Goodbye to Sunshine Coast and Into Great Sandy Strait

Over the bar and safely into the South Pacific Ocean on an absolute calm day with winds at 5 knots, seas with no swell and beautiful blue skies.  We head north past Old Woman Island (looks like a whale).  Motoring along at a speed of 16kmph.  We are now really beginning to feel like our trip is all speed ahead.

Turtle swimming passed us

Noosa Heads


We pass Noosa Heads and Noosa North shore and we suddenly notice swimming passed us is a huge turtle who is bobbing his head up and down in the water.  We do a quick turn around to have a look at him, swimming so gracefully with what seems like not a care in the world – Just like us now….

Double Island Point Light House

We can’t believe how calm the sea is and the day seems so perfect.  We see in the distance The light house on land at Double Island Point and remember back a few months prior, to when we were camping on the beach and walked up to this light house and watched out at sea to see another cruiser boat motoring passed.  On that day we looked at each other and said, “Not long now and that will be us”,  Excitement ran through us both on that day, but nothing like we are feeling now that we are living “ This Dream”.

"Bottle number 1"

Before we left Brisbane we bought four coloured glass bottles and decided that along our trip we would drop these bottles in the ocean at sporadic points with notes in them.  In the notes we will write what we are doing, our blog address and the point where we drop them and the date.  In the hope that someone, somewhere, someday finds them and contacts us.

So just passed the Double Island Point light house, we pull out a red bottle and write our note, we then seal the top with some silicone (as Andrew says – “ Silicone fixes, cough’s, colds and sore holes”).  We then throw our first bottle with the name of Mingo written on the side over board.  Its funny the feeling you have watching something of yours floating away behind you to who knows where.

Friday "Traffic on the ocean wave"

Further during the late morning and we have now been motoring for about 4 hours and see our first yacht in sight.  We could really begin to love this type of Friday traffic!! 

Its beautiful out at sea and very surreal when you cant see another boat in sight.  We are looking at sights now from the opposite side we are used to.  We have camped on Bribie Island and Noosa North shore and have visited Noosa Heads and Fraser Island and Inskip Point but we are now seeing them from sea instead of seeing sea from land.

Up towards the southern end of Fraser now and onto Inskip Point.  We have been told this bar is pretty treturous to cross, and Christie is at her wits end with the thought of having to boat surf the waves for half  and hour whilst crossing the bar, especially when we are not able to find our line of sight because the sun is gleaming off the water.  Half an hour later and white knuckles for Christie and a huge adrenalin rush for Andrew who finds the surfing of a 30 foot, five and a half ton boat exhilarating, we get to the other side and are happy to be radioing in to Tin Can Bay coast guard that we are safely across.

Beautiful night at Pelican Bay

We have now entered “Great Sandy Strait” which is known as one of the best and safest waterways in Australia for sailing with an abundance of wildlife including dolphins, dugongs, turtles and birds, (and Christie thinking hopefully not sharks).   We find a quiet spot called “Pelican Bay” with only 4 other boats anchored around.  We then want to do a bit of exploring around the mangrove areas before dark, so put the “Sea Joey” back in the water (as she is now tied up at the back of the boat), and of course what else but find out that we have filled her to much with air and split a seam.  We look at each other and laugh…..  Thank goodness for the bike tyre repair kit for some quick fix it by Andrew.  We then watch the sunset as we have our fishing rods out and are sitting back having a few nibbles on our line but unfortunately to our disappointment no catches.

Andrew having a fish

After a nice sleep in we wake to another beautiful day, and cant believe that we are only a few hours from Brisbane and the weather is already feeling a few degrees warmer.  We have a nice coffee and warm croissants with jam and butter for breakfast before heading to have alook around the southern end of the Straits.  So off to Tin Can bay we head.  First stop is a fuel fill up at the marina, then head back out to Tin Can Inlet to anchor up the boat and take the “Sea Joey” (who is now temporarily not leaking) for a ride to shore.  We have a 40 min walk into the small town to buy a paper and some milk then have a stop at a lovely little cafe on the waterfront for a coffee.  This café is renowned for having dolphins come and visit out the front (we weren’t lucky enough to witness this on our visit).

