Baker’s respite

Oh, the luxury of having the time to indulge in making fresh bread! The fact that it’s a necessity (if we want to eat bread) is beside the point. There is skill involved and initial attempts have been far from perfect – but Matey hopes this skill can be refined with experience. Yesterday was the first time she has used yeast and she was exited to see the dough rise.

To avoid the weekend crowds at Peel Island we spent Friday night at the Blaksley Anchorage on North Stradbroke Island. It’s a pretty spot with mangroves and trees rather than houses. Unfortunately though a few other boats had the same idea and the night was not entirely free of anchor angst ... As Saturday progressed bevies of boats with big engines and breweries of beer aboard pulled up. Too much excitement for TC and her crew – time to move somewhere quieter. We made our way to the southern end of Macleay Island and ended up in an anchorage between Macleay and Lamb Islands, with Karragarra Island opposite – a beautiful spot where the peace is only interrupted by the ferries and barges and the swell they create as they pass.

It’s the full moon and theoretically a good time for fishing – so before departing Blakney’s Captain practised his perch-dispatching skills. Matey hasn’t quite overcome her reluctance to rob the fish of their lives yet (yes, she knows she is a hypocrite as she enjoys eating fish – she is just slightly traumatised watching as they gasp for their last 'breaths') but soon enough she will have to face the reality of being an omnivore and catch what she is willing to eat (or embrace the joy of lentils more regularly). One hurdle at a time …

Launched!

Matey is elated to report (hopefully not prematurely) that we have departed Cleveland permanently! After two months of fixing, replacing and other activities to get the boat to a cruising standard (albeit with several jaunts into Moreton Bay for testing), on Wednesday TC, Captain and Matey finally became really itinerant and, we hope, intrepid.

We decided on Peel Island for the first night or two and found a good spot to anchor – at a sensible distance from other boats. Peel Island is just that bit too close to Brisbane as even mid-week there were around twenty boats anchored here. Needless to say just as the sun was setting a motorboat pulled up annoyingly close and down went its anchor. This reminds Matey of a strange phenomenon that occurs whenever she goes to the movies – seats are carefully selected based on the empty seats directly in front – and just as the lights go down and the movie starts invariably someone with a large head or ‘big hair’ comes in late and sits in the seat directly in front. Matey has the sense that this type of (mis)behaviour might be a frequent occurrence at popular anchorages … Captain has a theory about this, but Matey thinks that because this anchorage is usually so busy – much worse on weekends – Mr Motorboat probably didn’t think he was parking particularly close at all and may have regarded any grumpy looks or gesticulation from our direction as a little strange. He was up and off in the morning but not long after, another motor boat pulled up in more or less the same spot – only closer. The Captain’s skills of diplomacy were at their finest (we’d been told by experienced international cruisers that people who park too close never respond well to being told this). Captain popped over in the dinghy to compliment him on his lovely boat (!) and warn him that we had quite a bit of ‘swing’. Mr Motorboat said he was just about to go – no offence appeared to have been taken – smooth!

Whale of a time

Yesterday we met some cruisers who had recently been to Fraser Island and had a close encounter with a humpback whale. Too close. One evening just after dark a whale grabbed their anchor rope and towed them – fast. They put the GPS on to see where the whale was taking them (!) This went on for about 15 mins and eventually the whale’s little friend took over and tried to pull the boat under. At this point they cut the anchor rope. Captain says he would have cut the rope much sooner. Sounds like someone had too much to drink but they caught it on camera. We admire their presence of mind in thinking to film the incident, and hey – why not sell it to commercial TV? It paid for the new anchor …

Unusual whale behaviour, apparently. Wee bit scary though, possibly, especially at night. Matey didn’t realise they could be so aggressive. Maybe these two were tired of being spied on by tourists and thought they’d give some a thrill? Maybe they were just playing. 
We enjoyed chatting to Glenn and Nerida and hope we meet them again.

Beached

This morning was the first beaching of TC. Being a cat with shallow draft, and Peel Island having a large shallow area at high tide with a metre or more of water that rises suddenly to the beach (exposed for the soldier crabs at low tide) it’s a perfect location for bringing the boat in and giving the hull a scrape. 

B & B

It's been an exciting week. First Barry and Bernadette visited and then Virginia, James, Patrick and Pippa popped in on their way home. It was great to catch up!

