Bread Making On Board



I have this bread making all wrapped up

Bread Making, a photo by nauticalnancy - gone sailing on Flickr.

28th April 2012
Cooking Bread in the Rain
Very overcast, cool, 20*C. Rain, rain and more rain.......................!
Still sitting in Garry’s Anchorage, will be for a couple of more days; the rain has set in and the weather bureau predicts high winds and more rain. Just what I need!
This morning I am trying to make some bread. I bought a heap of pre-packaged bread making bags; all packed in single loaf quantity and little packets of dry yeast to match. To get the bread dough to rise I wrapped the bowl in a warn wet tea towel and place the bowl on a wooden board over a pot of hot water on the stove; just giving enough heat under the bowl to keep the water in the pot warm to hot but not boiling. Did this twice for the rising and then popped the bowl into my Thermos Shuttle Chef steamer to partly cook on the stove top just like a steamed pudding and partly in the Thermos Pot. Makes a great soft loaf of bread; just have to keep the Skipper away once I turn the warm bread out. ;o))))


Not going anywhere today - was all I could do to poke my head out to get this shot

Garrys Anchorage, Fraser Island, Great Sandy Straits

Gary's Anchorage, a photo by nauticalnancy - gone sailing on Flickr.

27th April 2012
Sitting out bad weather in Garry’s Anchorage
25’37.544 E 152’58.446 S
Very overcast with a cold chill in the SW wind – just starting to rain.
John managed to fix the problem with the STB gearbox; something to do with a broken pin for which he was able to temporarily replace with one of my hair pins – how funny. ;o))))
Now we are able to move on; sail (genoa sailing) a little further up the Sandy Straits to Garry’s Anchorage.
I can’t believe how cold the weather has turned and with no sunshine to warm the air it makes for a very miserable day. Thank goodness for the new winter woollies and the woollen doona that is now on our bed.

We settle in for the evening and the rain stops just long enough for me to get this sunset shot

Kauri Creek, Great Sandy Straits

26^th April 2012

We are now in the Great Sandy Straits.

25’47.918 S - 152’58.717 E

Cloudy with patchy sunshine to very overcast, cool to cold, light SW changing to SE breeze.

At  0950hr John steers ALANA ROSE into a comfortable anchorage off Gibb Island in Kauri Crk where we find that the STB gearbox is still playing up. AR is doing the donuts around and around while I am trying to anchor; to the amusement of the couple of houseboats in the anchorage. The gearbox will be something to see to and fix tomorrow; for now it is sleep time with a large Irish coffee to warm the bellies. Upon waking “just in time for lunch” says John, ;o))), we find that the weather is no better, still cloudy and cold wind blowing – I hate cold. The wind is so lazy that it goes right through me instead of around me! I got that saying from someone somewhere sometime and thought it was appropriate for the moment. My afternoon is now spent in the saloon downloading photos, writing this blog, watching through the open hatchway (doorway) more houseboat movement; one leaves and another arrives and waiting for the sun to set a little bit later while rugged up in my new warm tracksuit. I can hear the wild birds getting ready for the night. Maybe soon I will shut the hatch (door) to keep the evening cold out.

Sunset at Kauri Creek

Red sky in the morning

Crossing Wide Bay Bar

26^th April 2012 - 0515hr

25’56.042 E – 153’10.247 S

Surise at Double island Point

A cold dark night.

Waking really refreshed (not!), the Skipper and the Decky get underway. There seems to be a problem with the STB gears; there will not go into reverse and so ALANA ROSE goes round in circles as we execute the anchor lift. There is no time to sort this out, time to get going, time to get over the Wide bay Bar while condition are just ok. The wind is still from the W at 15 and there is a small 1/1.5mt ESE swell causing a bit of a washing machine effect. We get to the outside waypoint of the Bar at 0815 (high tide would be at 1047hr). It is an interesting crossing with mixed sloppy seas, heaps of small white waves breaking due to the wind against tide; mildly uncomfortable but doable. The Bar would not have been passable with a bigger swell running or higher wind strength.

Water across the southern sandbar

Wide Bay Bar crossing

Boats follow us across the Wide Bay Bar

The Day We Leave Brisbane

25^th April 2012

ANZAC Day

27’27.296 S – 153’11.394 E

Cloudy, Fine, Warm

It is the day before we are due to sail and poor John is suffering badly with the dreaded lurgy; head cold with itchy throat, blocked nose and terrible headache. It is Anzac Day here in AUS and New Zealand; commemoration of our fallen who have served in all wars for their country and the local small RSL (Returned Servicemen’s League) of Manly/Lota hold a march every year and John participated in this morning’s march with fellow returned service people and a huge roll-up from the local community school and organizations.

