After returning from Orange, we moved into Jim and Gail Petrie’s flat in Balgowlah, which we rented for a month. The flat is centrally located with beautiful views across Forty Baskets beach and Sydney harbour, from Manly and North head to South head. This has allowed us the opportunity for walks along the waterfront to Manly and Forty Baskets, both about 20 minutes away on foot.
Walk to Manly
Manly Corso and beach.
We also watched the Ocean Thunder rowing series at Dee Why beach to cheer on Ash Watson’s crew. They won the first series.
The heat starts through the surf.
Michelle arrived from London on the 21st of January for a three week visit to get some sunshine and thaw after a cold London winter. We met her at the Manly wharf and she crashed for a day with a book before catching up with her many friends. Her fake tan was soon replaced by the real thing. She drove down to Melbourne with three friends over the Australia day long weekend, to attend the Rainbow Serpent Festival.
The ferry arriving.
Welcome back to Sydney Michelle.
Australia day on the 26th January is a wonderful occasion with festivities, music and citizenship ceremonies in every suburb. Annie sailed on an Etchells 22 yacht with Malcolm and Andrew in the 181st Australia day regatta on the Pittwater. I took the opportunity to drive to Palm Beach to climb up to Barrenjoey lighthouse and enjoy the view across the peninsula with the Tasman sea on the one side and the Pittwater on the other.
Barrenjoey lighthouse.
View across the peninsula – Tasman Sea on the left, the Pittwater on the right.
Getting back to Avalon Yacht Club in the afternoon the Etchells crew was in great spirits having won the regatta – for the 9th consecutive year! We enjoyed the BBQ at ASC. I was the “deso” driving back home, after Annie’s celebrations.
The winners – Andrew, Annie and Malcolm.
Karen’s two-year internship and residency finished on the 3rd February. She planned to do locums and travel this year, before applying for a registrar’s post in orthopaedic surgery, which is another 8-year term of training on top of the 9 years she has clocked up so far. She was however offered a post as an unaccredited registrar in orthopaedic surgery at Tweed Heads hospital at the end of January. She got two weeks off before starting in Tweed Heads and flew down to Sydney to visit us and catch up with Michelle. The two of them managed to see a lot of friends and attended two music festivals.
Michelle and Karen.
Our family together again.
At the Oxford Art Factory
Before we knew it, Michelle flew back to work and snow in London on the 12th February. She plans to complete her DAPA course (Domestic Abuse Prevention Advocate) by the middle of the year, a qualification which is sought after in Australia.
Karen and us packed up and flew back to Tweed Heads and Cairns respectively, on the 17th February. It was good to spend some time in our favourite city and even better to spend it with our girls. Our next news will be from Cairns, before we sail to the Louisiades, East of Papua New Guinea.
There was a 10 to 15 knot South-Easterly blowing as we lifted the anchor at 7am on Lizard Island, Tuesday the 29th November. We were able to sail to Cooktown on one beat, just clearing Cape Bedford, covering the 57 nm in 8 hours. Our anchorage in Cooktown was just outside the turning buoys for the cargo vessels. It was a new moon, so the low tide was very low, so low in fact that at 2am, Annie rolled from her side of the bed, onto mine, as the boat careened 30 degrees (leaned to one side) on thankfully, a sandy harbour floor.
We decided to tie up to the public jetty the following night, to prevent a repeat careening and to allow us to sleep through the night. After filling the water tanks, we departed Cooktown on the 1st December with no wind in sight and had to motor the 22 nm to Hope Island, where we anchored at 11.30am.
Hope Island
Annie on the island with Esprit in the background.
Putting the shade canvasses to good use.
Three relaxing days were spent at Hope Island in the company of Paul and Marlene, who dropped off a Crayfish and a Mangrove Jack for dinner after their arrival. We snorkeled with them the next day and they managed to land another Crayfish and a Red Emperor. These they cleaned and promptly gave to us, with some Spanish Mackerel, as their freezer was full. A generous gift, considering we haven’t had much luck fishing, after Annie’s full fishing rig was taken by, we presume a shark, sailing into Lizard Island.
Seafood dinner.
Pelicans flying in past Paul & Marlene’s boat.
Pelican convention.
In contrast to motoring to Hope Island, the sail from Hope Island was a boisterous affair. We left under full sail in 10-15 knots. This soon built to 20-25 knots on the nose, so we decided to tuck a reef in the mainsail. No sooner done, when the stitching on the webbing holding the first reef, leech turning block, decided to part ways with a loud bang. A little excitement followed, as we tucked in a second reef. This turned out to be a good combination with the full jib, with Esprit bouncing along at 8-10 knots Speed Over Ground. After 7hours we tied up at the public jetty in Port Douglas.
