2013 floods, from my eyes, and lens - Part One

I must admit that when I first drove to Burnett Heads, I was so shocked to see the damage from the mini-tornadoes, I could not bring myself to photograph the carnage wreaked by Mother Nature. Recording the misfortunes of others I could not do. The dismembered houses and fences covering the streets, power poles at all angles and the trees just broken off at the base, scattered everywhere.

Now what the media have ignored is that many people live in boats of all shapes and sizes on the Burnett River. One of the attraction to Bundaberg for yachties is that they can sail up the river and moor in the middle of the CBD at Midtown Marinas.

 Now their homes are either sunk, washed out to sea, or dragged by the current downstream. The banks of the river and the beaches from Burnett Heads to Woodgate are littered with bits of broken up boats and some lucky ones which are relatively intact, like this boat at Bargara

After this photo was taken, a hole on the side of the boat was being welded up and they were confident of re-floating it. It was one of the lucky ones.

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 The boat in the next photo was dragged from upstream somewhere with it's 2 tonne concrete mooring, down the river.. This poor fellow got caught out with no warning of the impending flood - he had a toddler onboard with him. The brave volunteers at VMR pushed the rescue cat up the river to the area opposite the sugar terminal to rescue both soles from potential death.

The next day, the boat was gone - I don't know whether it sank or was washed out to sea.

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Next I have possibly the last ever photo of the cane-ferry - not the greatest photo but it was taken a full zoom from the sugar terminal.

The cane ferry (used for moving trucks of cane across the river)

It was last seen upside-down, somewhere out to sea.

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Here are a couple of photos of the tug terminal - luckily the line boat in the first photo was slipped (taken out of the water) a couple of days before the floods. The (Bundy-based) tug in the first photo, the "Ballina", together with visiting tug "PT Monto" were moved to the main wharf at the sugar terminal. The "moth-balled" tugs "Broadsound" and "Belyando" remained at the molasses wharf. Crews for these two tugs were flown in, in case they need to be moved.

April 2011

January 2013

New bridge for Bundaberg ????

Where do I start ?? Firstly I apologise for the recent lack of blogging late last year - I guess I was blogged out!!!

First item for this year was the arrival, assembly and placement of a large barge which arrived in Bundaberg from Newcastle on three semi-trailers. The two barge halves were placed in the water by the ship-lift at the Port Marina, and then Stewart's largest crane assisted with the assembly and fitout of the barge.

The two barge sections with a green container mounted across them.

After I left the site, the spud poles, the excavator and a drilling rig were loaded onto the barge, before it was pushed upstream by that small tender seen in this photo.

Interestingly, the destination for the barge was the area of the cane-ferry crsssing which is one of the narrowest sections of the Burnett River. 

Now, the only information I could glean from the contractors was that they are testing the ground (taking core samples) for a possible new bridge.

Unanswered questions in my mind (at the time, I might add) -

1. Would this open up Bundaberg Port to potential coal exports?
2. Why build a bridge there when it would be more useful closer to the CBD, say just downstream from the sugar mill, where it could relieve some pressure from Quay Street?

Our Latest Eco Visitor

Almost 6:30am - can you see the Eco visitor ? [30/08/2012]

This time of the year in Bundaberg, the days are glorious, but 6:23 in the morning, although beautiful as you can see, it is still a little fresh.

However, the ship on the righthand side of the above photo is the latest sugar ship to Bundy, the "Eco Vanguard". She is 169m long and 27m wide and her last port was Darwin.

The "Eco Vanguard" sailing up the Burnett River, assisted by "PT Monto" and local tug "Ballina" [30/08/2012]

These days two tugs are required for ships in our port, and on this occasion, the local tug "Ballina" was assisted by "PT Monto" which was on her way from Gladstone to Brisbane.

"PT Monto" alongside the "Eco Vanguard", preparing to take on a bow line [30/08/2012]

Loading a ship this size can be completed in under 24 hours, and so the next morning, "Eco Vanguard" sailed down the Burnett River, heading for Kinuura in Japan with 25000 tonnes of our finest sugar.

"Eco Vanguard", somewhat lower in the water - next port, Kinuura, Japan [31/08/2012]

New Creation for Bundaberg

Well - as of yesterday, Bundaberg has a New Creation - not another turtle roundabout nor another whale wall. The New Creation is a 178m ship which came from Kaohsiung Taiwan to load sugar to go to San Francisco.

The most interesting part of a ship arriving in Bundy for me is when they turn the ship around prior to it docking at the sugar terminal. In this next photo you can see the port anchor in the river as the pivot point for swinging the ship.




Swinging the "New Creation", with the Line Boat in the foreground and the tug "Ballina" pushing.

 

Eventually the ship is pointing down the Burnett River, ready to be pushed to the wharf. As I write this, the ship will be almost loaded and ready to depart for SF on the next high tide, just before midday. I believe this to be the first ship for the "Ballina" under its new captain, following the retirement in June of local icon, "Captain Steve".

Tug "SMIT Leopard", "New Creation", the Line Boat and tug "Ballina"

I wish Steve a happy and safe retirement and thank him for helping me with my shipspotting in Bundaberg.

Ocean Victory for Bundaberg

 

Tug "Wilga" at the entrance to the Burnett River 04 Dec2011          ©2011 WoJo12




Well, after the strong winds in the Wide Bay have subsided sufficiently, today finally saw the arrival in port of the "Ocean Victory" from Yokohama.  Scheduled originally to dock on Friday's daylight high tide, the 169m ship was escorted up the Burnett River by the Tug "Wilga" from Brisbane, and locally-based tug "Ballina".

The "Ocean Victory" entering the Burnett River 04 Dec 2011                                             ©2011 WoJo12

The most technical part of the docking is turning the ship around in the confines of the river. At the swing basin, the ship dropped its port anchor, and then the tugs began the job of swinging the ship about the anchor.

The "Ocean Victory" almost about, while the line boat awaits the mooring lines 04 Dec 2011        ©2011 WOJO12

The final step is to ease the vessel to the Bulk Sugar Terminal, gently pushed by the assisting tugs.

Tug "Ballina" pushing the "Ocean Victory" to the dock, pilot vessel "Kareela" already tied up                      04 Dec 2011                                                                                                                      ©2011 WoJo12

If everything goes according to plan, loading should be finished in time for the ship to leave on tomorrow's daylight high tide.