Saturday 16th July. Distance sailed: 16403.8nM
Pete's quote of the night: "This is a yacht not a bl***y avery!"
We've made it!! We reached Australia yesterday and it seems weird to think that we have now definitely sailed half way round the world. I think that we are getting too used to the routine and the weather and it's probably going to be a big shock to return home. I suppose now we are starting to think more about what we are going to do when we get home, but then again we remember how far we still have to go - what a shame!!
The journey from Vanuatu was as forecast, although the wind was a little light towards the end and some diesel had to be surrendered to the cause. The cause has been to arrive during quarantine and customs working hours, to avoid hideous overtime charges. We arrived with a few hours to spare, not bad planning for a 10 day voyage.
The highlight of the trip must be the wildlife we've seen along the way, Sara insists on naming the birds that land on the boat, so below there are photos of Bob (on the boom) and Dodge (the look out) on the front of the boat. The second bird to spend the night on the front of the boat I named Dodge II so that we could tell them apart. (Original...Ed.)
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We arrived in the marina in Cairns and had to wait for Customs and Quarantine to visit the boat before we could go ashore. This started with two Customs Officers who boarded to complete all the paperwork, then 3 Customs Officers who searched the boat and took swabs to check there are no traces of drugs. Then after a while ..... wait for it.... Bruce from Quarantine arrived. Sara struggled to keep a straight face after I had spent 10 days practicing my greetings "G'day Bruce, how's Shiela? Mate. Are we having a barbie?" Nevertheless, he was great, let us keep the mayonnaise but took the basket we were given in the Caribbean that was made from banana leaves. He also took the garlic and Chillies we have hd since the Mediterrean.
We now have about 6 weeks to travel from Cairns to Darwin and to enjoy some of the sights of Australia. At least we are going to slow down for a while - we are only planning on covering the same distance as we've done in the last 10 days. We'll probably end up increasing this so that we can travel down the east coast to visit the Whitsunday Islands.
Unfortunately the first week or so will be spent in Cairns having a pit stop. Not as quick as a Formula 1 car, but we need to be hauled out and get some of the wildlife cleaned of our bottom... and a list of about 20 other things! Hopefully some nice locals might help us out with the list and give us some time to go diving on the Great Barrier Reef, which we sailed over yesterday morning.
Monday 25th July. Distance sailed: 16403.8nM
Pete's quote of the night: "Why didn't you come and help earlier?"
We were lifted out of the water on Wednesday and have been battling the weather since. To Pete's delight the boatyard were short staffed so he got to play with the pressure hose, he was positively ecstatic when he realised the gloves and heavy duty scrapers bought for removing stubborn barnacles were completely unnecessary. Safety goggles may have been a good idea as the barnacles were blasted off the boat!
Saved a day of scraping we were straight on to the painting, 2 layers of undercoat were swiftly applied between showers on Thursday and we managed to get the topcoats finished on Saturday. We're a well matched painting duo. I get to paint up to Sara level then Pete does the high bits. This has the advantage that I don't have to contend with any edges. As usual the majority of the paint ended up on me, some on the boat and Pete came away looking spotless- obviously not working hard enough. Now we're polishing, well Pete's polishing and I'm writing this! Earlier Pete was trying to take the propeller off to change the anode. Whatever he tried- hammer, chisel, levers- didn't budge it. I walked past every hour or so offering moral support and sympathy. After a couple of hours I suggested that perhaps rather than slipping off maybe it needed to be unscrewed, 10 seconds later and it was time for a celebratory cup of tea. All we need now is a new anode!
We have managed a day of sight-seeing, hiring a car and exploring the Cairns Highlands. The main sights were (very big) trees and waterfalls. We were also endlessly entertained by the Aussie road signs. We're hoping to get the boat back in the water early this week and then spend some time exploring the coastline and the Great Barrier Reef before heading north.
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Sunday 7th August. Distance sailed: 16522.4nM
Pete's quote of the night: "No koala cuddles for you my lass, you're out of pocket money."
Well the anode arrived eventually, having probably travelled more of Australia than us (apparently Perth sounds a lot like Cairns to distributors!!). As you can see it definitely needed replaced. Unfortunately it wasn't designed to fit alongside our rope cutter, happily the very nice Ozzie in the boat next door let us borrow his grinder for some fine tuning and then took the anode home to trim a bit more off with his lathe. It was a beautiful fit. Sadly the bolt required to hold it in place was less agreeable, shearing on contact and giving Pete a healthy jog around Cairns trying to find someone (?anyone) who could supply a metric sized bolt (it's all to do with the thread apparently!). Bolt found and attached we thought our problems were behind us and cheered as the crane came to lift us back in the water. The crane broke down on approach. A couple of jump leads and a big battery later and we were floating. Hooray- no leaks and our clean bottom is adding knots to the speed (or so Pete claims).
We've been catching up on the sight seeing. Disappointed with our inability to find any local wildlife (except dead on the roadside), we headed to the zoo to get our fill of kangaroos, koalas, cassowaries, crocs and red pandas (ok so they're not Australian but they are pretty cute). Although I was very tolerant and let Pete play on the tractor (photo banned from publication by P.) he wouldn't let me spend our lunch money on cuddling a koala (boo,hiss). We've also visited Port Douglas, Fitzroy Island and Green Island, whilst trying unsuccessfully to outrun the wind and rain. We've been into the rain forest and taken a floating train up the Daintree River (well to take the boat trip would be a bit like a busman's holiday!). We've seen Cape Tribulation from land and from sea, although fortunately not as closely as Cook saw it- the wonders of GPS! We are currently in Cooktown for a brief stop before we heading back out for more reef action, preferably with less rain- well it is the dry season!