Barry and Bernadette witnessed the inaugural testing of the new Rocna anchor. While we had mild conditions so it wasn’t seriously challenged, the verdict so far is that the Rocna rocks! Matey hopes this is not premature elation …

B & B also witnessed the testing of the new rigging. Sadly though it seems we have further dramas as when the main sail is fully hoisted it touches the new aft split stays (the cables that hold the mast up at the back). This isn’t good as it could cause wear and tear on the sail. It is also unfortunate as a split stay appears to be a better system than the previous Y-joined stay system and provides antenna services as well. Mr Rigger assured us it would be ok – despite Captain’s queries about it – so now he’s coming back on Monday to have another look. Meanwhile we linger on in Cleveland, eager to escape its confines. Otherwise the boat sailed very well with the new rigging – so that was gratifying to see.

As always, it was great to catch up with B & B, who brought with them good humour, cheer and lots of goodies for the fridge! We anchored for the night at Stradbroke Island and were given thief monitoring duties by a jolly Mr Water Plod who pulled up beside us at shower time. The commercial oyster leases nearby have been raided regularly resulting in losses to the value of $40 000. He gave us a number to call if we noticed anything suspicious. Mr Plod also informed us that:
a) 'what they say about oysters isn’t true', and
b) there were probably bull sharks in the water – this resulted in very short pre-shower dips! (NB Some catamaran cruisers told us they had seen a bull shark in the canal at Cleveland – though much nearer the entrance to the bay than where we are based, fortunately. Ever-rational, when it comes to shark matters anyway, the Captain pointed out to the somewhat shark-shy Matey that if bull sharks frequented the canals often we probably wouldn’t have seen the triathlon and swimming races that occurred there a few weeks ago – hmmm).

The next day we went across to Peel Island and on our walk to the eastern end discovered a protected little beach with an old wreck, probably with good snorkeling. Unfortunately though by the time we had lunch and went back it had become too rough for snorkelling. Amid the rocks ranging in colour from white and sand to ochre and dark purple, we found an ancient, very large and not-long-dead turtle. There were a few moments of silence for poor Mr Turtle. Captain, in his great knowledge and wisdom, estimated his (her?) age at 150 years. Barry estimated the time of death as a few days previous. Matey just admired Mr Turtle’s prehistoric appearance and hoped his death was painless. She felt some of the awe that is inspired by ancient and very large trees. RIP, Mr Turtle.

Rigged

TC had nearly a week docked at the lovely Botanic Gardens in Brisbane. Matey was able to hone her rowing skills and is pleased to report she has mastered the art of rowing in a more or less straight line (while looking away from the direction of travel). Given Matey’s first attempts, this is progress. Her arms (and stomach!) are registering this new form of exercise. We also learnt something about mooring to and extricating ourselves from posts on a fast-flowing river (with some fabulous guidance from our delightful French neighbour).

It’s been great catching up with a series of visitors, including Adrienne and Jenny at the Gardens (oh – and HRH dropped by too, though sadly Matey didn’t ‘but see her passing by’ as she didn’t want to be confined to the boat for three hours while monarch and retainers passed. Matey chuckled to discover one of our neighbours on the river had hung out his washing – the ‘smalls’ – in salute). It was great that David could drop in once we were back at Cleveland.

Captain and Matey were sorry to leave the boat community at the Gardens (though Matey is a bit weary of cities), but had to be back in Cleveland for Thursday and Friday for Mr Rigger x 2 to weave their magic: TC now has shiny new cables and turnbuckles. There are yet more things to fix though – the VHF and HF radios don’t work properly, and the AIS (automatic identification system for detecting ships) is temperamental. Poor Captain – his work is never done.  As some people who have been cruising the planet for many years advised – ‘don’t ever expect to get through the “to do” list’ … 

Anchor angst

Matey recently had one of those ‘Ah-ha!’ moments.

Clearly, it’s vital to have a good anchor that, like a true friend, you can rely on in all weather. The importance of a good anchor cannot be overstated, however, in addition to the cogitation required to ensure the right anchoring solution is in use, Matey's ever-keen radar has detected a wee bit of stress associated with anchoring, on occasion.

A likely reason for this was an anchoring incident a few years ago, in which Captain almost lost a finger, and several stitches were required. Now, if this were not traumatic enough, Captain recently let it slip that the sad but true Tale of the Lost Spleen – Captain has a very large scar as proof – also came about as a result of an anchoring incident (long, long ago in the Captain’s Navy days).

