Seaplane Flight to the Great Barrier Reef

In December 2009 we will celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. To commemorate these past five years of (mostly) marital bliss, we decided to take a seaplane flight over the Whitsunday Islands and Great Barrier Reef. Our excursion was brought forward by my growing baby bump - by December 22nd we worried I might not fit! We took off in a Cessna Caravan from the Whitsunday Airport near Shute Harbour. Our pilot led us over the northern Whitsunday Islands as seen below.
Reaching the outer reef was nothing short of spectacular. I sat on the left hand side of the plane while Julian scored the co-pilot's seat diagonally to my right. From Julian's window he spotted several turtles and two large brown sharks swimming nose to tail. From my vantage point I was lucky enough to see a huge manta ray.
In keeping with the romance of our special occasion we flew above tiny Heart Reef.
The return journey took us over celebrated landmarks such as Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach.
Below us the waters of the Whitsundays sparkled and yachts sailed peacefully by.
For practical information on Whitsunday helicopter and seaplane tours please see my latest article called Whitsundays Scenic Flights, currently published on Suite 101.

Brilliant II - A Peterson 44

I recently had a request from a reader for some information about our boat. Brilliant II is a Peterson 44, sometimes known as a Kelly-Peterson, or KP44. Below is an article about Brilliant II, which appeared in the Australian magazine Cruising Helmsman. Click on the individual pages to read more.

Since this article was written we've been slowly making some modifications - nothing too radical, as we want to preserve the original character of the boat. Mostly we've repaired existing features or added new gadgets to improve the quality of our day-to-day lives. Repairs have included having a complete new dodger made (with minor adjustments to the old design), rebedding deck fittings (responsible for leaks) and maintaining the exterior teak. These last two jobs are pretty much on-going as is keeping an eye on the canvas.

Interior projects have involved replacing headlining in the aft cabin, re-building bookshelves in the main saloon and undertaking a complete refit of the forward head. Next on the list is the V-berth, which we must now convert from a storage space for Julian's tools to the nursery for our soon-to-arrive son. I'll be posting some before, during and after shots to document how this particular project goes.

Maintaining a 30+ year-old boat is no small task. At our current pace it will take many years to complete all the jobs we would like to see done and even then the routine chores will go on. Why do we do it? Because even though boat living is often hard work, it continues to be full of rewards.

Shute Harbour - A New Home Base

View across Shute Harbour

Shute Harbour is a little oasis just south of Airlie Beach where we are currently holed up on a rented mooring. Our journey is at a temporary halt while we embark on our latest project - preparing for a family. Our new crew member is due in January 2010. When he is strong enough to set sail we will continue on our travels but for now the best place for him is inside his Mum, although he's starting to get noticed as you can see!

For the next few months the Whitsundays will be our home and right now Shute Harbour is an excellent base. Sheltered from the winds that plague the anchorage at Airlie Beach, Shute Harbour is calm and secure. Moorings are available through Whitsunday-Rent-A-Yacht, one of the longest-running charter companies around.

Other than its stunning scenery some of the great things about stopping in the Whitsundays are the opportunities here. We are currently celebrating the issue of Julian's Coxswain's licence. This allows him to work for the resident bareboat companies in the capacity of a briefer. Briefers instruct the holidaymakers who come here to charter a yacht, catamaran or power cruiser. A good briefer will talk the charterers through all the elements of sailing in the Whitsundays, with particular reference to the type of vessel they have chosen.

Lately Julian's also been doing quite a few de-briefs which involve meeting the charterers on Hamilton Island at the end of their trip and returning the boat to base. This is good fun and a great chance to try out a wide variety of boats. The boat in the photo below is a Perry 43 catamaran - an interesting ride for a die-hard monohull sailor!

I have been busy as usual with various writing and photography projects. My latest assignment is a series of articles for an on-line magazine called Suite 101. Hot off the press are travel pieces about the Whitsundays and Hamilton Island, full of information for prospective visitors on where to stay and what to do. Also just published are articles on sailing Hamilton Island Race Week, visiting Hamilton Island by boat and hiring Whitsunday charter boats and bareboats; essential reading for skippers planning on sailing these seas.

