Boatyard bliss

With the Port Douglas tourist season coming to an end Matey’s paid work dried up, which enabled us to contemplate hauling out before the wet season was upon us: a quick scrubbing back and repainting of the hull to keep the barnacles at bay — non? Hmmm — it’s rarely that simple. The proposed one week on the hardstand soon morphed into three.

Hauling out at the Cairns Cruising Yacht Squadron enabled us to have Ebb Tide propped up high, which gave good access to the centerboard casings. This turned out to be timely as a small hole was found in one. Best to find it before it becomes a leak! The centerboards were completely removed and the ropes were replaced. Amazingly, on the day prior to relaunching, we managed to get them back into position, with new ropes on and the pre-industrial rope and pulley system working smoothly again. This seemed an unlikely achievement at the time.

Glazed not crazed

Captain, on a whim, decided to order new windows. This created a few days’ extra work with the dismantling of the old, cleaning the gunk away, and installation of the new, but they have provided such joy Captain and Matey are both wondering why this wasn't done several years ago. It’s likely we’ll be celebrating the benefits of actually being able to see through windows for some time to come. If only we’d realised that good visibility was one of the main functions of windows … 

Wooden it be luverly

Matey embraced the task of varnishing all the interior wood. This included not just floorboards, but all cupboards, panels and wooden detailing; quite a job as it turned out, with the thrill of sanding the bits that couldn’t be removed inside the boat and the resulting blanket of dust that continues to reveal itself. The challenge and concern is that much of this wood had previously been treated with beeswax. The wax seemed to have evaporated from the more sun-exposed sections, while other areas required significant sanding. Whether the teak will happily accept this change long-term remains to be seen …

While Matey was labouring away at the wood Captain was having even more fun touching up the gelcoat, and the hull. Captain has decreed next time we need to water-blast the hull completely to take it back to its original gelcoat (i.e. remove all layers of antifoul).

Generally, we’re pleased with the result, with the new windows looking good even from the outside. After three fairly intense weeks a sanity break at Fitzroy Island and Turtle Bay reminded us why we live on a boat and made the boatyard bliss seem worthwhile. A week before the Xmas crowds we had Turtle Bay to ourselves and only a few other boats were at Fitzroy Island. A day’s sail and we were back at Port Douglas, with a warm welcome home.

At least we had a view of water and were high enough to catch some breeze

We managed one day off to go to Behana Gorge 

Once a naughty boy ...

Our freshwater bath at Turtle Bay

Legless

We have been based in Port Douglas for many months now. Matey has acquired some work and we’ve enjoyed socialising as numerous friends have escaped the cold climes with a visit to FNQ. We’ve increased our circle of ‘local’ friends too. Transient though much of the population here is, there are enough ‘keepers’ for us to feel quite at home in our new locale. Matey has even experienced a ‘girls’ night out’.

While the Matey has been working hard on improving her barista skills the Captain has been refining his persona as the putative ‘boat bitch’ and galley slave. He was not to be outdone in the hard yards stakes and many outstanding boat jobs have been attended to. This frenzy of activity has resulted in new batteries, a new fridge and lovely new ambient lighting, which has brought great joy to Matey (the migraineur) whose eyes no longer need to be aggravated by harsh and flouro lights. (Thanks Klaas for the inspiration!)

Even the drive leg has been removed and taken apart, a job the poor old Capt could not possibly avoid any longer, as one of the seals had frozen and the entire leg needed to be dismantled and eventually taken to an engineer for some attention. The result is a gliding propeller that moves with ease and we hope a drive leg that will hum happily for many years to come.

A new aerial has been installed so the Matey can occasionally still listen to radio the old-fashioned way without demolishing too many gigabytes. Luckily someone on the boat knew a thing or two about antennas, and was eager to demonstrate his skill on the home front, so the Matey didn’t have to wait too many years for this particular improvement.

The new fridge was an exciting acquisition that involved more than just purchasing and installation. The boat’s original bar fridge operated on gas, which meant the tedious replacement of a nine kilogram gas bottle every two weeks (via bicycle), the storage and weight of extra bottles, the unnecessary expense and needless use of a fossil fuel, and it was not a great system for remote cruising. The new fridge is electric and powered by the solar panels so some wiring and tinkering was required. Thanks again Klaas for your assistance! :)

Despite the frenzy of activity we have still managed to do some exploring.

