Year 2 – 14 March 2025 - Frazer Island- What a difference a day makes
If anyone reading this and is free from late June to mid July 2025 to come to Australia then do contact me as I am short of crew during this period at present.
It was another rocky night and so we have had two on the trot which is waring and uncomfortable but there was nothing we could do. There would be patches where we would seem to be flat and calm and other times when we rolled like a pig. You have to brace yourself in bed and I do not think I got any sleep for a second night running. The anchor alarm went off after a particularly bad swell and I got up again and checked everything. I do not think we had moved and it was just the scope of our movement. I went back to bed to rest (not sleep) and I got up about 4.00am and had another look. We could see the fisherman’s lights on out at sea from the trawlers we had seen the night before.
At 5.40am my alarm went off and we got up. We left at 6.00am on the dot for the West Bay Bar which was about 11nm away. It was a sort of pleasant morning with a combination of blue sky and cloud which looked a bit threatening. The sea state was rolly and we had an easterly swell on the beam of about 1.5m. We decided to motor as the wind was a bit up and down and we need to cross the bar before the tide changed. It was High Water at 8.00am. We had a cup of tea on the hoof and an hour or so later some coffee. We had seen a catamaran ahead of us going in the same direction but was going a lot faster and then I think it went across the bar.
The bar is a shallow patch you have to cross in order to get into the deeper water which leads you into the internal waters of Fraser Island. On either side of the deeper patches and the bar are sand banks and shallow patches. This means that the swell swoops in over these patches and because they are shallow the waves increase and break and it looks a horrible patch of troubled water. When we were a mile from the entrance to the bar we called Tin Can Volunteer Marine Rescue and checked in with them and they said it should be ok to cross the bar. They had already emailed 3 waypoints of a route to follow. There were also leading lights like the ones we had crossing the bar at Port Macquarie.
We saw another boat coming out and watched it on AIS. We came to the entrance and I lined us up and then headed for the first waypoint and then we picked up the leading line light. Initially it was red so we had to go to starboard and then it became white which meant I was on the right course. The swell was pushing us on and right so I had to adjust for this to stay in the white. We motored on over the shallow bar and even though we were almost high water we had 5.9m depth as our lowest point. We then saw another leading light on our left giving us the angle toward the deeper part. We continued and waited until the second light went white and then we turned on its beam to the deeper section. We saw breakers on either side and another catamaran coming out quite fast and it was bashing into the waves. We continued and when we were quite near the light we bared right and into the channel taking us into the inner waters of Frazer Island. We had done it and we were inside. I called Tin Can VMR and let them know.
Fraser Island or known as K'gari is a World Heritage-listed sand island along the south-eastern coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia. It is the largest sand island in the world. The island lies approximately 250 km (160 mi) north of the state capital, Brisbane from which we had come over the last two days. European settlers who arrived in 1847 named the island "Fraser Island" after Captain James Fraser, master of Stirling Castle, who was shipwrecked and died on the island in early August 1836.
The K'gari creation story, as told by elder of the Butchulla people Olga Miller, is that Yendingie (also spelling Yindingie) came down from the sky and set to work to make the sea and then the land until, when he arrived at the area now known as Hervey Bay, he was joined by a helper - a beautiful white spirit called Princess K'gari. Tired by their work together he changed her into a beautiful island, then so she wouldn't be lonely, he then made some beautiful trees and flowers, and some lakes that were specially mirrored so that she could see into the sky. He made creeks and laughing waters that would become her voice, and birds and animals and people to keep her company. He gave these people knowledge and laws, and told them what to do, and how to procreate, so that their children and ancestors would always be there to keep K'gari company.
Archaeological research and evidence shows that Aboriginal Australians occupied K'gari at least 5,000 years ago. There was a permanent population of 400–600 that grew to 2,000–3,000 in the winter months due to abundant seafood resources.[16] Conflict with European settlers and disease reduced the population from 435 in 1872 to 230 in 1880. Most of these people were taken off the island in 1904 and relocated to missions in Yarrabah and Durundur (near Caboolture). It is estimated that up to 500 indigenous archaeological sites are located on the island.
Initial European contact was limited to explorers and shipwrecks. The first recorded Briton to sight K'gari was James Cook who passed along the coast of the island between 18 and 20 May 1770. He named it Indian Head after viewing a number of Aboriginal people gathered on the headland. Matthew Flinders sailed past the island in 1799, and again in 1802, this time landing at Sandy Cape, while charting Hervey Bay. His 1814 chart is a combination of both voyages, but did not confirm K'gari as being separate from the mainland. However, Flinders did suggest the presence of shallow swampy areas at the lower part of the bay. Flinders was told of an opening at Hook Point, between K'gari and the mainland, by two American whalers who were hunting whales in Hervey Bay.
Once through the bar we were inside K’gari. We saw a boat on a sand bank and a coach appear to drive on a sand bank and then disappear behind the boat. The boat then moved and there was no sign of the coach. We then realised the boat was a ferry and was taking the coach and other vehicles over to Fraser Island.
We motored on and then turned into Tin Can Creek which goes South for a number of miles. It was very beautiful and remote with mangroves and lots of bird life. We followed the creek down for about 45 minutes and then anchored off Snapper Creek which has a little boat harbour and there were lots of boats anchored. This is clearly a safe haven and there was plenty of space and many boats did not look occupied or had not been maintained for some time. We found a good spot and then had scrambled eggs on toast which just tasted great and just what the Doctor ordered.
I had a sleep after breakfast and the first sleep for 48 hours. An hour and a half was good enough to keep me going. It was a nice day with a 20 kt breeze and we had had some rain earlier on our approach to the bar. We got the dinghy back in the water. There was quite a tide flowing out of 3-4 kts so we decided to get the engine on at slack water. Trevor decided to try and tackle the leak in the doghouse window and he took the screws out of the surround and sealed the frame with this black Sikaflex sealant which gets everywhere. This took some time and once we cleared up we had lunch.
We relaxed in the afternoon and sorted ourselves out and read or did admin. We then had a later afternoon drink on the aft deck. There was something missing – the roll!! It was nice to be able to stand up and put one’s drink down without it tipping over. The tide certainly goes out here and a lot of boats were lying on the sand at low water and it seemed as if we were in a pool of our own. People go out and walk on the sand beach. It is a quiet yet pretty spot and the sun went down just after 6.00pm. We had seen fish jump out of the water. The picture of the day is before sunset. We look forward to going ashore and exploring tomorrow.
Need/Opportunity Year Two
I am in need of more crew from late June 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