The small string of reefs off the coast of Gladstone is sometimes called The Capricorn Group and is the start of The Great Barrier Reef. ​The southern most of those, Lady Musgrave Island is a 14 hectare coral cay on The Great Barrier Reef, with a 1,200 hectare surrounding reef. The reef forms a large kidney-shaped lagoon which is easy to enter by boat and provides a very spacious anchorage. Our route through these four reefs/islands is shown below.

We departed early from Burnett Heads to track due north for 54nm to reach the Lady Musgrave Island (LMI) mid-afternoon. The ABF spotter plan does a flyover of the route to LMI and calls a few boats including ITIKI for an identification check. Similar to our time in the Tuamotus, we want to arrive with the sun still reasonably high overhead so that we have good visibility on the entrance channel into the reef, and on any bommies lurking under the surface. With very little wind we sadly have to motor all of the way, arriving around 3pm. The “cut” or entrance channel is well marked and fairly wide and the tide is rising (ie going in), which makes for an easy entrance. Still as you can see from the picture the water is swirling through the narrow channel. There are a lot of yachts already here, as well as a permanent floating platform for one of the tour companies. There is plenty of room though and we find a nice patch of sand to drop the anchor, around the middle of the kidney, and relax for the afternoon.

Sunday we head over to the island in the dinghy and go for a walk ashore. There is a discovery path weaving its way through the island and we can see some ground birds, the Buff Banded Rail, as well as shearwater burrows. This island is a favoured spot for turtles to nest and while we can see some empty nests, and even turtle tracks leading down to the beach, the baby turtles are long gone. We do a lap of the island before heading back to the boat. There is not much else to do here, as the snorkelling did not look too good, but it is lovely to be swimming off the back of the boat again, in crystal clear water. In the afternoon a guy comes over in a dinghy offering us some fish. He has speared a large Spanish Mackeral and doesn’t have room for it in his fridge so gives us a huge chunk. We hack a couple of cutlets for dinner and it is delicious. As we are really rubbish at fishing, and have completely given up anyway, some fresh seafood is greatly appreciated. We have fish for the next couple of days and there is still another portion in the freezer!

Tuesday we decide to head across to Fitzroy Reef. It’s a tiny coral atoll, about 2000 acres, with a very narrow and challenging entrance. There is no island here at all, only reef and low tide the coral reef is fully exposed and you can see just how narrow the channel is. It’s not charted but there are a couple of markers on the entrance. We arrive right on low tide, however the water is still rushing out of the narrow channel quite quickly, running at 3-4kts against us. All the water that comes into this lagoon over the top of the reef at high tide, only has one small exit as the tide falls and this is it! As we line up to go through I hit the panic button as a wave exposes a shallowish rock off our starboard bow. It looked like the passage would be too narrow for us, but after backing up a bit (and a few "gently heated” words) our skipper judged we would make it through  - between a rock and a hard place! It was fairly hairy as the passage must have been about 10m wide (and we are 7.5m wide) so not a lot of wriggle room. At least going out we will have our inbound track to follow.

We take one of the three public mooring buoys, which is heavily encrusted with growth. We are the only ones here. Once the tide comes in the reef is completely invisible and you feel like you are sitting in the middle of the ocean! Of course there is no wind protection at all and at high tide, no  protection from the swell either so it gets pretty uncomfortable. Overnight we have a front go through and wind gusts up to 34kts, which is lucky because the buoys are only rated to 34kts... We are safe on the buoy but it is noisy and uncomfortable as we bounce around, creaking and jerking, waiting for the tide to go down so that the reef would give us some protection from the swell. The next morning we consider leaving on the high tide as we are feeling a bit cranky, but it’s still blowing some and with considerable swell so we decide to stay on. The wind abates by the early afternoon and the sun comes out so we go exploring. The sea life and coral here are supposed to be spectacular, which is why we came. However as we scout around the bommies in the middle of the cay, all we can see is 50 shades of brown. A lot of dead coral and no sign of any fish or rays. Not sure if this is what we have to look forward to thanks to climate change. We have a calmer night and a much better night sleep, although we can tell when the tide is high as we bounce about for a few hours.

