Memories of Other Days

Tuesday 10^th July 2012

Rain, Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day!
High winds and rain is all we have been having for the past few days and there is no sign of the rain letting up. Yuk! Means MrJ and I are stuck onboard inside the confines of the saloon finding things to do; trying to keep dry and warm. Playing on the computer is my main option or knitting, cooking and reading are other options or all the above in the one day can be the possibilities. Let’s have a look at what I have been up to on this day over the past six months.

Memories of Other Days - all pictures taken on the 10th day of each month:

January 10 - Evening, anchored in Frying Pan Bay Lake Macquarie NSW while visiting the HouseHouse over summer.

February 10 - Sunrise after an overnight passage from Coff's Harbour NSW to The Seaway Gold Coast QLD



March 10 - Marina time and early morning walks along the esplanade at Manly Boat Harbour Brisbane QLD

April 10 - I am spending my time in the MBTBC Marina by taking photos of just about everything.

May 10 - Keppel Bay Marina. Two weeks after leaving Brisbane the afternoon of ANZAC Day in April and have made it to Keppel Bay

June 10 - Evening anchored in the Newry Islands - one of my favourite places to visit

July 10 - Today, anchored off the Able Point marina Airlie beach QLD - rain, rain go away, come again another day

Mundane Days - Airlie beach

Monday 2^nd July 2012

Monday sunrise

In the morning MrJ and I went for a walk up to the Whitsunday Shopping Centre. The day temperatures are still warm enough to be in shorts and t-shirt to walk along the boardwalk to the shops where we picked up a few grocery items and then walked back to the dinghy and home.
The same local mono-hull boat that was alongside at the public dock was still sitting there. Originally their story was something about a broken anchor winch and not being able to anchor out. That’s fine but I do know that some of the other boaties were beginning to whinge about the mono’s continuing presence as this boat was taking up precious space and time on the only public dock in this area.
In the afternoon MrJ went over to Neriki to help Ric put his sail back up while I stayed home and did some cooking. I made a traditional Lasagne from scratch, for our dinner and it was so yummy that MrJ had seconds.

The anchorage

I rang Carla and her kids, Isabella, Olivia and Edward and Manda and her kids, Kai, Bridie and Piper. It was so good to hear their voices again, to hear of all their adventures whether at play or at school and to know that they are all safe and warn in their own little place.

Tuesday 3^rd July 2012

Feeding our faces

In the morning MrJ and I caught the bus to the Centro Shopping Plaza in Cannonvale. MrJ bought some new undies in Best and Less but I had no luck getting the shorts that I wanted. I checked in Best and Less, Big W, Rockmans and Millers; the summer stock was finished and now the winter stock was out. We then had a look in Rivers where MrJ bought some new shirts and BCF where we bought some small butane bottles for our single portable burn which we can take ashore on the beaches to cook a BBQ, before catching the bus back as far as Home Hardware on the Shute Road where we bought some water hose. I had a quick look in the Vinnie’s shop nearby; it was packed and was interested to see how many young backpackers were in there buying up. This must save them heap not being able to carry too much on their backs and at the end of their trip any clothes that are still okay will get returned to a second hand shop somewhere before they leave the country.
From the Vinnie’s shop we walked up the road to the Whitsunday shops stopping at the computer shop on the way. The fellow in the computer shop gave me some good advice that was to buy another external hard drive to back up all my photography work.  At the Whitsunday shops MrJ and I went into a Dick Smiths shop and bought the just that hard drive for my computer.

Full moon over the marina

What a morning of shopping and walking! MrJ and I needed to replenish our energies by ordering a sandwich and coffee at Marino’s Cafe and sitting for a while.
The same mono-hull had been still attached to the public dock; now the story goes that they were also waiting on delivery of an outboard motor for their tender. On our return from the shop the boat had moved off leaving the public dock free once more.

Wednesday 4^th July 2012

Empty streets

AR is still anchored off the western break wall in Pioneer Bay and will be for some time with high winds expected right through to next week. The days and nights are getting cooler, I had to wear a pair of jeans and a light jumper up town this morning but had the jumper peeled off by after lunch time and back on again round three thirty flourish.
I walked into the township of Airlie via the waterfront boardwalk and up the main street where there was not much happening for being the middle of school holidays. The most movement on the street was some road works happening which slowed the trickling traffic to a crawl. There were some tourist on the footpath and in the shops but still not as many as I had expected. Time are really tough in the tourist towns these days. After looking in a couple of shops and not getting anything I decided to catch the bus up to the Whitsunday Shopping Centre where MrJ and I went the other day and boght a toy dinosaur for one of my photographic challenges. ha, ha, ha!!!! Should have seen the looks I got on the way home, taking photos of my new toy sitting on the grass, in the park garden or on the rock pools. hahaha!!!!

Back in Airlie Beach

Sunday 1^st July 2012

Back in Airlie Beach

Sunny and warm

20'15.893 - 148'42.429E

Smoke in the evening sky

Friday: MrJ and I had a good sail on Friday over from Cid Harbour to Able Point where we are at anchor. Unable to get alongside at the public dock to fill our tanks with water, we anchored out the back of the moored boats once more, not too far away from Neriki.

The walk into Airlie

Saturday: 0800h MrJ and I dinghied into the marina and walked into Airlie Beach to go to the market; buying some fresh vegetables and meat from the local produce stalls. MrJ got himself two more books to read.

