KatieKat 2004 Cruise Chapter Seven

24 May, 2004 -- Brisbane Lifestyle

Of all the places we've stayed in Australia over the last four years, the most time we've spent in one place has been in Manly, Queensland (not to be confused with Manly New South Wales). It boasts a huge marina complex made up of a number of individual marinas and yacht clubs. The town has the everyday amenities such as a small market and cafes, and the larger town of Wynnum is just a short bikeride away. The esplanade fronting the waterfront is downright crowded each morning and evening as people go out for their constitutionals, and during the summer the local swimming pool opens at 0530 which for me offered a fantastic start to the day with a solid half-hour of lap swimming followed by a shower. For the yachtie, the town has plenty of chandleries and a great boat maintenance support structure. Best of all, the modern city of Brisbane is a very inexpensive and comfortable trainride away, everything being accessible on foot or bicycle.

A sea of masts in Manly

Kathy and I like Brisbane, and the succeeding photos will show you some of its attraction. It has a busy CBD and Queen Street Mall (closed to traffic) offers the usual with a pleasant ambiance, where yuppies and backbackers mix quite well. Moving around the city on foot is quite easy, and the train or bus are always available to go out to some of the outlying areas. We made it a weekly ritual to go into town and enjoy the city and take in a (discount Tuesday) movie.

Across the river from Brisbane's CBD is a completely redeveloped area called Southbank which has transformed what used to be a rough decaying industrial waterfront into a beautiful parkland with museums and convention and entertainment centers as well as new highrise city-living apartments, with a great walking/jogging/rollerblading/biking pathway stretching for miles along the river.

A view across the river from Southbank, with many cruising yachts on pilings and the CBD in the background.

With a number of universities right in the city, it's no surprise that these whimsical metal sculptures appear close to the Conservatory.

Where it was difficult to develop a riverfront walkway, the city put in a floating one! Here's Kathy with Story Bridge in the background on one of our many bikerides (we can bring our bicycles into the city on the train).

Practicing mountain climbing techniques is a popular Southbank activity.

I did a double-take when I saw what this boat was using as a tender: a surfboard (windsurfer?) with a bolted-on plastic seat!

How would you like to tell somebody the name of the company you worked for?

In Brisbane, one can join critters while waiting for the bus or on Queen Street Mall one can find a water table, complete with chairs.

In the Brisbane Maritime Museum was a photo of this British/Australian J-Class submarine. Now, look closely at the inboard side of KatieKat's starboard bow. Hmmm...

Any wonder that we like this place?

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26 May, 2004 -- Australia Zoo

Dave Howell, who founded the Telstar Trimaran Owners Association, flew out from Wales to join KatieKat for a couple of weeks. Kathy took this opportunity to fly down to Adelaide, and from there took the train to Perth to visit that part of the world. Dave and I immediately sailed up to Mooloolaba and there took a daytrip to Australia Zoo.

Dave meets the locals.

Kookaburras make me laugh.

Hi Alec! I was there too!

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1 June, 2004 -- To Lady Musgrave

From Mooloolaba we sailed up the coast and through the (allegedly) notorious Wide Bay Bar (pussycat this time) and anchored by Kingfisher Resort on Fraser Island, where Dave took a 4WD bus tour of this largest sand island in the world.

The tour buses on Fraser Island are unique!

This shipwreck on Fraser Island is so popular that they've now put a KEEP OFF sign by it.

From Fraser Island we sailed up to Bundaberg, where Dave participated in the joys of lugging petrol cans around. Note the bicycles on KatieKat - indispensible coastal cruising accessories, but the rust on the decks...

Approaching Lady Musgrave, a picture-perfect island with a reef-surrounded lagoon. The tide was extraordinarily low and the reef and bommies (coral heads) were quite exposed.

Proof that Dave was here, on Lady Musgrave at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. The snorkeling was great (lots of fish). That spec in the middle is KatieKat, as there are now signs prohibiting anchoring any closer - a good workout pedalling the SeaCycle back against the wind. The skippers of the other boats must have a reading problem...

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3 June, 2004 -- Town of 1770

The year 1770 is a memorable one for Australians, because that's the year that Captain Cook sailed up the coast (and, further north, ran into the reef and almost lost the Endeavour). The Town of 1770, with an INTERESTING entry bar, is one of only a few places that Captain Cook actually stopped. We sailed here directly from Lady Musgrave but arrived in the early evening - too late to cross the unlit bar. We anchored off the coast overnight (having to move the boat once since I had miscalculated the tide and we were close to grounding), went across in the morning, and spent a day and night anchored in the shallow channel.

Dave roughing it on KatieKat's aft seat reading while underway to 1770 . The Welsh flag drew attention wherever we went. Dave's perception of cruising will never be the same again...

Crossing the 1770 bar can result in rapid hair loss.

Monument to Captain Cook, one of dozens in Australia and New Zealand.

We anchored but didn't quite clear when the tide went out. No worries, it's a multihull. On the next tide I simply turned the steering wheel and the boat kept to the deeper water. That's KatieKat in the middle of the left photo, and not the fully grounded cat on the left.

Strange creations one sees on the sandflats when having a sundowner.

Don't want to ever step on one of these - they look just like a rock, and can be lethal!

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6 June, 2004 -- Gladstone

From 1770 we sailed directly to Gladstone, bypassing the highly-recommended Pancake Creek anchorage because of adverse weather predictions (which never materialized), since we didn't want to get stranded as Dave was on a schedule. Dave took the train north to Rockhampton, and then visited Yeppoon and Great Keppel Island before returning to Brisbane and flying home to Wales, ending his adventure in Australia.

KatieKat's VHF radio started acting up on the way to Gladstone - unsoldering the connector wire revealed the problem. Onboard self-sufficiency sure makes cruising easier!

Dave departing Gladstone.

Kathy returned to KatieKat from Perth, showing off a photo of two Seawinds in Fremantle as proof she was there.

KatieKat in Gladstone Marina.

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