Blue *rsed flies no more

It’s five months since the Matey finished work (ten months for the Captain, who required post-surgery recovery time). We have embraced the relaxed lifestyle — no more buzzing around …

It’s a short bike ride to the West End where there is a lovely (clean and sparsely populated!) 50 m lap pool at Musgrave Park. Matey arrived at 11 am one Sunday morning to find the pool completely empty – she wondered if it was closed. But no, overcast weather keeps the folks away, apparently. Bliss! Matey has been contemplating how this could be in the heart of Brisbane in a residential area on a weekend. Unheard of in over-crowded Melbourne. Captain puts it down to ‘mining money’ but this pool dates from before the mining boom, and Matey thinks surely a lot of that dosh would be used up in roads (greater distances, fewer people and seemingly an even stronger attachment to cars and 4WDs than in the south, if that is possible). Thoughts anyone?

Saturday morning trips to the market are a regular feature of life at the moorings. The West End market has fruit, vegetables, fish and the usual fare of jewelery and clothes as well as coffee and tasty treats. Many of the boaties make the trip up the river for supplies, so the market can be quite a social gathering. Some weeks transport is by dinghy, some weeks we ride bikes.

En route to the market.

Captain enjoys a coffee at the market.

Captain has a wind problem

It seems both the wind generator and regulator have issues. Captain is currently investigating and Matey may be forced to acknowledge that Captain’s radar for malfunctioning equipment is in fact impeccable and he was not experiencing post-purchase dissonance. TBC …

The rich tapestry

We linger on in Brisbane River, getting to know the locals and surviving a sweltering scorcher (just) – good practise for the tropics when we finally get there (though Matey doesn’t feel any need to rehearse surviving mosquito bites, which she is also becoming well practiced at). Sadly though the crew was struck down by pestilence while languishing in the heat, which made it slightly more difficult to bear. Captain initially suspected scurvy (induced by too much plonk and not enough fruit and veg) but it turned out to be just a cold. Matey then insisted on garlic rations, despite Captain’s protestations and attempts to pull rank.

We are enlightened by other boaties’ theories on each other (have some of them been here too long? Have we perchance been here too long??) Apparently a couple of troglodites who rarely emerge from their hulls are chuffing away quietly. With numerous lone blokes, tales of ex-wives are bountiful. Captain’s theory is that the number of ex-wives relates to the health of said boatie’s state of mind. Captain suspects mutiny on one of the newly arrived boats as the water police paid a visit and Ms Boat (ex-wife to be?) was removed with baggage. Matey suspects a grumpy old Captain finally got justice …

Our lovely ‘rough diamond’ neighbour informed us that we lurk at the seat of Queensland power, beside the Stamford, where prime ministers stay when they visit the northeast and only a few hundred metres from Qld’s Parliament House. Last night we were treated to the Artic Monkeys, who played a gig at the Riverstage nearby. Party central across the river has returned, almost to its pre-xmas glory, with ABBA and the Bee Gees on rotation last night. Could be (and has been) worse – e.g. karaoke.

The barge taking soil surveys/samples for a future tunnel under the river continues working away and was parked a wee bit too close to TC for the Matey’s pleasure - only metres away with the joy of machinery noise, diesel fumes and spotlights at night. A recent all nighter (to speed things up for a tunnel that’s many years away yet) resulted in some constructive complaining and put a stop to night-time work – yay!

The Captain of Many Talents had a busy day installing the wind generator, but he’s experiencing a spot of post-purchase dissonance. Clearly it needs strongish (10+ knots) and consistent winds to do much in the way of power generation – and maybe Brisbane River ain’t the best place to get that. Matey thinks the Captain needs to give our new friend a chance to prove its worth in the bay …           

It was great to have a visit from Susie, Mick, Gemma, Damien and Sam on their way through to Mooloolaba! A record was broken as this was the first time we’d had seven people on the boat simultaneously. 

Hanging around

We’ve been based in the Brisbane River for several weeks now, waiting out the cyclone season. It’s been a productive time with the Captain making the brave decision that a wind farm was required (to Matey’s great relief). With many overcast days the solar panels were struggling to ensure computers and phones don’t sit idle. Oh, and important navigational instruments need power too. Said wind generator has arrived and just needs to be installed.

A visit from Jesse and Kelly meant a jaunt into Moreton Bay. In the first part of the week the weather was disappointing – with overcast days and strong winds – we clocked 50 knot winds one day and sailing was uncomfortable. There’s nothing like nasty weather though to inspire appreciation of the good stuff when it arrives. We spent the first night at Mud Island, aptly named as Jesse quickly got onto the job of catching crabs – and we had blue swimmer crab salad. Delicious!