John marches to remember

After the ANZAC Day march, John and I said our good-byes to John’s daughter Lindy, son-in-law Steve and grandson Sam before heading back to ALANA ROSE to another good -bye and send off from fellow boaties and dear friends Kath, Andy and Morgan from PAWS and Soraya and John off Easter Rose. Lots of hugs and Soraya pretended to throw streamers as we eased our way out of the berth that ALANA ROSE had been tied to for the past two months. Good-bye good people, good-bye Manly and Brisbane; good-bye for the next two to three years till we return from our “around the block” adventure.

It is 1015hs as AR with John at the helm and me as decky, motors out of the Manly Boat Harbour, out through the leads where we put up both sail, the mainsail and the genoa, and then to sail north through Moreton Bay past Green, St Helena and Mud Islands where we sight  BACKCHAT off Green, past the Brisbane River entrance, Redcliff Peninsular and through the channel at the bottom end of Bribie Island out into the Skirmish Passage which takes us north up to Caloundra where we dodge the shipping traffic to get past the headland in the dark just after sunset.

Late afternoon sailing past the Glasshoue Mountains

I watched the sun set behind the Glasshouse Mountains on the so aptly named Sunshine Coast.

Sunset on the Sunshine Coast

With the night fall of darkness comes the cold; no moon but loads of stars. The wind has been a light WSW turning westerly as we sail up the coast. Dinner tonight is a pre-cooked meal in my Shuttle Chef Thermos Pot, a hotpot of bacon, vegies, lentils and grains with crusty bread. Straight after dinner I am the first one to try to get in a nap. John and I both have been taking turns at resting during the afternoon but our body-clocks will not let through any sleep and now I need to get in some sleep to be able to take the night watch later.

I am not down for long when I can feel a shift in the movement of the boat and then there is a call down from the Skipper; I am needed, the wind has picked up and the sails need shortening. With a second reef in the main and the genoa only out a few turns we were being pushed along at an easy 6-7knts by strong westerlies. Back to bed for me to try to sleep, dosing in and out of sleep till my shift in the middle of the night where I find that we are well past Mooloolaba, only 14nm south of Double Island Point. Naughty, sick Skipper John didn’t rouse me at midnight, letting me lie there till 0100hr (26/4/12), when it is him that should be getting the sleep. Excuse was “it’s a bit rough; I didn’t want to frighten you”! What a load of bulldust! My nerves of steel (hahaha) had already been tested dodging the fishing traps and a couple of ships south of Caloundra. The night-time temperature has dropped severely requiring John and me to done our winter woollies for this passage.

My turn to drive again! Well maybe “George” the auto pilot has a better hand than me; but I am on watch, on watch for lights, ships, boats, boat lights, ship lights and weather and wave changes. It is very dark without the moon light; you can see millions of star above but not much on the sea level. To the Port bow is the continuous flashing of the beacon from the Double Island Point Lighthouse and there is another small light about two miles in front; a stern light of another sailing vessel heading in the same northerly direction.

I wake John just after 0400hr; only because I need to. We are running too early to be crossing the Wide Bay Bar, especially in the dark. The executive decision is to turn into the rolly anchorage inside Double Island Point and get a couple of hours sleep.

Joan's 90th B/day & Waiting to Sail

 Beautiful warm sunny weather, 28* - 17* with a scattered of light cloud in downtown Manly Boat Harbour in Brisbane. Lat: 27'27.296S - Long: 153'11.394E

John, Joan and Jeanne

Last week (12^th through to the 17^th April 2012) John and I went out to the Alice, Alice Springs in the Northern Territory for Joan’s (John’s mum) 90^th birthday. We spent five days in the Alice and had a fabulous time seeing Joan, Jeanne, Johno and many other friends who had come in for the special birthday for the special lady.



Time Flies When You Are having Fun

This week I’m counting the days till we sail – four sleeps to go – and there is still so much to do at the last minute. You can never get to the end of a preparation or “jobs to do” list or there would be nothing to be doing. Funny about that – I like doing nothing - well that is not entirely true – since when is there nothing to do on a boat – I just like taking a few breaks now and again. hahaha ;o)))