Merry Christmas!

Electrical storm

I don't know why this is not straight! But it's a great shot Lindsay took - real Cristmas Lights!

Bundaburg to Mooloolaba

Celestial navigators on passage to Bundaberg

Not long after arriving in Australia we met Bayswater friends Shaun and Erin off Whimsey and had a super evening under the setting sun!

We spent about 4 days exploring Bundaberg and generally sorting ourselves out after the ocean voyage. We have been amazed at how friendly people are here. Some of it is because it is a rural community but people seem very open and relaxed.

We are really conscious of opportunity the boat provides us to enable us to visit and see wildlife in their natural environments. This is something that is becoming harder and harder to do with diminishing habitats. So it has been great to see some amazing Australian animals here.

We find the Pelicans incredible – they are so big! One of the children’s first experiences was getting up at 5 o’clock in the morning and going to the back of Bundaberg’s Port Marina area where they watched a group of Kangaroos playing in the grass

We enjoyed the trip up the Burnett River and visited a small zoo. The zoo had wallabies, Emu’s and several other birds.

In the bush beside the river we saw a large Water Dragon (Lizard). We stayed there a short time mainly to re-provision ready for the passage south.

Even the ants are huge here!!!!

From Bundaberg we sailed down through the Sandy Strait which flows between Frazer Island and the mainland. Frazer Island is the largest sand island in the world and we were disappointed not to get to see any dingoes there. We stopped at a spot called Gary’s Place for morning tea with friends Dennis and Joy off Molokai and there we heard our first Kookaburgh laugh.

From there we sailed to Tin Can Bay and anchored for the night. Early the next morning we all went ashore to join the locals who feed 2-3 dolphins at 8am every day. Kate and Hamish got to feed a couple of fish to these Indo-Pacific estuarine dolphins. They were very friendly and quite confident around people. It was well controlled and a great experience. Sadly there are only about 50 of them left in the area.

We had to leave promptly so that we could cross the large sand bar at the entrance to the Sandy Straits on the high tide. That was quite tricky and for a while the roughest sea we had seen for a long time. After that it was plain sailing down to Mooloolaba. This is a canal type holiday town about 100 kilometres north of Brisbane. Hamish thinks he is in heaven as across the road from the marina is a beautiful white sandy ocean beach. He wants a surf board for Christmas!

We have been thrust into the Christmas Season all of a sudden and it was a bit of a shock. The first Saturday here was a Christmas parade of boats lit up with flashing, colourful lights and a Santa playing an organ on the deck of an old runabout. We have also hit the wet season so it is hot and muggy with spectacular lightning storms most nights. Great after dinner viewing! (No T.V and not missed)

So what are our plans for the near future? Well we really like it here so will be here over Xmas -New Year apart from a visit to Brisbane to stay with Lindsay’s brother and do some theme park stuff. After that it is a whole new year with some decisions to make over where we will go and what we will do next.

Our trip to Isle of Pines, New Calendonia.

This is a little out of order as I had problems getting a connection before we left New Caledonia. But we had such a great time we still want to share what happened with you.

The Isle of Pines is south of the main island Grande Terre in New Caledonia. On the way down we stopped in Baie de Prony. This is an eerie kind of place but quite beautiful. The Kanack people refuse to live near because, in past many battles were fought in the bay and they believe there are too many warrior ghosts around. It cetainly has that feel about it. It was also stripped of its trees to built the first houses in Noumea. Now the bush is starting to regenerate.

We sailed up to the very end so that we could have a dip in a natural fresh water pool built in the bush by a river. It was lovely and refreshing.

Both Lindsay and I were woken up during the night with strange noises which we took to be large fish jumping. Early next morning while weighing anchor Hamish and Lindsay saw a 10ft hammerhead shark swimming beside the boat. It was about ¼ the length of the boat. As we motored down the bay we saw a large turtle swim past too.

In fact it turned out to be the best day for sea creature spotting we have had. Later that day we had common pacific dolphins swimming at our bow. This was the first lot we have seen since NZ. But wait there’s more! As we approached Isle de Pins we saw in the distance whales leaping out of the water – what a display as they leapt clear and also slapped their tails. Although it would have been spectacular to see close up I was secretly glad that they were so far off.

