Margaret River- delayed due to network coverage

Looking out for reefs...not always easy to spot from a distance

Tuesday 25th May


The sail to Margaret Bay 11 degrees 57.46 south 143 degrees 12. 38 east was an early one as usual. We could see definite changes in the sea landscape. A lot of reefs and lots and lots of little islands a bit more fish life. No we have not caught fish and no doubt we will! The perfect one is waiting for us somewhere! There were a lot of massive tankers on the way as we were travelling in shipping channel which is like a freeway for trucks. I have heard a lot of stories of how fast things happen when you first spot a large carrier on the horizon and it is surprising to witness first hand.

Margaret River anchorage was nice and a lot other boats were anchored there for the night some from the Indonesia rally. There was a great white sand beach which turned out to be mangrove heaven for crocodiles in a very short span of time. See the pictures.

 This was by far the noisiest anchorage we had so far. We had the wind the waves the rigging noise and swells (very uncomfortable rocking of the boat). Everything rattled and moved in the cupboards so much so that we had to rearrange them in the middle of the night.

Nice little beach with one sand-inviting...

Same beach one hour later croc country...

Nice and very noisy anchorage

Portland Roads…we could stay here-delayed due to network coverage

Portland Roads-the main road

Monday 24th May-Robert was really anticipating this day for some reason he always wanted to come to Portland Roads. It is such a far away place from anywhere. I dressed up for the occasion and we proceeded on our journey leaving our Orchid Point anchorage in Lloyds Bay. The sail took us over 3 hours in 25 knots of wind… a rather short day. Portland Roads 12 degrees 35.49 South 143 degrees 24.55 East is absolutely stunning on approach. I have taken some photographs for you and must say that they do not represent the beauty of this place. One of the first things that we have noticed were the stunning large houses settled in the hills. Who lives here and why???We made it to the shore in our dinghy unfortunately it was on a very low tide so we could not reach the shore and had to leave our dinghy over coral not to mention walking over it (we do have great shoes ). We spoke with some friendly locals on land who prompted told us that there were large crocodiles around..hmmm I am petrified of those creatures!!!And that is probably an understatement. I “spat the dummy a bit” hmm. Happens to the best of us. We had a plan to maybe have coffee withdraw some money as we heard that it was possible. Well coffee shop was closed and money oh well no such luck. Cute little place with one road (unmade) that leads (after 14 hours drive) to Cairns.

Lots of mangroves and lots of tropical plants. Apparently this place was a strategic point during the war with landing strip…where? We will be leaving early to continue our journey. Our other news-we finally caught a very lovely and good sized tuna fish and lost yet another lure..oh and Robert finished the peanut butter that was going to last us till Darwin LOL. Hoping that all your news are wonderful. Thinking of you all and thank you so much for keeping in contact with us. MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE!!!! Our connection is very sporadic now so forgive us if you don’t hear from us for a few days

 

Baby mangrove at low tide.They get covered with water

Portland Roads first sight

Local kids playing in the reef right next to mangroves and yes they have crocks there

The blue dress I wore for the crocodiles-wonder if they have colour prefferences?

Fishing trawler - the little boats that go out to fish and bring the fish back to mother ship everyday

"Bobby"finishing last of peanut butter

And always a perfect finish to a day

Fifi Island-delayed due to network coverage

No wind today-beautiful anyway

Tiny ini miny island with a few surprises

22nd may 2010 One little cute island surrounded by lots of coral with a single palm tree a resident crocodile and hundreds of birds. Clearly there will be no swimming today. It has been a “windless” day and we were forced to motor sail some of the way. The whole territory that we are sailing now is changing from rather large islands to a lot of smaller ones and each one seems to have a light. We have anchored in 10 meters of water have an anchor alarm on(just in case the anchor moves-drags) and hope to have a great night sleep. Oh finished all our fish supplies today and really need A FISH!!!!!!!! Help all of you wonderful people that can fish-nothing works

Thousands of birds live here-not sure what they are.

All in good spirit and looking forward to the next day

Long day… Lizard to Cape Melville

Stunning and dangerous Cape Melville

Left the beautiful and very windy Lizard Island early in the morning. That usually means before 7 am. Our plan was two fold. Wanting to make up some time and distance we have planned for two destinations depending on weather and how we felt. We reached our first anchorage in fantastic time around 11 am sailing between 8-9 knots in pleasant 20 knots and decided to continue to our 2nd anchorage Cape Melville. We are now sailing in unchartered waters and that meant that we had to take extra time preparing our route by reading all guides and pay extra attention on the way much like driving to a new destination. Our expectation was to reach Cape Melville around 4.30pm and stay there for the night.

