Current Location: Southport - Surfer’s Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia
Current Position: 27º56.81' S 153º25.39' E Next Destination: Working our way down the coast to Sydney … maybe!
I don’t think of myself as a city girl … actually anything but. And I know Chris is far from a hip city boy. No, we both seem to prefer the small towns, isolated villages, and “in the middle of nowhere” locations. So I was surprised to find myself extremely excited as we worked our way down the channels, towards the towering high rises of Southport & Surfer’s Paradise. A city, I was thinking, a real city … at last! It seemed unreal to have Billabong anchored within site of the huge buildings and rushing traffic.
Anxious to explore we wolfed down lunch and headed ashore. But where to begin? The streets ran in every direction and the shops were endless. We ended up at a gigantic indoor mall. The food court alone took up an entire floor and offered more cuisines then we’ve seen in our entire three years cruising. It also finally dawned on us that is was almost Christmas … sale advertisements and Christmas decorations surrounded us (we even got to see Santa!). I instantly got shopper’s fever – not good for someone with no income! Not that it mattered, I was dragged away as we headed to the marine store across town (oh joy). The marine store was not a total flop though, as across the street was a fancy specialty food market, where we finally replenished our stock of aged gouda.
That night we relaxed in the cockpit, watching the sun set and the lights flicker on around us. It was a fantastic site as the city lights came to life. We were in a perfect location … part of city, yet far enough away to enjoy a calm relaxing environment. I was beginning to like it here!
We had heard this area described as being similar to both South Florida and Anaheim. So true! The theme parks are abundant (in fact we are anchored within swimming distance to Sea World); including a Ripley’s, a Wax Museum, and of course a Hard Rock Cafe. Multi-million dollar homes line the water ways, where pleasure boats are docked, and high rise apartment buildings tower over everything.
On our second day we took the dinghy in and cruised through the waterways, jaws open in awe at both the high rises and the expensive homes. We explored the touristy area of Surfer’s Paradise … where Chris made the mistake of taking me down a street lined with Gucci, Prada, Tiffany, and other high-end shops I hadn’t seen (or worn) since cruising!!! I showed excellent restraint though – mostly by moving quickly!
With our boat in a secure, calm & peaceful location, and the city surrounding us, we find ourselves considering staying a bit. Perhaps through the holidays, maybe even longer. I suppose that sooner or later we’ll tire of the city and people, but for now it feels like its own kind of paradise!
Current Location: Gary's Anchorage, Sandy Straits, Australia Current Position: 25º37.79' S 152º58.38' E Next Destination: Working our way down the coast to Sydney
After three years of cruising, you would think that we'd have 'it' down-pat by now. So, it continues to surprise me that just about every place we go, there is something new to learn -- some new 'thing' to have to deal with.
In Australia that 'thing' is tides, currents, and sand bars (plus hail storms, which I'm still hoping we will miss out on). Sure, everywhere we've been there have been tides, and the currents that come and go with them, but not like here. Traveling through the Sandy Straits we have been dealing with 8-12 foot tides - in 2 meter depths! We draw 2m (meaning we hit bottom at anything under 2 meters) -- so you can imagine just how important getting high tide right has become! In fact we have found just over 2.5 meters and that was close to high tide. As for currents, we are experiencing 2-4 knots. Great when it's going with us, but a bitch when it's against us (since our average motoring/sailing speed is 5-5.5 knots, you can imagine that going against 4 knots is not entirely fun - or speedy). Anchoring especially has become interesting. We have to allow for extra depth to ensure we aren't sitting on the bottom when the tide goes out, and when the current pushes the boat one way, while the wind is trying to push her another, it can turn into a lumpy dance. The same goes for when we are traveling in wind against tide/current situations - the chop produced makes for a bumpy ride!
And finally there are the sand bars. Nice shallow sandy bars, perfect for creating surfing waves (great if you are a surfer, not so great if you are a sailor). We haven't been over the 'serious' bar yet (Great Wide Bar at one end of the Sandy Straits), but it is continuously on our minds. We've heard enough bar crossing horror stories to fill our nightmares for the next months (boats rolling & pitch polling when they catch a wave wrong crossing over a bar). Needless to say we are waiting for very settled weather for our 'first time'!!!
