Mustang Sally Cruising 2019 - Kiting the East Coast

Since the last report we made it to Bundaberg and stopped there for a couple of nights to get the usual boat jobs done and provision the boat while we waited for some calmer weather to get out to Lady Musgrave which is an absolute gem of a place to stop on the East Coast. LADY MUSGRAVE We departed from Bundaberg Marina very very early (i.e. 4:30H) on the 25th May and headed out to Lady Musgrave which is approx 52Nm almost due north from Bundy. We safely navigated the entrance at around 14:00H and were quickly advised of a spare mooring by our sister ship Perseides 2 who we originally met in Broken Bay back in 2014!!!.  Last year Parks put in a large number of moorings at many of the popular anchorage spots along the Queensland coast which is fantastic and a great way to protect the coral from boats anchoring etc. With the great weather forecast we were not the only ones with the great idea of stopping in at Lady Musgrave as we counted around 30boats at any one time ...

We finally departed East Coast Marina on the 14th May and started heading north. The plan was to spend the first night over at Tangalooma and we headed over in that direction but found the conditions rather unpleasant so elected to head back west again and spend the night on the pontoon out the front of the Moreton Bay Boat Club in Scarborough. This is a very dangerous part of the world having your boat parked right in front of the bar but we survived it all quite well.  We were very lucky as it was a two for the price of one meals night so decided it was a good chance to have a meal off the boat. Sally at the Moreton Bay Boat Club back in 2011!! The next day we headed off early for the trip up to Mooloolaba to yet another marina - yes we are keen to get out and drop the anchor.  You have to give the fisho's their dues in this part of the world - they are definitely a keen lot as seen by this chap fishing in the rain with unbrella on his kayak!!   ...

We have now been on board for just over 1 week and have pretty much got all the boat jobs done and are raring to get going.   Manly Harbour - Where is Sally???? We arrived back on board last Thursday afternoon and were pleasantly surprised to see how clean the boat was - it almost looked like someone had been on to give it a wash but guessing it was due to the recent heavy rains.  One odd thing we did find was that the batteries were pretty much totally flat.  Still haven't quite figured out why but luckily we were planning on replacing the house batteries  before heading off so this confirmed our ideas and the 2 x 270AH batteries were installed on Tuesday.  This is no easy feat with each battery weighing in at a bit over 75kgs each.  Luckily we had a young fit fellow to assist Mark with the install!!!  Hard to believe this weighs 75kg  Sally - Looking Good! Getting the boat provisioned up has been so much easier in Australia...