Airlie Beach & markets

At the markets we ran into Shelly and Ric off Neriki and Sandy and Kelvin from Grotty Yachty and then it was off for an early lunch/morning tea was a homemade beef pie and an iced coffee.
Back on AR; MrJ went back in the dinghy with the water jerrys to fill and then we did some washing, washing the bedding and towels. MrJ does the washing onboard as he is the person strong enough to lift the water jerrys to fill our little wash machine. I usual hang the washing out on the lines that we have strung over the fore dace. While MrJ get the washing going I had already started with the cleanup inside.
There was even time for a short afternoon read/rest on the tramps before a quick shower before going over to Neriki for the evening.

Sunday: No rest for the wicked! Up and off early again, this time taking AR into the marina boat harbour to get her water tanks filled.

Alongside at the public dock

We motored inside of the protective break walls just after 0700h to find that there was another boat at the public dock. I called out to them to get the reply that their boat was broken down and that we could tie up alongside of them. Which we did and that is how we got our water; by stretching our water hose across the other boat’s deck to fill our tanks and jerry cans.

Just before we had finished one more boat came in; a larger catamaran than us, Penrod II, a big yellow cat owned by a friend Ken. No sooner had we moved off than he was coming alongside too. There was a lot of movement early in the boat harbour, tourist boats The Wave Breaker and Camira the large purple catamaran were on the move plus the interisland ferry Orca. MrJ put AR in line, in the middle of these other boat to leave the harbour to return to our old anchorage from last season beside the western break wall of the marina.

Another morning in another anchorage

Bacon and eggs for breakfast and listening to Macca, Australia All Over on a Sunday morning!

Went Kayaking around Sawmill Bay – Cid Harbour

Thursday 28^th June 2012

Went Kayaking around Sawmill Bay – Cid Harbour
20'15.818 S - 148'56.570 E

Cid Harbour from Sawmill Beach

The sun was shining its warmth this day; taking both cameras with me I jumped in the kayak and went exploring around the shoreline of Sawmill Bay Cid Harbour. Over at the main beach I was able to get off the kayak to see what was around. I was the only person on the beach at this stage, until an hour or so later when several people came ashore in their dinghies from the larger motor boats that had just arrived in the bay.

Rainforest floor

The main walking track that takes you up to the Whitsunday Peak was still much the same, a lovely natural rainforest trail.

The water stream that drains out onto the beach had changed. It had been deepened by last season’s rains washing down the hills and out into the sea.

The sandbank along the beach had changed it course where this little stream comes out and there are now a couple of large water holes in the sand where the stream once trickled.

Green ants on the march

The second walking track across to Dugong Beach had not changed with its entrance into the rain forest surrounded with rocks and natural bush. The once used metal tracks of the long ago old sawmill are still buried deep in the sands.

Sawmill Beach acquired its name because from 1888 to 1904 the Withnall family operated a saw mill there and in the 1990s remnants of that occupation still could be found, though fast disappearing. During the Depression of the 1930s under a scheme to place certain unemployed persons in an area where they could fend for themselves the Department of Labour and Industry, Brisbane in November 1931 approved an informal tenure over an area of 200 acres in the Sawmill Beach area of Cid Harbour, and Alexander Burnett, William Charles Fisher, Harold Robertson and George Henry Gray were permitted to occupy the area free of rent. They had the right to cultivate ten acres of the leased land but whether this occupation took place is not known.

Gardening on Shore - Cid Harbour

Wednesday 27^th June 2012

Gardening on Shore - Cid Harbour
Very overcast with some sunshine and a few showers

Sunset in Cid Harbour

Today was the first time that we have been able to get off the boat in four days, four days of wind and rain. In the afternoon the sun actually came out and the air was warm, warm enough to be in shorts and t-shirt once more.
I thought that this would be a good day to do some gardening in this nice warm sunshine. Into the dinghy went the Thai Coriander plant that I had bought at the markets in Airlie last Saturday along with the small bag of dirt that I had carried all the way home from Bunning’s, my bag of garden tools and the small planter box. MrJ and I dinghied over to the southern beach in Sawmill Bay; this is where I unloaded all my goodies and began to garden, being careful not to spill or leave any of my mess on the beach.

MrJ talking to a fellow boatie (Peter)

After the gardening I went exploring with my camera. While on my exploration I came across some bright orange bugs on the berry and leaves of a mangrove tree. I am under the belief that the bug is a species of Crusader bug (or holy cross bug) and the tree is a Mangrove Apple (sonneratia alba)

The Crusader bug is an insect located mainly in Australia but is also found in Indonesia and the Indo-Pacific. They can be seen nearly anywhere from urban areas through to the coast but are not found in the desert. The Crusader Bug is a brown bug with a striking yellow cross on its back. It has long legs with hind legs much thicker than other legs (my photo does not show this). The antennae have orange tips (my photo does not show this). The thorax has prominent conical spines projecting on either side at the shoulders. Later instar nymphs have two orange spots in the middle of the upper surface of abdomen (my photos show orange body with black spots).

Crusader Bugs

The Mangrove Apple grows up to 15m tall. Its leaves are rounded and leathery. The flower is white, pom-pom-like and open only for one night. The fruit are large (4 cm) green with a star-shaped base containing 100-150 tiny seeds that are white, flattened and buoyant and they are leathery. Mangrove Apple grow mostly along banks of tidal rivers, creeks and within sheltered bays of offshore islands and reef cays They have thick cone-shaped aerial roots and use ultra filtration at the root level to exclude salt. Mangrove Apple can tolerate wide fluctuations in salinity and often grow on exposed, soft but stable mud banks low on the tidal mudflats. It is believed that they store excess salt in old leaves which they later shed. Alba is the most widespread of the Sonneratia - they are found from East Africa through the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, northern Australia, Borneo and Pacific Islands.


Young Crusader Bugs