Australia - March 1, 2006 to August 28, 2006

We returned to Oz on March 1st and spent the first two weeks recovering from colds and flu and then started the boat refit, what constitutes a refit?

Peter hard at work in his workshop                                                                                      Haulout in Scarborough, Queensland

during the haulout.                                                                                                thank goodness for Robin Barley's Van it was a Godsend.

Well

- A new knot metre sent from the States.  Out comes all the floor boards, pulling out old cables and wires and putting in new 

  ones not a five minute job!

- 4 new engine mounts at a cost of $250 each!! with new engine beds, machined, drilled and tapped plus three days to

   install.  if you can imagine a bitch of  a job, this was one.

- New galley and head faucets with various hose connections.

- Change all fuel filters, check injectors and bleed system

- Climb the mast to check rigging.  recork anemometer.  Change masthead halyard, lead plates, re-rivet a few mast steps.

   Replace gooseneck bushings (thank god for impact drivers).

- Replace jerry jug covers. New covers were made in New Zealand and were toast because of UV when we got back to

  Australia after 3 months.  UV has no mercy!!

- New dinghy - took 2 days to buy. Other chucked (was a hand me down in New Zealand when we lost our fairly new

  dinghy in Tonga) through UV. We had to manage with a one man kyak during the period in Tonga - pity we didn't get a

  photograph.

- During the haul-out, we did a few blisters, a few reef dings repaired.  Rolled on 20 litres of anti-foul (you have to do the

  antifouling at least every two years) at $30 a litre.  Replaced our zincs, a sea cock plus a number of clamps and hoses.

- Replaced wind vane cables, and replaced main rudder bottom bushings.

- Replaced autopilot unit and remote.

- Cleaned chrome

- Re-oiled the cockpit grates which entailed sanding and preparing for the oil finish.

- Reprovisioned for food and supplies both for Peter in his workshop and Joyce in her food and cleaning lockers. Organized

   all the provisioning, cleaning and supplies lockers. Made an inventory so we know what we have in stores.

- Bought charts for the Australian coast, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand with the necessary Cruising Guides - Not cheap.

We didn't get to the brightwork!! we decided that could be completed while we are cruising up in the Whitsunday Islands!! So they say, cruising is fixing the boat in exotic and different places!!!!!

Thank goodness for our workshop, sewing machine and Peter's tools.  Some days he says that he uses all tools known to man. 

So, after spending $10,000 and three weeks hard work we were ready for leaving Scarborough on April 7th to meet up with our friends Sven and Rik at Bundaberg about 150 miles up the coast.

And to finish things off, after starting the engine to leave the Marina to start heading north the beast just died as we were about to cast off. "Fuel problem", says Peter. So started another nasty saga. Change filters and bleed injectors. Engine starts and runs fine. Leave the dock and get out into the channel. Engine dies. Filters clogged, Another change and bleed to get us into clear water. Engine ran for ten minutes. Died again.   F....  says Peter, we got bugs in the fuel, must have cooked during the four months while we were away. Rig up a jury system from new fuel in jerry jugs we had just filled as emergency supply to by pass the tanks. Had to limp into Bundaberg on fumes and began a three day fuel polishing and tank cleaning exercise. Very nasty."

After leaving Bundaberg (150 miles north of Brisbane) we cruised the Queensland coast for four months.

Had a great time in the Whitsunday Islands which were fantastic. It read like home (our Lakeland heritage coming through here!!) with names like, Keswick , Carlisle, and Skawfell Island etc etc which were in the Cumberland group of islands. Lots of boats and a few decent anchorages. It's the Aussies East Coast sailing destination

There are about 74 islands in the group and in some cases with no more than 3 miles separating them from each other that makes it an ideal cruising ground. Many of the islands are densely forested parkland and mostly uninhabited. Our favourite island was Hook Island with trails, great hikes and dinghy passages which were great for fishing (if we could ever find any fish!!). Charter boats and Tour boats are everywhere.

Eirlie Beach is the centre of the action in this area and is mostly populated with young kids on backpacking tours and the usual bunch of tourists. A walk on the beach was great for tired eyes (Peter's eyes of course)

We did a lot of day hops, 30+ miles between anchorages, often with 20+ knots behind us and large following seas due to the shallow water and wind over tide. Lots of 3 am starts to catch the right tide and to try to get tucked back in before dark. Often we wouldn't make it and ended up creeping into strange anchorages by feel.

