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| Southern Belle in her berth in the Abel Point Marina at Airlie Beach. |
Hi Ya'll! A quick update on what's happening with us. From my last post you can get the clear feeling that I was well and truly "over it!" stuck behind a hill enduring a howling southerly. Well I was over it. The next day with the weather forecast not much better we woke early to the skipper saying, "it will calm down, let's go". I wasn't too happy about moving but we pulled up the anchor and left Cape Upstart headed for the Gloucester Passage.
It's over now so no need to go on about it but the 50 (give or take a few) nautical mile trip was not enjoyable. More of the same motoring into a 20-25 knot headwind the whole way. Luckily we left very early - first light about 5:30am - so we arrived at the Gloucester Eco Resort by 1400 (2pm) in the afternoon. Desperate to get off the boat we launched the dingy - for the first time since Nimoa - and went ashore for lunch! I know, George should not be lugging the outboard, launching the dingy and walking across hot sand in his cast but he is impossible to stop or to try to make any sense so I've - to some degree - given up trying.
Lunch was OK. It was Sunday afternoon and the Eco Resort had a lot of families there for the weekend and/or Sunday lunch ... to entertain the lunch crowd they had a guy on guitar and amplifier singing - loudly. His voice wasn't that bad but he insisted on singing popular songs, but changing the beat and word emphasis with every one. This made listening to him really really annoying. After all the hassle of launching the dingy George couldn't wait to leave. The best part of the afternoon was being on land and not eating my own cooking!
After a gloriously quiet night of little wind plus being on a mooring we got up at the more acceptable hour of 7:30 to a beautiful Queensland Whitsunday morning ... Clear skies, turquoise water and not too much wind. Perfect.
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| Again I tried to capture the stunning beauty of the turquoise water and the photo just doesn't do it justice. |
The mooring was slipped gently off the front of the boat and we motored in less than 10 knot winds to the marina at Airlie Beach.
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| The marina is virtually empty. |
We were here back in late July - goodness it seems so long ago now - and the place was bustling with backpackers and charter boats going in and out. Now its pretty empty. The tourist boats still go out but there are only about a third of them from July.
We're off in the morning - early again - headed for Goldsmith or Brampton Islands. Destination depends on the wind strength which is forecast to be a more acceptable easterly. If the weather holds we may give Mackay a miss and head on down to Roslyn Bay. This part of the journey will be long but, hopefully, the Northeasters will start to come our way later in the weekend.
Everyday we get closer to home.... I get happier.
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