Around Moreton Bay and up the Brisbane River

The rain that had been threatening while we were in the Broadwater finally arrived. It began to rain during the night that we were anchored at Millionaire’s Row and it pretty much didn’t stop for a few days. We donned all our wet weather gear for the trip through the channels up to the bottom of Moreton Bay. There are some very shallow patches in this area, so we had to time our departure to coincide with the high tide. The heavy rain made the navigation markers quite hard to see, but we managed to successfully negotiate all the shoals. There was also a set of powerlines to pass under that had us holding our breath a bit, but we were fine. (That’s a joke peeps, of course we researched it thoroughly!)

Anchoring in between Karragarra Island and Macleay Island for some shelter, we resigned ourselves to a few uneventful days on the boat. Luckily it wasn’t too windy, nor too cold, just very very wet! On the Saturday, a rainfall of 125mL was recorded! We did manage to take advantage of a short break in the weather and motor the tender over to Macleay Island for a walk and a coffee. It sure feels great to be onshore stretching the legs when you’ve been confined to the boat for a while!

On the Sunday afternoon we moved north through the bay to Horseshoe Bay at Peel Island. We’d consistently heard about this incredible anchorage at Peel Island from many different people and it seemed to be a ‘must visit.’ In fact, Matt had been looking forward to visiting Moreton Bay for years, and even before he had a yacht, when he was still just dreaming, he had joined a Moreton Bay Facebook group. So, it was with some pretty high expectations that we arrived into Moreton Bay and to Peel Island. The problem with high expectations is that sometimes they just aren’t realised.

The water was calm, and the sun even peeped out a few times, for the first time in days. We saw a couple of turtles swimming in the water which was pretty cool. It was eerily calm and quiet as we anchored in Horseshoe Bay, the calm before the storm, as it turns out. As we sat in the cockpit, we watched a spectacular line of storm clouds approach. The squall blew right over us, bringing heavy rains and strong winds of 20 to 30 knots. It lasted for twenty to thirty minutes, and then the skies cleared and a beautiful rainbow appeared. It was pretty amazing. I have always loved watching storms. As kids, we’d be tucked up snugly in bed watching a thunderstorm through our floor to ceiling windows, marvelling about the power of Mother Nature. I still find it an incredible, awe-inspiring experience, and probably even more so when viewed from a boat.

The next morning dawned calm and somewhat clearer, so we took the tender to shore to check out the island. During the mid 19th century, Peel Island was used as a quarantine station for ships arriving into Brisbane, and then from 1907 to 1959 it became a leper colony, where people with leprosy were housed and treated. There are several buildings from that time, called lazarets, still on the island, but a permit or a guide was required in order to visit them. Having neither, we just went for a walk along the track to the shipwreck ‘Platypus’ at the east end of the island. Matt decided not to snorkel here and it was way too cold for me to even contemplate getting in the water, so we made our way back to the boat and prepared to leave. The winds were due to pick up again, and we wanted to make our way over to Raby Bay on the mainland.

We set off, heading west, on the relatively short trip to Raby Bay. The winds did indeed pick up, and soon we were beating into a 30 knot headwind. Not the most comfortable passage, it was with relief that we pulled into Raby Bay and dropped the anchor. We watched a beautiful sunset and waited impatiently for the wind to die down as forecast. Thankfully it did, but it was still a very rolly night in the bay, and we didn’t sleep very well.

We were up early the next morning though and heading for shore, as Matt had a dive booked out on North Stradbroke Island. I was going to spend the day on the mainland catching up with a friend I used to work with. After seeing Matt off on the ferry over to North Stradbroke Island, I caught a few buses and then walked to my friend Nat’s house in Redlands Bay. Lucky for me, Nat was home from work because, unlucky for her, she had a broken leg. It was so lovely to see Nat and we had a great catch-up, it being several years since I’d last visited her after she’d moved to Queensland. She fed me lunch and made me have a hot shower; absolute heaven.

Nat and Jason dropped me back in Cleveland where I had several hours to kill before meeting up with Matt again. On impulse, I popped into a hairdresser to see if I could have a last minute haircut. The first answer was no, as I half expected, but the second hairdresser had just had a cancellation and agreed to squeeze me in. I haven’t had a cut or colour since last November, so you could say it was just a tad overdue. The hairdresser was absolutely lovely and we chatted away as she transformed my unkempt locks. I should have taken a before and after photo, as she worked absolute wonders and I left feeling like a new woman. I never got her name, but if you need a great hairdresser in Cleveland, go to Hair @ Hot Vanilla.

While I was out socialising and being pampered, Matt was on North Stradbroke Island scuba diving with Manta Lodge Scuba Centre. Here’s Matt’s account, in his own words:

After arriving at the resort and gearing up, the dive group walked to the beach and waited for the dive boat and tractor. The boat was launched off the beach straight into the surf and we were off. A short boat ride at full throttle saw us arrive at the dive site in about 20 minutes. The crew tied up to the mooring and we dropped off into the deep to get up close and hopefully not too personal with a few sharks. Only after dropping off the boat did I realise that I had left my camera on the boat. Nerves or excitement, I’m not sure.

Following the guide we dropped down to about 20 metres and into a ridge where we saw the sharks. Big buggers, over 2 metres and with sharp teeth. They are wide, wider than expected. They were only just longer than a tall person but were at least 2 people wide. These weren’t Wobbygongs or Port Jackson sharks which are sharks in name only. These were shark sharks. Grey Nurse sharks. Mouths full of sharp teeth and a presence that leaves no doubt as to who is in charge. I was thankful to be in a wetsuit provided by the dive tour as there was a quivering or puckering down south that I vaguely remember from the last time I had a beef vindaloo at an Indian joint pre-covid. Fortunately the moment passed quickly and without incident.

