Very long week-end away
Admin | Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 5:24PM Moreton Island is just few miles away from the big city and offers white sand beaches and good anchorages. So with no much wind forecasted and with the wish of being anchored off these beaches we left Dockside Marina early Friday morning. After 2 hours of motoring in the Brisbane River we were in blue waters again.
It was the start, at noon, of the famous Brisbane to Gladstone Race and Greg couldn’t resist being close to the line. With tens of other boats, we enjoyed our sandwiches watching all these fast boats trying to catch the little breeze.
We anchored off Tangalooma (away from all the other boats who had the same idea) and were happy to have a great sunset as the backdrop for our first night out.
The next day, to avoid mutiny on board, we had to please the young crew and motored few miles South (of course we had the wind on the nose!) to find the white sand dunes we enjoyed so much in January. We stayed there for the rest of the long week-end. There were quite few other boats (50+) around us but this anchorage is huge…however not too protected from the weather we had. So, as the weather changed becoming windier and the seas bumpier, we ended up just with a couple of other cruisers by Monday.
We went sliding the big dunes few times, having a ball rolling over, running down the slopes, enjoying the great weather and the great views from the top of the biggest hill. After their 1st session, the kids decided to eat less sand and be more protected. So they went down with goggles and snorkels.
Of course we had the visit on Sunday of “Mr Long Ears” who left chocolate all around Merlin.
The kids gobbled up their treats in less time than you can say "Happy Easter" and couldn’t understand why they couldn’t have Nutella on their pancakes that evening.
We played games, watched movies, ate a lot, read, slept and it was too soon that this super long week ended up.
We sailed back to the river mouth, with 3 reefs and doing 8.5knt. We arrived safely on our pontoon, under a hard rain but a delicious home made pizza was warming up the atmosphere of the saloon.
(Lots of photos in the gallery under Australia)
Reader Comments (3)
Un week-end pour réjouir toute la famille: une course de bateaux, des plages, du sable blanc, des couchers de soleil, du vent dans le nez....
Que ces photos sont belles, Emmanuelle! Pleines de vie et de mouvements.
Bibis de Mamouss.
3 animaux a longues zoreilles sur un bateau!...
Vous recherchez es ennuis?...
J'espère qu'ils ont vite été dévorés avant qu'ils n'aient le temps de faire des petits partout...
Sounds like fun. The pic of the dunes reminds me of those we raced down many years ago in Namibia (with the boards that we'd spent hours waxing). Happy Easter!