Other then re-learning how to sail (in these new conditions), our time since leaving Bundaberg has been quite relaxing. We left Bundaberg on Saturday, December 2nd, and have been moving slowly through the Sandy Straits, making our way south. It is good for both of us to be out of the marina and 'city', as we find it easier to relax when not surrounded by so many things to do! It is easy for us to get caught up in the hustle of town-life and forgo down time and the simple pleasures of a good book. Since leaving Chris is back to his book a day reading frenzy! The winds have been blowing pretty steadily from the South-South East, which of course is the direction we need to go to get to Brisbane and then Sydney - so we are just hanging, being patient and waiting for lighter conditions (or a wind shift). It looks like on possibly Monday or Tuesday we will have decent enough conditions to cross the bar and head to Brisbane (a quick overnight trip).
When we were looking for a weather window to Oz, Chris asked me what kind of conditions I would be happy with. I replied, "10-15 aft of the beam". "That's way too little [wind]" he told me, but I was talking apparent, and after our 'rough' year I wanted something tame ... something boring. Good & bad, we didn't quite get 10-15 apparent, usually we had less. On one hand the seas were smooth and the sun was out; it was fantastic. On the other hand we motored about half-way to Australia ... the noise and diesel fumes bugging both of us. In the end though neither of us could complain (in fact whenever we make it somewhere safe, regardless of the trip, we tend not to complain)! The most excitement in the trip was when a whale shadowed us for a wee bit, and at one point surfaced right behind three fishing lures we were trolling. We were lucky he didn't snag a hook and relieved when he lost interest in Billabong. Our trip ended nicely when Chris brought in a 4 ft Wahoo the morning of our arrival. For a few more details on our passage and arrival click here to read our BLOGs.
11/4/06 - 11/13/06: Port to Port Rally Events
Our first week in Bundaberg was consumed by various social events put on by the Port to Port Rally. We ate and drank and ate some more. We also spotted our first kangaroos! During one of the Rally BBQs an excited man came running in, announcing there were kangaroos out in the field across the street. It was funny to watch all the tourist pour out of the tent to go stare at these creatures that were just standing there (eating), much in the same manner as a deer in the headlights. I tried to get Chris to chase after them so that we could all see them hop, but lucky for him one took off hopping on its own, while I squealed with joy! The local Australians probably think we are all just a wee bit crazy, after all they see kangaroos nearly daily (just another form of road kill around here). When one man didn't get up to rush out of the tent the excited man said, "Hey come on there our kangaroos!", to which the local boringly replied "I'm Australian, mate!".
During the day we managed to bus into the 'city' a few times; where we found a 'real' indoor mall and both Kmart & Target! Yes, it is hard to believe that we are so easily impressed and excited! The week ended with a tour of the Bundaberg Rum factory and a visit to the local (huge) hardware store. We covered most of the week, including details on Chris' impressive 'invention' (as seen right) in our BLOGs, so I won't bother to go into all again (click here to see the BLOGs). 11/14/06 - 11/19/06
This was pretty much a 'down' week for us. After all the drinking and eating during the previous week we needed a bit of time off (not to mention some exercise). We still managed to be social, including visiting with an older couple we had met at one of the P2P Rally events. Joan and Fred, both in their eighties, had us over to their house for an excellent meal (honey prawns), and entertained us with stories from their past, including some interesting tales from Africa. If we have learned anything from our travels, it is about hospitality and the kindness of locals to complete strangers.
One of the highlights of the week was the purchase of a small-ish 12 volt freezer. A freezer at last! For the most part Chris had always claimed freezers were a luxury we didn't really need ... and of course three years without proves he is right, but ahh the joy of having one! In truth, I owe it to his growing interest in fishing ... the only way he can fish more (and catch more) is if we can preserve it for longer periods (ie freeze it). While I'm excited about more fish, my real joy comes from the tinkling sound of ice cubes clunking against the side of my glass!!!
11/20/06 - 11/27/06: Thanksgiving in Nambour
We were quite excited to finally bring Billabong to Australia, as when we purchased her she was originally registered in Mooloolaba, Australia, and her previous owners now reside in Australia. So we had been looking forward to visiting Steve & Lynne and bringing Billabong back to her roots!
Monday we hopped aboard a bus and after five, mostly boring, hours arrived in Nambour. Steve brought us to their house, which he had built himself, and instantly we were in love with the place. The house is simple, uncluttered, and airy; surrounded by a walk-around deck and filled with endless windows. The yard is vast and green, with a terrific garden, papaya trees and perfect palm trees. And best yet, tons of exotic colorful birds visited hourly, enjoying the feeders, mini pond and bird bath. Chris instantly grew worried; how would he ever drag me away from this land paradise, back aboard Billabong?
