Cruising From Gold Coast to Brisbane

After a week enjoying the fun activities in Gold Coast, we started sailing north. We’re trying to get to the Whitsundays and Great Barrier Reef where it’s warm even in the winter. The East Coast of Australia is ideal cruising grounds. We only need to sail a couple hours between stops because there are so many nice anchorages. Cruising from Gold Coast to Brisbane is about choosing which beautiful anchorage to stop in and for how long. Here’s where we went.

Leaving Gold Coast

The first leg of the trip, leaving Gold Coast, was the trickiest part. Depths are shallow in the inlet, and you’ve got to take care with shifting sands and tides. A superyacht which was also docked at Southport Yacht Club when we were there went aground in the area just north of the marina.

Sunday afternoon is a busy time to be in the Gold Coast Broadwater, and that’s exactly when we left the marina. The bay was full of pleasure boats, other yachts, jet skis, tour boats, and fishing craft. We were behind the wheel the entire time navigating all the obstacles.

Once we got several miles outside of Gold Coast, the traffic eased significantly. Later that first day, we had to navigate underneath electric wires crossing the bay between the mainland and Stradbroke Island, which was a little nervewracking. We don’t often have to navigate under wires, but we did it!

The Route Cruising from Gold Coast to Brisbane

After years in the South Pacific, where it took a day – at least – to get from one island to the next, we’re enjoying these small jumps between anchorages. We’re able to move to a new anchorage for the day or even afternoon. We could also move faster north, but that requires everything to always be in working order.

Cruising from Gold Coast to Brisbane is only 50 or 60 miles, so we could have done it in a day. Instead, we took five days and made a few stops, enjoying the scenery. The wind has been light, I guess that’s common in late fall, early winter here. So technically, we’ve been motor sailing or just motoring.

We went from Gold Coast to Karragarra Island, then on to Raby Bay. Then we moved a few miles across to North Stradbroke Island for one night, and finally, on Thursday, we anchored in the Brisbane River.

Depths are shallow, but the water isn’t clear enough to see the bottom. We’re anchoring in 6-12 feet usually these days, a change for us after New Zealand. I have to add a marker to our chain because ours starts at 40 feet.

Island Hopping

We headed north in the waterways from our Gold Coast marina, and visited a few different islands along the way. One of my favorite things about these stops is the wildlife. We’re seeing lots of birds and animals we’ve never seen before, and none of the dangerous ones, at least not yet.

We could have stopped at so many other anchorages cruising from Gold Coast to Brisbane! These were lovely stops for a night or two.

karragarra island

Our first stop was Karragarra Island, a small community linked to the mainland by regular, free ferries. We dinghied to shore to stretch our legs, walked along a mix of road and waterfront paths, and chatted with the friendly locals and enjoyed their quirky mailbox art.

Karragarra Island does not have any shops, hence the free ferries to the mainland. It is home to lots of seabirds, and we saw many signs warning us to protect them. We had just stocked up, so didn’t need shops, and the peaceful community feel was a nice contrast to tourist heavy Gold Coast.

raby bay

Raby Bay was different. A suburb of Brisbane, this would be a great stop to provision and get some work done. We didn’t need the former, but definitely needed the latter. Our dinghy engine conked out between the anchorage and shore, leaving us to row until we thankfully got towed by some fellow liveaboards. We then spent a late afternoon into twilight getting the engine repaired by our mechanic from Gold Coast. By land, it was a quick drive for him.

The town has nice walking trails and tons of shops, plus a train to Brisbane. While waiting for a part for the dinghy engine, we spent a day commuting to Brisbane city by train. Our first impressions of Brisbane were great, and we went back by boat for a longer visit.

North Stradbroke Island

A must stop when cruising from Gold Coast to Brisbane is North Stradbroke Island. With beautiful nature and wildlife, North “Straddie” is a popular tourist spot with regular ferry service. We anchored outside the main town of Dunwich and spent a few hours exploring.

A must do on Straddie is to take the bus to Point Lookout for a gorgeous clifftop walk, with views of the beaches and bays below. From June through October, there’s a good chance of spotting pods of humpback whales. The whales didn’t materialize, but we saw dolphins and mantas in the water.

Even more exciting, this was our first time spotting kangaroos in the wild! The kangaroos reminded me of deer until they moved. Deer don’t hop like that! The kangaroos were just sitting in the grass alongside the path munching on plants. Occasionally one would hop to another patch of vegetation. We could have watched them for hours, but the beautiful walking trail beckoned and other gawkers needed their chance too.

To make our visit to North Stradbroke even more special, we saw a koala in a tree on our way back to the dinghy dock. The koala reminded me of the sloths in Panama, only softer. So cute! I am so glad we went there, even for such a quick stop, while cruising from Gold Coast to Brisbane.

After that, we sailed up the Brisbane River, an adventure in itself and fodder for a later post. Share your Queensland, Australia tips in the comments.