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Mischief - Yet more Mischief : Log 70 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes



Monday, 6th August 2018 - Airlie to Bowen

Another early run with Neen, this time down to the ferry terminal at the other end of the town, then we slipped lines at 9.30 am after an emotional farewell to the guys and girls on Emily Morgan who were waving us off. We may see them in Cairns but more likely in Darwin in a couple of weeks. The banter will be much reduced; I suppose there is the radio!

We are headed towards Bowen about 36 miles to the north but there is no wind at all, no swell and perfect sunshine, perfect whale spotting weather but not much good for sailing. Then at 1215 there they were, whales! They weren't leaping at all, in fact they were just lazing about on the surface. Then a little later we saw what appeared initially to be dolphins but these had big bulbus heads and very short dorsal fins so we looked in the book and decided they were Southern Bottlenosed whales, but they weren't too active either. Other than those sightings we spent most of the passage reading, which is probably why we missed most of the whales leaping?

We arrived Bowen at just past 3 pm and moored against the public dock as instructed by the harbor master who came along to book us in. By rights we should have slipped again and moored against the pile moorings just aside us but he allowed us to stay where we were as we were only to be there for one night. He had no idea what to charge us so stood pondering for a while and said $40, say 16 hours at half the hourly rate of $5. We said we were likely to be going mid afternoon so he re-pondered and said "Right, call it $50 quits, 10 hours at full rate!". "Done", agrees Dave.

Mike, the harbor master looks as if he has been in the job for years, probably in his late 60's and looked all of it with his heavily wrinkled features and white goatee beard. He also had black lips which was a bit odd, probably caused by chewing tobacco. He was interested in our journey and then Wendy told him of the episode with the washing in Airlie marina and he responded with a middle finger salute; that's what he thought of that lot! He directed us to the nearest pub, without us even asking so we must have looked in need; a real character.

So, we headed into town and spent happy hour in the pub with our 'pots' of beer, then went on to the supermarket to get some provisions for tea. It was only on the next block, but each block seems to be a long way. There is hardly any traffic and no need for traffic lights, and the roads are twice as wide as in the UK apparently because they used to have to turn big carts around in the gold rush days. We got our supplies then on to the bottle shop for beer but were faced with a long slog back to the boat so the girly in the shop ordered a taxi for us. He was to be ten minutes but after twenty we went back to see if she would phone again to be told he was just around the corner. When he arrived he apologized for being late but his wife wouldn't let him come out until he had had a wash, "I smelt worse than the dog!" He might have changed his clothes as well as he still hummed a bit. He took us back to the boat for all of $10 and again was keen to hear of our adventures to which he said, "Fair dinkum!" And he then parted by saying, "stay off the reefs, not like that other Englishman, Captain Cook". Sound advice.

Lovely big steak and snags (sausages) for dinner on the barbie and then into bed by a very respectable 8 pm!

Tuesday, 7th August 2018 - Bowen town dock

Went for an early run with Neen along the seafront and along the pier used nowadays for tugs (originally built in 1880 for coal loading) and along to the point on Denison Bay where there was a memorial to the Catalina pilots and engineers who flew from here during World War II. Very interesting. We returned to the boat to find Dave and Wendy chatting to a chap named Hugh who could talk for Australia, originally from Scotland and moved to Oz in 1949 at the age of four. He was very knowledgeable and occasionally interesting, but I hope that I look as good as he does at the age of 74, except that, as he was keen to point out, he still had a full head of hair which he demonstrated by lifting his cap. He said that around the area there was a 'heap' of gold mining - and he imparted a fool proof method of sifting for gold: find a seam and remove the rest of Australia from it then you are sure to be left with only gold - simples! When we have time we should try that, and as Del Boy would say, we could be millionaires!

We walked around the harbour to the fish shops opposite and bought some Spanish mackerel, prawns and some Red Emperor filets all caught that morning. Neen and I went to explore the fish sheds with permission and watched one of the third generation of the Birds family who owned the business filleting Spanish mackerel with real skill, holding the tail and slicing his knife forward to the head along the backbone leaving no meat on the bone at all. He did both sides and literally folded the empty bone into a bin. We could learn a lot from his technique should we ever catch another fish! We went back there for lunch of fish and chips as they also had a very popular chip shop where you could choose your fish as fresh as a daisy to have with double cooked chips. Lovely! Dave and I had a Sea Basket which comprised a large piece of battered Spanish mackerel, three breaded prawns, a breaded crab stick and scallops all with a basket full of chips.I was stuffed yet again!

