Journey to Brisbane

We have finally started our long awaited northbound passage (that’s a sailing word for sea journey). We were suffering a little from marina fever from waiting around so long.

We have seen more full moons and beautiful sunsets in the last 5 months than the last 5 years. Living on a boat you are outside most of the time and you really feel connected to nature.

We are currently at Burrum Heads, just south of Bundaberg in Queensland and we will talk about our journey later on. John was so

excited to sail through the Wide Bay bar - I call it John's personal Haj. In the last few weeks sailing we have felt excited, frightened, exhilarated, expectant, nauseated, sleepless and more. The dog remains unsure.

We will slowly sail up the coast with the aim to be in the Whitsundays by some time in July or August - no hurry, no plan.

17 – 22 December 2019
It was after lunch when we finally left Dehavilland Drive for the last time. It was a bit emotional saying good bye to Georgie. Unfortunately we overestimated the space available and our remaining possessions were packed to the roof in the car – quite squishy for Tallis.

After a quick goodbye at Switchboard and Power Controls we headed

off for the next stage of our lives. Tallis, John and I drove out of town starting our 3,000km journey. It was typical December weather, well over 40 degrees, dusty and dry with lots of flies.

We stopped at Wauchope Hotel for the night – yes – we know 350 km is what we from Alice Springs do for a lunch date but we had promised ourselves one last big Territorian steak before we left. The cabin was like an oven and when we turned the aircon on it became a fan-forced oven. I was afraid to leave Tallis in the room in case he roasted. Poor old dog doesn’t know what the hell has happened to his once very comfortable and predictable life.

The drought was evident – water levels at Maryanne Dam outside Tennant Creek and Lake Moondarra outside Mt Isa were very low. The weather was very hot. We ate lunch in the car with the

air-conditioning on – very soft – but old people need to look after themselves.

We quite enjoy driving through the outback. To us there is never “nothing” to see. The desert sky is so big and blue and beautiful. If there really is nothing to see I entertain John with my singing which he loves. I stop after completing all verses (8.33 minutes) of “American Pie” as the song (or my singing) seems to make John cry.

We travelled across the Barkly, through Mt Isa (white 4WD Ute city) and stopped at a caravan park in Cloncurry. We ate curry in the “Curry” and paired it with some Jack Rabbit Pinot Grigio (thanks Greg and Shirley). It was again very hot and didn’t go below the high 30s overnight. Not happy Kathy.

Our third day saw us travel through McKinley – blue heeler pub,

Winton, Longreach, Ilfracombe, Barcaldine stopping at Blackall for the night. This time we chickened out and stayed in a cabin – nice but a bit dodgy – we found the fire extinguisher at the back of a cupboard behind the crockery.

The heat settled a bit as we headed east but the smoke haze that had started from Mt Isa thickened. We didn’t see any evidence of local fires probably as there was nothing left to burn after the drought.

We drove through Charleville, Roma, Surat and down to Goondiwindi where we again stayed in a cabin. The detour to Surat was so John could reminisce about the many times he or Hewy stayed there when working at Wallumbilla.

We stayed at Goondiwindi for two nights as we needed a holiday on

our holiday. It is quite a pretty town with a lot of art deco era buildings, the Macintyre River and of course lots of references the Gunsynd.

The pubs look like real pubs especially the Victoria Hotel. The Queenslander was the best pub though – it had a corner set aside to display lots of State of Origin paraphernalia. We had dinner there and afterwards listened to a pub band and a rather wild and enthusiastic crowd. Lots of fun.

On the final day of our trip we visited NSW (well we crossed the Macintyre), Stanthorpe, Warwick and through Cunningham Gap that had been decimated by fire into Brisbane. We arrived at my brother’s place to find no-one home as my mother had been admitted to hospital.

We enjoyed the trip with wildlife where you least expected it (green frogs in the toilet) and quirky small towns. The most bizarre thing, though, was the local returned soldier statue in Stanthorpe dressed up in a Santa Claus outfit.

Today’s Reflections
What’s good: Living in a marina is fun – everyone talks to you as they know they have at least one point of commonality; clouds are cool and the pubs will be open soon. I have been retired for nearly 8 months.
What’s bad: Nothing much.
What we have learnt: It is possible to take 350 photos of “nothing”. "Plenty of water" doesn't mean we have plenty of water in the water tank - it means there is plenty of water below the boat."

Photos:
P 17 Stunning winter sunset at Manly Marina
P 18 Map 1
P 19 Alice to Tennant
P 20 Highway trips
P 21 The travellers
P 22 Assorted photos
P 23 Map 2
P 24 Outback hotels
P 25 Map 3
P 26 Goondiwindi
P 27 Assorted photos
P 28 Finally on our way
P 29 View from the back.

Next: Waiting for Summer Breeze