When we got to Hinchinbrook Channel, further up the coast, the weather felt like we were in BC although it wasn't that cold but very misty over the mountains and rainy. Hinchinbrook National Park is a vast area of mangrove swamps with a weaving maze of boat passages through them. Mozzies and sand fly heaven. Also lots of opportunity for joining the Ausi going aground club. Hit the mud a couple of times trying to be to adventurous but fortunately didn't stick. Only go exploring in the big boat on a rising tide! Peter as usual was out and about in the dinghy chasing Mangrove jacks and looking for crocks, didn't manage to catch any of either. Spent a great five days in the mangroves with just light breezes while outside of Hinchinbrook Island a nice gale was blowing and the cloud was swirling round the island peaks.

Two 50 mile hops put us around the corner from Cairns at dark so we spent a miserable rolly night in Mission Bay, before running the last 10 miles to Cairns at dawn. Checked into the Marina to do some boat work.

Really enjoyed the delights of Cairns and unfortunately had to spend about three weeks there waiting for our new sail from South Africa but it was well worth the wait. Also had to get the injectors serviced as we were loosing engine power. Another boat unit!!

Cairns is where most people end up who want to see the Great Barrier Reef. What was once a small farming town is now a Tourist haven with many souvenir shops, big Reef cruising catamarans, island resorts etc, etc. The late night food stall market was a favourite with prices going down as the hour got later.

We enjoyed the delights of the Botanical Gardens and a trip to Kuranda about 34 kilometers (20 miles) west of Cairns in the "Wet Tropics area". Getting there was much more interesting than the small community of Kuranda which we had gone to see. The Gondola which skimmed a few metres above the rainforest with panoramic views over Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef was fascinating. We spent a few hours in the tourist village and then returned via Kuranda scenic railway built in 1891. It winds through 15 tunnels in the Barron Gorge and rainforest hills back to Cairns. At times you can see the Gondola high above swinging through the trees. Cool.

                                    Aboriginal Centre, Kuranda                                                                   Whitsunday Island Anchorage

Continued our journey up the coast and after a few fast runs and anchorages found ourselves in Cooktown. Cooktown was quaint and historic with lots of stuff to do with Capt Cook. It has a superb museum, monuments and remnants of one of his cannons and anchor which was left behind when he left the area.

The Endeavour river is one SHALLOW place, we had to drop the hook in the main channel [if you can call it that] after crossing the entrance shallows with 12" left under the keel, while we waited for the tide to enable us to move up into the river to anchor. 18" under the keel at low water. Some people weren't so lucky in finding the deep spots and spent a miserable few hours at 45 deg in 6" of water. Big tides here!
 

               Sven our friend on Spiritus Invictus Aground at Cooktown                    Those ever so friendly dolphins - they even like classical music

In 1770 "HM Bark Endeavour" hit a reef (which they called Endeavour reef - would you believe it!!). Cook with his crew in desperate need of a safe haven to beach the boat found the river with a sizable bay (present day Cooktown) that would accommodate Endeavour. The repair took approximately two months.

Climbed the Grassy Hill (named by Cook, who else.) which provides panoramic views of Cooktown, Endeavour River and the Coral Sea. Capt. Cook climbed up this hill on several occasions to view the surrounding reefs enabling him to find a safe passage for Endeavour. He also called this part of Australia as the "Insane Labyrinth" because of the reefs and his difficulties in trying to maneuver through them. Whereas over 200 years later we had charts and GPS to help us through the maze of reefs.

Sailing up the top end of the Queensland coast has been a joy in the light winds because of our new Spinaker but also a trial because the engine was still only able to run at 1800 rpm which didn't give a lot of boat speed, so playing the tides was essential. Also it was worrying not having the power to get out of tight places in a hurry in the dark if anchorages become untenable.

 

After Cooktown we cruised up the coast for another 200 miles to Escape River which is just twenty miles south of Cape York. This is a big river with lots of water and miles of mangrove lined banks and weaving side channels. The anchorage was flat calm, what a treat after so many roadstead anchorages.

We saw a crocodile the first evening and Peter went out in the dinghy to find more but they seemed to have evaporated into thin air, where are they when you want em? We suspected the noise of the dinghy engine sent them into the mangroves and they just disappeared. In the two days we were there didn't see any more crocs much to our dismay.