Matey was familiar with the history of the Captain’s spleen, but hadn’t realised (recalled?) that it was due to an accident involving a very large anchor. To make matters worse – it ended up being a near death experience thanks to Dr Dodgy’s lack of diagnosis. Several days after the accident, Captain was still languishing with deteriorating health and in terrible pain, until finally it was realised his spleen had been ruptured and needed to be extracted urgently – just hours before certain death! So, given this, it’s not really surprising that the notion of anchoring has at times brought with it a teensy bit of tension. The bright light of understanding illuminates!

Captain has continued to research and cogitate over the anchor, and bravely discuss anchors with all who share his ‘interest’, learning much and slowly coming to a decision he is happy with. A ‘new generation’ Rocna is to be collected today, while the Delta will be retained to assist in extreme weather events.

Matey hopes she will have many more ‘Ah-ha!’ moments as all things marine and nautical make sense. May the Captain’s spleen rest in peace.

Boat people

Matey has been fascinated to encounter some of the fellow travelers living on boats – an eclectic bunch and possibly/hopefully some likeminded souls among them. While the lone male living on his monohull is a common sight, there are also numerous couples from various parts of the planet, slowly making their way around it.

One of our neighbours is unusual in that she is a lone woman living on her boat – we haven’t encountered many of these. She’s lived on the Brisbane River for a number of years and survived the flood – only just – her dinghy engine failed in the raging torrent and she was rescued from the water. Didn’t put her off though as she’s still living here. She has the appearance of being a party girl from way back – Matey is curious to know more …

Matey was interested to meet another neighbour who is 85 years old and living alone on his boat. After hearing his cursing as the City Cats speed by while he’s attempting to climb from dinghy to yacht (creating swell havoc causing the catamaran to rock, so it must be positively uncomfortable on a monohull), Matey expected to find him to be a grumpy old git. Instead she discovered a sweet old man who was grateful for our assistance as we towed him to the ‘dinghy dock’ – his dinghy motor having failed. He’s from Sydney originally but has been living here for four years. Soon after arriving in Brisbane his foot was run over by a car. Numerous hospital visits followed, including skin grafts, and he’s never been the same since. He wants to get back to Sydney but is clearly beyond doing that on his boat. His only complaint though was that he can’t maintain his boat properly any more. Watching him slowly get in and out of his dinghy and boat makes Matey anxious, but somehow he manages. Even walking up the ramp from the dinghy dock is clearly a challenge. If he were land-based surely he’d be eligible for meals on wheels and other services. Matey can’t help thinking he’s nursing home material – but hey – he’d probably rather die than end up in one of those – as would the Matey! One of these days he’ll probably topple in and that will be that. He’ll go out living the lifestyle he enjoys – what more can you wish for? Meanwhile the informal community of boat people helps him out.

Someone needs to tell the City Cat drivers to be more considerate. As one of the other yachties protested ‘anywhere else in the world they’d slow down to pass anchored or moored boats, but these guys seem to speed up as they pass to deliberately make it as uncomfortable as possible’. Sometimes they actually create surf, which breaks against the river walls. Captain and Matey are both glad to have two hulls.

Dazzled by the city lights

Yesterday TC, Captain and Matey somewhat tentatively made their way up the Brisbane River to the council-run moorings outside the Botanic Gardens. This provided some challenges, with a couple of very large ships and the fast-moving human traffickers, ‘City Cats’, to avoid. It was all so easy though it seemed too good to be true, with one of the ‘live-aboard’ staff we met at a chandlery roping off the last mooring for us and even helping us maneuver/pull TC into the pen (boats are attached to pylons end to end in four rows) so his assistance was most welcome, particularly given the surprising strength of the tide, which was still flowing in. Boatie folk seem so nice – always happy to help out …

           

So, we’re now in the centre of Brisvegas, a perfect location from which to explore its heart – the lights and the silhouettes of the trees in the gardens providing a pleasant backdrop to the river, boats and swell created by the people movers. (Captain is a little dismayed though by people walking along the path ‘spoiling his view’ of the trees as he contemplates life). This location has all the benefits of a marina without the high fees, which so far we have managed to avoid (we can spend a week here for the cost of a day at a marina). Mr Rigger is finally booked for next week and this afternoon we’re looking forward to catching up with Adrienne, who’s in Brisbane for a conference. At the moment Captain is casually strumming away at his guitar – a sure sign that he’s relaxing …