Kakadu National Park

Having enjoyed some of the most comfortable sailing I can remember, the Queensland coast will remain in my memory as a glorious place to sail. We had enjoyed the most gorgeous weather, fabulous wind conditions and truly breathtaking scenery.  

On the 11th July we rounded the furthest most Northerly point of Australia, ‘Cape York’, leaving the Coral Sea behind us and entering the Arafura Sea, to cross the Gulf of Carpentaria, .  

This is where things got a little uncomfortable, it was as if the Coral sea and the Arafura sea were in a battle for supremacy, the seas were confused and we were rolling from gunnel to gunnel.  Even with all the sails out, sailing wing on wing, the rolling wouldn’t be stilled.  It meant that any attempt to do anything below was almost impossible, and anything not secured or tied down was sliding around the boat with reckless abandon. ‘Our diet was to be toast and cup-a-soup until the seas behaved themselves again!

For three long days and three Godforsaken nights, we sailed across the Gulf of Carpentaria, rocking and rolling the whole way. There was no land in sight, nothing but water, and the continual rolling…

At 6:30 this morning, Saturday 14th July we approached Wessel Islands, two long narrow Islands off the Northern Territory coast, the Islands are called Guluwuru Island and Raragala Island.  There is a good size pass between the two islands, but there’s also a narrow cut in one of the  Islands just one mile long and approximately 100 meter’s wide, through the island of Raragala, it’s called “the Hole in the Wall”.  

This was reputed to be “something not to be missed”  (by some air-head) as long as you hit it at exactly the right time, so as to have favorable current.  

Two other Oysters in the fleet had taken the pass in the past couple of days, RedCat and Sea Avenue, they both recommended it. (I may need to have a few words with them when we catch up!)

Bob’s night watch was officially finished at 7am as we approached the Hole in the Wall, but thankfully he stayed on the helm, to take us through.  Don was frantically manning  the GPS and watching our way through on the screens, and passing the info to Bob.

I had just poked my head up through the companionway in time to see us approaching the entrance, (thanks for waking me guys! ) I asked to be woken this morning, so I wouldn’t miss going through.  Unfortunately no one bothered to come and get me, they were all too busy on the fore deck with their phones photographing our approach. Fortunately (or maybe not, as it turned out) I woke just in time to come up on deck and see our approach.  I couldn’t believe we were actually going to attempt to squeeze through this little gap in the Island, had everyone on board lost their marbles? It really didn’t look like a sensible choice to me, but then, what do I know?

As we approached the entrance, it looked really narrow and the water appeared very disturbed with lots of Eddys and strong tide, it was moving towards us, at 3 to 4 knots.  But  then only 10% of the way through the pass, the current started to increase until it reached 9 knots with 18-20 knots of wind behind. The pass was only a mile through, and even though the engine was at 1800 revs the boat came to a complete halt time after time, with still 3/4 of a mile in front of us. Our average speed was 0.01 knots.  Bob had to fight with the helm to keep the boat steady and pointing in the right direction.  Turning around was not an option, the current was so strong and the pass too narrow, our progress (if any) was unbearably slow, coming to a complete halt every few minutes. I kept staring at the sides of the pass for confirmation that we were moving at all. Mostly the speed stayed at 0.01 knots to 0.00 knots.  Glenn and Stuart put the jib out, hoping that this would give us some extra power, it didn’t! The water just seemed to be rushing past us at incredible speed. It felt as though we were attempting to sail up a waterfall. We were basically dead in the water with the engine at almost full revs! My imagination was on it’s spinning wheel going for Gold.

I was praying that the engine didn’t cut out, we would’ve been in such serious trouble had that happened. Was there a back up plan? What was the back up plan?  Which bright spark had this bloody daft idea anyway?  If the engine stalled or overheated we were toast, the boat would spin and crash into the rocky sides and we would all become crocodile buffet

Eventually Bob increased the revs by another 400, we were at maximum revs now with the jib full out and still our progress was barely more than 0.03 frequently dropping down to 0.00 knots. 

