It was finally time for our long awaited passage into Queensland. It was 9th July 2020, we had been on the ‘road’ for almost 25 weeks and we were about to cross into our third state. The Gold Coast Seaway is 100 nautical miles from Iluka, a journey we estimated would take approximately 20 hours. The border was due to open at 12 midday on 10th July, so we would likely be a little early, but no one seemed too worried.
We spent the morning on the boat, prepping for the passage. I prepared a dinner to be heated up later that night, while Matt contacted Maritime Queensland to organise our paperwork. The lady there was very helpful, knowledgeable and efficient and it was all sorted out with a minimum of fuss. Matt emailed off photos of our driver’s licenses, she checked our AIS history and could see that we had indeed been in NSW for several months, and so we had permission to enter without needing to quarantine. (AIS, Automatic Identification System, is a tracking system that uses transceivers on boats to chart their locations. Similar to how air traffic controllers track aeroplanes, marine authorities and coastguards use AIS to monitor vessels at sea. It also allows us to view the location of other vessels nearby on our chart plotter and allows them to see us!! Especially useful when navigating in the dark!) The online border passes weren’t available yet, so Matt downloaded those and filled them out while we were at sea. It was a surprisingly easy and hassle free process (for a Government requirement!).
At 12.30pm we left Iluka, following Horizons and Ducksridge out through the bar. The entrance was ok, and we made it through easily and safely, but it was quite swelly out in the open water, and I didn’t feel too great for a lot of the trip. Think I must have lost my sea legs after three weeks spent in the river!
The winds were ok, and we were able to sail off and on, for about one third of the passage. We were not the only ones out there, taking advantage of the first opportunity to head across the border. There were about five other boats in our general vicinity, but Mum sent a screenshot from the Marine Traffic app later, showing a huge contingent all heading up the coast behind us. We were quite concerned about how long the border might remain open for, and since there was a weather front on the way, the time to go was now!! Obviously, lots of other yachties all had the same idea!
We saw lots of whales, but they were all very passive, just cruising along. Matt heated up the dinner I’d prepared earlier and then we took shifts overnight. I was up first and manned the helm from 8.30pm until 1.15am, while Matt went to bed. I actually felt ok in this shift, maybe the darkness helped. I listened to music and sang aloud to keep myself awake. As there was no one around, I could sing as loudly as I liked, to my tone deaf, heart’s content!
Matt took over and I went downstairs. Although I didn’t sleep properly, waking up often, it felt good just to be lying down. The swell had increased quite a bit overnight, so when Matt said he was all good up there, I delayed getting up as the rocking of the boat was quite an uncomfortable feeling. Matt doesn’t get seasick at all, so he enjoyed the sunrise, lighting up the sky.
We motored through the Seaway at 10am and were notified by the Coastguard that we would need to head south into the Gold Coast, into the quarantine area until the border officially opened at 12pm. We enquired if we could go straight to the marina berth we had booked instead and remain on the boat there until 12pm. Unfortunately, we were told it would ‘be better’ to go to the quarantine area until midday. Rules are rules! And so we dropped anchor next to Horizons and Ducksridge, had a quick nap and then a coffee, before heading north through the Gold Coast up to Runaway Bay Marina.
A hot shower at the marina felt amazing, as did yummy fish and chips for lunch. Chris and Anne came over that evening with a bottle of champagne and so we celebrated with bubbles and nibbles; all of us super tired, but very happy, relieved and excited to finally be in Queensland!
We stayed at Runaway Bay Marina for 10 nights. During this time we explored the area, ran errands and did some maintenance on the boat. I attended some yoga classes and a workshop in Broadbeach. Matt travelled back over the border to Tweed Heads on two occasions; to pick up his new camera lens and then again to pick up a cover for it. We started researching aluminium tinnies and motors for further up the coast; something ‘croc proof’ to replace our blow up tender.
Gold Coast locals, Deb and Andy, who we’d met on the Yuraygir Trail, drove up to the marina to meet us. We gave them a tour of the boat and then they took us out for lunch to a beautiful seafood restaurant in Labrador. It was so lovely to see them again, and hopefully we can catch up again somewhere else in Queensland!
We trekked out to the David Flahey Wildlife Park where Matt experimented with using his new camera lens. There were lots of Australian animals, including cassowaries, which I’d never seen so close up, and a huge old crocodile who gave me the chills, even without all of his teeth!
We did a lot of walking and caught a lot of public transport to get around the Gold Coast. The light rail was very reliable, but we found the buses to be very hit and miss. At the marina, there were some incredibly large and fancy yachts, worth staggering amounts of money. Cool Change was dwarfed by most of the other boats here. The affluence at the marina was in direct contrast to the people we saw when out and about on public transport. Deb and Andy told us that the Gold Coast is actually quite a poor area and we could see that. Catching public transport really gives you a very different perspective.
David Flahey Wildlife Park:
After ten nights we were ready to move on, so once we had filled up with diesel and pumped out our very full holding tank, we left Runaway Bay and headed out into the Broadwater. We spent two nights anchored off Wave Break Island, right near the Gold Coast Seaway entrance. It was lovely to be back out on the water again. Matt did a spot of fishing, and even caught something! We took our SUPs over to the island where we wandered over the sand flats at low tide. There were thousands of soldier crabs swarming all over the sand, making it look like the beach was rippling and making a really strange fizzing sort of sound.
After this we motored further up into the Broadwater, staying a night each at Tippler’s Passage and Millionaire’s Row, off South Stradbroke Island. Chris and Anne joined us at Tippler’s Passage and we all went across in their tender to South Stradbroke Island for a walk along the deserted beach. The weather during these days was overcast and cloudy; a bit gloomy. I was quite underwhelmed by this area but I wonder how much of that was due to the dreary weather?
Birds of the Broadwater:
From here, we move on up to Moreton Bay and into the Brisbane River, which I’ll write about in the next post. We feel so incredibly lucky to be up here in Queensland, enjoying a pretty normal and restriction free life. Our thoughts are again with family and friends in Victoria, especially Melbourne, who are enduring a second lockdown. Stay strong and look after yourselves. You got this!
I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.
Anne Frank
Cool Change 
You had duckies on your duckboard!!
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