Port Douglas is as pretty as always and is bustling with tourists, colourful locals and grotty yottys. We did our shopping and then motored up the river to look for a suitable anchorage. A visit to the Port Douglas Yacht Club to have a cider and enquire about a suitable marina or pile berth, resulted in a number of phone calls, which proved either too expensive, or too shallow for our 2.20m draft, axing this idea.
Instead, a one-hour sail to Low Island and a nature conservation mooring, allowed us to have three relaxing days at this beautiful anchorage. We did walks on the island, snorkeled the reefs and had sundowners with other yachties.
Low Island.
Walking trail on the island.
Lighthouse built in 1878. Survived a cyclone in 1911 which completely denuded the island of foliage.
Some of the fish which adopted our boat.
My favourite – this one was so tame, I could touch it.
Checking the storm jib hoisting and sheeting system.
An Easterly on the 8th allowed us to sail to Yorkeys Knob on one beat, where we tied up in the YKBC marina for the night. We took the opportunity to visit the laundromat, fill the water tanks and clean down the boat.
Annie booked tickets to fly to Sydney on the 20th December to catch up with family and friends. Michelle will be visiting from London late January and Karen will arrive from Lismore at the same time, after completing her two-year internship. The family together again! We plan to stay in Sydney until mid-February, so we have to berth Esprit in a safe spot in case of a cyclone hitting this area during our absence. This turned out to be the Bluewater Marina, inland from Yorkeys Knob which has a category 5 cyclone rating. We confirmed the details with Rick, the marina manager and will tie up Esprit on the 18th December, before leaving.
There were some other maintenance items to attend to in Cairns before we left, so we spent a few days there. Foremost on our mind was the mainsail, which after 7 months of sailing, needed some repairs – a torn top batten sleeve and the reef turning block had to be fixed. We also decided to bite the bullet and convert the sail to a fully battened main with cars. (These are 4 wheeled fittings on the mast side of the extended battens, making it a lot easier to hoist and lower the sail, than with the sticky nylon sliders it came with.) We hope the fully battened sail will allow us a better sail shape and hence, better performance. We therefore had to take the main off the mast and boom and take it to a sailmaker in Cairns, to do this work during our absence.
The mainsail with sliders.
A batten car.
Our next post will be from Sydney after the festive season. All the best to you all for 2017!
Before leaving Cairns, we filled up with diesel for the boat and petrol for the outboard. By running the engine at 1,800 rpm instead of 2,000 rpm since the previous top-up, the fuel use has reduced to 1.75l/h. We sailed out of Cairns in a brisk S-E wind to arrive at Low island off Port Douglas after 5.5 hours. We were well sheltered from the wind in the lee of the island.
Low Island
The following day we sailed a similar distance to Hope Island in a 20-25 knot S-E, averaging 8.7 knot/h over the distance. Hope is circled by a huge fringing reef and despite being a much smaller island offering not much in the way of a wind break, the water was flat and calm.
Hope Island – thousands of birds and pelicans.
Apres sailing – relaxing with a popular Queensland drink.
The hop to Cooktown was relatively short and we anchored off the quaint fishing harbour at 12:30 on the Saturday. We rushed to the chandlery and hardware shop to buy suitable fixings, to reinforce the fixings of the two new solar panels, which were coming adrift. The afternoon was spent securing the panels, which will now take a hurricane to be dislodged. We stepped out to the Cooktown RSL for dinner.
Cooktown harbour.
Cooktown’s tropical architecture.
The gold rush of 1873 swelled the population of Cooktown from virtually nothing to a tent city of 30,000, half of which were Chinese. There were 141 licensed pubs and 163 brothels to keep the largely male population entertained. The gold fields yielded over 28 tons of gold before waning returns, the depression of the 1890’s and a cyclone in 1907, slowly but surely turned Cooktown into a ghost town.
Captain Cook.
Endeavour replica for the kids. (Annie picking up mangoes under the trees)
The strong wind carried us to Cape Flattery the next day, where we had reasonable shelter during the night. We arrived at Lizard Island on Monday the 21st November, planning to stay here for two nights before sailing North to Cape York and crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria to Darwin. There were quite a number of boats anchored in Mrs. Watsons Bay and soon a dinghy arrived to invite us to sundowners on the beach at 5pm.
Brett, Blue and Ian.
Serial hair plaiting – Steve looking on.
We met an interesting group of boaties, who enquired where we were from and where we were heading. On learning of our plans to sail North, there was disbelief and shaking of heads. The collective opinion was that this would not be a wise move due to the tropical lows and cyclones off the top end starting soon. The best time evidently, would be after the wet season at the end of May next year, when the trades will carry us across to Indonesia, Bali and Banda Aceh to arrive in Phuket, Thailand at the end of October – the start of their dry season.
Climbing to Cook’s lookout.
A long way to the top.
View to the lagoon.
Mrs Watson’s Bay where we are anchored.