At Emerald Creek Falls with Klaas and Jetty

The drive leg before its dismantling 

Amputee

Spring Creek Falls

Port Douglas sunset    

Selfie at Spring Creek Falls

Rock wallabies at Granite Gorge Nature Park

Awww!(some)

Bloomfield Falls

Preparing to 'tyre tube' after rain

With Julie at Mossman Gorge

Julie and Henry at PDYC

With Emma and Frank at Low Isles

Dan and Suzie en route to Low Isles

Paddle-boarding down a creek

About a week ago a croc trap was installed near where we are anchored to remove one of our larger neighbours. Once the door had dropped down we decided to investigate, and sure enough, a very large reptile was inside, though the early morning sun wasn't at the best angle for photographs. We got as close as we are ever likely to be to such a monster without morphing into brunch. He was very quiet and didn't move. Maybe he had expended all his energy fighting the trap during the night?

Zoom for a glimpse of our 4 m neighbour inside.

Poor Mr Croc was to be moved on and some of our human neighbours might be pleased about it. Boat folk are not always known for their sobriety and recently one of our neighbours, though unable to stand upright, managed to get into his dinghy and manoeuvre  it back to his boat. Mysteriously, though, somehow he ended up in the drink. Fortunately no crocs were immediately to hand or the Matey might be relating a sorry tale. A passing vessel managed to quickly haul him to safety, despite the dark, to the Captain's great relief. Said neighbour was none the wiser about his brush with the elements the next day.

Deflated yet hopeful

It is with a heavy yet hopeful heart that the Matey writes this post. A visit to the Low Isles and a snorkel there on a perfect day revealed many beautiful things, including coral that seemed to be in quite good shape. The water visibility wasn’t good, with a lot of sediment floating, resulting in an often green hue. Yet despite this Matey once again experienced the magic of joining the marine life in their world, which here at least, is looking relatively healthy. A long, slow glide with a green turtle restored Matey’s sense of joy in the amazing planet we inhabit, and hope that us humans will care for it as we should. Matey feels sad at the loss of so much beauty further to the north, where the reef has bleached, but hopeful that enough pockets of coral, like at the Low Isles, have survived the bleaching to go on and spawn new coral to replace the dying and dead. Then the young coral and companion species need enough years of sufficiently cool waters to become colonies and replace dead reefs. But where there is life there is hope!

RIP Dinghy the First

Our dinghy had been looking increasingly ragged and the cover was becoming quite tattered. It had acquired the fond name of ‘the deflatable’ as its glue seams failed and each time it was repaired it would remain inflated for a day or so and then fail in another place. Captain was unwilling to give up on the sad sack our trusty steed had become and determinedly fixed each failed seam, with loving care and patches, though the process of glueing curved seams and leaving it ashore overnight to fix, in croc-infested waters required some patience, the occasional borrowing of a dinghy, and now and then the flagging down of passers by for a lift ashore.

Swimming to and from Ebb TIde not being an option, we finally faced the sad fact that the dinghy’s reliable life was over. We then experienced the warm and friendly (and sometimes a little too relaxed!) customer service to be found in FNQ. Good ole Captain had already made enquiries in Cairns and sourced a possible replacement dinghy. A phonecall or two later and the new dinghy was on the way to arrive in Port Douglas within two hours. Mr Delivery was flexible and happy to make the detour to collect the new dinghy immediately. Mr Salesman was fine with payment after the dinghy had arrived. A few complications resulted from the rushed delivery, such as the wrong sized seat and oars being sent. Being relaxed and apparently quite busy, he needed a few reminders to sort this out, but we were impressed by the goodwill and trusting nature of these great people who went out of their way to help us out, and save us from what could have been a frustrating and inconvenient wait sans dinghy.

Dinghy the Second

The new dinghy has welded seams. We hope this means failing glue won’t be a problem. It also has an aluminium base and Captain managed to source some fabulous pneumatic wheels for it that pop up and down easily as required, and so far roll over each surface they have been tested on without complaint. This is a definite improvement on the plastic ‘wheels’ of the previous dingy, which bogged in sand and refused to turn, and never seemed content rolling on smoother surfaces such as ramps.

Dinghy II, being slightly longer and wider than Dinghy I, seems to rise to the plane more easily, which is good news. It is also smoother to row. Sadly though, its once eager-to-start motor is showing signs of becoming temperamental. Hopefully a thorough service is all that is required …

Also inflated

Captain recently decided another exciting purchase was essential. A paddleboard, while not advisable where crocs abound, is an enjoyable way of getting around elsewhere, say, at the Low Isles. It’s a good way of turtle spotting and checking out coral clusters when the water’s flat and clear. Why did it take us so long to realise a paddleboard was mandatory?