​We leave on the high tide at mid-morning and it is a much less stressful transit. Very strange though as the reef is not visible at all so you are totally reliant on following the inbound track (saved on the chart plotter), three channel markers and a very nervous lookout on the bow.
 
It’s only a short (17nm) hop across to Heron Island and we pull out a headsail and motor sail, picking up a mooring at Wistari Reef. Heron Island has a private resort and a research facility, neither of which are open to visitors. It is possible to visit the small harbour, however the weather is fairly ordinary so we relax and enjoy the view. As with Fitzroy, Wistari Reef gives us some protection from the swell until the tide comes up and covers the reef, letting the waves through, and we start bouncing around. We get some squalls overnight but it’s not too uncomfortable.

An early start the next morning for the 58nm journey to Great Keppel Island (or Wop-pa). We hoist the main up in anticipation of the forecast 15kts, and it builds we unfurl the gennaker. Motors stay on most of the time as the wind is up and down and shifting a lot in direction, and we gybe the gennaker a few times. We have a few squalls pass over us and it pretty much rains the whole journey. Checking the chartplotter for any nasties along the route I came across an interesting find: A wreck is named after me! Yes the Linda Jane! Well that explains a few things...

​As we get closer to the island the winds builds and we have to furl the gennaker and go to the genoa. Better late than never I guess. We came close to reefing the genoa but eventually got into the lee of Great Keppel and were able to sail around the top and into the anchorage at Leekes Beach.

​After a quick cuppa we head ashore in the dinghy, around the point to Putney Beach to go to the resort here. Not because we are desperate for a drink but – long story short – I accidentally almost ran out of my medication, not realising until we got to Lady Musgrave Island! After a bit of ringing around (thanks to StarLink) I could organise a pharmacy in Yeppoon to fill an e-script, deliver to the GKI ferry who would drop it at the resort reception. All for a $5 delivery fee! How good is that! There is no dinghy dock though so rather than pull our heavy dinghy up on the beach we decide to do a “touch and go” on the beach. I still have my wet weather gear and sea boots on, so what could possibly go wrong… Of course as I jump off the front of the dinghy I realise I have under-estimated the depth of the crystal clear water, immediately filling one seaboot, and to top it off the next incoming wave fills the other. I slosh my way through the resort to reception, looking like something the cat dragged in, and gratefully collect my package! After emptying my sea boots, squeezing out my socks, I squelch my way back through the resort to the beach. Keith has been bimbling around in the dinghy waiting my return and comes in to pick me up. As I am already wet I just wade straight in, refilling both boots. Somehow he has only managed to fill one of his seaboots when he dropped me off! We head back to ITIKI for a well-earned sundowner.

​The following day is still cloudy and we get a few spits of rain, but decide to ignore the weather and take the SUPs ashore for a walk along our long and lovely beach.  Once we get to the end there is a creek leading into some mangroves, with a couple of boats tucked up amongst the trees. After lunch we come back in the dinghy to explore the Leekes Creek  and take a closer look at the boats moored there. One boat is inhabited and reasonably well loved, the other looks like it hasn’t been checked on for a while and at low tide it lies on its side. There are a few nooks and crannies in the creek that would make great boltholes for cyclones.

I found out that the resort is hosting a “music festival” this afternoon, with a few local and cover bands from the mainland. We didn’t fancy stumping up $100 for a ticket, but decided to go and see (and hear) what we were missing. We could hear the sound check from ITIKI. We take the SUPs ashore again and there is a steep scramble, with a rope, up to top of the ridge. From there we can walk through the forest and down to Putney Beach and along past the resort where I came ashore yesterday. The dulcet tones of Status Quo give way to Elton Jack and we continue on to Fisherman’s Beach. Keith and I have both been here before, many, many years ago. Me as a backpacker in ’84, staying at a youth hostel on the island, and Keith about 30 years ago staying at a resort which is long since closed. We head back to ITIKI, have a swim from the boat, put Elton John on the stereo and pour a glass of wine. It’s been a busy day!