Whitsunday Whales

The Whitsunday whale-watching season for 2009 has now come to an end. It's been a thrill for visitors and residents alike thanks to increased numbers of migrating whales allowing everyone the opportunity for a front-row view. This year we were extremely fortunate. The famous white whale Migaloo showed up in the region, much to the delight of passengers on board the Fantasea Adventure vessel 'Wonder', who received a visit from Migaloo during their day trip to nearby Hardy Reef. It's been a magical experience to hear whale song through the hull at night and witness spectacular behaviour such as breaching. Photographing the whales was surprisingly difficult. Whenever they emerged from the sea it always seemed to happen in slow motion, yet I could rarely press the shutter down in time. I think you're just so amazed by what's happening in front of you it seems a shame to view it through the filter of a lens. Nonetheless here are a collection of shaky snapshots to give you the general idea...

A Race Week Extravaganza

What a week! The 26th annual Audi Hamilton Island Race Week was a windless event; frustrating for the racing crews but fabulous for photographers like myself, who had a great opportunity to capture the scene.

The festivities began on Friday August 21st with the official opening of the Hamilton Island Yacht Club. In actual fact, this new building (dubbed the "Opera House of the north", by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh), won't be properly open to the public until November 2009. Construction was rushed to a reasonable conclusion purely for the start of Race Week, after which it returned to its previous state.

The race for Day 1 was a 'round Lindeman Island' course, taking the fleet some 12 nautical miles south of Hamo beside a backdrop of spectacular island scenery. Light northerly winds marked the start of the week's events and had us anchored in the perfect spot to await the passing of the carbon fibre Armada. From our position in Plantation Bay, we had front row seats, albeit in our own dinghy. We somehow managed not to get in anyone's way, still scoring 3 seconds of fame on Race Week TV. Go to the media section of the official Race Week website and watch the video highlights from day 1. You'll see us (briefly) about 3/4 of the way through.

With the exception of a couple of lay days, we managed to follow most of the week's events including the final 'Molle Islands Race' on Saturday August 29th. To finish off the extravaganza we anchored two miles away from Hamilton Harbour at Beach 25 on Whitsunday Island and dinghied over to join the celebrations on the main street. We were lucky enough to meet the crew of 'Living Doll' who are walking away with this year's trophies for both Hamilton Island and Meridien Airlie Beach Race Weeks' in the Grand Prix Division 1 category. Some of my photos from the event are now on Flickr and here, for this blog, is a short video.

Shaz Hits Hamo!

Hamilton Island, affectionately known as 'Hamo', is the place to be right now if you're anywhere near the Whitsundays. The island is buzzing with preparations for the annual Audi Hamilton Island Race Week with all the pizzazz this high profile sailing event entails.

Brilliant II arrived on the scene shortly after my last blog post. We were windswept and desperate for shelter. The weather hadn't given us much of a break for our arrival in the Whitsundays. Strong southerlies coupled with a nasty cross-sea from the east made us roll everywhere we tried to stop. "Let's head to Hamo", we agreed.

Brilliant II had a berth in the marina for two nights with mega-yachts and giant powerboats for neighbours. The cost was a whopping $105 per night but it was worth every cent. We scrubbed ourselves, our clothes and our boat and hit the town. Right beside the marina are a selection of restaurants and a lively little pub.

In the morning it was down to the serious business of being tourists on a photographic mission. Here's a snapshot of our surroundings.

During our walk around the marina precinct I spotted what would have been my company car had I scored 'the best job in the world'. Its current driver Ben Southall is away taking care of some of the southernmost islands on the Great Barrier Reef on behalf of Tourism Queensland.

Not to be outdone, Julian and I hired our own golf buggy, which is the standard form of transport on Hamo. I can now confirm it is virtually impossible to break any speed limits in these things. I want one!

We took off over the hills to the main resort area for a peek at how the landlubbers live. Things obviously aren't too tough here, as you can see.

I first came to Hamilton Island 12 years ago as a young backpacker, hitching a ride on a passing yacht. On a particularly alcohol fueled night my fellow crew members and I, visited the resort to race up and down in its external glass elevators. I dragged Julian along to the scene of my previous crimes, only this time in daylight (and sober), I was able to properly appreciate the view.

One of the best viewpoints on Hamilton Island has to be 'One Tree Hill'. From here you can see down over the Fitzalan Passage and over to Whitsunday Island.

When our two days of shoreside luxury were up, we motored out of the marina for a sail around some of the other islands in the Whitsunday group and a trip over to Airlie Beach for reprovisioning. We'll be heading back to these spots in due course and since they are all deserving of posts in their own right I'll save them for later.

