House boating out of Tin Can Bay harbour

October 19- 27 House boating out of Tin Can Bay harbour

The adventure continues as we leave the breathtaking Sydney area and head back north, up the Eastern shoreline towards the Gold Coast and Brisbane. We have about a 10 hour drive to get from Sydney to Tin Can Bay where we are scheduled to pick up our house boat and head out to Fraser island Sandy straits.

I am not much of a boater and neither is the rest of the clan but Stan has owned a water ski boat before so really how different could it be (insert sarcasim here)? To drive a houseboat on the ocean with little to no manoeuvrability and sand bars and tidal charts and star charts and safe passage maps to contend with is no big deal, right?. Which side is starboard again? Aft, Stern, Midships, Leeward, ahoy and barnacles are the extent of my marine vocabulary.

The house boat itself has a very flat bottom so it is like trying to steer a sheet of plywood on the ocean with a small rudder. Stan drew the short straw and was elected Captain. It will either give him a sense of accomplishment or send him over the deep end of sanity. We’ll see.

Here are a few snaps of the Houseboat. The boats name was the “Alexander”. When we arrived at Tin Can Bay it was late in the afternoon and the folks at the dock gave us a good 7 minute briefing on the boat assuming that we were like most Australians who were weaned on a vessel and had their own boat by the age of 8. We tried to explain that we were truly novices however they insisted that it was not hard and that “NO WORRIES” slogan was going to rule the day. We were instructed to call in twice a day and report our position which would be great if we learned how to read the navigational charts. Our home base in Tin Can Bay was called Luxury Afloat – somewhat of a misnomer. The houseboat came with a cb radio, a small tin boat with motor, crab pots, fishing rods, Yabby pump, chilly boxes (coolers), a full kitchen and linens to sleep 8. Everything else must be supplied and carried on by your party.
So before we departed we loaded up the boat with groceries and booze and softdrinks and began this little adventure.