tractor Tracks" to their nest

Walking around the island takes about 1/2 an hour. The Mutton birds dig their burrows for nesting so one has to tread carefully.
















The snorkeling and diving is fantastic in the lagoon

The diversity of the sea life is amazing and one feels like they are swimming in a aquarium.

 

 

 

Black Tipped reef shark

In the shallows of the lagoon we saw a school of black tipped reef sharks, while they may look impressive they were only 30cm long











We woke up on Friday morning and there was a North Easterly starting to blow. Finally the wind is blowing from the right direction !! So with much regret we decided to weigh anchor and depart, we could have stayed for another week but North Easterly winds seem to be a rare phenomenon this trip.

North West Island 5/12/2010

After all the rain at we had at Port Clinton we finally got a break in the weather and headed for Roslyn Bay marina just south of Yeppoon.
After spending a day restocking the boat we headed for North West Island.  The island is a coral cay 50 Nm from Roslyn bay and with light winds and clear sky's we motored the whole distance.
Our high tech fishing equipment was successful yet again with a very nice Spanish Mackerel that has provided us with 5 meals so far. Our set up is 40m of venetian blind cord, 10m of shock cord, a wire trace and a well used lure. This system requires no skill.

This time of year is the breading season for turtles and sea birds. Every night the
turtles come a shore to lay their eggs.

The first nights anchorage was rolly so we relocated to the south western side of the island in 10m of water and it was comfortable in the light conditions we where experiencing, but it would have been very uncomfortable if the wind got up.

 The island was used as a turtle cannery and there are some remnants of its past.