The sad sack hangs limply from davits 

Who wouldn't be cheered by these beauties?

What a healthy new dinghy looks like, hanging from the davits. Note stylish wheels.

A flat surface on a calm day. Why not yoga?

Port Douglas through a new lens

When our friend Dan invited us to housesit his resort apartment in 'Port' we gladly accepted. In the hottest and most draining wet season we have yet encountered the relief his air-conditioned pad provided from the barrage of heat was welcome indeed. Knowing we could return to a cool apartment, drained and drenched, after brief forays out enabled us bravely to face the sauna outside. We also had some relief from the heat while visiting Melbourne, and without these respites it’s hard to imagine having survived this last wilting wet season entirely on the boat. Happy hours were spent in Port meeting locals and cooling off. Thanks Dan! ☺

The very dry ‘wet’ is not over yet and the Matey shouldn’t tempt fate by speaking too soon, but we have not yet needed to venture up a mangrove creek to befriend crocs and sandflies while escaping an approaching cyclone. With very little cloud cover and even less rain, the water also overheated and, like us, the coral found the ambient temperature to be intolerable and have gone into preservation mode by expelling their colourful algae. We can only hope this bleaching event will be brief enough for them to survive and for the colour to return, before it becomes permanent and fatal. How sad it is to see once colourful, lively ecosystems reduced to a ghostly white. If only, like us, they could have escaped to a generous friend’s cooler abode. (As we all know the reason for this heat and coral damage is human-induced climate change, but the Matey shall spare you her rant about that, for now).

Spending time in Port Douglas allowed us to explore some of the surrounding landscape and pay homage to a much loved local waterfall at Spring Creek, as well as cooling off in fast-flowing local rainforest streams. A recent walk with the Cairns Bushwalking Club enabled us to make some new friends and discover the Mowbray Falls, which we accessed from private property, but it can also be accessed from above via the Bump Track. This was a great day walk involving much rock-hopping and even a mandatory swim across a gorge with sides steep enough to prevent climbing around. The swim required floating backpacks and we discovered large vacuum sealed bags with an air pocket inside (along with packpacks) were quite effective in keeping the contents dry. One well-organised walker had brought an inflatable dinghy/lie-low for the purpose.

The gorge: no way of avoiding a swim 

The gorge: getting dressed after hauling packs up the side

Just another swimming pool

The top of Mowbray Falls

A little sideshow with pool near the top

Rainforest retreat

Given our love of rainforests, the offer to house-sit in Rossville seemed too good to be true. The first week we were blessed with perfect weather and made the most of the opportunity to explore the surrounding area. The second week reminded us why rainforest is called rainforest!

We finally managed to visit Kija (Roaring Meg Falls), a waterfall we had long hoped to reach, but had been reluctant to attempt the Creb Track without a four wheel drive. As it turned out, in dry conditions the 4WD wasn’t required (approaching from the north) apart from the last kilometer on the track in to the falls, which was very rough, so we walked it. Kija is quite spectacular, but we refrained from taking photos in respect of the wishes of traditional owners, for whom this is a very sacred place. Some things just have to be filed away in the neurons (though a Google search will retrieve many images). Definitely worth visiting!

We managed to complete our exploration of the Bloomfield Track by approaching the Daintree from the north, having previously been stopped at Emmagen Creek by deep water.

Near Rossville we eventually found our way up to the ‘Rock of Knowledge’ from which we had an excellent view of the surrounding mountains. We also managed dips in some of the freshwater swimming holes, including at Wallaby Creek and also at a confluence of creeks at Ngalba Bulal (Cedar Bay) National Park (Mangkalba). The drive through this rainforest between Bloomfield and Rossville is one of the most beautiful and dramatic the Matey has seen. Ever. Sigh …

We also visited the Bloomfield Falls after rain, which was as dramatic a change from its dry season flow as we could have imagined. On the way home we discovered the joy of strawberry mangoes falling to the ground. It would have been a terrible shame to waste them …

The more time we spend at Cooktown, Rossville and their surrounds the more lovely people we meet and the more amazing homes we are invited to. One family wakes up to Black Mountain every day. Another couple live at Mt Amos and wake to as spectacular a view as we have seen anywhere, and live in a work of art.

Matey makes new friend

Unexpectedly attractive bridge on Bloomfield Track

View from 'Rock of Knowledge'

Brumbies on Creb Track

Refreshingly cool swimming hole, Ngalba Bulal NP

Poor old Capt relaxes his weary bod.

First glimpse of Bloomfield Falls after rain

Confluence of creeks

View at Mt Amos