Well we made to Mackay and the motley crew are still alive and kicking but a little wobbly on their feet. Catering by the quartermaster continues to be of high quality, and should be continued on returning to WA. John has had to request additional baggage allowance so he can take his xxxx home with him . A fish was hooked today, but released again as it didn’t seem to like the taste of the lure.

That’s all folks until the next big adventure.

Quartermaster has finally worked out the Gin measurements

Anchored at Beautiful Brampton. Resort has been closed for 8 years, and can be yours for $20m. Accommodating 160 guests, two pools, golf course, airport, 56 staff and managers accommodation. Some minor renovation required!

Up and away surfing through Solway on 3 knots tide.

Chaulkies Beach restaurant for tea.

Hill Inlet cafe for lunch

Hobnobbing with the rich people, and crew doing chores

Nara Inlet for the night.

Will photo if there’s internet, but me thinks we will be hidden from the phone waves

Steak for tea, so hopefully not too windy so the Weber gets hot.

Off to the Whitsunday’s to chase the rentayacht crowd.

Fish cakes last night very good.

Skipper had a bath so smells a little better now.

Wine bottles got smashed!

Arrived at Shag Islet.

Cracking along at 8 Knots now.

Quartermaster has now been promoted to cook. Excellent rissoles on tonight’s menu.

We caught our fishes daddy a while ago, but it bit through the wire leader and took off with my lure. That was my favourite lure too. I hope he chokes on it!

John’s on the tea at the moment.

John’s on the tea at the moment.

Well Magnetic Island survived our onslaught. And they did not run out of beer, so we have had a rest from the xxxx that John brought on board!

Today we felt a little lethargic, so hiking up to the fort was vetoed, and went in search of coffee instead. Found a place with the greatest coffee in Picnic Bay.

Weighed the anchor this arvo, and heading for Shag Islet, should be there in the morning with current wind forecast.

Anchored in Horseshoe Bay for night or two. Lookout Maggie the boys are in town!

The apprentice quartermaster is reinstating his credibility. Fish for lunch. Fish for tea. Fish for supper. Fish for midnight munchies. Yum.

Early there. Weaving back in through the reef, first sign of daylight so put the fish catcher out again. Maybe fish for tea tonight.

ETA Maggie @ coffee time.

Chicken curry for tea. Fish off.

Had a fish on, but lost at the critical moment. Quartermaster not only unemployable but also incompetent!

On our way out to the deep blue sea, John a little concerned that it’s over 1km deep.

The wind and tide Gods are being good to us this morning, so making good progress.

Left Cairns at 10 this morning, very light conditions. Now at Sudbury Reef. Snorkeling good, beach deserted, beer not so good. Apprentice quartermaster is no longer employable, so off to find a new on at Magnetic Island tomorrow.

Arrived Cairns. Had a great sail down for a change, nice birthday present from the wind Gods.

Time to clean up and pack up now.

Home on Monday.

Happy Birthday to Bob.

Had some lovely dives on Norman Reef, couple of nights were a bit windy and bouncy, but generally comfortable enough, and very safe.

Birds had a party on the deck the first night, and did not clean up their mess afterwards, so they got barred from then on. Up went flags, rags, bras and knickers, merrily flapping in the breeze. That worked! Tourist boats probably thought we had diarrhoea and had to launder the underwear every night!

Heading to Cairns today (boohoo, this is the end of the trip). No doubt there’ll be a few shinanigans for the couple of days we are there.

Arrived @ Norman Reef. Diving looks like it should be good. We are on a marine parks public mooring, which is apparently good enough for gales, so we should be OK. Not sure how long we’re going stay, maybe 2 or 3 nights, depends how good the diving turns out to be.

It’s only 5 hours to Cairns from here, so we might stay till Friday??

Up up and away again. Heading back out to the reef. Weather forecast not ideal but better than over the weekend.

All secure in Port Douglas “Superyachts” marina. We do apparently just fall into Superyachts category, but at the bottom end of the scale! Very calm, and quite balmy in here, first time we have felt hot during the whole trip, even ended up putting ac on, how bizarre!

Lunch out. Dinner out. All good.

We are here for 3 nights, waiting for the strong winds to blow away, then probably back out to the reef on Monday.

Anchored off Snapper Island tonight. Was a long slow slog into wind and tide again today.

Decided to stop at Hope Island because it looks nice. And it is lovely.

