Edgar had spent weeks getting the boat ready, the new carpet had been laid, the new curtains were made and hung, Suzanne had had her bottom cleaned and been polished up until she shone. The freezers were packed with precooked meals and the fridge stocked with fresh provisions. There was lots of wine, gin, whiskey and beer on board. The family had joined us for farewell drinks and dinner. The boat was ready to go! 
Unfortunately the weather wasn’t – with strong wind warnings the prospect of a repeat performance of last year kept us firmly in the marina until Sunday.
Which was probably just as well. Saturday saw us return home to a frenzy of cleaning and gardening. We were to be away for two months and had four lots of tenants in whilst we were away and house sitters were also coming to stay. Our water taxi departure time kept getting put back as we found more things to do – or seriously underestimated the time it would take to do things – until finally, with one minute to go, we caught the last water taxi off the island. Back to Woolies for last minute items and finally to bed at 11pm.
Sunday dawned and you couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day – the sun shone, the water sparkled and the seas were calm. We quietly slipped away just after 8am and headed for Mooloolaba – totally exhausted but buoyed up by the thought of the lazy days ahead. It was Sunday, 27th August 2017 and we were on our way.
Our usual ham and egg toastie for breakfast on the flybridge, a chance to start on one of the many books we had brought on board, a glass of wine with a leisurely lunch and all the while watching the ships and scenery slip by until we arrived in Mooloolaba around 3.30 pm.
A walk down to the shops where we were picked up by our trusty mate, Scott, who came to dinner laden with herbs, roses, fruit and wine. He was to join us later in the trip.
At just before 6am the next day we headed out for the Sandy Straits, timing our arrival at the notorious wide bay bar for just before high tide. We were not alone as a number of boats also quietly headed out in the same direction. We were treated to a glorious sunrise to start the day.
The trip could not have been more different than last year which saw us crossing in the dark, rolling up to 30 degrees as we were broadside to the waves most of the way. This crossing had us in calm seas and we stayed close to the coast so we could watch the towns and scenery pass by. A couple of whales played near us and we finally crossed the bar and headed for Pelican Bay.
Pelican Bay is a good anchorage when the wind is in the east and has the added advantage of having a very long beach to walk on. 
We went ashore in the dinghy and walked for about an hour. It was a relief to stretch your legs after a day aboard. 
The next day, after a momentary scare with the fridge water pump not working, we went ashore again and had a long walk around the Point before pulling up the anchor and setting our course for White Cliffs anchorage. 
Into the dinghy to place the crab pots and back on the boat to witness a very spectacular smoky sunset before dinner and bed. 
The next morning we awoke to a white world – no breeze and the smoke had settled on the water. Fortunately not too much ash had settled on the boat and within a couple of hours the smoke had lifted and revealed a beautiful day.
Full of hope we headed for our crab pots only to find – nothing! Our deliciously smelly chops and chicken carcass had not received a single nibble. Nothing daunted we moved the pots and returned for breakfast on the deck. Quietly reading in the sun after breakfast we had a feeling we were being observed. Standing on the shore was one of the Fraser Island dingoes that had obviously made it’s way across the mud in the hope of a handout!
I spent the day following the adventures of Bill Bryson on the Road to Little Dribbling whilst Ed studied the anchorages on the way to the Whitsundays. We spent some time looking for pictures to replace the ones on the boat, which were faded and very brown and dreary. We wanted to depict early sailing ships that were significant to Australia and finally decided on “HMS Beagle” for our cabin, “The Duyfken” for the main saloon and three prints of boats of the First Fleet by marine artist Frank Allen – HMS Sirius, the flagship for the side cabin and HMS Alexander and HMS Friendship, both convict carriers for the front cabin – mmm does that say something?
That evening as I prepared dinner, Ed braved the rather cold wind to retrieve the crab pots and do some fishing. No success in other arena so it was lamb shanks and red wine for dinner. We had decided to push on to Bundaberg the next day as Saturday looked the best day for the run to Pancake Creek.