Day 28

Bundaberg to Keppel Islands

Left Bundaberg at 7.30 am.
Decided not to go to Panncake creek and do a 24hour sail to The Keppels
Of we went
No wind as usual
So motor on
Out with the luer and away we go
Thanks Lizzy for the tablets
We had one each
Need a big box of them...
So we are on our way, no wind and it soart of is no fun at all
We should of left the day before but I wasnt ready as usual, what we have to learn is that I am never ready no mater how long I get to get ready
24 hours to the keppels
Time goes fast on a boat but 24 hours throught the dark is a long time
The fishing rodd goes off
A fish on the hook, finally
A big fish jumps out of the water and B screams out that its a Marlin
Me being me having no idea what a marlin is but I did understand that it was codak moment
So out with the camera
B is winding iut in as fast as he can
Oceans is running arund screaming
Me freaking out and taking photos like a paparazzi to make sure I get enbough photos
and after about 30 minutes or so he gets close to the yacht
I have to move the dinggy to the front of the yacht to make sure the line doesnt get tangled
How are we going to land this thing
B had to spear him when I got next to the yacht to be able to get him up from the water without snapping the line
Now we have a monster in our cockpit
He is huge
Probably about 1,5 meters
Im starting to cry, he was so beautiful and I feelt sorry for him
Wasnt sure what to do with him but he was already hurt from the hook and the speargun so we decided that we had to kill him
We are very greatful and thankful for this beautiful fish

He gave us so much food
It took us about 2 hours to gutt him , skinn him and cut him in to cuttlets.
So out of all that fish we made fishcakes, grouse paella, marlin steaks, ovean baked marlin, potato and marlin oven bake and fish jerky
So much food and absolutely delicious
So thanks Mr Blue Marlin and thanks B for a great job.
That was Ifish style if not even better

So that made our trip a few hours shorter keeping us busy

Night sail

Black
Dark and you cant see nothing and with a 1/4 moon you really cant see nothing
Went to sleep for two hours and Kapten steered all by himself and then he had a almost 4 hour sleep
How did I keep myself up..
HOME AND AWAY on the laptop
What a nerd but that was great!
So your in the yacht in the cockpit
Oceans sleeping totally under the blanket and Kapten is sleeping on the other side of the cockpit
Sails reefed and up but only light wind
Navigation lights are on and following the chartplotter and steve stears the boat
All you do is making sure that he is following the right course and that there is no ships or other boats ahead
Past Gladstone there was a few ships
They travel really fast and they wont get out of there way if you get in the way, they will run you over
So your standing there looking out to the ocean, all you can see is a lighthouse light ahead of you
You see boat naviogation lights turn up and disapear
I actually liked it
Atleast its dark and you cant see the danger  but if the danger happen you cant really prevent it
but i liked it
Strange powerfull feeling when your out there in the dark
So much trust for the nature and the ocean, its beautiful.
Oceans was such a good boy, he sleeped throught all night and didnt cry ones
He is a real sea dog now
Really strange was that around about 3am all the stars whent away for about an hour and then they turned up again
Must of been clouds covering them, just really strange
At about 5am I went to bed and woke up to the beautiful Keppel Islands
Sailing is so beautiful
You leave one plave and turn up at a different place and if your lucky all thanks to the wind
So we decided to stop at Humpy Island to start with
WOW
the water was crystal clear
A few no anchoring zoones just where the coral reefs where so we anchored just before it
Could see the bottom of the ocean everywhere, just stunning
Jumped in the dingy and walked around the island
What a delicious place and what amazing views
Breathtaking

Then we went around to leek beach, hoping to be able to have a fish bbq on the beach and share our marlin.
That didnt happen but what a nice place this is

Then we found paradise
Took the dingy to Svendsen beach and went for a walk
Along the water climbing the rocks
Freash oysters of the rocks and crystal clear water
Wild goats running on the island and caktus growing everywhere
During the hike we found a track and someone fairylike have been writing poems on rocks as track leads
Wow im in fairytail land
IITS NEVER FAR TO NEVER NEVER LAND!
Walked across the island to Wreck beach, surfing beach in the right \swell
I cant belive this place its the most beautiful place I have seen

