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Eastern Queensland - Notably the Great Barrier Reef.
Cruising the Coral Coast - Alan Lucas
100 Magic Miles - David Colfett
The Curtis Coast - Noel Patrick
Going Troppo - Haynes and Mulvany
Gulf Country of Qld, Northern Territory and Western Australia
Western Australia Cruising - Fremantle Sailing Club
Northern Territory Coast Cruising Guide - John Knight
Tasmania
Tasmanian Anchorage Guide - Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania
Cruising Tasmania - J Bettingham Moore
Cruising Southern Tasmania - Cruising Yacht Club Tasmania
Victoria
South Australia
(coming soon)
Unless otherwise noted, images are from Boat Books (Australia) web site who would stock all of the guides mentioned. For overseas buyers you could also try Boat Books New Zealand. I've used them a few times and found their online mail order service to be quite efficient and being Kiwis they are a friendly mob as well.
This list is compiled from my library and posted suggestions. As suggestions come in I'll add them to this list. All cruising guides seem to have their limitations. You take the author's advice at your own peril.
OK, my 2 cents worth. (& they dont make 2c anymore). I dont have the latest or anywhere near the latest editions.
Patricks book is wonderful but some of the mud maps have the wrong scale or perspective.
Lucas is good - but you need the updates. Some of his bar/river crossing in far NQ are now quite wrong but you wouldnt go blindly anyway
Colfelds book is great. Some credit should be due to Harry Smith (the CO of the diggers at Long tan and a great sailor) who was a co-surveyor for the book.
NT cruising guide - by Knight is way out of date but nowhere near as poor as some of the charts. Need a good echo sounder and polarized eyeballs!
All these guides are the stuff that dreams are made of - plot and plan and then go. We did (7 years ago)
Thanks for the comments. While I'm trying to avoid posting links I will to Lucas cos your are quite right.
I'm hoping that people with more local knowledge and/or experience than I have will post comments re the guides. I'm sure that world wide many guides soon lose accuracy after publication, especially in a place like Oz where shifting bars are a common problem. so the warning re Lucas Qld is apt.
Guides for places like the NT are sadly few and far between. I have a list and will update for other areas in due course. I'll also be including miscellaneous publications.
Cheers
TD.....drool ? DROOL ? well I never......though occasionally I might slobber a tad.....
Yah. Lucas is the guru, but he cannot physically sail to all places to see the changes every year, so he relies on notices to mariners and other peoples second hand advice.
When my gang of friends were 'plotting' my progress, they were using Lucas' guide to see for example where Morris Island was ( when I radioed in)
Knights book has suffered a similar fate. If you look at some of the charts, they were first surveyed in 1880, and addended by aerial recon in 1945. Things are different now eg WGS84.
the Fremantle Sailing Club publishes the West Australian Cruising Guide. It was updated last year so it is pretty accurate. Covers the whole West Australian coast.
Can be purchased direct from the FSC, below is the website.
As far as New Zealand goes, the one guide that most visitors and even locals will find really useful is the Coastal Cruising Handbook. This covers the east coast of the North Island pretty much north of Auckland and the out-lying islands off that part of the coast.
This handbook covers virtually every meter of the coastline and includes every possible anchorage and many that I wouldn't sleep in. It is pretty comprehensive.
Other volumes that I have used are
(courtesy Amazon.com) and
(also courtesy Amazon.com )
Notably these covers are not the same as the ones we have (mine are on the boat and not within my immediate grasp) so I'm guessing that they're new editions. That would be good news because the copies that we have were of some use but were quite out-dated when it came to real detail (shops, chandlers, availability of stuff, some political issues, etc)
Did you go into Gove ? Passed through there in the late seventies. Can't begin to wonder how it's changed since then. (Transitting Thursday Island to Darwin). Same re changes applies to TI and Darwin.
Hi TDW
The photo is of Digby Is (near the Percies) Sth of the Whitsundays. We had the place to ourselves until this solo canuck dropped in. It made the place crowded. A few months later, 2 yachts were dragged onto rocks and sunk in this anchorage.
Yeah I have anchored off the yacht club in Gove. I didnt go thro TI this year as quarantine need to clear you in TI, but 15nm away at Seisia you can get/do all needed with no clearances.
St Anna: Thanks for posting those. Awesome pictures. I'll need to show them to Ali.
Are you guys on one of the Peterson Cutters? How have you found the draft around the broadwater etc? (you can PM if you like, since that's a bit off topic!)
St Anna, you remain an inspiration.
Sometimes I get so carried away thinking about distant shores that I forget about the varied and awesome cruising to be had within our borders.
One guide I find helpful is "Going Troppo" Using all the guides together seems to work the best. One thing I have noticed with cruisers who use Lucas's book is they all want to anchor on his anchor symbol.
Really need to get this updated don't we ? My fault. Library is at home and most of my posts come from office. Says much about my work ethic I suppose.
F182, thanks for mentioning Bettingham-Moore. There is another, Tasmanian Anchorage Guide maybe ? Will try and remember to haul it out this evening.
These are the three Tassie guides I have. Lets be honest here, I've not used any of them in anger so I cannot vouch for the things. Cruising Tasmania is the one f182 mentioned.
All of them available from Boats Books which is where I lifted the pics. Links below.
Ok its an old post but im looking for books on the Victorian coast.
CREEKS AND HARBOURS OF PORT PHILLIP,RICHARD HAWKINS.
CREEKS AND HARBOURS OF WESTERNPORT
CREEKS AND HARBOURS of the GIPPSLAND LAKES
Are the only books I can find.
We used a really old Lucas guide book while cruising the Coral Coast is 07/08. Good humour in Lucas's style and description of the coast 30 years ago or so...Get up to date charts, Lucas info good, but will be a bit dated. I left my guide book at the Darwin Yacht club, so there is a freebie around, as well as my charts.
If you are not familiar with the Gippsland Lakes they are not bad. My copy (4th ed 1994) contains 26 mud maps plus detailed instructions on each section, ie Paynesville Harbour has a detailed map plus a page of instructions / details. Looks like the latest ed is the 7th.
We're working on the Top end and NW WA. Contributions very welcome.
This Tasmania Guide is also available in 3 formats, printable PDF, iPad or kindle.
Of the others we have found the WA guide to be accurate and useful, updated by contributions. JackandJude.com has anchorages listed for the isolated WA south coast. Plenty of photos to bring reality to the words and diagrams.
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