It was a fight at the helm the entire passage through; the one mile pass took us one hour and fifteen nerve racking minutes. The depth dropped to just 2.2 meters below the keel at one point, as Bob & Don tried to navigate through avoiding the strongest currents with Don passing on the GPS information.  

This was not fun. We had timed it so wrong for the current and tide, this error could easily have proved disastrous, However, my brilliant husband “Crazy Daisy’s Captain Bob” navigated True Blue safely through.

OK, so I can now say “I went through the hole in the wall”, whoo hoo, big deal! Most people wouldn’t even know what I was talking about, and even if they did, do I care? No.   If I was to ever do this trip again, would I take Crazy Daisy through this pass? Absolutely Not, Not on your life… But then I wouldn’t attempt to trek across the North pole, sail the Pacific on a breadboard, or jump out of an airplane without a parachute either, but that’s just me…

Sailing up the coast of Queensland has been an absolute joy, it’s possibly one of the most beautiful coastlines I’ve ever seen, with the exception of New Zealand, of course. 

I haven’t seen that much of Australia so far, but from what I have seen I’ve been surprised at just how much I like it.  I’m not sure what I expected, but I certainly didn’t expect it to be this beautiful, or this tropical. Having said that, I would never want to live here, there are way too many dangerous things with sharp pointy teeth and long hairy legs, and I’m not just talking about the locals.

Australia has possibly the largest collection of “nasties” deadly critters anywhere in the world, the spiders alone are enough to scare the feathers off an Ostrich. I saw my first (and I pray last) Huntsman spider when we were in the rainforest, “Holy crap” it was bigger than my hand, I could never live anywhere that this critter calls home. And that’s without all the crocodiles, sharks, box jelly fish, scorpions and deadly poisonous snakes to name just a few, way too many nasties here calling Australia home, I will not be settling down in their territory, but I’m enjoying visiting it, all be it with caution. 

I’ve deliberately not been in the water much, I’ve only been swimming once or twice,  with my silly suit on; this is referred to as a stinger suit by others.  Bob insisted on buying me this delightful outfit so I wouldn’t miss out on the snorkeling here.  

My silly suit consists of tight fitting, black stirrup pants, with a high neck, long sleeved bright turquoise, zip up top, a navy balaclava, divers socks and gloves, can you even begin to imagine what I look like in this ridiculous get up, especially with the added accessories, snorkel mask and flippers! And all to protect me from the box jellyfish! Really, the outfit alone is enough to scare them away! And no, there will be no photographs posted of me wearing this.  The snorkeling here is just not good enough to tempt me into an outfit where I would look like a bad impersonation of the Penguin, ‘Danny DeVito’ in Batman. Although it would give everyone else a good laugh.  

I did buy myself some seriously thick soled wet shoes, to protect myself from stepping on a ‘Stonefish’ another delightful Australian critter whose sting will cause excruciating pain followed by possible death! My shoes mean that I can at  least safely hunt for seashells in the shallow water without putting my family at risk of Mum’s hospitalization or funeral expenses!

Monday 9th July 2018

Yesterday Bob, Stuart, Glenn and I undertook a somewhat bumpy dinghy ride across the bay to Stanley island, opposite our anchorage here off Flinders Island.  The beach looked so tempting( the old phrase “the grass is always greener” springs to mind here), and the rocky hillside promised to be an interesting hike for the guys. I was all about shell hunting as usual, looking for that one special ‘Cephalopod’ the beautiful and elusive Nautilus shell. 

This area of the Queensland coast is frequented by crocodiles, so swimming is not advised, and one needs to keep a sharp eye out at all times when on the shore as they could be hidden in the water or the long grass growing at the  back of the beach. 

The beach was fun, the shells were plentiful and there were no croc’s (that I could see) no Nautilus either. However, the guys enjoyed their hike, and I had fun shell searching.  Bob drove the dinghy back taking the return journey at speed, to get the dinghy up on a plane, and avoid us getting a soaking.