Back on Mingo and we have a bit more of a rough ride to our next stop as the winds have blown up and even though we have coverage from the islands, we seem to still have a bit of swell.  We head over to a spot on the Western side of Fraser behind a “Dream Island” where we anchor up in once again very calm waters with about a dozen other boats also having chosen here to get out of the wind for the night.

Enjoying the view with champagne on the front of Mingo

Andrew popping bottle of Champagne

Chris spilling bottle of Champagne

What looks like a UFO blazing above in the skyline

Christie makes up some nibbles and Andrew pulls out the champagne and cushions and we sit on the front of the boat and toast to ourselves and Mingo to the start of an amazing journey. 

Sunset at Dream Island

We have a spectacular sunset in front of us and all of a sudden see what looks like a UFO blazing past in the sky above. (See at top middle right of picture a blaze in the sky)  It was a nice way to end a very relaxing day. Then closing up the canopies for the night, we are both standing on the duck board at the back and this white dolphin swims by, what a lovely sight to see just before bed.

Our Final Farewelll

Andrew putting motor on our pushbike

The sunset, night before we leave Scarborough

The final touches have just about been made with Andrew fitting our new 69cc petrol motor to our pushbike at the marina.  Which should turn a few heads, but hopefully not the cops and make pedalling very easy!!!!   We then get up early on Wednesday 25^th July 2012 and as we walk through the marina we stop and say our goodbyes to a number of people we have made friends with since living in the marina.  Living on a boat in a marina is a very social way of life and some great friends can be made.   So after all our mishaps along the way it’s really time to say farewell to Brisbane.

Caloundra 

It is a slightly cloudy day with winds blowing about 15 knots and we motor through the bay, up the outside of Bribie Island and towards Caloundra, with a good view of the city in front of us.  We are only motoring at a speed of 15 kph and when Andrew tries to give Mingo full throttle; she just does not want to take off.  We are worried as we watch the fuel being eaten up every time we try and get her to 40kmph and she gets there but dies off quickly.  Are we overladen still ??  So we open the tap on the 200 liter water tank and let our fresh water drain out into the sea.  This makes no difference to our speed. 

Andrew and Christie arriving into Moolooaba, our first port of call.

We Motor into Mooloolaba at about 1030 hours and see Pete standing on the end of the jetty waving us in and taking photo’s, we then pull over at jetty further up and have chat before, Pete tells us he and Gay have booked us into the Kawana waters marina for a few nights, which was a lovely surprise for us as we were expecting to just stay in the canals.  So Pete gets in his car and drives around to the marina as we untie Mingo from the jetty and motor through the canals towards Kawana.  Low and behold about 10 Min's into the canal and the motor konks out.  Panic stations yet again.  We are now stuck right in the middle of the canal, so have to drop anchor and are now blocking the passage for other boats to pass.  Andrew gets on the phone to James the mechanic straight away but he is not available, Andrew speaks to Michael who asks, “ What Chinaman have you guys run over lately, with your luck?”  Anyway we patiently wait the hour for James’s phone call back.  He then talks Andrew through changing a fuel pump solenoid that has blown.  Phew, thank goodness James gave us a spare when he serviced Mingo.  Problem fixed and we motor into Kawana, through a very narrow marina and thank goodness Pete was there guiding us into what pen we were in.  Safely tied up and we decide we need to loose some more items from the boat, so the three of us spend the next hour and a half unloading and then loading Pete’s car with stuff that needs to be stored.    We then headed over to Pete’s and a shower and change of clothes then onto Gay’s where she and Michelle had put together a lovely chicken dinner.  We had an extremely enjoyable evening, chatting and laughing with a few drinks over dinner. 

The following morning we are up early and Pete comes to pick us up.  We head over to Bunning’s and spend an hour there buying some stuff so that Andrew and Pete can build Gay some shelving in her garage.  Next we head over to Gays and whilst Andrew and Pete get into their handy work, Gay and Christie spend the morning having a good tongue wag and look through some photos.  Christie has a good laugh at Andrew as a child, oh so sweet and innocent, “Angel like maybe?”, not sure his mother agrees.  We all once again had a nice day and just after lunch, the shelves in the garage were built, garden gate fixed, tummies full from a nice lunch and I think we were all ready to go home and have a nap… Gay and Pete came back to the boat for a short while for a coffee before we filled our petrol tanks up with the Jerry cans. 