We arrived at Cape York after a short 20 mile sail and after a day exploring we started our sail across the top of Australia. After rounding Cape York and crossing the Gulf of Carpenteria, aptly called 'the washing machine' because of the nasty confused seas generated by the meeting of different swell patterns. We both felt quite queasy for the first time in a long time and took seasickness pills.

Passed through the Wessell Islands, via the Arafura Sea, down into the Van Diemen Gulf and sailed on into Darwin. This took about 6 days due to light winds, adverse currents and ugly lumpy seas. The Australians call this area "The Top End". It is remote and desolate. It was amazing to think that there is a 3,000 mile Continent to the south of us!! We are more than twelve thousand kilometers as the crow flies (21,000 miles by sea for us) from Vancouver, all in our wonderful old sailboat.

Darwin has the highest tidal range (30 ft springs) in the whole of Australia, which also means big tidal streams so timing passages got to be really important especially with our sick engine. Also a lot of scope was needed for anchoring. The marinas are lock through at high water.

Shit happens they say, and Peter's worries came to fruition on our last day at anchor before locking in to our marina berth. An afternoon squall came up from 180 deg, gusting 30 knots with a nasty fetch burying the bows continually. The huge pilings of Stokes Hill Wharf were now only 400 yards astern. We watched as first one boat dragged and then another, we were next. Being blown down onto the wharf, (much deeper water here) we managed to get the chain in quick time but couldn't get the bow up to the wind because of lack of power. We barely missed taking out Spiritus Invictus's wind vane on our mad rush past. Real drama as the Aussies would say. And a nice time for the engine to start jumping out of gear, there just wasn't enough pressure to hold it in gear as the stern surged out of the water. More drama still. Eventually we managed to work our way crab wise out into shallower water and re-set the anchor. 30 minutes of major battle stations. Two hours later the wind was back round and nice and peaceful, thank you. Guess it was just to keep us interested. That afternoon we locked into Tipperary Marina.

We bought some professional help for the engine, injector pump and gearbox rebuild. Three weeks sitting in the marina and 5 boat units ($5,000) later and we were ready to go again.

Darwin was hot, 32 degrees with 96 percent humidity. It doesn't take much for the sweat to drip!! Walking became a real chore in the heat of the day. We spent most of our time in the Marina getting the engine fixed and sorting out the boat for our passage to Indonesia. Collected visas, cruising permits etc for our two month visit to Indonesia. Also were able to visit the Night Markets, coffee shops, and see the sights of Darwin during Festival time. We never realized what an interesting place Darwin was. I think we expected it to be dusty, small, boardwalks etc. Instead it was a thriving City with lots of cultural activities.
 

                         Kids racing dinghys at Fanny Bay                                                                           Fanny Bay Anchorage, Darwin

           never had school lessons like this when we were kids!!

Took a day off from boat chores and visited Litchfield National Park. This is a beautiful arid National Park. The waterfalls, hiking, cool swimming holes and enormous termite mounds. It is about 120 km from Darwin down the famous Stuart Highway. This highway goes through the middle of the Australian outback (Alice Springs) and finishes up at Adelaide 3,000 miles away.

Sailing up the coast has been blustery and tiring as constant watch for navigation and other vessels gets really wearying. It's mostly blowing 25 knots so the anchorages are not that pleasant. We have stopped and dropped the hook a total of 48 times since leaving Brisbane. That's a lot of anchoring and stress nosing your way into strange places, sometimes in the dead of night. Peter blesses the day when he replaced the old manual windlass for a brand new electric windlass. Now he exercises his big toe on the foot switch instead of his shoulder muscles he doesn't puke so often with the exertion.

Trivia - Australia
Our thoughts on our 10 month stint in Australia:

Too hot
Too big
Too many bugs
Too expensive
Fantastically different scenery
Truly exotic birds and wildlife
Great friendly people
More rules and regulations than you know what to do with
Peter's climbing road trip was the highlight of his stay here.
Joyce thought Sydney was great.
Our least favourite cruising ground to date although in retrospect wasn't bad
Next time we would cut straight across the top from New Caledonia to Darwin.
But hey we still had a great time and it was an experience.

Our next stop Indonesia