The Dinghy on True Blue is no fun to drive, in fact it’s miserable, it has a tiller that’s horribly stiff (in need of a little tlc me thinks). Demanding is an understatement when it comes to the steering, which requires quite some strength to operate. I know Bob really misses “Whops-a-Daisy”(our dinghy on Crazy daisy) with her comfortable seat and easy steering. 

Tuesday 10th July

So, getting back to my story;  Lesley really wanted to visit the little beach on Stanley Island, but had been unable to join us yesterday as she was suffering from the possible start of a cold. Anyway, as we were both up early this morning, Glenn offered to drive us over, drop us off and collect us when we radioed to come back, we were ready to go by 8am, the water was calm and the wind had dropped to a gentle breeze, following a gusty very windy night; we hoped that the storm may have blown more shells up onto the shore, maybe even a Nautilus!  

However, best laid plans and all that, between making everyone tea, coffee and toast as they all slowly emerged from their cabins, it was 9:15 by the time we were actually ready, then Don decided he wanted to come with us, so Glenn said he would stay to help Bob and Stuart work on the traveler.  

I couldn’t help wondering how only Don, Lesley and me (pretty useless in the strength department) were going to drag the heavy dinghy up the beach and out of the water by ourselves! 

Lesley was trying her best to hurry Don along but it was 10 O’clock by the time we were  ready to leave, the wind was starting to build and the waves were increasing in height.  Anyway, not to be put off, we (me, Lesley & Don) headed out. One would normally say “better late than never”,  unfortunately, not in this case!  We really should have escaped earlier while the going was good, Oh well, (sigh). 

As soon as ‘yours truly’ had been safely installed in the dinghy we set off. And when I say “installed” Don makes such a fuss about me getting in and out of the dinghy,  he grabs my arm in a vice like grip, “to steady me!” I realize it’s all out of concern for my safety, but mostly it just puts me off balance, I’m actually so much safer without help (sigh) if I was to fall on my own I would simply get wet, if I fell with Don holding my arm as firmly as he does I’d probably break it.   But I know that it’s all out of concern and kindness, so I shouldn’t complain!

We approached the beach to see the waves rolling and crashing onto the shore, the wind had picked up and was blowing much harder than we would have liked, it promised to be a bit of a wet landing.  With the current and waves pushing us forward towards the beach, and crashing over the back into the dinghy, we were committed (or should I say “should have been committed”).  we really had no choice other than to land on the beach.  Lesley jumped over when we were in about two feet of water and took the painter to pull us forward, as Don raised and turned off the outboard, then the three of us, thigh deep in waves, pulled the dinghy up the beach as fast as we could before the waves flipped it over; it was a bit of a struggle for me, I don’t have much upper body strength, so I don’t know how much help I actually was, but with Lesley and Don pulling hard, between us we eventually managed to safely beach the dinghy.  

Turning around we could see the waves rolling in to shore from about 70 feet out, the prospect of a return journey was not a pleasing one, but honestly, as far as I could see it was nothing to get into a state about.  Don was already panicking about the return, mainly he said because of me being such a huge liability (sigh)!  

He  still worries about me as though I just had my surgery, fussing and panicking incase I dislocate again. It’s been eight months since my surgery, and seven since my last dislocation, I feel about as normal as I could be, and while I appreciate people worrying about me, it’s really tiresome to be continually treated as though I’m made of glass, well meant or not. 

Don radioed ‘Raya’ (our friends in the bay), with a request for them to ferry over our crew to help us, what Don didn’t realize was that Raya was having problems with her dinghy outboard, and it was actually dangerous for them to head over, if their outboard had stopped they could easily be swept out to sea, but this didn’t stop them from trying.  Within a few minutes Rick (from Raya) had collected Stuart and was heading out towards us.  Watching their approach, Lesley became concerned for their safety with the building waves, and told Don to radio them to turn back.  

We decided to wait it out and hope for the wind to drop and the tide to turn. That could be a few hours, but it was a far better prospect than putting our friends in danger. Rick turned around and headed back to the boat, while we contemplated a long stay on the island. Don’s worrying and panicking was starting to rub off on me.  My crazy imagination (the hamster on a wheel thing) started mentally going over my  survivor kit,  I had, water, tick, suntan lotion, tick, hat, tick, but no food (sigh) I started to wish I’d made time for breakfast, I may not get sunburnt or thirsty, but I might starve. I really need the hamster to just go to sleep during times of stress, instead of zapping into warp speed on the wheel causing my crazy imagination to do back flips! 