We ended up staying a week. Enjoying time on the deck watching the birds, various street fairs and farmer's markets, a few scenic drives, and a visit to Mooloolaba. With the huge kitchen and terrific garden we did a lot of cooking & eating (what's new there), including a fantastic traditional Thanksgiving meal. We also took advantage of endless power, lots of water, decent internet, and the good 'ol T.V.! It was especially good that Steve and Chris could talk boat stuff, while Lynne and I could talk anything but! We loved every minute of it, but still missed Billabong and felt the itch to finally move on and begin trekking south. So we returned to the boat on Monday with plans to get the boat ready and start looking for a good weather window south. 11/27/06 - 12/01/06
The next four days were spent cleaning and organizing ... basically trying to get all the crap put back away! We celebrated a second Thanksgiving with some of the cruisers and said goodbye to some friends who wouldn't be going South. We also, finally, after months of indecision, decided that we would not ship our boat from Australia to the Mediterranean, but rather would join the Darwin to Indonesia Rally in July 2007. This was a huge decision for us, and we'd spent a number of days and nights debating our next steps after Australia. We still aren't sure what we'll do after Thailand ... but hey, that's a whole 'nother year away!!!
Continue reading "Bundaberg & Nambour Area"...
Current Location: Bundaberg, Australia Current Position: 24º45.62' S 152º23.28' E Next Destination: Bundaberg for at least two weeks
More than once on our journey I have thought, “Only cruisers” …. and at least twice over the last week that thought has crossed my mind.
During the last week, the Port to Port Rally has been keeping us busy with every-night eating and drinking events. Besides putting on a few extra pounds, it has been a great chance to meet new people and some of the locals. It is amazing how fast news & stories travel through a fleet of cruisers. It didn’t take long before people were hitting Chris up for both computer and fishing advice. Most people were especially impressed with the use of ‘junk’ aboard Billabong. They found it interesting that he uses old [wine] corks to make fishing lures (and soon they too were rummaging for corks), but were especially curious about the pasta strainer hanging in our rigging. Yes, you read that correctly, we have a pasta strainer hanging from our rigging … and to be honest it is catching on, a number of cruisers are now following suit, and apparently they are doing it in Noumea too (where we first started this trend). What it is in reality is the cruiser’s version of a parabolic wi-fi antennae.
It is really a clever design (perhaps we should patent it, ha ha). Chris taped our external USB wireless network adapter in the center of a medium-sized wire-mesh, hand-held type of pasta strainer (4 bucks at the local supermarket). He strapped that to our rigging, facing the provider’s wi-fi antennae, and ran an extra long USB extension cable down through our hatch. Voila … internet on the boat! We even covered the whole contraption with a Ziploc, making it an all-weather antennae! We started this in Noumea, where we couldn’t even get a signal on the boat, and Chris was getting tired of carrying his computer up to the parking lot to use the internet. Oh sure, we got some strange looks by people walking by, but once word got around that it actually worked, the grocery store found themselves in high demand of wire-mesh pasta strainers. I wonder what people think when the meander by a marina full of boats with pasta strainers and other similar kitchen utensils hanging from their riggings!!! The word followed us all the way to Bundaberg, where cruiser after cruiser quizzed Chris about how to duplicate the setup …. to the point where we finally just brought the thing to one of the Port to Port Rally dinners and had a bit of show-and-tell! Sure, you are laughing, and shaking your head (and perhaps saying, “only cruisers”), but you’d be surprised how well it works, and all it took was a 4-buck pasta strainer and a Ziploc! Still aren’t quite picturing it? – We promise to post a picture on our website soon.
The finale to the week long events was a mini-tour of some of Bundaberg’s sites. It included a stop at Bundaberg’s ginger beer factory and a tour of the Bundaberg rum factory. The rum factory was quite interesting, from the gigantic molasses lake to the huge barrels, each worth about 5 millions dollars (in rum)! The bus ‘tour’ also included a stop at Bunning’s. As the huge charter bus, carrying about 40 people (all now a bit tipsy from rum tasting), pulled into the parking lot a few people walking back to their cars stopped to stare. I’m sure they were wondering what the hell a charter bus would be coming to Bunning’s for … you see Bunning’s is a really big hardware store. Yes, HARDWARE store. And the really funny thing is that everyone on that bus was quite excited to be stopping, and when we were told we only had 30 minutes, I thought there might be a riot!!! Our final stop was at the supermarket plaza, which had a supermarket, liquor store, bakery, and pharmacy. Yes, a tour only a cruiser would love!!!
