With a forecast of easing SE breezes we decided to continue our meander north. Our departure from the pile berth was no more impressive than our arrival but this time there was no-one to watch. We were soon motor sailing north as the promised 15-20kt breezes failed to materialise. How unusual!
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| Abbott Point coal loader |
We had expected to see quite a few ships around Abbott Point coal loading terminal but everything was amazingly quiet. There were two ships lying at anchor but no other activity.
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| Beach & Houses on Cape Upstart |
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| Shark Bay (Cape Upstart) looking south |
The rest of the trip to Cape Upstart was quite uneventful and by early afternoon we were safely anchored in Shark Bay. It is a remote and rugged spot but the amazing thing is the number of houses along the shore line. They extend for miles into the bay and range from primitive tin shacks to two story brick mansions. The houses all appear to have mains power and telephone but all access is by boat and water is from rainwater tanks. As this is all within the Cape Upstart National Park I am not sure how people are able to continue to buy and sell property but clearly they are. It is QLD after all!
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| Cottages ashore. |
We went ashore for the obligatory exploration and decided to spend an extra day as it all looked rather interesting. Needless to say I tried a bit of fishing but managed to maintain my unblemished record for FNQ: Nil, zip, nada!
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| Cane field fires at dusk. |
We were joined by several yachts and a few motor boats for the evenings but they all seem to be a bit more diligent than us as they were underway before we had even started breakfast.
The sunset was quite spectacular with several large fires on the mainland. We suspect that they were cane fields being burnt off - they do it at night.
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| Historic Makers - Cape Upstart |
We finally decided to head to our next stop - Cape Bowling Green. Needless to say we ended up motor sailing initially as the wind took quite a while to build. Once it arrived we barber hauled the jib and enjoyed the peace and quiet. This was a good thing as one engine had started, idled a bit rough and then died for reasons that remain unclear. We even managed to overhaul a larger ketch which was nice.
Cape Bowling Green has little to recommend it as a tourist attraction - it is a low sand spit with a few trees and shrubs and a very muddy bottom that took ages to remove from our anchor chain. Our salt water deck wash system has been brilliant and I hate to think what the anchor well would look like without it. There was no incentive to stay any longer than necessary at this anchorage so plans were made for a relatively early departure next morning.
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