To cut to the chase; Lesley and I spent four and a half hours collecting shells, and watching for crocodiles (well at least I was watching for crocodiles).  Sadly there weren’t many shells worth adding to our collection, but happily no croc’s either.  The storm had done the opposite to what we had thought, and had sucked all the shells out to sea rather than onto the beach.  The few shells we did find were definitely not worth the eventual drenching we got on the return journey to True Blue!

Having decided that we had waited long enough, with the tide right out, and the wind a little calmer, Don was ready to return. I was given my usual lecture on safety, along with explicit instructions, “to get into the dinghy first, and sit down” (sigh).

We dropped the wheels on the dinghy and dragged her back down the beach into the water, once we had her afloat I was instructed again (being the liability!) to get in and sit down, while Lesley and Don moved us into deeper water, then Don got in and started rowing, Lesley jumped in after him.  I was at the bow watching for bommies (raised coral heads).  The beach dropped away quite quickly and we were soon into deeper water with no bommies visible. But Don insisted on rowing with the outboard raised until we were quite a way out into deep water!  

Eventually, many sweaty, rowing minutes later  the outboard was lowered, (I would have smashed a bottle of champagne on the bow to celebrate if I’d had one) and off we went, well when I say ‘off’ it was at a snail’s pace, with the engine barely on tick-over, bobbing like a cork over the waves and getting absolutely drenched!  Don is extremely cautious driving the dinghy, especially for someone who flies around like a teenager at warp speed on his windsurfer, but let’s not forget he did have  “the liability” aboard, to take care of, one really can’t be too careful (sigh)!  Oh but would he stop worrying about me hurting myself…

Lesley and I were giggling like schoolgirls as we both sat like a couple of drowned rats with the waves continually pounding the dinghy and soaking us through to the skin as we bounced up and down, fortunately the water was warm, although the wind was cold.  OH how I was missing  Whoops-a-Daisy, she would have flown at speed over these waves on a plane, and I’m sure we would have arrived back at the boat with a minimum of splashes.  Ah well, it is what it is,  no harm done, sadly, despite all our discomfort there were no good shells found and still no Nautilus  (sigh)…

Wednesday 20th June 2018

We left Hayman Island this morning at 8am, ‘sailing’ not motoring, so all were happy about that.  The weather is lovely, sunny, blue skies, but quite cold;  as usual I’m the only one in a t-shirt, everyone else has fleece’s and long pants.

We’re heading for Magnetic Island, doubtful we’ll make it today, so an overnight stop in Upstart Bay may be on the cards. 

As we left this morning we were graced with a visit from a small pod of  about 12 dolphins, mostly juvenile.  They swam with us for about 10 minutes while Lesley and I stood on the bow watching and cheering as they leapt high into the air;  there can be no doubt that these are fun loving happy creatures.

Thursday 21st June 2018

So, as it would turn out we didn’t stop overnight, our Captain decided we would slow down, head out a bit and keep going all through the  night so we could arrive at Horseshoe Bay early this morning.  It was a pretty rolly night, no one got much sleep, there were a few issues with wind change, and a few frayed tempers, OH well, all’s well that ends well, and we arrived tired but safely this morning.

After lunch we all headed ashore to explore. Magnetic Island is famous for its wild Koala’s, and we were told if we hiked up to the fort through the forest we would most likely see some.

The hike was steep (for me) and in total we walked about 3 miles, but the views were spectacular, we saw wild Koala’s sleeping and feeding, along with some pretty spectacular birds.

We had an ice cream (as you do) on the beach before we headed back to True  Blue for a dinner of coconut breaded Spanish Mackerel, caught by Stuart yesterday. 

It was quite a magnificent catch, the Mackerel was 57” long and gave us enough fish to fill the freezer and keep us all fed for quite a few meals…