The sea of boats in East Coast Marina, Manly, with the Super Moon rising.
I enjoy being in a marina. Downside is it costs money - some marinas are more expensive than others - but on the whole they're all about the same modest price. Then again, to me, there are a good many upsides.
First, there's no worry about the anchor dragging while snugly tied into a berth. Sometimes the berth is a wee bit too snug and, once in it, all I can think of is, "how are we going to get out of here?!". In spite of the usual worry about getting out, it's easy to get a good night's sleep in a marina.
Second, I feel like the weather can't get me. This is pretty much true but, of course, if the wind decides to blow very hard, or the sea gets big & angry or the lightning is really fierce then a marina bound boat could be a sitting duck for damages. But on the whole you're safer there in 99.9% of cases I think.
All that meant I was pretty happy to spend time in Manly Marina after being on anchor since arriving in Queensland. While there a deep low started churning way out in the Tasman Sea creating large waves up and down the east coast of Australia meaning Southern Belle could be in her berth for a while.
We had 2 reasons to head for the East Coast Marina in Manly, Qld. Our main purpose was spending time with our adopted family - our dear friend Pip, his lovely wife Kate and their two adorable daughters. They live in the little village of Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island (also called "Straddie"). The next reason for the week's planned stay was to finally (hopefully) receive our new V-berth mattress which would be shipped up from Sydney.
Much of Pip's youth in Sydney was spent as close family friends, then part time mentors, then George's best mate and now we're honorary Aunts & Uncles to his two daughters. Living in Sydney we rarely get to see or spend time with them, so being in Queensland we were looking forward to as much time with them as possible. They very kindly arranged for us to stay in her parent's apartment just off the ferry in Cleveland, they also generously loaned us a car to use.
To get to Dunwich and "Straddie" there are two ferrys .. this one, the Flyer, is for walk on passengers only. There is a car & passenger ferry at another location.
The ferry has to cross in high or low tide conditions. Leaving the Cleveland side it doesn't look possible to get out of the bay. The tides up here are big!
Pip, George and Lilli. We had a wonderful time visiting on Straddie. I miss our little family very much already.
While we had the car we drove up to Tamborine Mountain to have a look. The drive isn't bad - just over an hour from Cleveland. I loved it up there, in spite of my apparent sailing affection, I adore trees! The little village has the usual mixture of eateries, shops, and alternate type places. We stopped in one of the artisan shops for a sandwich and coffee. The bread was baked on site that morning and was delicious! The coffee even better! Then after lunch we picked one of the many bush walks in the area for a long walk in the Tamborine National Park; the first national park proclaimed in Queensland way back in 1908.
The top of the walk featured massive flooded gum trees - called eucalyptus grandis. Spectacular stands of these trees virtually closed in the path as we followed it down the mountain.
Further down the mountain the path becomes a primeval forest of cycads and Bangalow palms. There are quite a few bushwalks in the area.
While in Manly we caught up with Di and John, very good friends from Tasmania, who are also travelling north. One night we had dinner at the local pub in Manly - the Celtic Corner. It had surprisingly good food for such a little pub.
One of the many signs and relics stuck up all over the walls in Celtic Corner. Eejit is a favourite word of ours. One of the many hysterical slang words gifted from the Scots.
On June 2, after almost 2 weeks, the sea calmed and it was time to move on up the coast, next stop the tourist town of Mooloolaba in the Sunshine Coast area of Queensland. Conditions were going to be good for navigating up Morton Bay. Also the forecast of no wind meant getting across the Mooloolaba river bar should be easy. And, our mattress didn't turn up. We still had a little bit of hope left that it would arrive while in our next destination.
Morton Bay is a big open body of water very shallow in places. The major city of Brisbane, a busy working port, sits at the bottom of Morton Bay which means all boating, including huge ships, need to use certain channels going in and out. I'm not crazy about being close to ships anywhere but if you want to navigate the quickest way up the coast then close to one of the main channels is the best route. As a small boat there's plenty of room to travel along just outside of the channel and out of harm's way. While we made our way up Morton Bay we were passed by 5 enormous ships travelling at least twice our speed or more. I was glad to leave Morton Bay behind.
The motorsail from Manly to Mooloolaba proved to be enjoyable. We sailed in company with new friends Nick and Taff on the yacht Cachalot of Hobart. We knew the weather was on our side and a promising flat bar crossing. We entered over the bar first and were a tad alarmed as the depth under the keel suddenly went to 0.05! But it bottomed out quickly and then started rising for the rest of the trip up through the channel and the marina. Cachalot were booked a couple of berths down from us so they went in first, tied up and then came to catch our lines. We were safely snug in a new marina.
Beautiful Mooloolaba beach looking out towards the sea. The river entrance and bar crossing is on the far right side just behind the dark sea wall .
The next days were spent walking to the strip of hotels, bars and cafes that line the beautiful beach. Something funny I noticed as we walked along ... the spruikers in front of the different places didn't hassle us! They just looked at us, smiled and eyed other potential customers. I'm not sure if we just looked like grotty yachty types or if it was our age. Even when we stopped to look at a menu they didn't hassle us. When it happened over and over it made me wonder just what 'look' canceled us out of the spending money category.
Looking back down the Mooloolaba beach and all the buildings lining the shore; a lovely and popular part of Queensland. This whole Sunshine Coast is a favourite destination for holidays and retirement. It's easy to see why.
While in Mooloolaba we caught up with special friends. My friend Steve and his wife Anne came aboard for drinks and then a delicious dinner not far from the marina. Steve and I have known each other for years .. since we both worked in the Home Entertainment business. He is a one of a kind beautiful man I feel very honored to call my friend.
Steve and me after our dinner with his lovely wife Anne and George.
A happy selfie with Sharon and Ian!
And then it was time to cross the bar again and head up to Fraser Island and the Great Sandy Straits. Our mattress still hadn't arrived and by this time it was on the cusp of being officially declared lost. Damn.
