Refuge in Mooloolaba

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Refuge in Mooloolaba

We were beginning to dread Fridays. The last 5 had been difficult one way and another, mostly due to the weather and the coming Friday was once again presenting more rotton weather. Not another East Coast Low like the week before that smashed through the Eastern seaboard leaving drownings and massive destruction in it's wake, but 30+knots over a period of days ... AGAIN! Where would we hide this one out? Not another week in a marina? This was wrecking our budget.

Surf closing out the Mooloolaba River Bar

The kind of weather not favoured by us for a bar crossing.

We watched from the beach as several boats attempted an approach, a couple even backing off!

We had the option of anchoring at 'The Basin' which is a wide part of the Mooloolah River about 1/2nm upstream and surrounded by canal style homes and jetties. Evidently anchoring is permitted for up to a week after which the 'Waterways' people would issue a move on notice! Welcoming thoughts. We were aware however, through friends, that the anchorage was often crowded (because it's free) and the holding was poor.

Mark and Wendy huddled up for some drinks in our cockpit on a winter's evening.

With the forecast for a prolonged period of 30knots we had little appetite for this to be our place of refuge. Visions of boats on anchor dragging at night in gusty conditions was not our cup of tea. The Bloke was in melt down. George came to our rescue (again) and contacted a mate who had a vacant pontoon in the canals owing to their vessel being in the Whitsundays for the season. Fantastic. Thanks George! But an even greater THANK YOU to our Pontoon Lords (like landlords) Mark and Wendy! What was meant to be just a few days ended up as 10, thanks to the weather, which even included an evening when a mini tornado ripped into a small apartment complex just 0.5km away.