The following day we met with Steve who has done this trip a number of times and Hans who has been doing the run to the Louisiades for the last 20 years. They gave freely of their time and extensive knowledge and we were convinced that waiting until May would be the best. The plan now is to spend some more time on this delightful island, before sailing back to Cairns or Port Douglas, to find a suitable mooring before we fly back to Sydney for Christmas.
Walk on the beach.
BBQ on the beach.
Snorkelling on the reefs.
In the new year we will sail down to the Whitsundays for some R&R, hoping to dodge any cyclones that may form over the Pacific. In the meantime, we are enjoying lovely walks, playing boules on the beach in the mornings and snorkelling the reefs on Lizard Island. We have done the hike up to Cook’s Lookout on top of the 358-metre mountain, and various other walks around the island. There are lots of drinks and partying with the fellow boaties and the Marlin Bar at the resort on the next beach, offers great meals, music and drinks.
Walking through the mangroves to the airstrip.
Plane spotting at the end of the airstrip.
Arriving at the lagoon.
Chinaman’s track to the Pandanus Palms.
After a week of relaxing on this northernmost inhabited island off tropical North Queensland, we hoisted the sails again for the sail back to Cooktown, Port Douglas and Cairns.
The Marlin Bar.
Sundowners at the Marlin Bar with Annie looking like a cooked prawn after a day’s paddle boarding.
After a string of connecting flights from Cambodia, via Singapore to Brisbane, we landed in Proserpine. It was good to see the crystal clear blue sea, flying in over Shute harbour and the lush cane fields surrounding Proserpine – it was good to be back home again!
Flying into Proserpine.
Jim’s shuttle bus was waiting to run us back to Bowen and we checked into a cabin at the caravan park next to the marina. A shower and a cold beer never felt so good as after a day and a half enroute. Esprit was slipped the next morning at high tide for her first antifoul and engine service.
Esprit on the slipway.
As good as new.
I had also ordered two additional 100W solar panels as the existing 120W solar panel barely coped with the current the fridge was drawing. This was installed and connected by an electrician. On testing, the increased current charging the house batteries, is adequate to run the fridge, auto pilot and instruments, and still keep the 5 batteries charged to 13V.
3 solar panels on the bimini.
Goodbye to the Bowen Big mango.
To acknowledge our 2 month stay in Bowen, they named a street after me! LOL.
After two days, the boat was back in the water and we set off on the 5th November sailing North in a moderate Easterly to Cape Upstart. It is fantastic to be sailing in flat blue seas and blue skies with the water temperature at 28degC. The Easterlies kept on blowing taking us up the coast to Magnetic Island and beyond to Lucinda, at the south entry to the Hinchinbrook channel. Hinchinbrook island is a beautiful island with majestic mountains.
Hinchinbrook island.
We were back in our cossies again working on our tans, which disappeared in Europe. After all the French croissants, cheeses and wines, my girth had increased. When I stepped out in my budgie smugglers, Annie had to comment on this, quoting my old Greek god joke, and saying “OMG, you look like a Greek”. The good thing about being on a boat is that there are no shops around the corner to tempt you with food, so whatever Annie has bought for Vittles’, has to be consumed. Therefore, salads and fruit tops the menu now.
Beating North from Cardwell – beautiful mountain ranges.
On reaching Cardwell at the top of the 26nm long channel, the wind had changed to the North, so we anchored in the lee at the top of the island. “Predictwind” forecast that we had at least another 3 days of strong Northerlies ahead of us. We decided to push on to Cairns as we were running low on water, food and wine. A robust 50nm beat to Mourilyan harbour followed. Predictably, Annie hooked a 25kg barracuda with Esprit on her ear in a 20kn wind!
Gotcha! The Qantas lure works.
The public jetty has water taps and we were able to fill the no. 1 tank with 300litres. Annie filleted the barracuda, which had no worms (often a problem with Barra’s), packed and freezed a sizable quantity, while we had successive nights of fresh Barra, BBQ’d, in Thai curry, fish pie and fish cakes. We’ll get back to the Barra in a couple of weeks.
Before filleting.
Another 50nm beat into an 18 – 20 Northerly got us into the lee of High Island, about 25nm South of Cairns. We decided we had enough robust sailing and motored the last leg into Cairns the following day.
In the lee of High island.
We are currently in the Cairns Marlin Marina and spent yesterday shopping at Woollies and the bottle shop. A word of advice for connoisseurs’ of box wine: Cairn’s police have a ban on bottle shops selling box wines before 4pm. Clearly, selling it at 9am results in the men in blue having to deal with inebriated locals by 10am. Clearly not good for tourism.
View of Cairns from the marina.
The swimming pool on the foreshore – geared for tourism.
How to brighten up an electrical substation.
The Southerlies have returned and we should have good trade winds to take us up to Lizard island.