We welcomed the new year from St Helena Island, a prison farm in former times. We could see the fireworks in Brisbane (just, thanks to the overcast skies). Fortunately there was an early set on for Captain and Matey, who were slumbering long before midnight. Then the weather and wind direction improved enough for us to be able to stay at the lovely Moreton Island. Finally we had blue sky and turquoise waters, snorkeling, walks along the beach and drinks at sunset (and beyond). Not surprisingly, Tangalooma was crowded with boats, 4WDs and campers. Most people behaved themselves fairly well though, apart from speeding jetskiers (who received a stern warning from Captain Plod) and some campers who were overly generous in sharing their tasteful music. We’ve since heard there’s bushfire at Moreton Island thanks to a careless camper’s gas bottle …

Back at Brisbane River, we’re becoming better acquainted with the fellow boat people and Captain can’t be restrained from parties each night. He’s particularly fond of his charismatic new French friend and after promising to have a night off, last night Matey had to shoo the apparently reluctant Captain off to the irresistible Francois’ mega catamaran so he could get his daily fix and help dispatch a surviving bottle of plonk to the recycling bin. Rarely do you meet someone so talented in so many areas of life (two PhDs in unrelated fields, an extraordinary CV, speaker of several languages — with a delicious French accent, of course — PC and Mac meister, sailor extraordinaire, life of any party, charmer, and the list goes on. He radiates warmth and joie de vivre. Matey would die happy if she achieved half of what he has in his lifetime – but there is no chance of that. We bask in his glow and enjoy his company while we have it.

Today, to Matey’s delight, the replacement oar locks for the dinghy finally arrived, ending a frustrating few weeks during which the dingy motor had to be relied on for every trip ashore. The oar locks finally completely broke (fortunately when Captain was rowing so Matey could no longer be blamed for rowing too roughly). Meanwhile though Matey’s once-proud rowing muscles have disintegrated to flab.

Throwing off the shackles

It’s starting to feel like the adventure has really begun. We spent several days anchored off ‘Straddie’, and Matey would be happy to be still there now …

After so many years living and working in the city, lucky to glimpse small patches of the sky for a short time, with no idea what the moon, tides, fish, animals and plants were doing, it was blissful to finally feel like, maybe, we were beginning to tune in to the natural world, just a li’l bit. Being able to see the horizon, further than Matey’s myopic eyes have any hope of transmitting to her brain, day after day, makes Matey feel free.

A lovely walk in the rain through the bush back to Brown Lake also helped us imagine we were kindling a connection with nature. Matey managed to catch some tadpoles in her hands but the little fish were too fast. As she sat in the sand in the shallows they nibbled and tickled her legs – awww!

Matey made a mental leap as she discovered it is possible to do real laps in bay beaches at high tide – she had a fabulous swim across the beach followed by frolicking with baby mullets in the shallows. One more bind to the unnatural world was severed as she realised life without laps in swimming pools is not only possible, but there is a better option if you can find it (so long as it doesn’t involve frolicking with bullsharks – so far avoided).

We meet new people every day – locals and boaties. People are often generous: one man offered his car to make refilling the gas bottle easier (than balancing it on the back of the bike), and most are generous with time and information. Captain got his heart’s desire when he met an aboriginal man who was able to tell him a bit about bush tucker.

But, the lure of concrete, crowds and pollution was irresistible and now we are back in Brisbane River. A few things (e.g. arranging a cover for the dinghy so it survives the sun, replacing oar locks, getting the temperamental dinghy motor checked – who woulda thunk we'd have problems with a quality Chinese motor?) need to be sorted and it’s simpler to do them from here.  We are now beside the lovely Bot Gardens, at the public moorings back among old acquaintances – and making new ones. If you have to be in the city it’s a nice place to be stuck! Captain is in heaven because he has a waterfront apartment in the middle of the city among yachties from all over the world. ‘It doesn’t get any better than this’, declared the Captain.

At this time of the year the river is crowded – many cruisers come south for the cyclone season – the moorings are all taken and a lot of boats are anchored in the river. When we came in a thunderstorm was brewing – there was no space, even to anchor, and there was a spot (or two) of angst. Eventually, thanks to Captain’s good work making friends last visit, we managed to pick up a buoy mooring – but it was on the other side near a bend where the water flows even faster! Not so comfortable – especially when getting in and out of the dinghy – in fact a bit (sc)hairy a couple of times! Captain Procurement did some reconnoitring though and chanced upon a yachtie who was leaving the next day so we picked up his mooring between the pylons. Queue jumpers? Nah – there is no queue here – it’s about who you know (luckily Captain is in the know). As a result we are back at our old home with a view of the gardens, and, due to plans to build a tunnel under the river a barge is taking soil samples which means the ferries have been ordered to slow down – woo hoo!

