Again watching the forecast we decided to get nearer the bar at the southern tip of Fraser Island. "Bars" here are not the kind we like to frequent to sample a few cold ones, they are shallow sand banks deposited at river entry/exit points as the water goes from shallow to deep. They can be quite unnerving if there is a swell running and particularly bad as the tide ebbs (goes out) as the waves steepen up and break. So usually it's best to cross them at slack water between high and low tide and obviously in daylight. So that narrows down when you can get in or out of a lot of ports, rivers and waterways on Australia's East Coast. Wide Bay Bar is supposedly treacherous so we wanted our timings right. Friends have seen it totally calm and then have a rogue wave break over them when they thought they were safe!

 

So we headed south to Tin Can Bay to await the right conditions. Our friends Al & Asa in New Cal had said how much they liked TCB so we were keen to check it out even though it meant going further south than we needed. Besides the weather wasn't great so we weren't going anywhere fast. It is a great little town with nice little cafes on the water and a supermarket which we needed as we were low on food. You can hand feed dolphins here but we didn't get up early enough, besides it was raining and it is winter! We went into the Volunteer Coast Guard to go over our intentions with them and they were really friendly. They tried to get us to stay a few days longer as they had a race going on at the weekend. It was tempting but the waters are shallow enough for us navigating, let alone racing!

 

We headed up to Pelican Bay so as to be ready when the bar was being friendly. We had a hard time anchoring as 3 different tides meet here and there are shoals all around meaning you have to be careful how you set the anchor - you can easily swing as the tide changes and end up aground! We saw 10cm under the keel so moved out a bit deeper which was more uncomfortable - but going aground is a bigger pain in the arse!

 

   

 

Next morning we awoke to a few yachts upping anchor and heading out to the bar. This was all the confirmation we needed so we upped anchor and headed out. Our timing was spot on but the crossing was a mess! Waves from every direction and breaking either side of our path out. It wasn't particularly nice getting thrown around like a cork in a washing machine but we obviously got out fine. We need to man-up a bit as there was a tiny traditional Polynesian catamaran sailing in through the bar as we exited. They kept disappearing but we think they made it through!

 

Once out we were back in the Ocean proper again for the first time since arriving in Oz. We turned south and headed for Mooloolaba.