Author: Neill

In the Canary Islands we cycled the 2100 meters uphill to the rim of Teide. Off Africa we cycled 1100 meters uphill through a desert to the crater of Santa Antao. In South America we cycled in to the Andes and across a 3500 meter pass. We then cycled down Cotopaxi from 4600 meters. In Polynesia we cycled across the middle of Tahiti. And now we are in Bundaberg, Australia so we needed to get out and cycle the highest mountain.

Bundaberg’s highest point is “the Sloping Hummock” which was named by Lieutenant Flinders. He was obviously very imaginative as, seen from the sea, the hill is a sloping hummock. It is a very impressive 96 meters above sea level.

We left Artemis anchored in the river in the middle of Bundaberg and cycled through the Baldwin Swamp and then out of the town heading East. The Hummock is easily seen across the table flat landscape and the views from the top were extensive.

We then continued out to the Pacific coast where we ate a snack and enjoyed the view back across the ocean where we had come from. We both felt that it was time we sailed Artemis back down the river and out in to the ocean where she belongs.

On the beachfront, Heidi was attacked by a “swooping bird”. These are magpies that attack you as you cycle past and the reason most cyclists have cable ties sticking out of the top of their helmets. We do not yet have this modification so when the bird attacked Heidi, it took a peck at her cheek which surprised her. In Australia it appears everything attacks you.

Back in Bundaberg, we visited the Rum Distillery. We decided not to buy a bottle of rum for $450, nor a “Bundaberg Rum” hat for $60. We also passed on the tour of the distillery so enjoyed a very inexpensive visit.

As we had the bikes put together, we also visited the swamps again, the ginger beer brewery, the zoo and the vegetable store. An enjoyable exploration of Bundaberg.

and in Australia the weather was … SUNNY! Except over Bundaberg, where the mother of all rain storms was hovering like a huge ink blot on the weather radar.

The screenshot shows clear skies all over the surrounding country but a 300 kilometer wide torrential rain storm sat right over us. And it sat there for 24 hours. The boat is shiny clean, the water cans are full to brimming with fresh rain water scooped out of the dinghy and we decided against cycling.

The rain leaked through the window above the sleeping Heidi so, as soon as the rain finished, there was a change of plan and that window was ripped out and the new polycarbonate “none leaky” window installed. If we are anything, we are flexible.

This week we also managed to remove our “holding tank” (the polite name for where the s%&t from the toilet goes) from under the bed and take it to some one who found the leak and repaired it. We then reinstalled it and things look no different to before we started. I am so glad we have photos to prove that we actually do something.

We also installed new service batteries. The third set since we started. To paraphrase something we recently heard from a sailor
– Solar power is the most expensive way to get electricity for free –
But, at the same time renewable energy is absolute freedom and we wouldn’t ever want to be without it.

So we got rained on, had a leaky, s%&t tank and spent more money on more batteries but then the sun sets across the river and you realize, there are much worse ways to live.

We spent four weeks working on the boat, two on the hard stand and two in the marina. Various people commented on our hard work and how beautiful Artemis looks but we were both itching to “get going again”.

Yesterday we put all the sails back on to Artemis and she looked like a sailing boat. In the evening we attended our last “cruisers BBQ” at the marina and this morning we backed out of the berth and entered the Burnett River. There was hardly any wind but we still shook out the mainsail to re-stack it and left it up “just for fun”.

We headed upriver being pushed by the rising tide. The motor ran nicely, the tide added a knot and even the wind occasionally filled the sails. Life was as it should be.

At one point the charts showed a depth of zero centimeters so we were relying on the tide adding two meter to that so that we could sneak across the sand bar. Heidi was navigating, Neill was watching the depth meter, the situation was tense but everything worked out. We had 40 centimeters between us and the bottom. Easy!

We passed farms, houses and the famous Bundaberg Rum distillery – where all the local sugar cane gets converted to Rum – and finally anchored in the middle of town. The trip was under ten miles but it was our return to freedom.

Over four years ago, when we first left from the yard in Scotland, we achieved only five miles, so we are getting better.

Before we left Artemis in March, we cleaned everything and were really happy when we opened the hatch and found all that clean woodwork waiting for us. Over the next week and a half we ground all the old anti-fouling and epoxy off the hull in a dusty boat yard. We then applied new epoxy to the hull and covered that with four coats of Coppercoat during a non-stop six hour painting marathon.

After all that, the boat was no longer so clean.

We launched on a Friday morning. Nothing leaked and it was beautiful to finally be a boat with the gentle rocking we know after four years at sea. In the marina we had unlimited water so could seriously clean the deck, cockpit and all the fittings. We then spent three days masking everything up and repainting the deck with anti-slip. Hard work but worth it.