I can raise the anchor with the controller though so we continue north, ducking and weaving through the shallow channels of Moreton Bay. We are using our southbound track as a guide to through the narrow channels to make sure we keep away from the shallows and sand/mud banks that make this passage so challenging. A momentary lapse of concentration, cutting it a bit fine by a navigation mark, saw us come to a standstill with a hull parked on a mudbank. It took a bit of pushing and pulling with the Volvos to get into deeper water and get moving again, and we probably left a fair bit of the anti-foul behind as well. Next challenge is to pass under the powerlines at Jacobs Well, and even though we have been through here before it is still a little nerve wracking navigating under them. We need to go as close as possible to the western tower to get the maximum height clearance, as we know the lines hang down to less than our air clearance in the centre. We follow our southbound track and make it through with plenty of room, anchoring at Peel island. The rain has returned and so we spend the night on board.

​Peel Island gets a little rolly overnight and that once again gets us up early and on the way to the next anchorage (22nm away). Its a cloudy morning but by the time we arrive at Lucinda Bay, just south of the Tangalooma wrecks on Moreton Island, we have beautiful blue skies. We take the SUP ashore for a lovely walk along the beach. There are some dolphins hanging around ITIKI which is always lovely to see. Overnight the southerly breeze builds it gets rolly so another early start. People think that cats don’t need to worry too much about rolly anchorages, and it is true to some extent but if there is no wind and the swell comes in on the beam, it is not much fun! Anyway this time we are off to Mooloolaba which is 39nm. We skipped it on the way south because of the conditions, but this time conditions are pretty good. 

From Moreton Island we start to get out into open water, so we can hoist the freshly repaired main up and manage to sail most of the way. After passing the busy shipping channel for Brisbane port we are in clear water and on our way. We have the gennaker out and goose-winged with the main, and a queen bedsheet on the line for good measure!  We arrive at midday and it is easy getting through the Mooloolaba entrance as we follow a marine Rescue Boat towing a stray beach cat, before weaving our way past the waterfront MacMansions lining the muddy “canals” into Kawana waters. There is a small anchorage just off the marina here it’s tight and shallow but it will do for a couple of nights. The marina staff have kindly left a key out for us to use the dinghy dock, which is really lovely. We did try to get a berth here but there were none to be had! We do a trip to the shops, catch up with Patrick from Multihull Solutions (who sold us ITIKI), wait for a strong wind warning to pass and then it’s time to head off again on Tuesday. It’s back out through the canals again and into the bay, hoisting the main up before turning north for a 64nm cruise to Rainbow Beach.

Once we get away from the bay and the wind direction settles, we are delighted to have perfect conditions for sailing. Even some sunshine! We have the gennaker out and goose-winged with the main, again, but no washing as we are all up to date! We have 15-18kts from the SE and its only partly cloudy, so we are making great speeds of 9-10kts through the water under sail. This  means that we will be able to get through the Wide Bay Bar this afternoon, just on high tide which is great! We had expected to arrive too late and have to wait another day.