Bipolar tides

The new moon’s just been and look at what can happen when a high high is followed by a low low …

We have spent the last few days at the lovely Straddie (North Stradbroke Island), anchored at Dunwich towards the northern end. Matey discovered why it was associated with tourism in the dimmest recesses of her mind. With options for land transport limited to legs, a bike and a pair of rollerblades, we splurged on a 4WD ‘eco’ tour on Saturday. This enabled us to visit the creatively named Brown Lake where the water is actually brown from the tannin that leaches out from the surrounding ti trees – supposedly beneficial for bathing in. Unfortunately every tourist on Straddie was there at the same time so we quickly moved on. Looks like a walk there on a week day is in order.

On the east side of the island a wetland runs along the coast acting as a rain catchment and water filter (supplying water to the mainland and nearby islands). We crossed to the ocean beach – it was great to walk along a real beach as the ones in the bay are often muddy. Apart from the 4WD tracks along it (there is no road going north on the east side) the beach was pristine, and fortunately high tide washes the tracks away. We were treated to our guide’s ‘lovely wife’s’ damper – pretty good actually so we took note of the complex recipe.

Views from Point Lookout at the north eastern tip of the island are reminiscent of those from the lighthouse at Byron Bay (ahhh), and we spotted some manta rays and turtles in the distance. 

Lunch was a BBQ on the north-east facing beach, then we visited Amity – also pretty and with the usual $million+ views and houses. No surprises there.

Sand mining is big at Straddie (the many benefits to our daily lives sourced from sand rolled off our  ‘eco’ guide’s, tongue). The mining lease runs out in a few years — hopefully there’ll still be some of Straddie left by then. Apart from the mining — which has an obvious destructive impact — Straddie is relatively untouched and only sparsely populated. There are three towns and ‘development’ is restricted to those areas. Otherwise it’s lovely bush. 

Dinghy crisis

A new crisis has emerged as one of the oar locks on the dinghy is fractured and needs to be replaced. This is after only two months of Matey’s rowing (apparently it’s Matey’s fault for rowing too hard – lucky she’s not a big bloke). Fortunately it's under warranty.

Crawlies

We have invested in a prawn net and a cray/crab ‘pot’ so Matey is trying to be optimistic about future menu items (and her ability to become a hunter/gatherer rather than a should-be vegetarian). Will the squeamish Matey morph into to a ruthless killer? 

Redneck and feral

Despite Matey’s best efforts to avoid the sun, she is acquiring a red neck. She hopes this is not percolating beyond skin depth. Also, her freckles are breeding like bacteria. Meanwhile the Captain’s skin rejoices in the sun and he acquires the golden-bronzed look. Sigh. 

TC spent a week parked between Lamb and Macleay islands, and we looked longingly across to Karragarra island, where there was a beach with easier access to shore. With all the moored boats there wasn’t enough room for TC to anchor there. We had lots of fun bobbing up and down every time a ferry went past. Captain and Matey explored Lamb, Macleay, Karragarra and Russell islands, which are all connected to the mainland by ferries (and barges for cars), so needless to say they are quite heavily populated. This has two advantages though: 
1  Russell has a swimming pool so Matey’s favourite form of exercise was possible, along with ‘proper’ showers and hair washing – the dreads are on hold (for now)
2  two of the islands have supermarkets so stocking up was easy enough – the main challenge was loading groceries into the dinghy while dangling from the ferry dock (other options not being available due to rocks) as the ferries surged in or out. 
We then moved to Russell Island for a couple of days. We've met some locals and other yachties we hope to see again.

Eventually though we had northerly winds and the call of the wild was strong so we made our way down the Canaipa Passage to spend a few days off North Stradbroke Island near Koureyabba. This was very pleasant with barely a soul to be seen and happily, no ferries or barges. Fortunately the wind continued to blow or we may have been more viciously assaulted by mosquitos and sandflies.

After a few weeks of hot and humid weather some rain and a cool change last night is very welcome. This morning we had southerly winds and Matey woke at 5 am to the smell of bacon (with hatches having been closed to rain – urgh!) as Captain made a hearty breakfast in anticipation of a big day’s sailing up to Dunwich, further up North Stradbroke Island and the home of laundry facilities. Soon we were heading north to take advantage of the light wind and tide. Not being a fan of the cold, Matey surprises herself, but after the relentless sun and heat the mist and silvery skies are welcome. No need for sunglasses or squinting today either!

Dawn and dusk

Views at Macleay, Lamb, Karragarra, Russell and North Stradbroke islands.