We have also started to change all the internal lights to new LED systems and begun the major “change all eight windows” project that has been planned since Polynesia. We are definitely back in boating life and dreaming of “heading off up the river” at the end of this week.

There are a number of other cruisers in the marina. Many coastal sailors and a few ocean sailors. We all meet up on a Friday night for a marina sponsored barbecue, swap stories and receive invitations to “pop in” for a visit when you pass. Australians are so friendly.

Stop press: During all the painting, my very best, most favorite, work trousers ripped again and looked like they were finally dead. But Heidi saved them and I now have a really fashionable yellow rip. Impressive or what?

Time to write a blog. What was the address to log in to Buruwang? What is my password? Where do I click to write a new blog post? I can tell that it is a long time since I last posted an entry here.

But I have a good excuse. OK! It is the excuse I always use. Life happens too quickly to find time to write about it. But the six months in Germany were so packed that we didn’t even have time for living all the life we needed to live.

Heidi was immediately back in to paid life with a job in her bosses new practice and another as a waitress at the Hotel Krone in Mittelberg. She loved both jobs but some days she was hardly at home.

Luckily the German government decided to reform the property tax. The execution of this project was completely incompetent which resulted in loads of unwanted extra work for the tax advisors. While some just panicked, Barbara employed me to deal with the project. A fantastically enjoyable job with great colleagues. I also worked a fair few overtime hours.

Our sailor friends from the sailing yacht Sybo visited us and managed to experience a day of winter, a day of spring and a day of summer all in the same weekend. We enjoyed showing them Allgäu and reminiscing.

We visited my sister and her family in the UK. While there, I proposed to Heidi and she accepted so we had to fit in getting married before we left Germany. Heidi also had a “little bit” of work helping her daughter, Julia prepare for her wedding.

A few years ago we bought an apartment that was being built. It was finished this spring so we bought the furnishings and kitchen, installed curtains and fittings and completed everything so that our friends Caro and Stefano can now rent it as a holiday flat.

We cycled with Wera and Gremmel in Allgäu and, during a long weekend, in the Bavarian Forest. We also cycled to work and back each day but that is commuting and therefore not officially fun.

We visited friends, friends visited us and we went out with friends. All the children were four years older and some new houses had appeared, but it was still sometimes hard to believe we had been away four years. Real friends are those who you can visit after years and it seems like yesterday.

And then last week Julia and Michael drove us to the airport and it felt like we had only been picked up by Daniel a week before but had lived a year in the last six months.

The [Mary] river level may exceed the major flood level from Sunday morning. Further river level rises above the Major flood level are possible.

Queensland Flood Warning Number: 14

HEAVY RAINFALL which may lead to flash flooding is forecast. INTENSE RAINFALL leading to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding. DAMAGING WIND GUSTS with peak gusts in excess of 90 km/h .

Queensland Severe Weather Warning 1

Mary River … will move to RED ALERT from 2200 hrs

Marine Rescue Hervey Bay

Australian weather is a bit like Australian Fauna. You get the impression it wants to kill you.

Day 1:

On a buoy in Maryborough surrounded by the damage from the floods six weeks ago. The marina owner warned us we should move down river as a minor flood was forecast. By the time we left the warning had been updated to a moderate flood.

Sailed downriver. Following a “local” as we guessed he knew the best route. The local crashed in to a sandbank that was not charted. A second local boat crashed next to him. We went round the bank and turned the corner. We were immediately hit by one of the “damaging wind gusts” and could make no progress against wind and waves. Turned round and anchored.

Day 2:

Woke to find trees passing us in the flood water. The warning had been updated to a major flood. Lifted anchor and passed another uncharted sandbank which five local boats had hit the previous day. Navigated very gingerly to the river mouth and then out in to the Great Sandy Strait.

Only three miles from the safety of Fraser Island we were lashed by a storm which drove us backwards. Hemmed in between sandbanks we could only turn back towards the mainland.

The wind meter went crazy with the static charge of an electrical storm. We are pretty sure we did not really have 99 knots of wind. A lightning strike next to the boat destroyed the electronics leaving us with no wind speed or depth meter. It also electrocuted Heidi who was below decks. Luckily she recovered – unlike the electronics.

Against the outflow of the Mary River we could barely make one knot despite the storm from behind. The sea was “crazy” with the boat turning in all directions. We made it back past the river mouth and – guided by the marine rescue – found an anchorage in the Susan River for the night.

