Year 2 – 15 March 2025 - Frazer Island-Tin Can Creek
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 a lovely calm and flat night!! What bliss and I could sleep and did so. It was a nice calm morning when we woke and the tide was going out and the water was rushing by. We had a nice breakfast and Trevor set about gluing the anchor locker deck top which had come loose in one corner. I did various other jobs and we also thought about the Fraser Island trip for tomorrow but before we could book it we had to check whether we could get to the pickup point.
We went ashore through the channel into Snapper Creek and tied up at the pontoon next to the public slipway. The Tin Can Volunteer Marine Rescue was there who we had talked to when we came over the West Bay Bar. We thanked them and asked about the Sandy Straits passage and they said we needed to talk to the Sandy Straits VMR. They did give us the name of a local taxi driver and so we went to the local café and called them and they could take us to Rainbow Beach (about 30 minutes’ drive) to the rendezvous point for tomorrow. We therefore tried to book the trip online but there was not a good enough signal. In the end we decided to comeback to Stormbird and with various communications we booked the trip and confirmed with the taxi driver who will pick us up at the slipway at 6.45am tomorrow and it will be an all-day trip going to the main sights on Fraser Island.
Tin Can Creek is a naturally beautiful place being a large creek with various creeks off it and bordered by Mangroves with a lot of sand when the tide goes out. There is lots of wonderful birdlife and it is quiet and tranquil. When we got to the shore there was a large car park to accommodate the cars and trailers of those who bring their little boats here to fish which they launch at the slipway. There was a small fishing shop and a café called Barnacles Café where we had a coffee.
We walked on and saw a public swimming pool with its own lifeguard but there was no one swimming. We carried on and came to a small marina with a small chandlery. There had been a restaurant at the marina but it was closed and up for sale. There were some local houses but quite a few little houses and shacks which seemed to be holiday flats and a caravan park. We continued walking around and came across a few cafes but no restaurants. The wind was quite strong by this time and there were white horses (white bits on top of the waves) and there was a kite surfer going up and down and doing I guess about 15-20 kts.
We assessed a few cafes and decided to have some fish and chips as the fish looked really fresh. This we eat from the paper sitting on benches by the shore and having to hold on to our food to stop it blowing away. It was a lovely setting looking over the creek and the mangroves and the houseboats anchored nearby and with the yachts anchored for miles down the creek. We got the sense that running a café is tricky as there are not a lot of people around and it must be difficult to keep going.
After lunch we walked along the shore and came to a point where we could walk on the sand dunes and today’s picture is of Stormbird at anchor with the sand flats and mangrove in the foreground. We walked on and came to the Tin Can Yacht Club which was open and we were able to have a beer overlooking the creek with a lovely swift warm breeze wafting over us. One of the locals had rescued a tern who had a fishing line round its leg and he put it in a towel and they manged to get it off its leg and it flew away. This was a nice gesture as man and nature have to live side by side.
We returned to Stormbird at nearly low tide and had a siesta. We then contacted Sandy Straits VMR to ask for information on the inside passage between Fraser Island up to Harvey Bay which we propose to do on Monday. It is about 46 miles going through various channels and there are parts where the depth is minus 0.1 and minus 0.3 so to get us over those parts we need to be there at high water (when we should have about 3meters and we draw 2.5) and we needed to plan whether we could do this inner passage or not. If not we will have to go out of the West Bay Bar and then sail right round Frazer Island which is a trip of about 150nm. The VMR sent us an email and various pictures and provided we get to the shallow bits at High Water we should be able to manage it but it will be quite tight.
We enjoyed a sundowner on the deck chairs on the rear deck and watched the sun go down. We had a cheese and biscuit type supper in the cockpit which was dark but quite cool. We need to get up early tomorrow for our trip to Fraser Island which should be interesting. We will let you know how it goes.
It is so nice not to be rolling as a pig!
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