Found a creek throught the mangroves
Wow
The water agin was crystal creal and fish everywhere
Really narrow creek and it feelt like it was crocodiles everywhere
But wow so beautiful

New day and more paradise
Went snorkeling and wow
Scary but wow so nice
B took me in to a cave and that was amazing
ofcourse I freaked out and had to get out but it was so nice
Saw a huge stingray,more than a meter across, lucky that was when we where in the dingy and not when we where in the water
Oceans was in the dingy when we where snorkeling watching us, he is the best baby boy in the worl, love him so much.
We are so blessed to have him in our life

Made marlin jerky
Kapten Kirks recipie
Marinade the fish over noght and dry it on \the deck in the sun during the day and whips there you got fish jerky

So todsay we where meant to go sailing but ofcourse there was no wind, sorry love
So we motored around and had a look and man and wife rocks and a few other roks and islands
Such a pretty place

Went back to paradise and anchored
B went for a dive and came back with a big fish with big lips
In the oven

Went around to the old resort and anchored

B found the kiosk and came back with tim tams and cans of coke

We eat the big lipped fish and feed the sharks next to out yacht fith the left overs of the fish
Crazy, two baby sharks came right next to us ant eat the fish and potato
Lucky we didnt go snorkeling here
We are right next to monkey beach and thats supposed to be the best snorkeling beach...
not sure sure i want to go snorkeling there, i am pretty sure that the baby sharks have some parents around

Went on the dingy to shore to find some bins and i almost ran over a turtle
turned around and had a second look and yes it was a baby turtle

This place is just magical
Not sure how to explain
It just feels so not real
Its so beautiful and I feel so blessed and looked after
I wake up in paradise and go to sleep under the starts
I dont think that I ever could live anywhere else than on a boat
I just love it so much
You really learn how to apriciate life and the world God gave us
The fish, the land, the ocean the sky just everything
I love it so \much and I am so greatful that B showed me this life
Its not for everyone but it is definitely for me
This world is such a beautiful place and the people have just ruin it
There is untouched beautiful places all over the world and thats the places I want to see
The places where people respect and apriciate what we have been given
So thanks for this beautiful place

The wind is dropping so I think we will be staying here for a while.
Will try to catch the last bit of wind in the morning and sail around the great keppel

Time for bed
God Natt

Its times like this we learn to live again
and its times like this we learn to love again

KAPTENS BIG MARLIN

He is not only a great kapten he is also a great fisher man
I will write more about it all but I promised a post by it self for the Marlin
Left Bundaberg to get to The Keppels. A 24 hour sail.
Out there at sea with the luer out, on a egg penn reel ( what ever that mean ) and a 20 pound line,
off it goes, something on the hook.
Slowing the yacht down and Kapten is pulling the line in
Up jumps a fish, not just any fish a MASSIVE BLUE MARLIN
It jumps right up and we all get excited.
Oceans running around screaming me going crackers and B trying to get the monster in
After about 30 minutes we get him up next to the yacht
How are we going to land him B says....
What about the speargun
So now the marlin is net to the yacht and we have to spear him to be able to get him in to the yacht or the line would of snapped and he would of been stuck with the hook in his mouth
So there he is
A huge fish in the cockpit, he doesnt even fit in the cockpit
Me crying, B ecited and Oceans ready for dinner
What a stunning fish
We felt bad but we had already hurt him so we had to kill him
Thanks mister fish you where very jummy
We really did apriciate you!
B gutted him, bubbles anside him. Strange very strange. Not sure what that was
I skinned him and cut him up
It took us probably two hours to get him ready for the pan and the fridge
Food for two weeks
And it took a few hours of our long trip
Must say that was great teamwork and what a tremendes job from the fisherman, congratulations love!Very proud of you
So out of this delicious fish we had marlin steaks, marlin fish cakes, marlin fish jerky, marlin potato bake, oven baked marlin, grous marlin paella and we also gave a few steaks to the yacht anchored net to us.
Wow so much food
about 1,6m long and atleast $400 worth of fish
So this is the greatest pictures of it all, enjoy!
 A man with lots of tallents!