Early morning tide to get out of The Pond this morning.

Cooktown is a sleepy little place, but is obviously full of Capt Cook and Endeavour stuff. One of the main events is the IGA had tonic water in stock, so g&t back on the menu. Replenished a few other fresh food items too, so we have fruit and salad again, oh and back on fresh milk too.

Did a couple of nice walks, including up another one of Cooks famous lookouts.

Heading toward Port Douglas, there’s a big blow coming Friday, so we need to be there by then.

arrived Cooktown. Had to wait a while for the tide to come up so we could get over the sand bar into “The Pool “.

Tea ashore tonight, laundry, shopping and being nosey tomorrow. Maybe a trip up the Endeavour River if time permits.

Heading for Cooktown this morning. Should be there about lunch time, could be a pub lunch on the menu. I think a trip to the shops and laundromat is on the cards too.

Decided to overnight in a nice calm bay behind Cape Bedford. Wouldn’t have got to Cooktown much before sunset, and it’s too crowded in there to faff around in the dark..

Pizza for tea.

Well peeps, up and away early this morning. Destination Cooktown.

So here we are, still waiting for a gap in the wind. Looks like Saturday or Sunday before we will move on. Disaster has struck, we ran out of washing up liquid, but managed to trade for some from “Island Lady”. She saved the day, as we were running out of clean dishes! But a worse situation has now arisen, no more tonic water. This is critical, we may both come down with malaria now! Will just have to hope the gin will keep the mozzies away without the tonic.

We have climbed the big hill to Cooks Lookout, which apparently takes some people 40 minutes to do, but took us an hour and forty. Mind you it is hard work climbing mountains when you have to take a Zimmer frame with you!

We have dived - was OK, but having been spoilt with diving the outer reefs, it’s hard to match with “ inland” diving.

Have snorkeled, and visited the “Reef Research Station”.

The staff bar at the resort has kept us fed watered and entertained on opening nights (3 times per week).

Have met several other yachties, some are waiting for weather like us, others are passing through to the north, and others are just soaking up the atmosphere here for several months each year.

We even had navy/customs here “resting” from the apparently rough weather (20 to 25 knots -really?), for three days. Inappropriate use of Government resources took place, using their high speed ribs for watersport activities!

Anyway, will update in a couple of days as more action evolves.

Arrived back at Lizard Island. Long night, lots of reefs, islands and ships to deal with, but a good result - we can chill now for a few days.

Oh boy this is a slog. Making about 3 knots towards our destination. Wind and tide are just not on our side at all. Have decided to push on through the night straight to Lizard, should arrive about breakfast time, then off to bed for the day!

On our way south again. Wind 18-20 kn on the nose, tide 1.5 kn on the nose. All makes for slow progress

We are still here at Flinders. Looking at heading off in the morning - back to Lizard by Sunday arvo as there is a bit of a blow coming Monday for a day or two.

Caught fresh fish for tea tonight. Crumbed fish and chips on our menu. Hope you are all eating and drinking as good as us.

Happy Birthday Brother an Sister

River Safari was too big an expedition, so had to be canceled.

Back at Flinders Island. Much prettier and more sedate.

Moved into "The Big Bay" for an adventure dinghy ride up the Kennedy River to spot some crocs.

Bit rough at the moment, will have to wait for the sea breeze to die down, so our River Safari may not be until the morning.

Finally arrived. We were going to stop at several places along the way, but as we got to them, all seemed too early to pull up since the sailing conditions were so good. We had planned to stop in Bathurst Bay about 15 miles to the east of us by sunset, however it was looking a bit uncomfortable for an overnight anchorage, so decided to push on into the night and ended up here in the Flinders group. Arrived in the dark, so who knows what we'll wake up to in the morning.

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We left Lizard promptly this morning, as our weather window to get up to the Flinders looks a little short, so we decided to make a mad dash, with a view of being back at Lizard on Sunday. We'll see how this plan pans out - we are at the mercy of the weather Gods now.

Arrived @ Lizard. We are about 1/2 hour late due to drama on the high seas. We lost the dinghy overboard! BUT, of course it floats so we performed the perfect man/woman/person overboard manoeuvre and recovered the lost dinghy. A little worse for wear after it’s ordeal, but now repaired and all is plain sailing again.

We have a little internet here but is very poor, so catching up on e-mails and phone text while we hang here for a day or two.

