Maggie Race Week 2015

One of the activities I’m really lucky to get to do in Townsville, Qld, is sailing. I go sailing on cruising yachts on most Wednesday evenings, and we have a leisurely ‘race’ (it is not taken very seriously) around a fixed triangular circuit. Occasionally we have come first, and have been presented with a bottle of Bundaberg Rum for the achievement.

Anyone is welcome to come along and put their name on the notice board to be allocated to a boat – this is how I got started – so every week there is a different crew, often of different nationalities, making it a great social occasion as well.

My first time sailing on a yacht

After a few months of regularly sailing on the same yacht, a Catalina 400 named Freya, I was told that I was regarded as part of the crew now, and as such I was invited to crew for the yacht in a proper race regatta, the Sealink Magnetic Island Race Week. What an honour! I was very excited and agreed straightaway.

Not having much spare money, unlike the other yachties in their luxury apartments for the week, I opted to camp at the YHA campsite on the island. I had a large tent though and a decent camp stretcher, so along with a cheap clothes rail and a handy camping chair, I made a pretty comfortable set up.

The racing took place over different courses each day, and the Saturday course was a circuit around the whole Island, which in the light winds we had took pretty much the whole day. Unlike the usual Wednesday night sailing, where whoever turns up works at whatever they are needed for, in the proper racing each of the crew had their own specific roles. Mine was a new role for me, working the foredeck. My tasks were to assist the headsail across when tacking a jibing the yacht, and to work with the spinnaker - raising, lowering and jibing it as required, all of which I had to learn on the job as we had never used the spinnaker on a Wednesday night sail!

Some of the crew

Some of the fleet, with Magnetic Island in the background

Me at my post by the mast!

My view when I was needed at the rails

Every evening there was entertainment laid on as part of the Race Week, and this was really great fun to be a part of, especially the night of the crew party where there were silly games to play for small prizes – I won a pair of sailing gloves in one such game, which was perfect as I needed a pair of my own, my borrowed pair being pretty worn out and much too big! The fun wasn't confined to shore though, and there was plenty of fancy dress going on on the yachts too as they left and reentered the marina. Some even had different themes for each day. Ours was perhaps not the most imaginative, but it went down pretty well with onlookers!

We didn’t get any high places in any race, being a cruiser rather than a racer, but it was so great to get out there as part of a team, to have my own job to do and feel myself getting better and better at it as each race progressed. 

Springing to action on the foredeck

With the spinnaker flying

It felt pretty magical to be out on the sea, at one with the wind and the water, watching the birds and occasionally spotting a dolphin, feeling so lucky to have this opportunity. 

10 Favourites From a Month of Visitors

My best friend from home and her two kids came to visit for a month during the UK’s summer holidays. That made it winter here, the best time for getting out and about in the tropical north of Queensland. Apart from a week in New South Wales to see Sydney and the Blue Mountains, the rest of our time was spent up in this beautiful part of the world.

Here’s a summary of our more adventurous bits:

1 Swimming in waterholes (QLD)

Crystal Creek, Paluma

Babinda Boulders

2 Hiking in the Blue Mountains (NSW)

The Three Sisters

Two reluctant hikers and their mum

3 Camping our way up through north Queensland

Cairns

Flying the Welsh Flag in Cape Tribulation

4 Finding wildlife on the beaches (QLD)

Peppermint Stick Insect, Cape Tribulation

Sea star, Kurrimine Beach

Pelican, Kurrimine Beach

5 Snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef (QLD)

6 Spotting humpback whales! (QLD)

7 Croc Spotting on the Daintree River (QLD)

8 Ziplining through the jungle (QLD)

9 A sunset kayaking tour (QLD)

10 Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUPing)  (QLD)

 

Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island

Walking in Tamborine National Park

Recently, I found myself in the Tamborine Hills in Gold Coast hinterland – ‘the green behind the gold’.

Having just one full day there, the Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk was unfeasible this time, although I very much hope to be able to do that in the future. What was feasible, however, was exploring some of the shorter walks in Tamborine National Park.

These walks were nothing too strenuous and did nothing to satisfy my increasing adventure-lust: they are quite short, really well marked - in some cases they even have paved surfaces and fences – and there are a number of restricted areas with no access allowed anywhere outside of the designated paths and swim spots.

However, they did satisfy my desire to spend a day outside in nature, and I really enjoyed the change of scenery, the different plant life, the change from tropical to temperate, and watching the beautiful birds we saw.

Beautiful forest

Not a great photo, but a very pretty Crimson Rosella

As the walks are so short, we were able to do a few before the daylight started to fade, and we followed the walking tracks at Cedar Creek Section, Joalah Section (for Curtis Falls), and the Witches Falls Section – the first ever area in Queensland to be designated as National Park.

At Cedar Creek Falls there are about 3 pools that you are allowed to swim in (access to these pools is only allowed from designated paths). A combination of Australia’s recent cold snap, and my lack of tolerance for the cold since living in the tropics, meant that I didn’t quite feel up to swimming on this occasion though!

Looking at these sweet little falls and not being able to get in and explore was frustrating, but I understood that the National Park is there for the protection of nature, not just our enjoyment.

At Curtis Falls, there is a well-defined dirt path to the pool at the bottom of the small falls, and also a circuit walk going along either side of the river. 

To cross the river at the far end we had to use the rocks as stepping stones, not too tricky if you are confident on your feet, but a few people we met were a little unsure. Again you are not able to freely explore in the river, for the protection of nature, however the views at various points of the river are really pretty and are well worth the easy walk.

Witches Falls also has a well-defined dirt path, this time dropping down the steep side of a hill from the road. Turning right as you approach the path to start, there are steps dropping down, while turning left to start there is a gentler slope with switchbacks. (Obviously this downhill becomes an uphill on the way back, so you may want to plan how steep your return journey is.)

The circuit path has a detour off it to the viewing platform, which has a view down onto the falls and out over the forested hills beyond. 

You can continue on this path back to a road, which you can follow back to the start point, but it’s more pleasant to return via the circuit path through the forest.

Taking our time to enjoy the scenery on each of these walks, and having a relaxed long lunch break (and a coffee break too), these three walks took up almost all of the winter daylight we had, so although they weren’t strenuous we had to finish up there.

Maybe not very adventurous, but certainly a beautiful way to spend a day out and about :)