We stayed in a lovely white sandy bay called Bay de Kuto. Hamish and Kate enjoyed snorkelling and turtle spotting as there were about 5 turtles swimming around. The best part was when they got towed behind our dinghy on their boogie boards by their father. The weather was pleasantly warm although we had to motor sail most of the way back to Noumea due of lack of wind.

We then had to prepare for our last big ocean passage for a while. There was a lot to do. I made and froze 5 dinners, bought provisions to last the 6-7 day trip, caught up with all the washing, Hamish and Kate completed as much school work as they could and we posted it off. Lindsay built a cover for our new generator and there were lots of forms to fill out for both New Caledonian and Australian Officials.

Pics from Isle de Pines

Being dragged though the water on the back of the dinghy

Hamish hand feeding seagulls in Kuta Bay.

There were three or four of these strange shark like fish called Remoras under our boat. They loved the bread that Hamish and Kate threw overboard for them.

Guess who took this photo? Hamish is becoming more and more confident snorkelling. He spent ages exploring the rocks and reef in Kuta Bay.

Arrived in Australia!

We have just arrived in Bundaberg, Australia. The passage from Noumea took 6 days. There were 2 days of very light winds and the rest was nice comfortable sailing. The night before we arrrived we watched a lightening storm over the horizon. That was close enough thank you!

People have asked what sort of things do we do on passage. If the weather is fine and the sea flat the children do school work. If not we read, watch DVD's, play on Nintedo's, read, fish (no luck since Fiji), do cooking, eat, do dishes, spot sea life and identify them (saw Brown Boobies and our first Pelican today), read, keep a look out and try to keep comfortable. Pretty much the same sorts of things we did when we sailed around the coast of NZ.

This trip was a very nice trip but as Hamsih said it seemed to go on forever - he was beginning to think Oz was a myth. But he was the first to see it. Now we are here and when the welcome party of thunder and lightening let up (thank goodness it started after we arrived) we are keen to go exploring. Stay tuned for some photos.

Noumea and Isle of Pines

We have had a fantastic time in the Isle of Pines. It is an island 60 miles south of Noumea.

Oh la la!

Bon Jour from New Caledonia!
We arrived in Noumea after a 2 day 6 hour passage. It started off a little lumpy as the wind was coming from the south. I found out “Sturgeron” sea sickness tablets aren’t as good for me as “Sea Legs” but late in day two I recovered. Everyone else was fine. No fish this time as we thought the trip too short to bother.
Noumea is different from Vanuatu because it is further south. The weather is refreshingly cool – a bit like a New Zealand summer. The trees are a mix of tropical and pine trees. An unusual place with rusty red earth because of nickel and other mineral deposits.

Hamish took this as we came into Noumea.

I noticed that the buildings were fairly new and when we went out to a friend’s place for diner he said his house was in the old part of town. Their house was built in the 1960’s. It is a mini France here, every thing is in French but most people can speak some English and with my limited French we manage ok. I REALLY wish I had taken my 3rd an 4th form French further!

It is true that it is the people that make a place and we have been very fortunate to have met some neat people here. Last Saturday we visited the Aquarium. Someone said you could walk there from the marina others said it was a bit of a hike about 20 minutes, anyway we set off as it was a beach front walk and it turned out to be a huge walk. After 20 minutes we stopped a young couple who out with their toddler. They did not speak English very well but said it was about another 20-30 minutes away! We opted for the bus and just missed one when there was a toot. It was the man who we had just spoken to. He had gone and got his ute and come back to pick us up. He took us to the Aquarium – what a nice person!!! It was a 5 minute car trip but saved us slogging in the heat. We got a taxi back.

The Aquarium is outstanding we went round it twice. There were so many amazingly different fish. The best was a Napolean fish. It had such an expressive face. The colours of the coral were incredible. We are itching to get out and explore for ourselves.

We are currently in port getting some work done on the boat. The battery charger is on the blink and Lindsay has other jobs to do to get sorted before we head to Australia. We have been very lucky to meet up with some friends who live here and have given us the benefit of their local knowledge for getting things done.

