40 Miles From Home

Lake Mackenzie, Fraser Island

After restocking the boat once again in Urangan, we did a day tour of Fraser Island. Overall it was a good day although the craziness of our driver, the constant rush we seemed to be in and lunch we were given detracted a wee bit. Highlights included Lake Mackenzie, Eli Creek, 75 Mile Beach and the very cooperative dingo we saw. Cam thinks a 1000-year-old tree we saw was pretty impressive and Haydee loved the "roller coaster", a steep and bumpy downhill stretch our driver took at speed.

Haydee's scooter floatation
device, developed after Cam
took the plunge at Urangan

From Urangan, we sailed down through the Great Sandy Straits, the first leg by day and the second leg by night. I recall kissing the bottom on the way up but we had ample water and no issues on the way back, despite a lack of daylight. It took us a wee while to find an anchorage in the northerly weather we were experiencing and ended up tucked in behind Inskip Point on the mainland opposite the southern end of Fraser. Strong winds early on Thursday prompted us to head further into Pelican Bay behind Inskip Point rather than cross the Wide Bay Bar on Thursday as we had planned. We ended up crossing the bar and sailing into Mooloolaba on Friday. This was the fourth time we've crossed the Wide Bay Bar - one of the most dangerous on the Queensland coast - and it was quite a good crossing, if a bit choppy. Once we cleared the swell caused by the shallows at the bar, our sail to Mooloolaba was beautiful and we made good time.

Haydee and Fid at Mooloolaba Beach

Mooloolaba has a nice marina; people are very friendly and, as you'd hope after 6 months, we got a few comments on how good our shorter crew members are at berthing. We made it across to the surf beach and took the kids boogie boarding this afternoon. While everyone ended up getting dumped at least once (four times in Haydee's case) we all had fun. We're now just 40 miles from home and will be in Brisbane tomorrow afternoon. We all seem to be agreed that we're sad that the trip is over but happy to be home to see friends and family and happy because this 'bashing south' business will be over! It has been absolutely fantastic - strongly recommended, especially for families with kids approaching their teens. Both Haydee and Cameron have benefited immensely from the time we've spent with them, the things they've seen, done and learned, and the responsibilities they've had to take on - from washing up through to keeping the family safe on night passages. Shane has had a ball - he is the least willing to return home and is already planning the next trip - and I've loved spending so much time with Shane and the kids, especially seeing the kids learn, grow and mature. Sadly, Shane is still immature. I wonder what our next big adventure will be?