Hervey Bay to Rosslyn Bay

At about 6pm on Thursday 2 August we arrived at Port Bundaberg with a golden/pink full moon rising after a perfect blue sky day of light W wind and calm sea. The next day we motored lazily up The Burnett River to the city of Bundaberg and anchored in very good holding mud amongst a couple of other boats. This morning I discovered the windlass deck switch refused to work so this was added to the list of jobs to be done. The remainder of the day was spent doing a lap of Bundy taking in the ambience along with a good coffee and a little grocery shopping.

Very healthy large pink viney plant in Bundaberg

Beautiful old buildings in Bundaberg

Saturday 4 August arrived with a heavy dew, blue sky and warm sun. After brekky  I got to and fixed the windlass switch which just required a good clean where the contacts had some corrosion all good! We then motored back downstream, with the tide, to Port Bundaberg and anchored near the marina where we reunited with our friends Jim and Rejane who arrived on their yacht from New Caledonia the night before. Their blog www.yachtdingo.blogspot.com is a great tale of their journey.
Sunday 5 was spent stitching up the UV strip on the genoa as well as a pleasant 10km walk to Burnett Heads and finishing up with afternoon tea with Jim and Rejane and Miff's freshly baked fruit cake.

Meeting Jim and Rejane on their arrival from the Pacific was perfect timing in Bundaberg

It wasn't until Tuesday 7 August that we departed Port Bundaberg. A 5.30am start on a perfectly clear day saw us motorsailing in a light 5-10kn SW all the way to Pancake Creek. We had our dose of excitment today in the form of a close encounter with a couple of large humpbacks heading south. We had 3 other sightings this day but none as close although it did heighten our level of watch.

The Young Endeavour sitting outside the town of 1770

Close encounters-whales spyhopping to check us out

We arrived at Pancake Creek around sunset after passing the prominent Bustard Head with its lighthouse, the first to be built in Queensland in 1868 and dropped anchor not far inside the entrance in company with 3 other boats. The following 2 days were spent swimming and walking the beautiful beaches and bush track to the lighthouse and lookout. The outside anchorage can get a bit rolly as we found out on our last night there so we may try getting further in next time we visit.

Bustard Head Lighthouse

Bustard Head Lighthouse

An impressive entrance- manufactured in 1866

 The Qld archives bear witness to a litany of tragedies that occurred in the area and as hinted at in this graveyard at Bustard Head.

Jenny Lind Creek looking south

We weighed anchor about 8am on Friday 10 August. The day ended up being a pretty good sail starting with 15-20kn SW for 3hrs then 3hrs of motoring. Then finishing with 15-28kn WSW approaching Cape Capricorn, where we reefed the main and double reefed the genoa, we sailed a further 6nm before ducking into the welcome lee of Hummocky Island in company with a cat called 3rd Wish with Bruce and Linda onboard.
The following day we had a delightful 22nm sail to Middle Island next to Great Keppel.

Sorcerer enjoying the breeze on the way to The Keppels from Hummocky Island (photo Linda 3rd Wish)

Middle Island-next to Great Keppel



The next 3 1/2 days were spent exploring the beaches , bush and hills of this beautiful island not to mention meeting some of the long time residents and locals. The resort was a mere shadow of its glory days but the current threat is for a development that threatens to destroy even more of the islands natural assets. When it came time to leave we knew this would not be our last visit to this special place.

Leekes Beach-Great Keppel Island

An interesting and sobering information plaque

Welcome to Great Keppel!

A curlew-we think he probably had an injured wing.

Off Svendsens Beach-Great Keppel

Hunter gatherer!

desert tracks ? Curlew

Jill Knights boat 'Cooee' Great Keppel

Jill and Miff having sundowners on Svendsens Beach Great Keppel

Beautiful handpainted signs on the walk around Great Keppel

Delightful bush on the Cooee Track

A eucalypt with long arms Great Keppel

This sign shows the way to the tree sit

John beat me to it. A great spot to relax

hirsute specimen

Not just signs but random words of wisdom scattered along the tracks

Not far to go

Halfway and Humpy Islands viewed from Great Keppel

walking the track to Bald Rock Point Light

view north to Wreck Bay

Bald Rock Point helipad and light

whale skeleton Wreck Bay

Svendsens Beach Christmas tree

John keeping up the journal entries

The Ancient Quinine Tree

Butterfish Bay

Monkey Beach 

Rosslyn Bay, about 8nm from Great Keppel, is the harbour serving Yeppoon. On Wednesday afternoon we arrived in the well appointed and friendly surrounds of the marina for a couple of days of restocking and the usual washing jobs.

Rosslyn Bay marina entrance

The view northward over the marina from the top of the hill