Dived Pixies Pinnacle again this morning, it such a beautiful little bit of reef, there is just too much to take it all in in one dive. No sign of Brucey and his mates today!

Departed the mooring about 11:30, and now on our way to Lizard.

Moved to Pixies Pinnacle this morning. Fabulous dive - excellent example of reef.

Did another dive this afternoon - Bob got chased out of the water by a herd? school? shoal? of sharks that seemed a bit too interested!!!!! Weather calm, all good. Probably dive in the morning then head off to Lizard for a couple of days. May have phone coverage there. Over and out for now.

Picked up a bouy at Challenger Bay dive site at south end of Ribbon #10. Dived the bay - its OK. Plenty fish life, but reef a little bleached out. Looks to be recovering though. Sleeping sharks, and not so sleeping sharks!!! Hoping we can get away with staying the night here, and some dive boat doesn't come and kick us off. Will head south a mile to Pixies Pinnacle tomorrow for more diving.

We can see Lizard Island now, only another 20 miles or so to go, which will be Sundays trip. We are still off grid at this stage.

Hopefully these updates are working OK, we can't see them from our end.

Chiou for now.

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Spinnakers up - now we are cracking along - its knocked two hours off our estimated trip time.

Under way again. Had some good diving at the Clam gardens - and yes there are clams there - even some pretty big ones, approx 1.5m across.

Heading to Ribbon #10 now.

Anchored at Ribbon#5. Winds up a bit (20 to 25 knots) but its a great anchorage. Dived the southern end of the reef this afternoon - OK. We are going to cross over to the Clam Gardens tomorrow.

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Under way again. We were going to hang here for a day or so to do some diving, but although we thought we had all the time in the world, it has dawned on us that we still have a long way to go. Heading to the Clam Gardens dive site on Ribbon #5. We are off grid now, and having a few technical/ operator issues with the sat comm.

If you can see this, 1 it?s a miracle, and 2, hopefully we have our operator fixed.

Escaped to Escape reef, much calmer, hopefully catch up on some sleep.

Too roly, no sleep, grumpy bear on board so moving on. Liz got a dive in this morning, not bad, lots Nemos and Flame Angels. Yummy looking cod too.

All secure here for at least 1 night.

Just checked out Agincourt 5. Looks good dive, but too windy to anchor here tonight. Heading to Agincourt 3.

Just checked out Agincourt 5. Looks good dive, but too windy to anchor here tonight. Heading to Agincourt 3.

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Just had two humpbacks drift past. One was white.

Just had two humpbacks drift past. One was white.

Calm start, so motor on for an hour, which means we have hot water for showers tonight. Grin.

Wind got up about 20 minutes ago, so off to the reef we go.

Calm start, so motor on for an hour, which means we have hot water for showers tonight. Grin.

Wind got up about 20 minutes ago, so off to the reef we go.

Arrived at Low Isles. Gins brewed. Sun is setting.

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We are under way. Heading for th Low Isles. Conditions rather calm, but the spinnaker is hanging out to dry at last!

Arrived in Cairns just after lunch. All is well.

Clean up and wash down, then home tomorrow.

Anchored at Fitzroy for a good nights sleep after a good evenings R&R.

Could have made Cairns but we don’t want to yet. Quick hop and a Jump tomorrow to Cairns for clean up and laundry jobs.

Need to hang the spinnaker out to dry too, it got wet today!!! (don’t ask)!

Change of plan breeze came up to 20 knots. Was going to stop on Sudbury Reef for the night but a bit windy!

Heading to Fitzroy Island for the night. Cracking along at 9 knots.

Motoring. Wind 10 kts from behind. Chang is due soon

pos : 18 32.005s 147 44.802e reef during tomorrow morning.

pos : 18 32.005s 147 44.802e reef during tomorrow morning.

pos : 18 32.005s 147 44.802e reef during tomorrow morning.

Still trying to work this app out. I think I will stick to navigating, it seems much easier than this.

Chugging along just fine.

Still trying to work this app out. I think I will stick to navigating, it seems much easier than this.

Chugging along just fine.

So we are up and away. Whales, whales and more whales. Conditions close to perfect, although wind is dropping off now. No mackerel yet.

So here we go again. Currently I’m Mackay marina, and all set for an early morning departure tomorrow morning. Destination Cairns. Weather forecast ideal from about 0400 tomorrow.