Gay and Pete, waving us goodbye from Mooloolaba.

That evening we all headed to the Mooloolaba surf club for a delish roast dinner, and a huge thank you to Pete for taking us all out.  Again a very happy jovial evening spent with Andrews’s family. 

The following morning Friday 27^th July we are up again early to set off for the next stretch.  We motor out through the marina and as we head out, we watch and wave goodbye to Gay and Pete who are standing on the Mooloolaba rock wall jetty waving us farewell.  

Trial Run

Finally Tuesday 17th July comes as we have waited anxiously over the weekend for James to come out again to fix the motor.  He is here a few hours and he and Andrew work on the motor, James showing Andrew a few tricks that will save some time and money and hopefully tears down the track, so that he knows what to do to fix certain things.  Ahhh, what a feeling of relief when James finally cranks it over and we motor out for a quick ten minute test run and all is going well.  It certainly felt like a celebration for us that night, so a few drinks and nibbles out the back whilst watching a beautiful sun set and beginning to finally relax.

James and Andrew fixing motor

Time to celebrate and relax after motor fixed.

The following day with clear skies, calm waters and no wind we decide to do a trial run ourselves before heading off up north. Also need to get the hours up on Mingo, so she can have her first service. We are only at 7 hours and need to get up to 20 hours on the motor.  So on Wednesday we pack the boat up again, fill up the water tank and head through the bay, past the Port of Brisbane  and three hours later we are at St Helena Island. 

Andrew at St Helena Island

Andrew at old prison grave site
St Helena Island

We moored Mingo up about 20 meters out from the island and then took the Sea Calf over, tied her up and went for a stroll around.  St Helena Island is Queensland's most historic island. It is a National Park now that is located approx 4 km from the mouth of the Brisbane river.  The island  contains the ruins of the States first penal settlement that was functioned as a high security colonial prison from 1867 till 1932.  Today there are very few original prison structures that remain on the island and these were mainly built of beach rock.  On the island is an area fenced off which is the old grave site for some of the many prisoners that died there.  The graves have numbers instead of names, these numbers were what the prisoners were given when they came to the island.  A very interesting island to visit. 

Chris at one of the old remains of prison site.
St Helena Island

We then motored along for another couple of hours over to the western side of Stradbroke to Peel Island.  Going on dusk we notice out the front a pod of at least five dolphins swimming around  us.  Its always so beautiful seeing dolphins in the wild and I am so mesmerised by them.  We stop the motor and sit there for a good 20 minutes watching them swimming around.   

Dolphins on the way to Peel Island

Then as we head over the eastern side of Peel Island to a place called Horseshoe bay, its a beautiful area and there is only one  other boat moored in the bay.  It is getting dark now so we decide to anchor Mingo here for the night.  Manoeuvring around to find a good place to anchor in waters about 4 meters deep and we are set for the night.  Christie cooks up a steak for dinner and we sit back with a wine and beer on the back and enjoy our first proper night out of the marina again.

During the night the winds pick up and Christie lay in bed for at least two hours with the boat rocking and water knocking on the side of the hull, it really does make a racket as it is right where your head lies.  Its sounds like someone is hammering into the side of the boat.  Andrew being such a heavy sleeper does not hear a thing and sleeps through it all.  Eventually Andrew wakes up with a little help, and we decide to motor over to the northern tip of Peel Island, after a bit of a hair raising drive, as it was pitch black and very hard to see where you are going (won't be doing that again in the dark).  We decide to anchor up about 30 meters from the island and after having a cup of tea end up back in bed at 3am.  

Up again at 7am and quite excited to be heading over to Peel island. We motor the tinny over and pull into the thick mangroves, tie up the tinny and then walk through the water and mangroves, around a lot of shrub trees and old corrugated iron that was lying around.  We see a roof of a building up the top of a 12 meter steep hill of red mud and decide we should have a look.  So clamber up the hill and at the top see the most pristine lawn with a number of old looking and a few restored shacks scattered around a fenced off area.  This is the old leprosy colony.

