Friday breakfast was the official rendezvous for the cruise so we all walked to the Mooloolaba Surf Club for breakfast. Sunshine Coast Council have done a great job creating a boardwalk that goes all the way from the river entrance into town.

 

 

Friday evening we walked all the way to the river mouth to watch the sunset over the Gold Coast Hinterland,

Woke up to a beautiful winter morning at Mooloolaba. Spent the day washing clothes, cleaning the boat and settling in. In the afternoon we took the dingy up the canal to Kawana Waters to do our provisioning. There is a pub at the top of the canal with the imaginative name of the Kawana Waters Hotel. If you have lunch or buy a drink you can tie up at their private jetty and then walk up to Kawana Waters shopping centre which is huge.

 

Up at 3:30am for a 4am departure from Mariners Cove, actually departed at 4:30 and motored up the channel, out through the Gold Coast Seaway and turned left to head north.

It was not exactly a balmy Queensland winter as you can see by the picture of Sonia below.

 

However sunrise revealed smooth seas and 17-18 knots of W to NW wind, perfect conditions ofr sailing up past North Stradbroke and Moreton Islands at around 7 knots.

 

 

 We were able to sail all the way to Cape Moreton, unfortunately when we went around the cape the wind was on the nose so we had to motor across to Mooloolaba. We arrived in Mooloolaba just on sunset and were greeted by our other Alfred’s cruisers

A quiet day, nothing much to report.

Sonia flew up to the Gold Coast and joined Galadriel. Rest of the day was spent getting ready for an early morning departure for Mooloolaba.

Arrived at the Gold Coast Seaway just before dawn and were safely tied up at Mariners Cove by 5:30am. Overall an uneventful trip.

 

 

Rest of the day was spend resting and cleaning the boat and enjoying the Gold Coast weather

Sunday turned out to be a perfect day for cruising, seas had flattened out again and with a 11 knot NW wind we were sailing along at 7 knots

 

Wind dropped in the late afternoon and had to break out the iron sail again. Around Cape Byron the current was 3 knots against us so we hugged the shore and then set a straight line for the Gold Coast. However the NE wind and swell was making it slow and uncomfortable so we headed close inshore and headed up the Queensland coast.

The good conditions continued on Saturday and we settled into a delivery routine, passing Seal Rocks at first light.

At 10:40 am our first excitement, with a whale sighted only a few hundred metres off the starboard bow. I was even fortunate to capture a photo. The other photo is Crowdy Head lighthouse.

  

 

 

Saturday afternoon the seas picked up and the winds continued from north east which meant no so enjoyable conditions bashing into the swell. But most of the time it was just unpleasant not un-enjoyable.

 

 

There was a great weather window for Galadriel to commence the first leg of the Pittwater to Dunk Cruise. The plan was to sail straight through to the Gold Coast with a delivery crew where Sonia would join me for the cruise north.

 

A 2:30pm departure so we could make use of the lights of the Central Coast and Newcastle on our first night at see. We motored up Pittwater and turned out into the Pacific Ocean. Much to our delight the sea was a flat as it possibly be, in fact there was less swell than you experience on Lake Macquarie.

A nice motor up the East Coast, the only challenge being the east coast current was flowing against us at two and a half to three knots so we hugged the coast.

You can see by the photo the conditions were so good we could even get out the placemats and the table lamp to eat our curry dinner. Thanks to Sonia for the pre-prepared meals in foil packs, it makes it so easy to heat in the oven.

We then settled into to a 3 hour watch.  Can recommend this watch cycle when you have 3 crew, first hour two on watch, then one person only has one hour on their own, then third crew member joins you for the last hour. This means you get 6 hours sleep during the night. Much better than 4 hours on 4 hours off.

 

By ten o’clock the wind had settled in from the north at around 11 knots so we were able to set the main sail and continued motor sailing though the night.

Galadriel's Cruise from Pittwater to Dunk Island

 

 

This trip has been 2 years in the making. We aren't alone in this adventure, we are doing it with friends from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (RPAYC). The club organises adventures like this every 2 years.  Our plan is to sail from Pittwater up the NSW and Queensland coasts exploring as we go.

 

 

We have a few rendezvous that have been planned but apart from that we will go where the wind takes us.

 

 

This is our big plan