Arrived, but guess what, no quarantine service until tomorrow. So another night on board at the mercy of government officials. Not even allowed to step off the boat. Welcome home fellow Australians!

Feel like we are prisoners.

We were looking forward to fish and chips and draught beer.

Nearly there. Hydrographers Passage is wild place for a little boat at night in 25knot winds, Spring tides and shipping all mixed up together.

Anyway, about 4 hours to tie up. Had a great sail across from the reef today wish the whole week had been the same!

We're through the passage, and weaving our way through the reefs.

ETA about 1700. Need more speed so we can catch customs before they close.

On track to make tonight's tide through Hydrographers. Swells up again, but quite tame compared to yesterday!

Well that was a roller coaster ride, in fact all 4 Gold Coast theme parks in the one session. Still a bit lumpy, but really not too bad now, the trough has blown through.

Forecast for the rest of the trip is not great, but I think we can handle it now!

Just passed the shipping lane, a fair bit of traffic on that road. Marion Reef just up ahead, was considering pulling in and letting the weather blow through, but no need now. Next stop Hydrographers, hoping to catch tomorrow nights tide.

Looking like a Wednesday lunch time arrival in Mackay if all goes to plan.

Hoolie Doolie we are caught under a trough. Boy it's rough. The computer weather models under estimated this one big time. Wind isn't too bad (25 to 28 knots), but the sea and swells are huge!. Hopefully it should pass over in a few hours.

Very pleasant night. Wind has dropped to 11 knots, so heading west to find more.

Had a good night, everyone caught up on sleep as we were far less roller coaster like. Swells have picked up a little this morning but manageable. Back in Australian waters, so the only pirates to fear now are the Stokesies of this world!

Swells have dropped off, wind average 16 knots, all sail up and off we go again. We are far more stable tonight, probably get a decent sleep.

Had to slow down in the night, swell causing mini broaches, starboard deck underwater!!!!! Main down, reefed headsail only, still making 6 knots though.

Weather has improved during the morning, swells back down to less than 2m, still under headsail only, more comfortable. A bit tiring all this constant rolling and surfing down swells.

It's a rolly old night tonight. Swells up to 3.5m we reckon. Just as well weather bureau has a disclaimer saying waves can be twice as high as forecast, cause many are definitely bigger than 1.7m!! All we can do is keep steadily plodding on through it, fortunately we are riding with the sea instead of in to it. Forecast indicates it should drop down a bit over the next 24 hours.

Great sailing, seas getting a little bigger though (as forecast). Not uncomfortable apart when we catch a swell wrong and it decides to come over the deck and spray us all!!

Mal de Mer has overcome Alfie again. So much for being a rough and tough diver girl!

Catch you on the next one.

Still cracking along @7.5 knots with 2 reefs in. No fish on the line yet, although we think they are swimming around under us as our sounder occasionally alarming less than 3m depth, chart says its 5000m deep. Hope it's fish, and not some random stalagmites popping up from the sea bed!!

Reefs in, buckled up, hold on and we are off! Bit lively overnight, but settled down today. Surfing down 2m swells, then climbing up the next. Making good progress.

10nm north of Sabine Shoal. Conditions a little worse than forecast, but making good progress.

Got back to Luganville yesterday lunch time. Done the laundry, dumped the garbage, fuelled up, and ready to go across the ditch again.

Had a final dinner out at the Beachfront Resort.

Cleared out today, got the passports stamped, and are now about to weigh the anchor. Sad, but we have a weather window we can't turn down. Looks like it will be a fairly speedy trip home.

Will try to get the updates happening, still have some operator error with the YIT app, but will do our best, so do not panic if we go out of sight for a day or two.

Until the next one, we are on our way - ETA about Wed/Thursday next week.

Anchored outside Peterson Bay. Surveyed the channel into the bay, 2m @ 1/2 tide. Think we'll stay outside providing not too rolly.

Anchored outside Peterson Bay. Surveyed the channel into the bay, 2m @ 1/2 tide. Think we'll stay outside providing not too rolly.

Anchored outside Peterson Bay. Surveyed the channel into the bay, 2m @ 1/2 tide. Think we'll stay outside providing not too rolly.

Anchored outside Peterson Bay. Surveyed the channel into the bay, 2m @ 1/2 tide. Think we'll stay outside providing not too rolly.

Anchored outside Peterson Bay. Surveyed the channel to get in over the bommies, only 2m @ 1/2 tide, so I think we'll stay out unless it is too rolly.