Male quarters on Peel.

We have a walk around ourselves and after about 20 minutes of looking in buildings etc we have two Parks and wildlife officers come up to us, asking us what we are doing.  We ask them if there is a permit we can buy to have a look around.  Unfortunately they inform us that the old colony is no longer open to the public due to a lot of asbestos found in the buildings and lying around the grounds.  The buildings are also in such disrepair that they are too dangerous to have the public going through them.

Andrew with Parks and Wildlife officers.

We have a chat to these guys for a while, and they asked where we were from, Andrew replied "Victoria", (which wasn't a lie, we just bent the truth a little telling them we had motored up from there),  they must have taken a liking to us as they ask us if we would like to have a look around.  They were very friendly and over welcoming and got keys to open up each area including the old hospital, church, men's and women's separate living quarters, they also showed us through the area they lived in whilst looking after the island and gave us a good run down of the history.  They were encouraging us to take photographs and even walked us back to where we had come onto the island, obviously they had seen us come up - at a sign that says "No admittance, on the spot fines apply if entry to the leper colony is gained".  Umm!!!!!!  We were a bit taken a back at their hospitality, knowing that the island was not open to the public anymore.  They did say to us that they don't usually show people around.  Christie told them that she had been to a leprosy colony in Nigeria, West Africa and I think they were a little shocked when she told them that people were living at the colony at the time.   After spending two hours walking around with these guys, we then have the task of clambering back down the hill.  Sliding down and now covered in red mud, we finally reach the bottom again and feel quite lucky to have had our own personal tour.  

Artifacts from leprosy colony

Old hospital room at leprosy colony

It was a very interesting morning and being able to see all the old artefacts and beds etc.   There are a number of the original old quarters on the island that are in such a mess and really do need a lot of work done.  The government won't fund the repairs.  The island is pretty magical  with some spectacular views into clear waters.  The side where Horseshoe bay is located has white sandy beaches and is popular for boaties to visit. 

Peel Island Leprosy Colony

 Peel was used as a asylum for vagrants around the turn of the 20th century but the conditions were too harsh and the inmates were then moved to Dunwich on nearby Stradbroke Island.  Between 1907 and 1959 the island was a leper colony.  The people who suffered from leprosy were taken to the island and were made to live on the there and not allowed to leave until they had been leprosy free for two years.   The colony was separated into different areas of men's quarters, women's quarters which were quite well built buildings. Down the back of the colony were tin sheds that were apparently where coloured people or Asians were made to live.  The conditions there would have been harsh.  In 2007 the island was declared a national conservation Park by the name of Teerk Roo Ra.  

We then decide to head back to the marina, so we motor at a calm leisurely speed of about 16 km most of the way and really seem to be getting through the fuel.  With the tanks being 200 litres each and having two on board it is a cost of $600 to fill up, we really need to work out the best fuel efficient speed.

Andrew decides to push Mingo at full throttle to see how fast we can get her fully laden with everything and pulling the sea calf behind, and jeez we were a bit shocked to only be able to reach the speed of 27 km.  This does not seem right.  We eventually pull into the marina, its always an experience motoring the boat in and carefully parking her in the pen without hitting any other boat, slightly nerve wracking.  Andrew is carefully motoring her in (and really does manoeuvre the boat very well, he is very precise with his timing and steering) and Christie is on the bow with ropes, ready to jump onto the pontoon and tie her off.  We then take the sea calf off and decide to head out without the extra weight and drag.  We watch as the speedo goes up faster and faster to reach a speed of 49km.  Wow, we are so shocked.

Andrew in the Zodiac

We then have to make the decision where we leave the sea calf behind and take the zodiac "Sea Joey" instead, with a weight difference of over one hundred kg, we are able to lift and tie the sea Joey up onto the back of Mingo, where with the sea calf we had to pull her and the extra weight and drag will obviously not be as fuel efficient.

