21:06.744S 149:13.596E Mackay Queensland Australia
Shaya Moya
Don & Susan Smyth
Wed 18 Jun 2014 00:20
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We arrived at the entrance to Capricorn channel
that leads up inside the Great Barrier reef at first light on Thursday 10th June
after crossing a busy shipping lane that takes ships from Australia's major
ports to Japan, China and Asia. Very busy with loads of images on the AIS
system. This is safety system that all large ships have to have which shows up
on our chart plotter and radar as an image. This shows course, speed etc for
that ship. Great safety feature.
  We were relieved to be in the relative shelter of
the mainland and reef after being bruised and battered by really bad weather. We
had gale force winds of Force 8, gusting 9 for three days and 12 hours of storm
Force 10/11. This equates to winds of 70-80km/hr and 90-120km/hr. The waves
build up and the spray stings like hell. Luckily this was on our quarter or
behind us. One rogue wave pushed us over on our beam and roared over the
aft deck taking our Danbuoy man overboard buoy with it. It was only about 10-20
seconds and I could not see the light flashing as it was obscured by the waves.
It stands 2 metres high out of the water. The lesson learnt here is not to go
overboard especially at night. Shaya Moya took it all in her stride. The down
side was of course little or no sleep for quite a while.The leak from the rudder
stock is back so the bilge pump is going a lot of the time. Disconcerting but
not dangerous. Will get this sorted in Mackay.
     This was the worst weather we expearienced on the
trip, although being caught by the occasional squall we could not duck around
had its uncomfortable moments. Some how Tom always seemed to be off watch at
these times. Hmmmm!
   Of course it was not all like this and we had some
great days where we could sit and eat in the cockpit in shorts and T-shirts. The
night watches in this weather are really wonderful with the moon reflecting in
the sea, and the awesome sunrises. Dolphins cavorted around us a number of times
with one pod being in excess of 30 odd.
   We picked up a hitch hiker who was obviously tired,
we could'nt identify. He tried landing on the top of the mast but found it
too difficult so he settled for sitting up on the fordeck next to the anchor
windless. He was'nt in any sort of hurry to leave the next day either. Tom was
cursing him after he flew off as he had to clean up the deck.
  We had advised Australian customs that our ETA in
Mackay would be 08h00 on Saturday 14th. The wind dropped once we were in the
Capricorn channel and we started to motor. With one day to go the turbo on the
engine packed up. This meant that we had no power and could only motor slowly.
The engine was also causing some anxiety as we need it to dock and it was giving
a hiccup every now and again. We limped into Mackay after a spectacular sunrise,
dodging all the coal cargo ships at anchor, docking at the customs pontoon at
exactly 08h00. Customs were impressed with our punctuality, especially as we had
advised them so many days ago. I must say that they were courteous and efficient
and after an hour and a half we were free to move to our permanent berth for the
time we are here.
It took us 9 days and 20 hours to sail the 1891nm
from Opua, New Zealand to Mackay, Australia.
   Mackay is a city in Queensland on the east coast of
Australia.It is nicknamed the suger capital of Australia as it
produces more than a third of Australia's suger. We took a drive to nearby
Airlie Beach where the charter fleets are. It reminds me of Natal, with the
same sort of vegetation and miles and miles of sugercane fields. With
the decline in the suger industry, mining has taken over as the mainstay of the
local economy. Mackay is the gateway to the
Bowen Basin coal mining area in central Queensland, the single largest coal
reserve of Australia.
We will be based here until the 16th July when I
return from RSA and Roger joins us. We will then be exploring the famous
Whitsunday Islands where we will be able to do some more relaxed sailing.
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