Meanwhile race week is about to start and it's all action, action, action. Yesterday some friends from the brokerage Yacht Domain came up to Hamo on a business trip. There were no berths available in the marina any more. The only way we could catch up with them was to anchor off Beach 25 on the south coast of Whitsunday Island and take the dinghy over. (This is a distance of about two nautical miles and takes roughly 15 minutes.) It was a fun trip over and even more fun to see our friends. Needless to say it was a late night!

We are now recovering from the bright lights and loud noise at a serene anchorage off Lindeman Island, some 12 miles to the south. Here tomorrow we hope to watch the first of the week's races, which is a 'round Lindeman Island' course.

To balance out the decadence of our visits to Hamo I've also managed to squeeze in some work over the past couple of weeks. I've written a couple of articles to appear in the Australian magazine 'Cruising Helmsman' and started a blog called 'Sailing with the Smallwoods' for the Yaffa publishing website 'My Sailing'. Just for fun I've also created a blog for one of our cats called 'The Adventures Of Captain Carlos'. Happy reading!!

The Journey So Far

We finally left Bundaberg on July 18th after almost two years of living at the Port Marina. It's so nice to be 'on the road' again, but there are some things that take a bit of getting used to, like the constant motion. The anchorages so far haven't always been flat and it's a lot different to being snug and staying still in a marina berth.

Conditions weren't right for Lady Musgrave and its coral lagoon so we headed inshore to Pancake Creek. Here we spent an unexpected four days, thanks to a bout of northerly winds. The extended stay gave us a chance to get to know the place better. Below are a couple of pics.

From Pancake Creek we headed north to Cape Capricorn. The anchorage here was shocking - we rolled from gunwale to gunwale all night. Now that we're officially in the tropics I was hoping the weather would be warmer, but as you can see from Julian's clothing the temperature has a long way to rise yet!

We carried on to the island of Great Keppel. Here we were able to rendezvous with some friends from Bundaberg, Hugh and Kryssie on 'Kasyma'. There were a lot of boats gathered off the north coast of the island waiting for the closure to finish in Shoalwater Bay. This is controlled by the Australian Army who use the area for live firing practice. For obvious reasons access is restricted at such times. We all took advantage of the mass meeting to get to know one another at a beach bbq one afternoon.

Great Keppel is a beautiful destination with white sand beaches, steep walking tracks, rugged coastline and a closed-down resort. The resort area is like a ghost town at the moment although there are still some private enterprises such as 'Island Pizza' and the 'Rainbow Hut' that are open for business as well as a few options for accommodation. If you really want to get away from it all, then come here now before the developers get stuck in.

From Great Keppel it was on to the Shoalwater Bay area, visiting Port Clinton and Pearl Bay. Pearl Bay is a gorgeous place, and one of those special locations you can only get to by boat (or by joining the Army Reserve!).

During the last week the winds have been strengthening giving us fairly boisterous daily runs. Our anchorage at Hexham Island was as lively as the weather we've been experiencing but quite stunning nonetheless.

To finish off the second week of our voyage we called in to West Bay on Middle Percy Island. This bay is famous amongst the cruising fraternity for its A-Frame shack filled with the memorabilia of several decades worth of passing boats. Known as the Percy Hilton, the A-Frame was originally established by an Englishman named Andrew Martin who lived in the homestead, supplying goat meat and honey to the crews of visiting yachts. The island is now leased by Andy's cousin Cathryn who has set about restoring the legendary tradition of hospitality. Hanging from one of the entry posts is our contribution to the cruising 'hall of fame' - a driftwood carving with 'Brilliant II' and our names engraved into it, made by Julian in 2007.

Ahead of us lie the islands of the Whitsundays, with all the excitement of the 'best job' campaign and Hamilton Island Race Week to come. Already we're seeing several racing yachts, making their way up the coast in preparation for the year's biggest sailing event. It's certainly a great time to be in the area and I'm really looking forward to the anchorages of the next couple of weeks.

Deadlines and Delays

It's now 20 days since our scheduled departure date and we're.....

still in Bundaberg!!!

The delay was caused by a major repair to our boat - painting the topsides. Basically when we bought the boat four years ago we inherited a bad paint job. Apparently the yard previously responsible for painting Brilliant II had neglected to use primer. Consequently the topcoat never quite stuck and had begun flaking off in unsightly chunks.

We hauled out on May 18th and watched as the high pressure hose (usually used to clean below the waterline) decimated what was left of our paint. The easy way out of our dilemma (or so we thought) was to polish up the gelcoat, apply some antifoul, re-launch and we'd be off.