We left the quay bound for Magnetic Island 104 miles north mid afternoon for a night passage and plan to drop anchor in Horseshoe Bay, a must-see destination according to all sources, so we shall see. At least we don't need any dinner this evening as I think we are all still full from lunch. 


Wednesday 8th August 2018 - Bowen to Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island

Initially the wind was about 10-15 knots from behind then reduced progressively through the evening to 5 knots but we stuck at sailing as it was so peaceful gliding along at 2-3 knots. However, it then started to increase again and what was calm and flat water became 25 knots and a quartering sea which had the boat rocking and rolling all over the place and sleep was difficult below. We had two reefs in the main and three in the genoa and we were still doing 8 knots.

It was a really interesting sail though through the night through a busy ships anchorage; alongside a busy shipping lane; a trawler fishing alongside us for hours ( requiring me to call them up on VHF to check they were happy to have us on a parallel course coming into shallows); rocks; and all manner of lights from overlapping headlands that became quite confusing - we had it all, whilst it blew hard and was very lumpy!

We arrived at Magnetic island at 9.15 am and Dave came on deck to state, "Magnetic Island, can't see the attraction". Clearly, it was going to be one of those days again. The island is one of the unmissable attractions for many along this coast with its wild Koala bear population, its kangaroos, World War II fortifications up in the hills and amazing rock formations, where huge boulders all appear to be balanced on top of one another. Our cruising buddies Smoke and Roses were already in the bay, so we dropped anchor right next to them and spent half an hour working out if there was to be enough water at low tide for us given conflicting tide information.

We met up with Dan and Agnes and went ashore for a walk up to the forts in the National Park. On the way we stopped off at a Koala sanctuary where the attendant had placed a bear first thing in the morning and being lazy creatures, it was still there up a Eucalyptus tree where he had left it. So, after a few photos we headed off again to the forts trail where we saw Koalas in the wild - very cute and cuddly but always asleep up in the trees, sometimes not that high up.

The forts were very interesting as the construction process and life for construction workers and servicemen between 1943 and 1945 were well described - especially the placing of the two 155mm howitzers, but they were never to be fired in anger which I suppose was a good thing. Apparently, on armistice day these two huge guns just disappeared, and no-one knew quite where they had gone!

We stopped off for a beer in town and something to eat before jumping back in the dinghies to head back to the boat in the dark. It was a good job that we had tied up to Dan's dinghy as when we got back both boats were afloat and hanging on Dan's anchor, about waist deep.


Thursday, 9th August 2018 - Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island

We planned to take a bus tour today around the island and across to Townsville on the ferry. So, we headed off with Dan and Agnes to catch the 8.45 bus from the top of the beach to Nelly Bay where we walked straight onto the ferry and were off with perfect timing, for the twenty-minute crossing to the mainland and caught another bus into the town centre.

Townsville is a very clean, very modern city with much of the original architecture of columns and arched windows dating back to earlier times remaining in balance with more modern office buildings. Standing tall in the middle of town was Castle Hill which demanded that we walk up it, all 1,039 steps! Phew, hot work but the panoramic views from the top made it well worth the effort, and the cold beer in the Brewery pub back in town even more appreciated! In fact, we had a sampler board of eight beers brewed on the premises ranging from light lagers to heavy stouts. We settled on the Red Ned and had a couple of those with lunch, sat on wide sofas. Agnes fell asleep!

Back to the ferry but we passed by an Irish bar, Molly Malones so felt duty bound to have a pint of Guinness which made us need to get a wiggle on to catch the 1645 ferry but was worth it. Once back on Magnetic Island we jumped back on the bus and jumped off again at Geoffrey Bay to see the Rock Wallerbies in the 'wild'. They were being fed so hardly in the wild in my view, but they were very tame and allowed you to hand feed them quite happily. The local tourist shop sold special pellets for them. There was so much food for them all over the place I can't believe that they are not all really fat! As it was they were the size of a small (overfed) dog.

So, after seeing the Wallerbies we went to catch the bus again but fell into a bar right there at the bus stop and had a couple more beers whilst waiting for the bus, as you do.

A really good day out it must be said, and we were all fairly tired when we got back to the boat, a bit tiddled too. Tomorrow we are heading off again on the relentless sail north this time to Fantome Island, a former leper colony, about 40 miles off. If we start to lose weight after visiting this place we should check we have all our bits and pieces intact maybe!

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