Dad paints the hull while Hamish and Kate paint the oars (and did a fine job!).

Port Vila

A Fijian Igauna at the Secret Gardens.

A Pacific Boa - Hamish was the only one brave enough to have a hold of it.

Throughout the gardens there were lots of these posters telling stories and legends from all over Vanuatu. This one I thought was a good warning to Lindsay!

The famous Seafood Chowder in an Edible Bowl. The reason we came to Vanuatu! (Also the place where I caught my tummy bug.)

Moored along the small sea wall while sorting out the generator. It was scary climbing the plank to get on and off.

A venemous Lion fish (we think) that wondered by the sea wall right by Blue Heron.

Kiwi friends Thomas and Olivia. On the odd occasion that they were not all swimming or zipping round in dinghies.

We had thought to be in Noumea about now. Sadly I was struck down with a violent tummy bug on Saturday, the day that we were supposed to depart (we had cleared customs as well). The lesson learned here was that it is not a good idea to go out for dinner 2 days before an ocean passage, especially in a hot, humid country like Vanuatu.

The next day I was able to keep water inside me but couldn’t eat. I still had a killer headache and was pretty washed out. The weather was indicating a lot of wind and rough seas for the first third of the trip and then no wind and likely still rough seas – not good with an upset tum. We had been ok abut the trip as the boat is comfortable and goes well to windward.

It all became academic anyway as on the Sunday Lindsay had trouble starting the generator after about 1 and a half hours swearing and tinkering he got it started but after about half an hour it suddenly stopped pumping water through it. It is salt water cooled. Turned off and checked the sea strainer and sure enough a large guey leaf had been sucked up. Problem fixed and it started first crank!

He was monitoring it as he packed some things away in preparation for the passage to Noumea. Five minutes after checking it the silly thing again stopped pumping water and suddenly our cabin smelt of burning rubber. Yet again he stopped the engine. This time the sea strainer was clear and possibly a blockage further along the system. He worked in the 30+ degree heat to fix it but it now appears to have died. Part of us was devastated as we have no alternative charging for the boat other than a small solar panel. The other part is glad as it has been nothing but a pain since we bought the boat. We have had it overhauled twice and the last time we were told it had over 2000 hours and we have done about 200 of that. It was leaking oil badly and has always been noisy.

So we have come back to the wall in port and plugged into shore power. We have bought a small petrol generator which is sited outside and also got another larger solar panel. We were always intending to put solar panels on but were planning on doing that in Australia.

Somethings are meant to be as we have met some nice people while on the wall including some seasoned yachties who have given us heaps of good advice about New Caledonia and Australia. Kate and Hamish have met new friends and are enjoying the extra time here. We have been given a Bill Bryson book on Australia which is very funny and informative.

In addition the weather is looking better for the trip tomorrow. I am feeling about 100% fit again and looking forward to New Calendonia.

We nearly went to Sea! (Appologies to A Ransome)

This is the day that Hamish, Kate and their friends Nancy and Molly nearly ended up on their way out to sea. Hamish had made friends with a very nice guy who worked at the nearby resort. He generously invited Hamish and co. to go out for a ride on the resort jetski and their rubber donut. They took off at about two pm. I took some of these photos as they left. I was waiting for them back at the resort and started to get a bit worried when they didn't come back by three. I was watching to see if Lindsay had come back from town as he had the dingy with the 8 horse outboard and I could get him to go and look for them. At four o'clock a women came out and told me that they had broken down and that they were sending out a rescue boat. About half a hour later they arrived back seemingly none the worse for their "adventure". It did turn out that they had started to drift down past Port Vila and that the youngest had got frightened as they floated past the chanel markers and were heading towards the harbour entrance markers. Hamish had suggested to lie flat to stop the wind catching them and they had tried kicking to stop the drift. It all sounded like a modern day version of the Arthur Ransome story "We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea."

Still trying to load photos

These photos are small as it seems to be the only way to publish them here.This is when we visited the Mele Cascade Gardens in Vila. It was a lovely day. We all swam at a beautiful, refreshing, limestone (I think)waterfall.

