Rockhampton to Bundy Bash

North West Island

We all hear stories of the difference between potential and reality, and as an eternal optimist I guess I spend most of the time dwelling on the potential side of things which suits me fine.  Sometimes however, reality jumps up and bites me firmly on the backside.

Some of my most treasured cruising destinations lie in the stretch of water between Hervey Bay, north to the Whitsunday Islands. Included in the area are places that are inaccessible to people without boats and the ability to be self sufficient. There is no tourist investment so they are not promoted by anyone. Places like the Percy and Duke Islands in the North are beautiful anchorages lined with white sand and water clear enough to see the array of marine life that happens to float by. Below them are Port Clinton and Island Head Creek which are off limits at certain times because they happen to lie in the middle of a military training reserve, but when the military are not wreaking havoc are stunning locations that seem a world away from the exercises that get carried out there.

Just below them are the Bunker Group of which most of the pretty Islets are off limits in a strict marine park environment save for a couple of gems. These include North West Island, Lady Musgrave and Lady Elliot  

Lady Musgrave Island

With Razzamatazz, my friends beautiful Bavaria 48 foot yacht, sitting in Yeppoon and needing to come south on its way to Sydney, I gladly volunteered my services, dreaming of the opportunity to spend some quality time in this magic part of the world. I sold the concept to Eva with a plan for a leisurely cruise down to Lady Musgrave Island for an overnight stop and the chance to take a bottle of wine to the beach and watch the turtles nest on the remote shore at sunset. Maybe, with a good run we could even find time for some snorkeling on the reef. I always enjoy negotiating the small entrance into the lagoon and anchoring with a 360º view of the ocean crashing onto the reef protecting the turquoise water inside, miles away from civilisation and free from the world.  The second day plan was a run into Hervey Bay via  the waters off Platypus Bay, playground of the whale's who stop there with their calfs to build up enough strength before making the long journey into antarctic waters. Both of these trips I have done several times before and although a longish stretch, the Razzamatazz is a bigger and faster boat capable of covering the distances.
Part of these exercises is the logistics of a one way trip to the boat and then transport back to your  vehicle home. In this case we were already at the finish end so it was a simple matter of a Greyhound bus from Hervey Bay with a driver that passed away the boredom of the 7hr run by giving commentary all the way to Rockhampton. As with my experience of these things we arrived in Rockhampton at 7.20pm with the last connecting bus leaving for Yeppoon at 6.30 leaving us with a $150 cab fare out to the coast. Undeterred, on arrival at the Rocky coach terminal Eva negotiated with a backpacker company picking up two people in a bus heading for Emu Park for us to hitch a ride with them,  leaving us with a much cheaper taxi fare at the other end. Our driver, a young English lad, keen to catch up with his mates at the pub after the run put his foot to the floor and we rattled and bounced our way through the darkness only to see the blue flashing lights of the local police who didn't seem to appreciate his cavalier enthusiasm. Eventually we were dropped into Emu Park, a small village which was deserted by this time (9.00 pm)

Percy Island 

Eventually a cab ferried us to the marina where we busily prepared for our early morning departure.
By the time my 3am alarm rang out the sound was lost to the rumbling of the diesel engine as we motored out of Rosslyn Bay Marina and straight into 15knots of wind on the nose! The forecast was still insisting that the breeze would back further to the east and my hope was that as daylight warmed up the land, we might actually see it backing further again from the north, giving us our armchair ride south. My hopes were still not dented as a storm cloud swallowed up the sunrise and then soaked us for the privilege!
The Keppel Islands slid relatively effortlessly behind us as we punched our way on. It was apparent even then though that my hope of Lady Musgrave was not going to happen. Never mind I thought, my back up plan was almost as nice. Pancake creek lay not too far south of Gladstone and would provide great shelter surrounded by lovely beaches and a magnificent headland, so I altered course and soon enough we were crossing the Tropic of Capricorn. I have always been fascinated by this circle of latitude even as a small boy. There a 5 significant circles of latitude including the equator, tropic of cancer north, the tropic of capricorn south and the the two poles. The tropic of capricorn represents the most southern latitude that the sun can appear directly overhead. Sitting at approximately 23º south of the equator we share the circle with the Andes in Argentina and  Chile, the Kalahari desert in Namibia and the Kruger National Park in South Africa. (forgive me for not mentioning them all) and I always feel the need to acknowledge its crossing even when I fly over it by plane. Cape Capricorn, our landmark, is a steep, barren headland that people attempted to settle on a long time ago and there are still visible remnants of the carving of rocks and lines that were layed to tie the ships alongside and drag the materials up the the steep embankment to build the lighthouse and small community that existed to keep the beacon lit.

Cape Capricorn

On this day however, it was overcast and the whitecaps persisted in blowing the spray onto our  demoralised faces.
Having passed the cape we altered course enough for us to be able to pull some sails up and we motor sailed right down Curtis Island and the entrance of Gladstone Harbour. A major shipping channel, we needed to pull the sails in and slog our way into the tide throwing up a short and nasty chop reducing our headway to crawling pace.
As the sun began to sink alarmingly close to the horizon it was clear we were not going to make either Pancake Creek or the small town of 1770 by nightfall. The good news was that the coast veered significantly south allowing us to turn the motor off and sail. Not only was this significant for our sanity, it also helped relieve the  problem that we did not have enough fuel to motor all the way to our destination.
The sailing did wonders for Eva's seasickness and she perked up immediately even to the point she insisted on cooking us a beautiful and much appreciated dinner which we ate as the sun sunk below the horizon. With the last dashes of pink in the sky I was wondering how far we could get before the sun reappeared on the eastern horizon.

Sunset off Bustard Head (Pancake Creek)

Really? Its 3 o'clock!!

Unfortunately it wasn't long before the breeze veered back into the south east, the same direction we needed to go and the long dark night passed closing in on the unlit shoreline before digging back out to sea, forcing us to sail two miles for every one gained in our southerly quest.
I have never been so grateful to see the first signs of light penetrate what was a pitch black night sky giving me my first point of reference for the past 12hrs.



And so my question from sunset last night was answered. Exactly 16.7nm north of Bundaberg was the answer and so my next decision was made through the fog of three hours sleep in the last 40 odd hours. We needed to pull into Bundaberg for fuel, with a decision as whether to continue or not made after that.
In an attempt to preserve the alarming low amount of fuel we had left, we inched our way painfully into the breeze which was rapidly building again into our frustrated faces.
At 10.45 we finally tied up at the marina, where once the boat secured I fell asleep with the soft clean pillow approaching my salty unshaven skin, but I was in no mood to care, it could be washed later!
The boat is safe and I'll be back next when the wind direction has a N in it!!