Pancake Creek to Gladstone

Sun 15 - Tues 17 August 2010

The Crematorium in preparation.

After a windy Sunday of northerlies sweeping through the anchorage where we decided it was too rough to launch Muhu let alone put Brutus outboard on. We decided that in the morning we would head off to Cape Capricorn and then Yellow Patch with the wind direction coming from the SW it should be a good sail.
Michael had another go at cremating the meat, but this time failed, and burned the pork chops to perfection.
Master Chef eat your heart out!

The cremated meat ready to eat.

We had an earlyish start in the morning, up at 0600 anchor up at 0715. On motoring out of the anchorage we noticed that the gearbox would not engage fully and kept slipping (back to the ongoing problem). It was decided that Cape Capricorn would be abandoned for today and it was off to Gladstone to fix the problem. We had already logged on with VMR Gladstone for our passage to the Cape so we radioed our change of destination. It was a beautiful sunny day with a flat sea and 10kts of wind from the SW. As we entered the Gladstone Port Control area we radioed our presence to the harbour authority (failure to do so when over 10m long can incur a fine) and monitored Ch13 as stated in the directions.

An ugly duckling.

Eyes on the road Annie MV Jupiter can't catch us!

We followed the way points from the Beacon to Beacon book which kept us out of the shipping channel as a bulk carrier 'MV Jupiter' passed us. Travelling with the tidal current had us making 6.5 kts and we arrived in Gladstone marina at 1315. Michael managed to bash his way into our pen putting another scrape on the paintwork (bloody wind from the starboard quarter), at least that's Michael's excuse.





The marina is very reasonably priced at $27.50 per day for a 35ft vessel however the paperwork here is the most detailed we have come across with a 5 page list of terms and conditions and quite a bit of information required. Boating licence number, Insurance number and insured value of vessel, home address & tel no, holding tank fitted, 240v power needed, names of all people living on board, size and brand of underwear (well maybe not the last bit)! Every other marina was just interested in the money and little other detail.
The marina precinct is the most attractive we have come across with park lands and BBQ facilities although the port operations around are a bit noisy during the day with a pile driver going bang bang bang.

Auckland Inlet

Not the Swansea Bridge

Crossing the river into town we came across the lifting bridge (shades of Swansea here) except the bridge lifts on the hour on demand 24 hrs by pulling a cord or ringing the bridge control. the sad demise of a dumb pigeon occurred as the bridge lowered trapping it in the workings, its mate hopped out but the other was too late. Town is a 15 minute walk and has banks, cafes and a Woolies. Dinner for Anne's big 58 at the Library Square Restaurant was good value and we were both well sufficed if not stuffed.

Lights of the Tanna Coal Wharf

While Michael did the business with the gear box I headed off on the local bus to the "big" shops - quite an experience!! I was the only person who didn't know every one else on the bus, but was made to feel welcome. Didn't quite know how to respond to the "only use for a cat was for crab pot bait" dialogue so kept my head down while a local took on the argument!! There are some interesting if not strange characters around!

Stillness and serenity

I have to give the Gladstone Marina the **** so far for amenities, overall appearance, proximity to transport and shops; a good coffee shop nearby  would have earned it the extra *!