Dear Cracklin Rosie fans


Day 5 (30 May), and we are making varied progress since leaving Hervey Bay on Tuesday.  The sail out of Hervey Bay was tricky as there are a lot of sandbanks and it is quite tidal.  In the end we adopted the best traditions of our Georgie (our shared boat in Perth) experience and followed the boat in front of us!  This proved to be a Mistake, as (i) it was a catamaran with shallower draft and (ii) it was not going where we wanted to go.  After some dithering, we eventually made it into deep water and sailed over to the west coast of Fraser Island, where we anchored about 70 m off the beach in calm water.  After one of us (DGB) had a refreshing swim, we feasted on curry and rice and had a very pleasant evening. 


We had been told there were whales at Rooney Point, further north on Fraser Island.  So on Day 2, we motored (winds were very light) for most of the day to Rooney Point.  Another lovely location just off a sandy beach, but alas no whales.  On Day 3, we decided to head across to Port Bundaberg, a distance of about 40 nm (nautical mile = 2,000 yards for all you landlubbers), and we had a lovely sail, with the boat reaching 6.5 kts (1knot = 1 nm per hour, again for landlubbers), in gentle 10-13 kt winds from the south east.  Champagne sailing!  We are getting the hang of the sails and rigging, and the autohelm makes it all very easy. 


On arrival at the very pleasant Port Bundaberg Marina, we refuelled (more of that later), moored and then were invited by the couple on the magnificent next door yacht to drinks.  Very enjoyable.  Alas we discovered that in the process of refuelling, a quantity of diesel had migrated via the venting outlet into the bilge and also had soaked part of the carpet in the rear compartment.  Disaster!  Thus we spent most of Day 4 here in the marina taking buckets of diesel to the recycling tank, and mopping up the bilges.  We have some more cleaning up to do today, but it should be right after that.  Our new friends next door - Alex and Iris Frowein from New York and Belgium respectively - who have been cruising the world on their yacht for 6 years were quite philosophical and said that cruising can be defined as 'fixing your yacht in exotic locations'!  We are beginning to understand that.


Ok, that's all for today.  All being well, tomorrow we will be heading north to either Round Hill or Pancake Creek (about 60 nm) where there are safe anchorages.


regards


Don and Jim