After sitting on the sandbank in the Great Sandy Straits, we needed to get further north and find some warmer weather. Whilst we do like to travel along the southern reefs through the Bunker group of islands, we decided the water was too cold to snorkel, so went for the direct line to the tropics along the coast.

It took us another night at anchor to clear the straits before stopping at Hervey Bay to complete some administrative chores. With more westerly winds forecast, we continued hugging the coast as we moved north. The breezes were fresh in the early morning, both in terms of strength and temperature. By staying close to the coast, the wind was not able to chop up the water surface, and we had some wonderfully fast sails along the Burnett coast, stopping overnight at Burnett Heads and then in Bustard Bay off the town of 1770. By then, the wind was dropping away to nothing, and we had to motor the last couple of miles in to Pancake Creek on a totally glassy sea.

We were lucky with the time of the tides on the trip. It was a high tide at Burnett Heads at first light, so we were able to turn north west immediately, rather than stay east of the shallow ground north of the river mouth. By turning early, we stayed inshore away from the offshore chop.

At Pancake Creek, we finally made the walk to the Bustard Head lighthouse. Despite having been here a number of times previously, we have never done this walk. The day was cool and overcast, and the walk an easy one of a few kilometres. The view from the headland south of the lighthouse is spectacular, extending from Bustard Bay to the mountains out west near Miriam Vale. From the height, we observed the extent of mangroves that has grown out from the flooding coast to join what would have once been islands to the mainland.

After catching up with some friends for sundowners, we were moving north again.