Chris staining 

So the next couple of days, (we still can't leave yet as the winds have picked up to 20-30 knots) we spend once again the day driving what seems like one end of the country to the other to swap the tinnies over. Christie stains some of the unfinished wood work in the boat and Andrew takes everything off the sea calf that he has secured on including extra tow hooks (just in case),  fish finder, crabbing weights, battery, fuel tank etc and then spends the day fixing them onto the Sea Joey.  We preferred to take the sea calf as she is more sturdy and spacious, but with the extra weight its not worth it.

 Friends over for drinks, Alicia, Chris and Laura.

Over the weekend we have a few friends over for drinks and nibbles and a very enjoyable night on the boat.  

Now as soon as this wind dies down we are out of here.....

The joys of boating life.

Our new view from marina pen.

Back into the marina and into a new pen at the end of the finger.  It’s a nice spot for views into the bay but an awful spot when the wind is blowing up, but what to do.  We booked out the day before and have been gone about 18 hours and our normal pen has been given away, even though we are still paid up for another 2 weeks. ( No the marina do not refund if you pay in advance like we had).  Oh well, we are glad that we are now tied up safely and happy to see Pete at the marina after he drove down from Mooloolaba for some moral support for us.

Pete stayed all day and with his smiley face, jokey ways and company it was nice to have his optimistic outlook at our motor problems.

Andrew is on the phone to the mechanics, who are talking him through things to unscrew on the motor to check.  Nothing seems to be helping and we still cant get motor to go. Its totally seized and mechanic’s say they will be down on Monday to check it out.  Lastly they ask Andrew to take the spark plugs out and as he does this, water pours out of all eight of them –not good and they tell us that it is possibly a cracked head gasket.  This is NOT good news and for us and the thoughts that this is the end of our dream as it means another new motor. 

Our saviour..

A few tears from Christie and Andrew in a state of shock, the mechanic says they will come down to the marina within the hour – This must be serious.

So an hour later and both James and Micheal are here, a bit of relief when they say its not the gaskets, but still don’t know what the problem is.  Finally 3 hours later of them working on and testing the motor, they ask Christie to go to the local Chandler and buy some “Start you bastard” – a magical motor starter.  Fire extinguishers and blanket on the ready and everyone  standing back in anticipation  (start you bastard is actually called Aero start and is highly flammable), James sprays what seems like the whole can into the spark plugs and again tries the motor, still nothing and still water dripping from the spark plugs.  Oh god this has to work, this just has to work.  If it doesn’t then the boat will be out of the water again and motor fully checked over.  At $50 a day on the dry stand plus our normal pen fees, plus mechanical fees and then cost of what ever is wrong, we just don’t have that sort of money now that we have no income.  So yes once again we are praying that this magical stuff works.  After a dozen or so more attempts, the motor finally cranks over and I think there was the sound of silence from everyone as we were now in a state of shock from the Joy of hearing that V8 start.  Its not the end of the heart ache yet, but at least it is working.

Andrew and Christie have put 4 months of work, everyday after work into this boat, fixing it up, painting, building parts, and living in sometimes basic conditions, we have invested a lot of time and money into it and in the mean time, have sold cars, motorbikes, furniture, the house, just about everything. So we need it to work.

James finally figures out late on Friday afternoon that the impeller in the water pump is shot (possibly from a plastic bag being caught over the water pick up on the leg and this causing the pump to over heat), he also believes that the starter motor is on its way out because of this overheating.  So it is bad news but not as bad as first thought and can be fixed while in the water.  So the mechanic boys are coming back on Tuesday to fix our Mingo motor problem for a third time (hopefully the last).

At 1730, Pete kindly drives us the hour and half drive to pick up the 4wd back, we then all tiredly drive home.

Mattress out and heater in.

Andrew and Christie have a good nights sleep feeling a bit of relief.  The following morning we awake to a soaking wet mattress only to find that the front tow hook on the boat has sprung a leak into the cabin an we now have a “water bed’..  Bloody Hell!!!

So up, strip the bed, mattress out and heater on (thank goodness we are not paying today's electricity bill).  Heater was then on the sideways mattress all morning and in the cabin all afternoon for 12 hours.  We finally got into a dry bed at midnight.

We did say this was going to be an adventure......

Andrew sorting through extra tools.

Chris packing up the extra tools.