Unfortunately the gelcoat wasn't in great shape. In fact, our boat looked like an old cigarette-stained pub ceiling - yuk!

A complete re-paint was starting to seem inevitable, but re-painting the topsides is usually a time-consuming and expensive job. It typically costs between $10,000 and $20,000 to have a hull re-sprayed. The alternative is to find a user friendly product and be prepared to DIY. Our bank balance dictated going with the latter option.

We chose a system designed by Australian manufacturers Wattyl. In all, we applied 2 coats of epoxy primer, 3 coats of high-build epoxy undercoat and 3 coats of polyurethane topcoat, sanding back between every coat. The primer and undercoats were easy to apply with a roller. They also sanded back beautifully to a smooth finish.

The topcoat was a little trickier - gloss is not so forgiving and we had to employ a technique known as 'roll and tip'. Julian would roller the paint on and I would use a high quality brush to 'tip' it off, getting rid of the air bubbles and (hopefully) leaving few brush strokes. I was pleasantly surprised by the finish.

The final touches were re-painting the boot-top and red groove and re-applying vinyl lettering.

Julian completed some repairs below the waterline and re-antifouled.

The whole process took an entire month and on June 17th we were finally ready to go back in the water, which is where a boat belongs!

Congratulations Ben!

It's official - the island caretaker (Best Job In The World) is Ben Southall from the UK. Well done and congratulations Ben.

The Best Job in the World

Queenslanders are justifiably proud of their 'Sunshine State', complete with its catchphrases like, "Where else but Queensland" and "Beautiful one day, Perfect the next". Snappy though these well-known slogans may be, their usefulness in promoting tourism has now been eclipsed by the mother of all marketing campaigns.

Several months ago Tourism Queensland teamed up with a Brisbane based advertising agency to invent the 'Best Job In The World'. Their plan was nothing short of inspired. 34,500 applicants from around the globe auditioned for the position of 'Island Caretaker'. The job description called for a creative person with the ability to photograph, video and blog about the islands of the Great Barrier Reef to the rest of the world. Ultimately the successful candidate would be responsible for raising public awareness about the islands above the GBR as holiday destinations.

Applications took the form of a 60 second video. In 60 seconds each candidate had to demonstrate why they were the right person for this dream job. The perks (other than being paid to visit some of the most stunning scenery in Australia) would be accommodation in a penthouse apartment on Hamilton Island and a generous salary of $150,000 for the term of the six-month contract.

Yours Truly joined in (with 34,499 other people) and submitted a video. Here is the finished version.

Unfortunately Yours Truly didn't make it to the final selection process, but had plenty of fun trying. For the 16 candidates who did get through (15 selected by TQ and 1 'Wild Card', chosen on the most votes) tomorrow is the last day of what has been an extraordinary interview. The final 16 are currently on Hamilton Island being put through their paces in a 4 day marathon event, where they must prove to TQ and the rest of the world that they can sustain mass media interest.

My personal favourite has been the Australian candidate James Hill whose photography is outstanding. Photography skills aside, the other candidates each have their own assets and in the end it will be a tough decision for TQ to make. I wish them good luck!

Last Day at the Office

I'm actually not hungover today, although that's not through lack of trying! Last night we celebrated my final day of full-time work with Coastline Newspapers. I started work with this newspaper group in February 2008. It's been an interesting year-and-a-bit, full of the highs and lows common to jobs in media and advertising, where there are always deadlines looming and not enough hours in the day.

On Monday morning I won't have to don my smart clothes and totter up the gang-plank in high heels. I won't have to drive at 110km/p/h through the sugarcane fields to make it to my desk by 8.30.

Despite this it's not really goodbye. I will still be writing the odd feature for Coastline's publications, just working from my floating home instead. So if you're heading to Bundaberg pick up a copy of the Bundy Book. If you're on the road in Queensland look out for the Tourist Queensland. Or if you live in one of Queensland's mining towns pick up the next Coalfields Express.

Creating a Blog

So it's finally time to join everyone else in the 21st Century and go digital with a blog. I've been procrastinating for a while; wondering which engine to use, blaming my lack of technical knowledge, etc, etc. Then along came my friend Rob who told me, "Just do it". 

My intention is to document a journey by sea. In 42 days I will set sail from Bundaberg on the East Coast of Australia (with my husband Julian and our two cats), bound for Southeast Asia and all ports in between. I'll be posting regular blogs, photos and short videos, with links to my new photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharonsmallwood/