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Sailing around Australian East Coast  Sydney — Cairns — Sydney , July-December 2007

Whitsundays, Episode II

 

Further south

8.11.2007

The next day the wind increased and turned south; we spent a couple of days in Townsville and, as we had to be in Whitsundays for my second CPA exam, we started sailing south.

With the wind was S-SE and big waves against us we were very slow, making only 20 miles per day on average, anchoring at night at Cleveland Bay, Bowling Bay, Upstart Bay, opposite Bowen, and finally, at Airlie Bay.

 

2nd CPA exam in Cannonvale

Today is my second CPA exam and it is in Cannonvale, a town close to Airlie Beach.  The name of the examination centre was “Trump Lifestyle Centre” and expected to see a big building, or at least a hotel like in Cairns. However the taxi driver took me to a small house, which didn’t look like a business building at all: a cat sleeping by the door, garden of flowers – looks like a normal private house. I checked the address and it was correct. Then I noticed a print-out glued to the wooden fence: “Trump Lifestyle Office”.

In Sydney there are about 1000 people in one exam, in Cairns there were 8 and here it was just me.

The exam supervisor (who obviously lived in this house) was a nice lady. She offered coffee and showed me into the living room where the examination table was set up for me. It was standard, same like it would look in Sydney with the number and my name tag glued to the table :), however the table was large and convenient for open book exam  - I can fit all my folders with no problem, and the chair was a soft office leather chair – very comfy. Well, I didn’t feel like I’m doing an exam at all.

 

A week in Nara inlet

9.11.2007

Our fridge that we picked up from repairs in Townsville broke down again. It was still under warranty and it was not a first priority for the repair place to fix it. We have to wait for a week, but luckily we were in Whitsundays and there is no better place to wait. The weather turned really bad though, the wind increased to more than  30 knots  building up the seas to uncomfortably high. A good place to wait over was Nara Inlet of Hook Island.

The first day we got deep inside, it was very nice and protected and cockatoos visited us in the evening, however there was no internet reception and we moved to anchor near the entrance next day, where it was still protected and we had phone reception.

We spent almost a week there, reading books and relaxing. I was happy that I don’t need to study for a while. As the weather outside the inlet was bad, it seems like all the Whitsundays charter fleet wanted to anchor here; as we were next to the entrance we saw all the boats passing by. It was good to spend a week on the same spot, we would prefer to visit Bait Reef again instead, but it would be too rough there anyway.   

 

Hill Inlet

18.11.2007

We picked up the fridge that seems to work fine this time, we did our big shopping in the Cannonvale Coles and started making our way south again. We stopped in Tongue Bay off Whitsunday Island for the night (it was very rolly there) and climbed the lookout point of Hill Inlet next day. There is a magnificent view over Whitehaven Beach from there, white sand meets crystal clear water which first turns aquamarine near the shore, then emerald and then bright blue.  

 

Whitehaven Beach

Gonzie wanted to keep going south, however I talked him into anchoring for one more night at Whitehaven Beach –it is one of my favourite beaches. When we arrived there the weather was turning bad and there was a huge rain cloud in the horizon. It was actually already raining less than a mile from us and we hoped we can anchor before it gets to us, but no luck Gonzie got soaked 5 minutes before he could drop the anchor.

 

19.11.2007

In the morning I put on my mask and fins and swam over to the beach in the morning while Gonzie was still sleeping. Two yellow fishes escorted me to the beach swimming just in front of my mask. The beach has very fine white sand, which is why it is cold “Whitehaven” and the water by the beach is clear. There is no surf here which makes it pleasant for swimming.

 

And south again …, stop-over near Lindeman Island

We are moving forward again.The weather is very cloudy and it is about to rain. A strange ship, with square sails, passed by – she is at least 100 years old. She was carrying a pirate flag with a scull and crossed bones. “Pirates!” - we thought and altered our course (no, just kidding, it was a tourist boat :).

I wonder how many crew it takes to manage a ship like this.   

We stopped at Lindeman Island for the night. It is a resort island, but we didn’t visit it.  

 

Goldsmith Island

20.11.2007

Stopped at Goldsmith Island where we spent 2 nights. A turtle came up to breath right next to the boat. Then we almost lost our life ring. I tie it to the boat when going for a swim just in case there is a current. Our neighbour saw it drifting away, jumped on the dinghy and picked it up for us. Very nice of him!

 

Brampton Island

22.11.2007

Brampton Island is the most southerly resort of Whitsundays. There were a naked man and woman on the neighbour boat and they didn’t even care that someone can actually see them – lots of other boats around.

 

 

Nara Inlet, Hook Island. I can’t get over how blue the water is!

Empede in Nara Inlet

Cockatoo visited us on the boat

Some sunsets are really colourful

Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach view

This is how Whitehaven Beach looks in bad weather

“Pirates” of Whitsundays

Goldsmith Island

Solway Lass

Cockatoo

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