The following day, since the mattress has to be out anyway we decide that we can probably loose some items from the boat that we originally thought we may need to take.  So a big clean out now that we have a few days to waste.  We go through every drawer and storage space and have managed to take out at least 200kg in weight worth of unnecessary items and over loaded fuel. I stand there and watch Andrew sort through his tool drawers, and really wonder what he was expecting to happen when he pulls out 18 rolls of duct tape and 12 tubes of silicone, 6 extra screw drivers oh and not sure what the added 4 tape measures were for. Were these items really going to patch up a broken hull ??  Hey it gave us a laugh though.....

Thursday 12th July 2012 - Our departure from Brisbane.

Mingo and sea calf ready to depart.

Farewell Scarborough Marina

Andrew motoring out of Marina

It is now Thursday 12^th July 2012 and the weather has been so calm over the last few days but has been pouring with rain.  We were hoping to have sunny blue skies on our departure from Brisbane but like a friend said “ Your in a boat, they get we anyway”.  So we spent the morning filling the boat with water, putting the push bikes on, making sure everything including sea calf were tided on properly and at 1330 hours with only 4 hours on our new motor we decide to head off waving goodbye to Scarborough Marina, in the overcast and drizzly day – "but the rain level out the seas", so was so smooth.  We are so excited and head north into Moreton Bay and into Bribie Passage, making our way to Caloundra.  Visibility was not good by the time we reached the passage as our clears upstairs don’t have wind screen wipers.

Here we go.

Bribie passage is very narrow and renowned for being quite shallow so we have timed our passing at high tide. So three hours after leaving Scarborough Marina and we  are slowly at a speed of 12km manoeuvring through Bribie passage at a place called “ The Skids”.

Bribie passage at high tide

Suddenly the motor alarm sounds and we immediately shut the engine down and feel like crying when we try to start her again with the sound of a large “Clunk” but no joy in getting started.  Oh shit again!!!!!.  We are now drifting into shallower waters….

Andrew pushing Mingo back into deeper waters after drifting.

Andrew trying to Manouevre boat

Andrew then jumps over board and is waste deep in water as the boat is getting shallower, he is trying to pull and push her out but no success.  It is now 5pm and temperature is approx. 10 degrees and he is soaking wet and having no luck.  Andrew then gets into the sea calf and tries to use her as a tow boat but with no proper tow hooks and only a 15 horse power motor, the tinny is just spinning.  Andrew has now spent the last hour and a half soaked and tried just about everything and it is now dark!!!!

One last final try.

Andrew comes inside and we both discuss what to do next.  Luckily we are now members of the 

Redcliffe Coast Guard, so decide to give them a call to arrange to be towed back to marina.  Next high tide is 0530 hours and then 1630 hours the following day.  Andrew speaks to the Commander of the coast guard who them asks the mandatory safety questions and says will get back to us shortly.  After a number of other phone around and radio calls, it has been arranged for the coast guard to rescue us at 0430 hours on Friday 13^th July 2012. 

We are devastated and have no idea whats happened, we have a brand new motor in the boat and are on our trip of a life time, 3 hours out of marina and it’s a TOTAL DISASTER.  All we can think about is the money that has been put into this trip, selling all of our belongings, now unemployed and no Plan B.  We never expected this to happen.  We have a very sleepless night now anchored in the middle of Bribie passage. Hoping that its fixable but the sound of the CLUNK was not good.

Being towed by Redcliffe Coast Guard

Up at 0330 hours the next morning and three cups of coffee later, the coast guard arrive just after 0500 hours and tow us 4 hours, 40km’s back to the Marina.  Was a slow trip and the coast guard were brilliant, pulling us behind them.  About 30 Min's away from the marina, they sidle up beside our boat and then tie themselves onto the port side of us and manoeuvre us into the marina.  Yes we are now expected to give them a donation.

A not very happy Andrew with Coast Guard towing us.

Coast Guard Redcliffe boat and Radio control centre.

 Redcliffe coast guard put an article on Facebook and Twitter regarding saving us from "The Skids" dated 15.7.2012 under Coast Guard Redcliffe QF3.  We didn't expect this would be how we made our name.....