 All was well until we got close to the unfriendly land of Cape Melville. The winds picked up unexpectedly to 40 +knots. That is not really what one would expect turning into a safe area for the night. The place was absolutely stunning and had a really uneasy feeling about it with such strong winds and very little depth we both looked at each other and did not have to speak a word. THIS WAS NOT SAFE!!!

Not a friendly look

 We had to continue to Flinders group and that meant another 3 possibly more hours sail with the sun setting and the night closing very quickly. Not comfy… uncertain feeling.

 Let’s say it was like driving a car at night in the mountains without any lights or breaks looking at your GPS and learning the art of trust. The only other option open was to continue sailing trough the night- not one we wanted. So trust concentration attention to everything that was remotely visible and audible we did. We have found our safe anchorage for the night at 8.30pm and were rather happy with that. The greatest part of it all was knowing that we did it well safe and waking up the next morning and having a look where we actually ended up. Lesson from last night- don’t trust everything you read in guide books trust your boat your instincts have plan A B C and D.

Lizard Island thesacred land...

Left Cooktown and set sail for Lizard Island early. Early works really well as the winds are generally calmer and friendly in the mornings. Sailing now with the automatic pilot “Michelle” doing most of the work during the day is pleasant and lives us time to read fish and attend to do small maintenance jobs.

The Lizzard....beautiful really

White sand maybe no jelly fish...maybe yes...take a chance?

Typical terrain

Our sail here was one of the most comfortable and pleasant so far. The first thing to notice about Lizard Is is the amazing water clarity and beautiful coral reef visible with the naked eye the incredibly white sand and wind…lots of wind howling. This island is also called “Blizzard Island” because of the strong winds  'wind bullets'. Interesting place with history drama and a famous world class resort. The story of Mary Watson her husband Iinfant ferrier and 2 Chinese servants.Mary was 23 and left on the island in her home awaiting the return of her husband when the Aborigines came to apparently tell her that it was their sacred land and that they should leave. They murdered one of her servants and Mary Ferrier and her other servant managed to escape in a boiler reaching another island and died of thirst some days after.She left a diary.Her husband after his return was distraught and a revenge mission was organised by killing many of the Aborigines.There were many other drama stories before and after Mary Watson.Pity and lives so many questions... Went for a “walk about” as you would and the pictures will tell you the story.

There are several different bays and beaches this one was full of Blue bottles(stingers)

Imagine this there is an airport with a terminal (6 chairs in the middle of wilddernes) and a very funny fire brigade

"Bobby" we can hardly get a picture together

I looked like a typical tourist-not really my look.The only thing missing-white hat!!!

Birds hiding away from the strong wind

The Watson residence
We have spent some time in Merlin Bar at night which is part of the spectacular resort and were ready for next day...Ciao and hugs to all.

Cooktown..the last fronteer..have a laugh

Port of Cooktown quite pretty really and exactly how I expected it...

Robert and tinker in Cooktown

Cooktown

Dressed like two escapees from Hawaii we went to discover this northernmost full of history town on the east coast of Australia.The town of Captain Cooks arrival first sight of kangaroo and the last fronteer of cyvilisation before Darwin. A place worth a visit. Essentially it is one main wide clean street with some beautiful buildings and some quite unique ones. Lovely surprise.

Main street

Main street

Where else would you find this?

Always a great Australian welcome!

Oh well-there is always a renovators delight anywhere we go...

Yes this is 2010

Definitely a very tropical look

Zorro the dog with his fav toy guarding the entrance of the museum

The first drawing of kangaroo

This is the fun pub in town and the first one we believe

A classic two individual characters in Cooktown drinking white wine One reading Cairns Times and in the background Italian restaurant with Thai cuisine...LOL

Must have shoes to get a drink...

What credit...

Work ethic is a must

And there is hope for ugly people...just drink

Now that is the sequence...buy a drink...coverit so flys don't get it...buy a $1 ticket...have drink...buy another ticket...LOL

You need to read this one

The equivalent to Keno I guess

 We started our whole day discovery at the cemetery which is a record of the days gone by. We got a lift from a wonderful lady with her 1 yo granddaughter who in a very relaxed manner sat on the front seat without a seat belt.The cemetery was a very interesting place with some very old graves and Chinese section as well. Walking down the street it is easy to see how everything looks quite tropical.Total change from the last destination.We visited the local pub which was delightfully surprising funny enlightening and full of history of a different kind and colorful characters.Lots of fun money can't buy!Captain Cooks museum is an impressive building which used to be a school for girls. Well designed and offered so much information. We even made it to the botanical gardens where Tinker had a distinct feeling of walking in the crocodile country-which it is.Let's say she would rather walk on fire.David and his dad Jeff from "Camp David" visited.Thank you it was so nice to see your friendly faces. All in all another great day. We will be out of touch for the next 3-5 days due to no reception at Lizard Island our next stop.