The boat is going up on the slip tomorrow for one last fix-everything session – bottom scrubbed, the works.  And my house is receiving similar treatment…

Here’s another bit from last year….in anticipation of this year

Hervey Bay 2010

We cruised back down (up?) the river in Bundaberg (begins with B… Burnett!!!…) the next morning with no mishaps, reversing the dogleg, admiring the mangroves, sugarcane, fallen-down-wharf etc.

Next stop was Urangan marina, in Hervey Bay. One reason for gong there was that Pete had told me that whales would be more than abundant in Hervey Bay.  In fact I might even get bored with the flapping of their tails, the launching of their bodies from the water.  So from the moment we left Bundaberg until we arrived in Urangan – not a solitary single bit of wildlife did we see!  Barely even a bird… but the whole of the Hervey Bay area is dedicated to whales . There are tour boats all along the coast, waiting to take you out in a big/small/fast/cosy boat to commune with nature and admire whales. There are theme shops, cafes, museums,

dedicated to The Whale…

So where were they???

Negotiating our way through the Sandy Straits between Fraser Island and the mainland was an eye-popping experience.  There is a trail of markers – yes, red and green – each within sight of the last. But only just… it was overcast and visibility not all that good.  Sometimes I would find the next RED marker and we would cruise happily towards it only to find that – oops – I had missed one or two along the way and we suddenly had to swerve quite dramatically to stop from running aground.  Or worse… (no I don’t know what WORSE would be…crocodiles, maybe??)

Attenborough moments: one osprey, sitting in a tree, and one sea turtle, moving purposefully down the channel.

On the way down the coast we admired the Glasshouse Mountains, how amazing they are, and told each other stories about how we had been there….

We left Urangan the next morning and set off through whale-less Hervey Bay, to arrive at Moolooloobah in the late afternoon. No we didn’t go and rush about the streets of Moolooloobah…all this sailing is very exhausting! But we did admire the mansions lining the canals, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the hot showers at the Wharf Marina – now there’s a travelogue for you!

We left Moolooloobah the next morning and sailed – ummmm - alongside the Glasshouse Mountains… “How lucky we are,” said Pete, “to be able to admire them TWICE!”

As soon as we were well and truly away from Hervey Bay, we were in Whale World.  They splished and splashed and leapt most athletically and energetically.  When we were getting to a tricky bit of navigation, we were suddenly in the midst of quite a large pod – maybe five were on the surface at any one time, all outdoing each other, showing off with huge leaps, tail slapping, enormous spouts.