Year 2 – 23 February 2025 -Brisbane

If anyone reading this and is free in June- mid July 2025 to come to Australia then do contact me as I am short of crew for that month fully at present.

We woke to a more settled day and it was quiet with a few people walking on the beach and yachts quietly bobbing at anchor including ourselves. We had breakfast and chilled. We planned to get to the marina we had reserved by 13.30pm as the water would be slack then at it will be low water. Apparently, the tide rips through the marina making manoeuvring quite trickly when it is flowing strongly. I therefore planned that we would leave at 9.45am. I had reviewed the plan of the marina as to where we were to moor and where the fuel dock was. I thought it would be a good opportunity to fill up and I think we must have used about half a tank since we last filled up in Sydney. I also planned how we were to get to the marina bearing in mind we were going into a busy river with cargo ships, cruise ships, ferries and working ships such as refuelling boats etc. This means becoming familiar with the channel buoys and requirements for entry including calling up Brisbane Traffic control on the VHF to inform them of our entry.

We upped anchor at 9.45am and motored out of the channel south until we were passed the shallows and could then head for the Brisbane River some 13 nm away. We could see the outline of the skyscrapers in the distance. Once round the shallows we put up the mainsail and staysail and were sailing nicely on a beam reach (wind on the beam) toward the entrance channel. This sail took a couple of hours and we were not in a rush. We passed an Australian Warship and there were lots of movements of cargo ships we could see on AIS. As we drew closer we came across Mud Island and the outline of the docks grew and the city skyscrapers seemed to rise up higher out of the ground.

We called Brisbane VTS on Ch 12 of the VHF and informed them of our intentions and they told us to proceed as there was not much commercial traffic. We headed into the channel and were passed by two tugs on their way out to meet a large cargo ship coming in. Once in the river we passed multiple container ships being loaded/unloaded with large cranes going backwards and forwards like ants picking up leaves and taking them back to the nest. One ship was called Great Beauty – well they must have been having a laugh naming that ship as it was far from it!!

Once passed the docks we saw the Cruise ship terminal on our right with a Carnival ship in dock. We continued and the river narrowed slightly but we passed gas and oil storage areas, vast heaps of coal and other industrial machinery. Despite this we saw the odd eagle and pondered how they could live in such an environment. It was about 8 nm upriver to our marina which was just before the first road bridge, which are actually two bridges one for each flow of traffic and they are called Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges.

We came to our marina and I had called a John who was meeting is at the fuel dock and who works for the marina. This was on the end of a hammerhead of D Pontoon. We came round and moored starboard side to and filled up the port tank as I had pumped from the port tank to fill the starboard tank. It took 342 lts, so not quite a half tank. I then had to back into quite a tight mooring down C pontoon. I went into the finger first forwards and then had to reverse back alongside another boat and ensuring I missed the pile with the dinghy. Luckily I executed this well and we were soon all moored up and we put on the electrics.

John explained to me about the facilities in the marina and where we could go etc. We were in the middle of nowhere and the airport was opposite and we were under the flight path. Luckily the bridges were so high that we could not hear the traffic. We settled down and had a beer and some lunch and a relaxed afternoon catching up on the sleep lost on the trip up from Coffs Harbour. There was a pub/restaurant about a 13-minute walk away called Brewdog. It was actually a Scottish company and now has outlets in a number of parts of the world. It offered 28 different beers and brewed on the premises. We had to walk under the bridges and along the river to get to it. It was a large warehouse where the brewing took place and a pub/restaurant beside the river. It was busy and we sampled some beers and had a nice meal. Quite handy to have within walking distance.

It felt good to be in Brisbane which we will now explore over the next few days. The picture of the day is looking toward the city from our marina as we approached it.

Need/Opportunity Year Two

I am in need of more crew from late April to Mid-July so if of interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com