Happy Birthday James. Anchored in Port Olry, this place is magic. Lobster and coconut crab for tea.

On our way to Port Olry, but called in to Champagne beach for the night, sun getting a bit low to negotiate bommies later (another hour or so to Port Olry). We'll head off again in the morning.

Anchored in Shark Bay, but the sharks are nowhere to be seen. Local name is Velit Bay, Beautiful bay. Great diving on northern corner. Local people just wonderful. Recommended.

Back at the Beachfront Resort. Provisioning, and off up the coast tomorrow for the week.

Not sure if we'll have phone coverage.

Day trip to Million Dollar point and Palikoulo Bay.

Dived, snorkelled and chilled.

Back to Luganville tomorrow for university upload and reprovisioning.

Heading up East coast next week.

We arrived Saturday morning. Not sure why the updates haven't been coming through, probably operator error, sorry.

Looks like the blog post didn't upload either. Will get onto this asap.

We were stuck on board until Monday lunch time waiting for customs clearance, so have only just caught up on provisions, laundry and Internet connection.

Watch this space.

We are through the Passage Grande, that is officially 3/4 of the way there.

On the home run to Luganville now, but weather forecast is for doldrums again.

Check the blog. I think I had a problem with the date when I uploaded it, so you may need to have a bit of a hunt around to find it.

Let us know how you go.

Slowly meandering towards our destination under spinnaker in very light winds.

Friday lunch time arrival is not on the timetable now, unless decent wind blows up for the next couple of days. However that is not on the forecast.

Birthday today - will see if we can upload to the blog.

One day away from the big 6 O......sorry meant 5 O (typo error!).

Pleased to say everybody is fully recovered and the sick bay is now empty! The cook has been kneading today in preparation for lunch; freshly baked olive bread with cheese and some cold meats.

The youngest crew member has had her first lesson in hand washing; a bit of a cultural shock for a young teenager! Yesterday arvo, had to send the Captain overboard with his snorkelling gear on to check out the prop as an unusual vibration could be felt when the engine was started up. What ever was done down there the issue disappeared; he might get an extra piece of bread for that!

Engine off, sails up. Peace again. On Island time now, getting closer.

Wind came in at 1700 yesterday, great reach to the east. Covered 160 miles for the day - PB for Serena-T. Weather models say head further north, so we have turned towards Chesterfield Reefs. ETA midday Monday if current weather keeps up. Expecting doldrum conditions again late Monday/Tuesday so currently considering a short stopover at the reefs - will depend on the weather - everything depends on the weather out here!

Nurse Preston has been busy with her drug rounds which has managed to reduce 2 of the crew's Mal de Mer symptoms! The heavy mob (the whales) have obviously called for reinforcements which have included some additional dolphins. Witnessed a special event today; dolphins swimming in the wake of Serena-T.

Flat calm today, but should pick up late afternoon.

All safe and well

So many whales. Wind dropping, wind and tide on the nose this afternoon, so progress slowed. Mal de Mer is taking its toll, hopefully the girls will find their sea-legs soon - if they remembered to pack them!

So many whales. Wind dropping, wind and tide on the nose this afternoon, so progress slowed. Mal de Mer is taking its toll, hopefully the girls will find their sea-legs soon - if they remembered to pack them!

Whales everywhere first day, dolphins join us for breakfast second day, wonder what day 3 will bring.

Settling in to watchkeeping, 1/2 moon lighting up the horizon for us. Motor from midnight to 0500, 3 knots wind from behind doesn't get us going far!

Whales everywhere first day, dolphins join us for breakfast second day, wonder what day 3 will bring.

Settling in to watchkeeping, 1/2 moon lighting up the horizon for us. Motor from midnight to 0500, 3 knots wind from behind doesn't get us going far!

Welcome aboard everybody.

We are all set to depart, birthday cake eaten already - bit early but yummy.

Preparations for the big adventure are well under way; but then they did commence 1 1/2 years ago!

Sarah's new passport arrived 2 weeks ago; whoops we nearly missed that one as her previous passport was only valid for 5 years!

Dried food supplies are stored away thanks to the assistance of all four family members.

Last Monday, 4th crew member arrived in Australia from the UK; welcome Alfie.

Back at the Beachfront Resort. Provisioning today, head off up the east coast tomorrow for the week. Not sure how good the phone coverage will be, so maybe a while before we upload again.