What’s next for Billabong? With the Port to Port Rally events over, we can finally get on to some relaxing (hmm, like we haven’t been doing that already), and perhaps get a few boat projects done. The previous owner of Billabong lives nearby and has invited us for Thanksgiving, so we’ll probably stay in the Bundaberg area through Thanksgiving, and then begin our trek down towards Sydney.
Current Location: Bundaberg, Australia
Current Position: 24º45.62' S 152º23.28' E
Next Destination: Bundaberg for at least two weeks
So our passage didn't stay quite as dreamy as it had started out, but all-in-all it was still quite nice. The biggest problem was a lack of wind coupled with just a tad too much swell. The boat would roll a bit, slackening the sail (because there wasn't enough wind to hold it), and then when the boat rolled back, the sail, along with the boom, would slam back into place ... an ugly and loud noise that eventually drove us (especially Chris) crazy. With the banging sails and looming overtime charges if we didn't get into Bundaberg by 4:30pm on Friday, we motored more then we normally would have ... in all we figured we probably motored about halfway here! But the cost of diesel was less then the cost of overtime charges, and we saved our sails from the extra, unneeded, wear and tear. Everyday was filled with near cloudless bright blue skies and sparkling clear waters. The swell was never that bad, and I was thrilled to have a passage without seasickness. After a year full of beating to weather and 20-30 kts, this passage was a welcome relief.
We had a bit of entertainment along the way as well. In all we caught three fish, of which we only kept the 4 ft Wahoo caught on the morning of our arrival. The guy was strong and put up a good fight, bruising my finger, and giving Chris a pretty good gash on his hand (via teeth). Luckily we did NOT catch a whale --- About half way here, on a very flat sea day, we had a whale (maybe two) check us out. Chris and I were both reading in the cockpit when we heard the blow. "What was that?", Chris asked, and when I looked over the side I could see a large dark shape just thirty feet off our stern. Just a few seconds later emerged the back of a huge whale ... it appeared as though he was actually chasing our fishing lures, "Uh oh" I said as the big 'ol whale head brushed into the lures before losing interest and diving back down. I was sure he was going to snag a hook, but luckily there was nothing for the hooks to grab onto and they just brushed off his back. Next the whale came along our starboard side and swam along side us for a few minutes, as though trying to figure out what kind of sea creature Billabong was. I just hoped he didn't mistake us for a potential mating partner! For quite awhile he seemed to follow us, always resurfacing just behind us while we slowly moved along ... it was a good spot of entertainment for the day, but we still let out a big sigh of relief once we were clear and sure we weren't going to hit each other. The last 'creature' to keep us company was a Boobie (bird), who decided our collapsed main sail would be a good spot for a break. He rode along for a bit until, in our efforts to say hello, we scared him off. He attempt a couple of more landings, but apparently wasn't used to landing on a moving target, and could never get it quite right.
We arrived in Bundaberg on Friday (Nov 3rd), about six and half days after departing Noumea. As we closed in on Bundaberg I commented to Chris that you would never know how big Australia is from this angle; the land seemed really flat, almost like an atoll, and not much seemed to occupy the shoreline ... it will be interesting to see what other Australian shore-side cities look like. Customs and Quarantine were some of the nicest, and youngest, officers we've experienced. We spent so much time chatting it was hard to get the paperwork filled out. We never would've guessed but apparently electric fly-swatters are considered weapons and not allowed in Australia!!! I guess people are known to buy them and alter the battery to higher voltage, creating taser-like mechanisms (what will people think of next?). We were just finishing up the final papers when another boat was heading for the quarantine spot in front of us and lost forward gear. We came out to assist them in backing in, and, go figure, they lost reverse. The winds and current started pushing them right for Billabong! Yikes! No worries though, we were able to throw out fenders and grab their lines, rafting them up to Billabong. The poor people aboard were horrified that they might of damaged Billabong, but there wasn't a ding in her. Later they had to tow her away, and then we moved into a regular slip.
Since we had joined the Bundaberg Port to Port Rally, we now have a week of social events to look forward to, and have been meeting a number of new boats. I already feel overwhelmed with the endless things to see and do in Australia!!!
We are Chris & KT Myles aboard the Sailing Vessel Billabong (a 44 foot sloop). We set sail from Ventura, CA in Dec 2003 and spent 5.5 years and 33,000 miles sailing the world. Learn more about our adventure through Our Blog
