Start Loc: Urangan Harbour, Hervey Bay (25o 17.59’ S, 152o 54.67’ E)
Narrative: We spent 18th July taking it easy at Urangan. I bought and installed some new speakers for the cockpit (Heather's happy), and we stocked up on groceries. We walked (the kids scooted) a couple of km to the shopping centre, and then caught a taxi back to the boat. We stayed at Urangan for a second night to let the fridge and freezer churn away on shore power rather than on the batteries. Yesterday morning, after bacon and egg rolls (everyone got a banjo, so no one was grumpy), we left Urangan at about 10:00am. The forecast was for S/SW winds at 10-15kts, strengthening to 15-20kts from the S late afternoon. Sure enough, we had a 20nm spinnaker run up the west coast of Fraser Island (Platypus Bay); very pleasant sailing. We were anchored outside Lagoon Anchorage (24o 58.22’ S, 153o 13.48’ E) by 4:40pm. It was low tide so the entrance was dry, and I am not sure we could get into the lagoon even on high tide. Although it was still quite mild, I set up the sea-anchor to trial it as a dampener to reduce the amount of roll when at anchor (I will need to add a weight for use in this role in the future) and we enjoyed sundowners as the sun went down. As we finished dinner, the wind picked up and remained from the SW, so we were in a very exposed anchorage. Heather washed, the kids dried and I put away; but after I put one plate in, the cupboard would spit it back out. We were in for an uncomfortable night with none of us getting much sleep, so we all agreed we would sail through the night to Bundaberg (about 50nm west, across Hervey Bay). Fortunately, I had only had one beer and Heather one wine. We rugged up, put on the wet weather gear, set up the jack-stays and harnesses, pulled anchor and set sail at about 8:00pm (as always for a night sail, with two reefs in the main and reduced headsail). I estimated we would get into Bundy's Burnett River at about 6:00am this morning. I recorded 32kt winds and the seas were about 2 metres, so while it didn't rain there was plenty of spray, and we had a good coat of salt on our wet weather gear as the east cardinal marking the start of the Burnett River channel came into view just before 5:00am. It was then 7:00am by the time we were tied up at the marina. Heather went straight to bed, while I stayed up to check the log and the charts to confirm distances etc, and then book in once the marina office opened at 8:30am. I then got a couple of hours sleep as well, while the kids quietly entertained themselves (maybe they were loud, but we didn't hear them!). After lunch, I cleaned down the boat and rinsed all the lines, sheets, jack-stays, etc in fresh water and laid them out to dry. We have decided we will stay here for another two nights with tomorrow spent doing some maintenance, and Friday having a look around. We will then continue north on Saturday towards Round Hill Creek and the towns of Agnes Water and 1770.
End Loc: Burnett River, Bundaberg (24o 45.69’ S, 152o 23.17’ E)
Distance run: 85nm (cumulative: 256nm)
Engine hours: 5 hr, 42 min (cumulative: 25 hr, 46 min)