Wide Bay Bar is the channel between Rainbow Beach and K’gari / Fraser Island. Heading up the inside of Fraser cuts a lot of miles off the journey north, especially as we want to do a final pitstop for fuel and food at Burnett Heads / Bundaberg, so it’s definitely worthwhile taking this route. The Wide Bay Bar has a notorious reputation which is well deserved. There are shifting sands, shoals and reefs surround this channel and it can be treacherous. If the swell is over 1.5m and the winds over 15kts it can get pretty hairy. Looking back over the data from the nearby wave rider buoy we can see that earlier in May the wave height was reaching 6-7m!!! That would have made it impassable! We are well prepared for our transit having called Tin Can Bay VMR to get the latest waypoints for the channel to plug into the chart plotter. The channel is surveyed on a regular basis and these waypoints had changed since our last visit. We also receive the latest info on the newly installed / adjusted sector lights, on the southern tip of K’gari (Hook Point) and the other at Inskip point on the mainland north end of Rainbow Beach. These give us a bearing for our entrance through the channel, helping to guide us through the reefs and shoals. There are no port and starboard markers here, because of shifting sands, they would have to keep moving them. Instead there are virtual AIS port and starboard markers, which appear on the chartplotter but not in real life! Much easier to move if  the regular survey shows they are in the wrong place. How clever is that! It’s so good to have such great information to help us.

The wave-rider buoy outside the bar gives “significant” wave height at 1.7m and we have winds at 15-17kts so we are right on the edge of the “comfort zone” for transit, but we are bang on high / slack tide as we get to the start of the channel and it is looking pretty good. You can see from our track we need to enter the channel from the ENE, picking up the first waypoint, and head WSW initially, aiming first at the sector light on Hook Point. At the second waypoint we can turn SW towards the sector light at Inskip point and towards the third waypoint. All the while there are waves breaking on shoals and reefs either side of us, with not a lot of room for error. Its pretty disconcerting to be so close to these. Both engines are on and our skipper is the picture of concentration, hand steering, and with both of us keeping a watch out for rogue waves. Everything in the saloon is secured as the waves are hitting us on the beam, with the odd rogue rattling the wine bottles, but overall not too bad. It takes about an hour to get through the reefs and rough stuff to waypoint 3 where we are into the calmer waters in the channel. We can safely turn west and proceed another 20 mins or so before we tuck into our anchorage at Pelican Point.

​While we have a reasonably calm night there is still enough breeze to work up a bit of fetch in the broad but shallow anchorage, which slaps on the hulls through the night. No point sleeping in with that racket so up we get at first light! It’s still a long day and 31nm to get to the Kingfisher Resort anchorage on k’gari by early afternoon. The tide is rising so we should be fine to follow the preferred course through Sheridan Flats. There are a lot of shallow and drying sand banks through this section and but it is well charted and a preferred course is given on our charts. We also have our course from out southbound journey to follow. That said, I made the mistake of remarking to Keith that I thought we were through the nastiest shallows of Sheridan flats when bang! We come to a halt, having clipped the edge of a sandbank with the Starboard hull – of course the depth sounder is on the port side and still in 1/2m of water, hmmm. This one took a bit of work to move us off and back in to the deeper part of the channel. Definitely no antifoul left on the keels now! We continue on and reach our destination at Kingfisher without further incident, heading ashore on the SUP for a walk on the beach, frightening a large ray as we approach the beach (and carrying a stick in case of dingo encounters). I might mention that we only have one SUP inflated at the moment so we ride in two up! Now that’s how much I trust my skipper!

Above: Sheridan Flats and k'gari

I am pleased to report that the anchorage was not rolly so we did have a good night’s sleep, but nevertheless we had an early start to get to Burnett Heads at a reasonable hour and its 54nm away. No wind so we could only motor (at 6.5kts if we are lucky) and we arrived around 3pm, first doing a hot lap of the anchorage to check it out before heading to the fuel dock at Bundy marina. This would be our last opportunity to refuel for a while. Back to the familiar Duck Pond anchorage we pick a spot in front of the Coast Guard. There is a large dredge in front of the public dock which takes up a bit of space but we have good depth in the western part of the bay. Friday’s activities include doing a provisioning run, picking up a couple of parcels from the post office that Kev has sent. This includes a new windlass controller which sadly does not fix our problem – the down function still doesn’t work! Grrr – more trouble shooting to come. We go for a walk later in the morning, stop at a coffee shop for a beverage and a treat, and then do a few boat jobs in the afternoon, including fitting the first of our Dyneema lifelines. We finish the day with schnitty and chips at the Lighthouse hotel. It’s off to Lady Musgrave tomorrow as our island adventures are about to begin!

​We set a cracking pace from Sydney to Southport 419 nm in 10 days, thanks in part to the procession of southerly fronts that have been gracing the east coast of Australia. After more than 2 weeks enjoying the delights of Sydney, catching up with family and friends, taking a ride on the new, super fast Metro and finally getting our AIS & VHF transmission sorted (3rd time lucky), we could finally restart our push north. There has been lots of motoring, in fact more motoring, and more diesel usage than our Atlantic and Pacific crossings combined! But hey, if we waited for perfect sailing conditions we might still be in Hobart. The weather has been very challenging to deal with since we left rainy Sydney. 

Well we haven’t done an overnighter for a while and the skipper assures me this will be the last one for a while. We leave our mooring around 9am and put the main up in the harbour. It will be great to leave this rolly harbour anyway. The wind is forecast to be 15kts from the SE. The swell is still significant and the waves rolling in across the entrance are pretty scary looking. We hoist the main with waves pushing us back into the bay, and wait for a couple of biggies to roll through before heading out. Still the sphincter rating is quite high, although not as bad as the 3.5m waves we had coming out of Middle Harbour over Easter! Of course it turns out that the wind is coming from the SW and so after lots of involuntary gybing, partly due to the swell pushing us around, and not having a vang, we decide to drop the main and go with 2 headsails for a while. With squalls and building winds we are on the edge our range, so we furl the gennaker just before nightfall, which of course means the winds drop right down - Murphy's law of sailing. The Volvo goes on and we motor sail the rest of the way to Southport, arriving just after 9am Tuesday morning. The seaway webcam is not the best but conditions look ok, and local VMR describe conditions as “moderate” whatever that means… Anyway we pick a gap between incoming waves and Keith expertly hand steers us down the centre of the channel, wondering all the while where the leads are!

Finally left the lovely Gippsland lakes on the morning of the 10th of April. Our plan was to aim for Eden possibly arriving after dark, maybe in the wee hours, which we were quite ok with. Having been there before we know the well charted and wide open harbour so would have been happy to go in at night. Plans changed along the way though and we decided to push on to Bermagui. It was a pretty uneventful journey, first heading east along the south coast of Victoria, Passing Point Hicks and Gabo Island before turning the corner at the VIC-NSW border. Once we got to Green Cape its pretty much due north and we arrived at Bermagui just after 9am, having motor sailed most of the way, with the emphasis on motoring...

Having spoken to both the marina (aka Fisherman's Coop), who wanted to put us on the fuel dock, and local Marina Rescue "yeah yachts go into the lagoon all the time..." we opted to anchor in the lagoon. Well that was interesting, it is indeed a very shallow anchorage and while we arrived at high tide and anchored in the deepest water we could find, just inside the entrance, it wasn't long before our freshly wiped bottoms were sitting on the bottom! In fact we sat motionless for 2 hours either side of high tide. It was fairly clean sand but still not a good look and it was going to restrict our departure time. We spent a couple of days here just chilling out and exploring. Keith had not been into Bermagui since the '98 Sydney to Hobart race, when Sienna was towed in with a busted engine and crew the worst for wear. They had stood by Offshore Stand Aside, who had rolled, lost the mast and cabin top and were totally disabled awaiting helicopter rescue. Alot has changed here in that time, hard to believe it was 27 years ago! We popped into Marine Rescue to say hi, sadly the folk who were around at that time had long since retired.

Meanwhile we enjoyed wandering around the lovely, and sleepy town of Bermagui. The rocky coastline is spectacular and the beaches are beautiful. There are some pretty good coffee shops and boutiques here too. We waited for a small-ish southerly front to pass through, and for winds and seas to ease. We eventually relented, went into the harbour and spent our last night on the Fuel Dock so we didn't have to wait for the high tide to depart! And off we went, spag bol at the ready, an overnight passage to Sydney town!​