Saturday
It was going to be a busy day as we got organized to leave Airlie Beach first thing tomorrow morning. At 0745 we took the dinghy across to the public jetty beside the marina and walked downtown to Hertz and picked up our hire car.
At exactly 0940 (as requested by the kennel) we drove 15km out of town and dropped Lucy off at her home away from home for the next 6 days.
Driving back to Airlie we parked the car at the marina carpark and took the dinghy back to the boat, picked up anchor and motored into the Coral Sea Marina. It is always stressful entering a marina as there are so many boats! (a good proportion are expensive). Thankfully there was little wind, so we were able to slowly make our way to our allocated berth and tie up without any problems. While I completed the laundry, Mark and Georgie plugged Escapade into the shore power and collected our passes which were required for the jetty gates.
Sunday
We got up at 0530, grabbed our bags jumped into the car and made the 800km road trip to Bundaberg. After a couple of stops to stretch the legs and have lunch we arrived at our motel at 1730, checked in and then continued-on to Elliott Heads to have a BBQ with Matt, Tayla, Ryan and Mel’s parents Leon and Kathy.
Monday
Mel’s funeral.
Tuesday
We left Bundaberg at 0630 and drove back to Airlie via Rockhampton where we stopped at the Botanic Gardens/Zoo to have a break and stretch the legs.
Wednesday
While we had the car we made the most of it by completing the provisioning on Escapade. Once done we gave the car a vacuum and returned it to Hertz.
Our WIFI booster aerial had arrived by mail a few days earlier, so with the calm waters of the marina, Mark put on the climbing harness and I winched him to the top of the mast so that he could install it.
We caught up with Jimmy and Vanessa (used to live in Metung) on Wednesday evening and had dinner at their place in Cannonvale. It was good to see them again and catch up.
Thursday
Vanessa offered to take Georgie and I out to the kennel to pick up Lucy, which worked out perfectly. So, at precisely 0950 we arrived at the kennel and picked up an extremely excited Lucy. She had just been bathed and brushed and smelled the best she had smelt for a long time.
Once back at the boat in 15 knot winds we let go of the mooring lines and motored around to the fuel jetty to top up with diesel. It turned out to be more stressful departing the berth than arriving because of the 15 knot cross wind and the flash super yacht that had berthed next to us whilst we were away.
Once completed we could not get out of the marina quick enough. It was good to get out on the water again, with Mark putting up the main and the genoa he turned off the engine and we sailed at 5 knots to Nara Inlet on Hook Island.
Upon arrival at Nara it was amusing to see four larger Riviera motor cruises all rafted up on one anchor. It was the perfect mooring for the conditions as there was no swell coming up the inlet and we all had a good night sleep.
We took the dinghy ashore and walked up the short track to some indigenous paintings in a cave overlooking the inlet. Parks and Wildlife had done an excellent job of installing stairs and decking showcased the area perfectly.
Friday
Nara Inlet was a secure anchorage, with a muddy bottom so when lifting the anchor it took us about 30 minutes to wash the mud off prior to the chain entering the anchor locker, unfortunately there was bad news as the sea-water deck pump was overheating and kept stopping.
Mark had made sure that we had slack tide as we passed through the passage on the way to our next destination, Whitehaven beach. We found a space away from the crowds and dropped the anchor in 5 metres of water. The conditions were perfect after some initial cloud coverage, the skies cleared to a beautiful sunny day. With Georgie on the stand up paddle board and Mark in the dinghy, I swam to shore. We walked along the gorgeous white beach taking in the colour of the water, it truly is a beautiful location.
At one stage Mark counted in excess of 40 other boats spending the day at Whitehaven Beach.
There were helicopters intermittently coming and going from the beach. Passengers would disembark and make the most of the sand and water for an hour or two prior to climbing back in the helicopter and taking off.
At 1500 we pulled up anchor and motored to Tongue Bay and joined 15 other boats that had anchored for the evening.
Saturday
Pulled up anchor at 0815 and sailed back around to Nara Inlet for a forecast south east wind change. Anchoring in 8 metres of water we put out 40 metres of chain. To entertain Lucy we took her for a dinghy ride around the Inlet which she loved.
Unfortunately the wind swung further south than expected and we had to put up with a 0.5 metre roll for the night.