After a few moments on the bottom and realising that there was so many fish around that these sharks obviously weren’t hungry, I relaxed and took in the experience. We swam around and took in the sights. After about 40 minutes my air was running low so after letting the guide know, two of us ascended to the surface to wait for the rest of the group.

Back on the boat I had a chat to the skipper and he said there were a few whales off in the distance. Relaxing on the boat watching the humpbacks off in the distance was a good way to wait until the others surfaced and the next dive.

In between dives we had some lunch and then we moved on to the next dive. It was only about 500 metres from the first dive, but this time we weren’t going as deep and the scenery was totally different. Fortunately I remembered my camera and Go-Pro for this one. No sharks but lots and lots of fish, plus a few rays and turtles. The big potato cod, bottom left below, was huge; must’ve been over 2 metres long and over 100 kilos. Almost as big as the Murray Cod I caught that time but my camera was flat so I didn’t get a picture. Seeing my first turtle was pretty special too.

While we were in Moreton Bay, not having seen any whales or dolphins to photograph, Matt practised using his new camera lens on the many different sea birds that we saw. My favourite are the birds who dive bomb, hurtling straight down into the water with a sudden splash, and often emerging with a fish in their beak.

From Raby Bay we were headed to Brisbane and up the Brisbane River. We had a spectacular day for it; gorgeously sunny and warm with calm, flat water. As we motored along, we unfurled both the mainsail and the headsail to air them out a bit after all the heavy rains. Reaching the channel entrance, we could hear on the radio that there was a large amount of commercial traffic going in and out. There seemed to be a particularly large ship making its way downstream to the bay, so we decided to wait for it rather than risk encountering it in the river. We ended up floating about in the bay for just over two hours, waiting. At least it was an exceptionally lovely day, so it wasn’t too taxing just lazing in the sun and bobbing in the calm water.

When we finally made our way into the river, we realised we probably would have been just fine to enter hours earlier. Oh well, better to be safe than sorry. That’s our motto! We motored all the way up the river, right into the city, anchoring just on dark outside the Botanical Gardens, with the pretty lights of the city as our backdrop.

The following morning we had intended to jump onto one of the pile moorings provided by the council, but instead, we could see a very new looking public pontoon, with lots of empty berths, right next to the moorings. We decided to pull into one of these berths while we assessed our options for getting onto a pile mooring. Pile moorings are tall poles driven into the bottom of the river and spaced out so that there is room for a boat in between. Boats tie up to two piles, with the bow tied to one in front, and the stern tied to one behind the boat. Looks simple enough, but with the strong current flowing through the river, I figured there was probably a great deal of skill and precision required. Hence, the attractiveness of the berth in the public pontoon.

As it were, since we hadn’t thought to wait for slack tide, it was quite a challenge to park the boat in the berth, fighting the strong current flowing down the river. Another yachtie came over to give us a hand, which we accepted gratefully. We ended up staying in the two hour berth for six nights, while we spent four full days exploring Brisbane and two days and a night out at Moreton Island (I’ll write another post about our visit to Tangalooma on Moreton Island).

Also berthed at the public pontoons, we met Wayne, and Shane and Kirsten who live full time on their boats on the river, usually on a pile mooring. They assured us that it would be fine to stay on the pontoon, and that it was probably unlikely that we’d be kicked off. They themselves were on the pontoon temporarily, after filling up their water tanks, just ‘waiting for slack tide’ to move back onto a pile mooring. How long they would wait there each time just depended on how long it would take for someone to come and shoo them off! We all agreed that the two hour limit was highly impractical and it was such a waste to see all the empty berths just sitting there, so we might as well make use of the practically brand new facility! We spent a couple of nights having drinks with these guys, exchanging boat stories and touring each other’s yachts. It was lovely to meet like-minded folk our age, and hopefully we might catch up with them again somewhere up north.

Having toured the main sights of Brisbane two years ago when we ended up in the city on a Mystery Flight that Matt bought for my birthday, we were content just to explore near the boat, through the Botanical Gardens and over to Southbank. The highlight of visiting Brisbane for me was always going to be catching up with my friend, Jess. I’ve known Jess and Liam for almost twenty years now, and we usually manage to catch up in person every few years or so. I spent a lovely day and night with Jess and Liam, and their gorgeous girls, Primmy and Mae. We just hung out and chatted, and did normal life stuff like school pick-up. Normal life stuff that is now a novelty to me; being in a house, watching TV, sleeping in a bed, using a proper shower and a real washing machine without coins!

Jess, Liam, Prim and Mae came out to tour the boat and the girls enjoyed finding all the ‘secret’ hidey holes and ‘hidden’ storage areas. Matt also borrowed their car to pick up a motor for our new tinny from the outskirts of Brisbane, which saved him spending several hours on a train. Thanks so much guys!

Brisbane is such a beautiful city at night. We were so lucky to be staying right in the middle of the city and with lovely mild evenings, we wandered along the river and over to Southbank on several occasions. Here are some of Matt’s best photos of the lights of Brisbane.

Matt has been working on a new Spotify playlist which has become the soundtrack of our last few weeks. Check it out – ‘Changes in Latitudes,’ you won’t be disappointed.

Pour me something tall and strong…… It’s only half past twelve, but I don’t care. It’s 5 o’clock somewhere!

Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett