Yes, we've officially entered the Tropics after departing Gladstone a couple of weeks ago. 
The city of Gladstone seems to be a bit confused as to what it is, but for all that, the marina was comfortable enough and we did meet some really nice people so can't slag off at it too much. But it terms of industrial cities, it does make Geelong look pretty good.
We were happy to leave the high-viz fluoro overalls and grimy industry behind, heading out through the North Channel into the open ocean again. We were sailing in company with Geoff and Maggie from the Sydney yacht "Solstice", and had an uncomfortable 20-something knot tailwind and largish following seas. It felt good to find the welcome shelter of Cape Capricorn for an overnight anchorage, but the swell wrapping around the corner of the headland made for the most uncomfortable night of the trip so far.
So it was up at first light and off to the comfort of the marina near Yeppoon to hide out from the relentless strong trade winds and drizzly rain. It was good to be tied up at a dock!

We'd heard a little about the military's "Operation Talisman Sabre" while we were in Gladstone, but had the full story at Yeppoon. We were tied up opposite four of the Army's high-speed RIBS which were part of the exercise further north, involving 30,000 Australian, US and Spanish military personnel.
Which had effectively blocked the entire coast for 100 miles north. For six weeks! So it meant that we couldn't day sail along the coast, we had to plan a route out to sea around the civilian exclusion zone, which meant a serious overnighter and "real" weather further out to sea. 
On the first chance we had to get nice weather though, we decided that Great Keppel Island was too nice to ignore and so, just an hour out from the Marina we were in a tropical paradise. Crystal clear water, a firm, protected anchorage off a pristine beach, the great company of other cruisers, and at last, what we set out to find on this journey!

So it was great to be able to swim, cook on the beach and wander around this lovely island for a couple of days, sleeping securely at anchor. But we soon scurried back into the Marina as the wind was forecast to pick up again. Which it didn't actually, but it did make for a few nice days back on the mainland, zipping around by bus or the Marina's courtesy car. 
Once the wind did pick up, however, we started to feel a bit trapped, knowing that unpleasant conditions meant the islands, and our journey northwards, weren't an option. But it was good varnishing weather, I did an oil change, and on one day we even caught the bus into Rockhampton, which is a surprisingly beautiful tropical city.

No matter how comfortable the marina, and how good the company though, it gets a bit much after a couple of weeks. 
We made one "false start" to head north, in company with Geelong's Grant and Marian St. Quentin on their yacht "Sapphire Of London" but soon scampered back into the marina. A wet, uncomfortable passage to the islands in preparation for the journey was just a taste of the night ahead. Which convinced us to bide our time for another day or two. The St. Quentins, being hardier sailors than ourselves, continued the journey alone..... I feel a bit guilty for abandoning them, but we'll have a more comfortable passage north!

I'm updating the blog today, knowing that we'll be out to sea tomorrow, bound for, hopefully, the Percy Isles or one of the smaller islands just south of them for an anchorage with a few days of nice weather . That will see us past the warships at play, within easy striking distance of the port of Mackay, and well amongst the tropical islands to the south of the Whitsunday Group. Coral reef country!

The arrival of our son and his kids to Mooloolaba was a great change in our routine, with all the noise,  bustle and fun that a cabin full of kids can provide. 
Fortunately, the weather improved for their stay, and we made the most of nice sunny days to entertain the kids with dinghy rides, fishing, visits to Underwater World and even a quick road trip up to Noosa.

The kids loved the time they had, and while I'd originally hoped to get them on the boat in the Whitsundays, the comfy marina on the  Sunshine Coast was a pretty good alternative.
Unfortunately, the time passed all too quickly, and we regrettably waved the clan off as they headed back to a frigid Victoria.
After a day to clean up, we re-provisioned and were ready for sea again. Our old friend Robert Cleveland had been volunteering to join us for quite a while, but health reasons and the tyranny of distance had made it difficult until now.
We've known Robert since our days living in California, so it was fantastic to have him join us.

While being a confirmed Catamaran fancier, Robert's a master sailor with a ton of experience, and as a current Noosa resident he's travelled the coast extensively aboard all kinds of yachts. It was a change to just relax and enjoy the ride on the boat while Captain Cleveland took over the job of sailing for a while. 
It was a good learning experience, too, and Robert just loves trimming the sails.
We set off from Mooloolaba in a moderate Southwesterly and had a nice sail before the breeze turned onto our tail, and we coasted past Noosa under jib and engine only. One of the day's highlights was spotting three humpback whales!

We'd covered nearly 50 miles for the day, and anchored from the stiff Southerlies inside Double Island Point for the night. 
In the morning, with all kinds of ominous predictions from the Weather Bureau, it was a quick run north to the notorious Wide Bay Bar at the southern end of Fraser Island. 
It's an intimidating stretch of water, but with Robert at the helm, and having carefully planned for the crossing on the right tide, it was a much less frightening experience than it could've been, given the stiff breeze that we experienced. 
We rocked and rolled through the famed Mad Mile and headed north up into The Great Sandy Strait for a quiet night on the anchor in "Garry's Anchorage". 
It was a bit off-putting to see the "Beware Of Crocodiles" and "Beware Of Dingoes" signs on the beach and of course we scoffed at the idea of crocodiles this far south. Until the morning, when we saw what looked suspiciously like crocodile tracks on the sand bank just behind the boat!
From there, the weather turned increasingly nasty, and after waiting for the tide to fill in, we set off under a cold, grey sky, more akin to crossing the English Channel than what we expected on our Queensland coast.
We motored through the Strait and found a deep water anchorage off the Kingfisher Eco-Resort. 
It was quite rolly and uncomfortable, and we decided that we'd be safer on the other side of the strait, so we pulled up the pick and headed off towards Big Woody Island. Realizing mid-channel that we had to skirt around a big sandbar to get there, and it would mean arriving in the dark, we changed our minds and headed back to Kingfisher again, this time a bit further south for more protection.
It was a difficult anchoring process, in very deep water and requiring a lot of chain. Paying it out, the chain jumped off the gypsy and it took a bit of battling to bring it back under control, but it held firm and we had a surprisingly calm night.

It was a cracking sail across the strait the next morning towards the protection of  the marina at Urangan. With consistent 22 knot winds on our beam, we had a ball. Until, of course, we had to turn South again, dead into the wind, for the last few miles down the channel to the marina entry. With gusts up to 29 knots, it was an uncomfortable run, but made for a good photo!

Tying up at the dock was an interesting exercise in that wind, but with Robert and Mary both handling the lines, and just a gentle kiss of the boat next to us, we were soon safe and comfy. A big East Coast Low had developed off the coast of Fraser Island, so Urangan was home for a few days while we waited for the weather system to head south and leave us with sunshine and more forgiving conditions. Which eventually happened, and we headed off to the Port of Bundaberg under sunny skies. And the engine for most of the day unfortunately.
Robert's daughter picked him up in Bundaberg to put him on the train home, and we settled at the marina for a few days, crewless again, making a special point of visiting the local rum factory. It's NOT a high tech industry! 
Poor old Bundaberg's still in recovery mode after the devastating floods of last year, so we were happy to hang out and spend a few tourist dollars in the town.
The next leg of the journey was a full-day run to an anchorage in, what I thought was the "remote" Pancake Creek.
We motored out of the Burnett River early, in the dark and with a heavy fog. I was pleased that both of our hazard-avoiding electronic devices, the radar and the AIS receiver, worked effectively, as we couldn't see much more than 20 metres around the boat. It wasn't until after 0930 that the sun peeked through, and we could actually see our fellow sailors, five other yachts around us, as they, like us, had been waiting for the right day to leave the shelter of Bundy. 
It was a pleasant, but uneventful journey after that, with just the odd few dolphins visiting the boat to cruise along our bow wave. (We were just 30 minutes behind another yacht that witnessed a magnificent Humpback breaching off their bow.)

Looking forward to relaxing on the anchor in Pancake Creek, it was a bit of a jolt to see seventeen other boats anchored when we arrived!
Just as another thick fog bank rolled in, and we were a bit concerned, searching for a safe spot to anchor before dark amongst the throng. Three different spots, and the anchor dragged on a rocky bottom with a speedy current. Finally, we had a good "bite" and the owner of a boat behind us came up on deck and expressed his fear that we'd drag onto him, but he was happy enough once he'd seen us put the boat into reverse and power against the anchor. (The next morning, as we were departing, he made a point of coming on deck to tell us that Endurance was "the prettiest girl in the anchorage"). Made my day!
The fog was still thick when we woke, but we wanted to wait for the tide to fill in before we packed up. By the time it had thinned a little, we saw that half the boats had already left, mostly headed North. It's a bit like the Migration of the Wildebeest.....all of these cruising boats heading towards the Holy Grail of the Whitsundays.

Once again, we headed off with a foggy start to the day, and were part of a throng heading towards Gladstone. The sun emerged and we had a very light-wind trip along the coast, and it wasn't long before I was down to bare feet, a tee shirt and board shorts, and actually feeling hot!
It was an interesting run as we approached Gladstone, now the second busiest port in Australia. At first, it reminded me of Geelong's Corio Bay, until I realized just how big, and busy, the port really is. 

We successfully dodged the tugs, big ships going in both directions, pilot boats, fishing boats and other yachts, and found the deceptively tiny entry to what turned out to be a vast marina basin. Friendly staff checked us in and made us feel welcome, and after a shower and cleanup we hiked off to the local Yacht Club and dined on big fat steaks and a bottle of Red.
Gladstone's actually the furthest North I've been in Queensland since the early seventies, so it's all a bit of an adventure. 
The next morning, we had a call from Marion Hughes, a friend of my brother's partner Marionne, and she visited the boat, gave us a bit of a tour of the city, and then took us home to her apartment on the Boyne River. Then a really nice home-cooked dinner with her partner Martin, also a yachtie who's almost finished building his own boat,  and herself. 
A great introduction to Gladstone, which could easily be seen as just a bit of a grungy Fly-In, Fly-Out industrial city. 
So today, I'm aboard the boat while the 30 knot winds outside hold us in harbour again, and I've finally had a chance to update the blog. And it's sunny!

The Tropic Of Capricorn's less than a day's sail away. The Great Barrier Reef is to our East. We're nearly in The Tropics! 
Now, where's that snorkel......