The Burnett River

24th May to 25th May, 2021

Although we had planned at some stage to motor up the Burnett River to Bundaberg, we now HAD to go to be closer to technical or trade support due to battery issues. The batteries had been replaced in Brisbane just prior to our departure and rainy overcast days and sail over the solar had depleted the house batteries. When trying to charge up the batteries the inverter wouldn’t take the charge and there were strange error codes.

Why not enjoy the opportunity? Growing up in Bundaberg I really hadn’t thought much about the Burnett River so we did a little research. The Burnett River is 435 km long starting in the Great Dividing Range east of Monto and flows past Eidsvold, Mundubbera, Gayndah, Wallaville, Bundaberg ending at Burnett Heads before it flows into the Coral Sea. Bundaberg is about 20 km from the mouth of the river.

It was named after James Burnett, a surveyor and explorer who died at 39 years and is commemorated by a lone plaque at Bam Bam Springs and a lane in the Brisbane CBD (we had a very nice meal at a Tapas restaurant there a few months previously). The catchment area is quite large and the Nogo, Auburn and Boyne Rivers and Three Moon and Barambah Creeks flow into the Burnett. The Paradise Dam built for irrigation 80 km upstream was completed in 2005 and because of structural issues now must operate at greatly

reduced capacity. The Burnett and Mary Rivers are the only place where the ancient fish species, the Queensland lungfish is found.

We left our anchorage at Burnett Heads in time to catch the incoming tide as the river is very shallow in some parts. At one point there was only 30 cms under our keels. The river is well marked with navigational aids. It was two hours, anchor to anchor. We enjoyed the trip and got a completely different view of the Fairymead, Kirby’s, Milliquin and the CBD from the river.

We anchored on the north side of the river near to Walkers Foundry. There were quite a few other vessels anchored there, some looking like they may be permanent residents. John and Tallis took a little ride to the public wharf for Tallis’s daily constitutional. John and I (and Tallis) had a beautiful evening with great weather, sparkling city lights, a big moon and a bit of a dolphin show.

The following morning, John talked to Paul from Seawind, Brett from Multihull Central and Luke from Mastervolt and managed to resolve the battery and inverter problem with a reboot. We were also advised not to let batteries go below 12.1 volt (I’m starting my electrician training soon I know so much about it now). We moved the boom to allow full sun access and the battery capacity slowly improved.

John and I left the town reach much later than we had planned to due to the multiple phone calls and hoped the falling tide meant it wasn’t too shallow. The trip was, however, uneventful and we anchored in the same place as the previous day. There was a huge ship in the port. We had another beautiful evening.

The next leg of our trip was to Pancake Creek, 40 nautical miles north, so we prepared to a predawn departure.

Next: Passage – Burnett Heads to the Keppels