Day 24

Wow...
Its been a while.

We are at Bundaberg but I realised that I wrote a long post that decided to disapear so I will try to do it all again

Fraser:
Woke up at Garrys anchorage, everyone had left
Took Oceans for a walk at fraser, what a lovely spot
We all had a play and realised we had to leave on high tide
I freaked out as usuall
B took us right throught sand styraights on mid tide, we touched quickly at one spot and that was it
He did a great job, al on the gps

Quick anchor and lunch and the we headed up to kingfisher Bay Resort.
Wow really nice place
Oceans went for a play with B and I cleaned up
I wanted to head over to the resort for a Pinja Colada
Lillte dingy to the beach, pased the wreck.
Really strange.
The wreck is right infron of the jetty.
You wouldnt want to get there at night and think you can tie up to the jetty.
It was high tide so we pulled the dingy up as far as we could on the beach and tied on to a floating mooring.
Walked up and found our way to the resort.
Walking throught feeling that we did something we where not aloud to do.
B walks throught the door to enter the pool area and someone yells out.
O no we thinking someone is going to tell us of.
There he is, Bs friend from Manly.
Here on holidays with the family.
Whats the chanses to bump in to someone on fraser.
Havent seen them for about a years and they have a new baby and they got married.
Wife took him away from his friends to have some family time and there we are...
Order some drinks at the bar and time to pay.
I got the wallet but not my card.
Had to run back to the dingy, drag the dingy down the water and rush back to the yacht.
Back to the beach again, pulled the dingy up and ran back.
B is in the spa bath...
and there we stayed for a couple of hours.
Then free hot shower and the we had a bucket of prawns and beers.
Delicious
Saw the dolphines at the wharf
 and then dinner time with frinds.
When it was time to go back to the dingy oops
High tide.
Dingy was in the middle of the ocean almost
Pitch black and in fraser with heaps of sharks in the water
Luckily the kayak rental place didnt lock their kayaks up so the hero B paddled out on a kayak and got the dingy.
Good work kapten!

Woke up to a just stunning morning.
Mirror like on the water and no wind.
Just beautiful!

Anchor up and of we went to reach Bundaberg before dark.

And it was not a VANLIG DAG FOR DET VA B FODELSEDAG HURRA HURRA HURRA


Been at Bundaberg Port Marina for a week.
Really good marina but a week is a long time.
Absolutely great neighbours on both sides,LUCKY!
Windana, what great company.

Lovely dinners, great laugh and yes its been great speniding some time with just faboulus people.
And Oceans got so looked after by Lizzy. So he wasnt very happy to leave.

Now we are anchored in the river next to a Pirate Ship, Rainbow Gipsy

Been doing some fixing up on Oceans so she looks lovely

Absolutely great service from IGA Burnett Heads. They drowe me all the way back to the Marina with our groceries.
I almost had a heart attack when I had to pay for the foor. Definetily paid convinien price on it all but I did get a lift home worth about $50 so I guess that was ok.
Sound like an old lady complaining about foor prices. GET OVER IT!

So aperently Panncake creek is the next place.
Not sure whats so nice about it but we will soon find out.

So Bundaberg;
good prices marina with good facilities
great take away place for breaky
good seafood shop
and if your lucky, great neighbours

I learnt to never ever buy sarparilla or what ever its called.
Thats the worst drink I ever tried in my life.
Taste like the medicine you take when you have a sore throuth.
Yurk!
O well I well as B said, You will only buy it ones.
Someone must love it, they have been making it for 100 years, strange

Massive suger factory in Bundaberg.
B wont belive that we have sockerbetor back home. Here they have suger cane...
Strange on this side of the plannet sometimes