Year 2 – 31 March 2025 – Urangan Harbour
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.
We had a good night’s sleep and I woke quite early and there was mist/fog over the marina nearby. I hoped that it would burn off and it did but not until 9.30-10.00am. We had a nice fruit breakfast and watched the tide swooping past. We eventually having chilled and chatted got the dinghy down and decided to go ashore.
There was a tide line as we went ashore and headed between the breakwaters on either side into the large marina base. There was a boat speed camera ensuring we were doing only 6 kts and it is the first marina speed camera I have come across. It gave me a thumbs up as I was only doing 5 kts!! We were not sure where to go but knew there was a public pontoon somewhere to tie off to. We continued through the harbour passing many pontoons until we could see what looked like a public jetty and it was. We moored up behind it without issue. We had seen fishing boats on the inner side of the harbour and there were flats overlooking the harbour. It was quite a sized basin and full of various boats.
Once we got off the dinghy we walked along and came to the Hervey Bay Boat Club which was a modern and large building. It had two cinemas and a larger bar area and bistro, a café, a gambling room full of slot machines and an outside terrace. We walked on and found a small tour centre with a café and the odd restaurant which was closed. We had been told there was a chandlery but when we went to where it was it had closed. We went back to a café we had seen and had a drink and a roll. We then went back to the boat club and spent a good hour or two on the terrace chatting and overlooking the marina.
Hervey Bay is reliant on whale watching. The bay becomes a temporary whale nursery where humpback whales pause for a few weeks and calves practise their moves and behaviours which they are learning from their mothers. The whales when they arrive are relaxed, playful and inquisitive. They take roughly a two break here on their migration journey North of over 10,000km from Antarctica to the tropical waters of the North. Hervey Bay is now a world heritage site for whales. The season for Humpback whales is from July to 30 November. In the 1960’s Humpback Whales were driven to the point of almost extinction here. It is great they have now recovered. There are many tours which go from Urangan Harbour to see the whales.
The pier I talked about yesterday is a former deep water cargo handling facility originally built to facilitate the export of sugar, timber and coal. It was built between 19134 -1917 and was originally 1,124 meters long. It was closed in 1985 and 239 meters was demolished. However, due to a public outcry the remainder was retained and the council looked after it. By 2009 the last demolished section was restored and the timber pylons replaced with steel pylons with a plastic covering. I think people like to walk out on it.
We returned to Stormbird and planned our next steps and rested. We had a light supper of salad, cheese and biscuits and enjoyed the evening. However, the rain came about7-7.30pm and it is raining now. We plan to head back to Bundaberg tomorrow as the wind is favourable. The picture of the day is the marina.
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