When Pancake Creek Turns it On

We arrived at Pancake Creek from Bundaberg with a mixed weather outlook. Fresh to start with for a couple of days, then becoming fine. So we hunkered down and did some boat maintenance and watched boats arrive in bad weather and leave in the same. Clearly, they were on some kind of mission; go north or bust. The anchorage filled and emptied. Without a timetable we were able to choose good weather to walk to the Bustard Head Light as well as go ashore for sunset drinkies.

Shore party assembled for the Lighthouse trek.

Getting the tide right is important to avoid having to walk around the swamp as well as 'managing' how far you'd need to drag the dinghy up the beach or back in the water. Luckily for us, Mark from SV Veritas acted as boatman as his knees wouldn't manage the steep terrain.

View looking back to Clews Point as glimpsed through the trees

Captain Cook sailed along this shore in May, 1770 recording details of the coastline and naming significant geographical features. His crew caught and ate a large native bird here and named Bustard Head and Bustard Bay in memory of both bird and meal - apparently! The navigational light atop the head is technically the first in Queensland. The light at Cape Danger on the border with New South Wales is actually older but it was a part of NSW at the time. The devil is in the detail.

Arriving just as a tour group were leaving. Phew

Tour group transport - LARC all terrain and boat in one.

Kaija, Jaz, Gary and The Bloke

  

View to Jenny Lind Creek

Gone a while - Where did all the water go?

Sundowner time

This part of the coast, the 285 miles from Bunbaberg to Mackay, has it's own cruise guide - Noel Patrick's Curtis Coast. 

Since visiting, the GBRMPA* has installed 4 public moorings in Pancake Creek and 2 out at Clewes Point (the outer anchorage) as a safety measure. They offer a safe harbour for vessels fleeing poor conditions out on the reef islands such Lady Musgrave and Lady Elliot Islands. Although holding is generally quite good there are some areas of 'coffee rock'. Their location is evident at low tide and probably cause quite a bit of fright. Plenty of skippers are reluctant to explore anchoring possibilities further upstream because the electronic charts end well inside the areas of good depth. It takes a bit of pluck to 'go off the reservation' into the 5-6m available unless you 'know' about it, especially in the 3m tide swings.

* Great Barrier Reef Marine Parks Authrority