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Monday 29th August. Distance sailed: 17716.3nM
Logbook 14th August 2005: "Lost big fish, reel handle, reel spool and sense of humour."
I think this is going to be a bit of an epic update however the next one won't be for about another 4 weeks, so take your time over it! When we last wrote we had been, again, following in Cooks footsteps, beaching (sorry I meant anchoring) our boat in Cooktown. We had a pleasant day visiting the museum, seeing Cook and the Gold Rush man and finishing up with take away Fish and Chips aboard watching the sunset- fantastic! From Cooktown we headed north first visiting Egret Reef, great coral and MASSIVE clams, then continuing on up to Lizard Island. More trailing of Cook on Lizard Island as we climbed up to Cooks Lookout, I'm impressed he made it without the handy path. The view was spectacular, extending out passed the Outer Barrier Reef and to the Pacific.
At Lizard Island we met John and Sally-Ann who entertained us over beers and persuaded us that "The Cod Hole", one of the worlds premier dive sites could not be missed. The next day we sailed out to the Cod Hole for some snorkelling. It was fantastic. The fish were huge and plentiful but best of all there were reef sharks. I was still assuming that they were fairly harmless, however Pete felt we should move on when instead of swimming away from us 5 of them surrounded us and started licking their lips! Video footage available!
The trip north continued, the wind was generally kind helping us to cruise along at 6 plus knots with not much sail up. We reached a lovely set of islands called the Flinders Group without difficulty and decided to spend a day sheltering from the stronger winds coming through. It was about here that we realised our fresh food provisioning had been a little inadequate. When leaving Cooktown we hadn't fully thought out that it was going to be 3 weeks to Darwin and we really hadn't appreciated quite how empty the north of Australia is. This in mind we decided to do some fishing. We hooked a BIG one. Pete worked it, tiring the fish out, then the rod handle broke. No worries, he valiantly continued reeling it in by hand. He got it up to the boat...and the line broke. We will not be beaten, a different line was promptly put out. Almost as promptly the spool fell overboard leaving about 500m of line trailing behind the boat, all of which had to be brought in by hand. Strangely after pulling it all in Pete didn't want to fish anymore!
I was still keen on catching a fish. The reason stems back about 10 years (sorry to those who have already heard this story!). Once there was an impressionable young girl and a bloke trying to make an impression, so he invited her for dinner. She put on her best clothes, make up and perfume and imagined candles, soft music and at least 3 courses. She was served Corned Beef Hash whilst watching TV on the sofa. Obviously it all ended happily ever after, they got married and are sailing around the world. The lesson learnt however was that Corned Beef Hash is bogging. 10 years later, the cupboard bare except for a tin of corned beef, a tin of baked beans and some potatoes it was served again. This time it was worse. I am never ever eating Corned Beff Hash again.
Fortunately after a short period of sulking over the broken rod handle Pete Fix-it came up with an ingenious replacement. This involved a 4mm socket, a 5mm allen key and some putty. It looked quite cool at the half way point, however the corrosion prevention measure of covering it all in putty has made it look a bit Blue Peter, although I have been assured that it gives perfect comfort for the user with its ergonomic shape!
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The trip north continued with us sailing up and anchoring in Escape River awaiting fair winds and the right tide to sail
through Albany Passage and around Cape York. The first attempt was aborted, coffee and pancakes winning out over wind force 8.
The second attempt was more successful. Our tidal calcs had been checked and re-checked but there was still a trace of doubt as
the tide seemed to be against us on the approach. The entrance was a mass of white topped waves as opposing currents met, however
once in the passage all waves and all doubts receeded. We cruised through sailing at 5 knots but moving at 10 knots thanks to the
tide. Our speed maxed at 10.2 knots, almost a record! We rounded Cape York and anchored in a sheltered bay awaiting the next
favourable tide to begin our 5 day trip to Darwin. The bay was lovely and the water very tempting were it not for the threat of
crocs and the 4 knot tide. We were even more glad we didn't indulge when the next day we spotted 2 huge sea snakes and a couple
of sharks!
The 5 day trip went well with good wind and plenty of sunshine. As we approached Darwin we were amazed at the thick smoke sitting over the land and coast. It soon became clear this was due to a large number of bush fires along the coastline. We were welcomed into Darwin by the fisheries department who sterilised our waterworks, fortunately our new anti-fouling avoided the need for them to examine our bottom! We set off for a little exploration of Darwin and the Mindli Beach markets and proved my theory that you should never shop after a night shift. We came home with a large amount of tourist tat, a trivet with 3 positions and a didgeridoo dance album, but it was fun!! The next day we did a bit more exploring of Darwin and went to feed the fish at Aquascene ( Darwins top tourist attraction!). Pete had his fishing rod confiscated at the gate, apparently it's bad form to take the fish home for tea! (Also attracts a $10,000 fine!)
Over the last couple of days we hired a car and went to see a little of the outback taking our trusty tent with us (I knew it would come in useful!). We visited the spectacular Katherine Gorge, taking a boat trip along it, doing a short hike along the top and laughing at the Dragon Boat races taking place. The campsites local wildlife was friendly but (as with most Australians we've met) not impressed by the offer of a xxxx. Our last stop was at the Cutta Cutta Caves very impressive, and our first tropical cave visit (see I even listened to the tour guide!).
Sadly all this fun must end and tomorrow we plan to set out to tackle the Indian Ocean. It will take about 2 weeks to reach Cocos Keeling, then another 2 to reach Mauritius. Don't forget we love to get messages sent to the sat phone, we look every day and laugh at the gossip that's sent!! send message, 120 characters max, if the link doesn't work for you the address is: 881631528794@msg.iridium.com
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