… is casting off the lines.
How true. We settle in. We love the area, the people and our nature is to stay, hang, party! We’ve been in Scarborough almost 30 months. It is time. Tanks are full, engine purs, we head out.
The sailing isn’t great. Cold weather had set in. But, officialdom is forcing our hand. Two things force/encourage us to move; weather and officialdom.
In Australia while immigration has acknowledged the circumstances surrounding Covid, Customs has not. If we keep the boat here longer than 3 years we are either locked down to one port or required to pay import duty on the vessel. As that duty would be to the tune of thousands of dollars we plan to leave. Besides, the world is a large place, there is more to see.
That and it is…. Cold here. We head N to the warmth!
We leave Scarborough about noon and head across the bay. There we turn N heading back through Wide Bay Bar and sliding up the inside of Fraser Island. Having done the reverse of that course to get here made casting off the lines easier.
This would also be our first overnight in a couple of years and it was cold. Once we turned N we were able to sail a bit. The winds were not great. So what. It was just time to get our sea legs out again.
Wide Bay Bar wasn’t that exciting. It could be. Boats have flipped and lives lost crossing bars in Australia. The goal is to have NO excitement. We checked with the Volunteer Marine Rescue (VMR) people on the conditions of the bar before crossing. They Green Lighted the trip. Sails down (we don’t sail during tricky crossings) we motored up the fairway and into the quiet waters behind Fraser. Gary’s anchorage looked nice and calm. It was. The following day we head up to Kingfisher resort.
Before Kingfisher was an active place. Now; after Covid and the shut down of a majoirty of the tourist industry here the resort was quiet. So quiet we didn’t even choose to go ashore. Dan (Captain on Vagabond) was there a day earlier and told us the resort; for the most part, closed. No more beach bar and the place was like a ghost town. Oh; there were things going on, a wedding and some people getting on and off the ferry. The vibe wasn’t all that good. So we gave it a pass.
And the following day we scooted up to Bundaberg. The port we entered from. Anchored off the Marina for the first night and secured a slip for two more days.
There we ran into our neighbors from Whangarai, NZ. Brad and Gloria. When we first arrived in Australia we met up and now as we’re leaving we meet up again. That necessitated some story time and we made the most of it. On top of that bright spot they told us that Greg and Deb on Kaliope were here. We met them in Panama before we crossed the Pacific. Greg and Deb had just sold their boat and planning to do land travels. First in Australia and then back in the states.
Cruising for us is more about the people than the place. Although in some respects, they are related. We love connecting and reconnecting with people along the way.
Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long