Lighthouses of Australia

Voyage II: Port Hedland WA - Mooloolaba Queensland

 

Introduction: On Trip One the ship was new, it was owned and operated by AMSA and the Nav Aids worked directly for AMSA. On my second trip the ship was now owned by P&O and the Nav Aids worked for Australian Maritime Systems (AMS) who were contracted by AMSA to perform the maintenance work. The MV Cape Grafton, now called the MV Southern Supporter, was showing the effects of eight years of service but unlike the first voyage all the bugs had been fixed and it performed faultlessly. On this trip my objective was to photograph the really offshore lights (for this book) that would have been very difficult to reach any other way. Not only did I achieve that goal but I was able to observe the skill required in maintaining the large offshore buoys that resulted in a section on buoys being included in the book. The seven week voyage went from Port Hedland WA, around northern Australia and down the Queensland coast to Mooloolaba, just north of Brisbane. The maintenance personnel and I disembarked at Mooloolaba while the MV Southern Supporter returned directly to Cairns. During the voyage the crew or at least some of the crew, changed three times. Each time it changed I was surprised how many crew and maintenance personnel came on board whom I had encountered during the years I’ve spent photographing lighthouses.

 

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