More photos - Village Visit

This is the day we visited a village on the lagoon side of Port Villa. These people lived right beside some very nice modern Villas. They were very friendly and let Hamish join in a game of soccer and Kate and friends got to see their 4 new puppies. Hopefully I can add some more pictures soon.

Photos at last

Hamish looking for the green flash at sunset. He missed it because the Island of Efate was in the way.

Sitting at Nambawan Cafe trying to update the blog! See Blue Heron in the background. The cafe is named after the section of the port that it is located. When the Americans were here during the second world war, the port was divided up into areas one, two etc. When they left the name stayed. Cool, eh?

Welcome to Vanuatu

We arrived in Port Vila after a 3 and a half day sail from Lautoka, Fiji. On the first evening just after a nice meal of smoked fish Blue Heron caught the biggest fish since we owned her - a lovely Mahihi or Dolphin Fish. So we ate fish for lunch and dinner for the rest of the trip! I ran out of ideas of different ways to cook fish.

Vanuatu is very different from Fiji and so are the people. They are very quiet and pleasant. They have an amazingly diverse culture. We are really looking forward to exploring the islands. So far we have spent our time catching up on business and school work. The children have made some good friends and have made the most of their time together.

Next week we hope to head north to Santos.

Photo's to come!

Cruising the Yasawas

We have just arrived back from cruising the Yasawa Islands. They are well known as this is where the Blue Lagoon Cruises tour.

This is THE cave!

The first stop for us was at Kuata Island. This is an island that Lindsay spent time on with a local when he was a young hydrogropher in the Navy. (about 23 years ago) The island was uninhabited and they slept in a cave. When we arrived we found that there was a back packer resort there now. The people were very interested and friendly and showed us around. On the way there we saw a turtle swimming past which was amazing. We were really surprised at how fast it could swim.


Next we went to Waya Island and anchored in a rolly anchorage. We left early the next day and endedup in another slightly rolly anchorage further up. Sick of the swell we took off for Blue Lagoon which the guide books say is the best all weather anchorage - and they were right! We met up with friends on a cat called Motu who are from Nelson and have 10 year old twins a boy and a girl.

We spent a couple of nights there the children enjoyed snorkelling and swimming with their mates. We had an interesting trip to a garden, hidden in some mangroves, to buy fruit and vegetables. We bought a huge stand of bananas which have rippened alarmingly fast.

We were running out of time as we needed to get back to Lautoka to pick up a new propellar as our old one looks like it either has worn out or we have hit something. So we headed south and anchored between two islands where we were told that it was possible to swim with giant manta rays.

The next day that is exactly what we did. There was only one there at the time but still it was a fantastic experience. Hamish got the closest to it. Some of the others there touched it. In addition to the ray there were lots of brightly coloured fish on the reef and some of the coral was incredible. There was a strong current and swimming against it soon wore us out. We wish we had an underwater camera to capture our experiences maybe next shopping spree!

More pictures

Enjoying the pool. And the view.
















I think I sent a postcard of this to school.











Iam not putting the straw up my nose! It was a yumy blue raspberry lemonade slushy. Delish!

Unwinding

Here are a few pictures of what we have been doing since arriving. Our first port of call was Vuda Point Marina. It is bewtween Nadi and Lautoka. We took the bus into Lautoka for fresh food - quite an experience. It was very hot and sticky especially as we hadn't aclimatised.

Afterwards we headed off to Musket Cove. A well known place for yachties and very family friendly. Here the children got to learn to snorkel from an expert - Dad. The place is so beautiful is is easy to take postcard like pictures.



The Fijian people are very friendly and kind. They love children and the guy at the resort let Hamish have a go at wind surfing. He is now keen to have another go. He will have to wait until we return. In two days time we are heading up to cruise the Yasawa group of Islands. These are the ones that the Blue Lagoon Cruises go through. I went on one when I was 19 years old. Can't remember much other than some beautiful islands and great swimming places. Lindsay is also keen to return to a small island he spent time on when he was surveying up there.