Day 3:

The river was running strong all night. The marine rescue and the Queensland government suggested it was not the place to be as the River moved to “Red Alert” so we sailed through the drizzle to hide behind Fraser Island and weather the “strong winds” forecast for the next three days. Luckily we have a handheld depth meter to find the anchor spot.

Sailing! Never boring.

From Fraser Island, we crossed back to mainland Australia and followed the Mary River up to the town of Maryborough. After four years of oceans, it is a nice change to be sailing along a river with farmland on each side of us. The river flooded massively last month and we could still see the flood debris high in the trees.

Off Maryborough we anchored below Lookout Point for the night. The next day we moved up to the marina and took one of their buoys so that we could go off biking without worrying about the boat dragging when the tide changes and the boat swings.

We assembled the bikes and then used them for a short exploration of the town. To start we cycled through the suburbs to look at the typical Queensland houses with their raised verandas. Then in to the “town center” to look at the (for Australia) old houses including the post office that dates back to 1865 making it the oldest standing post office in Australia. Queens Park contains a moving war memorial that describes the futility of Australian and New Zealand involvement in the First World War.

Mary Poppins was written in Maryborough and we found a statue of her and also enjoyed the Mary Poppins traffic lights that are installed at the city’s intersections.

On the second day, we were out early to beat the forecast rain. It had been raining all night so we found a few minor floods to cross but managed to return and have the bikes packed away before the clouds opened and drenched the whole county.

Our routes are both at Alltrails:
day 1
day 2

We are anchored off Kingfisher Bay behind K’Gari (Fraser Island). Inland there is an immaculately clean, see through lake with the finest sand and water that reflects the blue sky. Surprisingly, this being Australia, there is absolutely nothing in the lake that is trying to kill or eat you. We had to visit.

There are tours offered for $200 per person. Another alternative is to hire a 4×4 car for a day for “only” $250 per person. We considered the mountain bikes but that is forbidden on the walking trails. So we decided to walk, see more of the island and save $500.

We left the dinghy on the beach, passed out of the electrified dingo fence and walked along the cliffs to the site of an old sawmill and loggers jetty. Once there, we turned inland and headed into the forest. The walk to the lake was 15 kilometers and we met not a single other person on the walking trail. Just the two of us alone in the untouched rain forest was a beautiful experience.

Lake McKenzie was as stunning as we had read. The sand is as fine as dust, the water is totally transparent and the temperature perfect. After 15 kilometers of walking across sand it was a dream to dip in to the lake. When we arrived there were quite a few people but they mostly left on their bus a short time later. The lake is pure, clear rainwater and absolutely stunning.

We walked back up to the car park and ate our picnic inside a fenced in area. It is illegal to have food outside these compounds because of the danger of attracting dingos who are the apex-predators on the island. I think we saw nearly a hundred signs saying “Be dingo safe – keep hold of your children!”

The walk home was via a different path but just as beautiful. The last part was on the sand road so we had to avoid the (partly incompetent) 4×4 drivers but it was an enjoyable walk. After a total of 25 kilometers we reached the coast and the Sand Bar. We treated ourselves to a hamburger, drinks and a swim in their swimming pool. A perfect end to a fantastic day.

Our route is at AllTrails.

Having crossed the Wide Bay Bar (and giving my muscles time to recover from the battering) we set off north through the Great Sandy Strait between Australia and Fraser Island (K’Gari in the local language). It is full moon at the moment so we have tides of four meters and currents of two knots or more so sailing takes a little planning.

As the earth turns below the moon (and the sun) it causes the oceans to be deformed and the result are tides. Often a sand bar is just under water or even showing but six hours later it can have four meters of water covering it. Obviously the water doesn’t just appear and disappear – it has to flow to the sandbank and away again. This causes tidal currents which flow six hours one way and then turn to flow back. We can use these tides and currents to cross shallow areas and gain speed when running with the tide. It takes some planning but it is fun.

Off the main channel there is a bend called Garry’s anchorage. We used the current to head north and slipped past the sand bar near high tide. Out in the Pacific another storm was raging but we were sheltered behind the huge bulk of Fraser Island. We took the dinghy to shore for a walk through the rainforest to Garry’s Lake. Our first dingo was spotted on the beach and I nearly stood on a long green and brown snake who was hiding in the grass. Luckily there were no crocodiles to be seen but the warning signs have put us off swimming.

The north end of the anchorage was charted with 0.4 meters so we took the dinghy and a bamboo pole to check the reality. It was good that we did as one of the lateral buoys was wrong and would have guided us on to the sand. Armed with our “local knowledge” we crossed the bar at high tide with sixty centimeters to spare below Artemis and turned once again North.