Cairns to Darwin. June 2009

Unfortunately my first visit in Cairns needs to be to a doctor to sort out the best remedy for a very sore knee. How opportune that David arrives aboard within hours of me being put into a knee brace for a sprained knee. Life aboard a boat with a knee that can’t be bent is no fun.

We begin the next leg of the journey – 1200 miles to Darwin.

Out of Cairns we sail overnight to Lizard Island. There we have arrived in heaven -balmy temperatures, clear water, dolphins jumping, turtles bobbing, huge friendly fish that like being scratched, coral gardens – the whole nine yards at our doorstep.

Cool Bananas on the far right at Lizard Island Sunrise in paradise

Coral garden off the lagoon


Codhole at Great Barrier Oriental Sweetlips

A friendly grouper He enjoyed a scratch from Daryl

Bumphead parrot fish Dave getting up close and personal

Sadly, after a few days we need to push on into crocodile country.

We are now in the Flinders Group, tucked behind an island with about 10 other boats, most of which are heading to Darwin for the rally also. Another cruiser has given us some privileged information about the location of some aboriginal cave drawings that are little known to the general public. There is something special about visiting sites that aren’t set up for tourists. We could see the evidence of early sailing ships in their drawings. We also wonder whether some drawings depicted craft from the Second World War, but that is merely our interpretation. Today we walked to a better known site that the locals have tracked, railed and protected the area.

Cave that few tourists know about Cave drawings at Stanley Island


Stanley Island Bushwalking on Stanley Island

Stanley Island caves Rock formation at Flinder Island

This is our first stop where on landing ashore we are greeted with ‘warning –don’t swim’ signs due to the possible presence of crocodiles. So if they might be in the water then surely they might be on the land lurking behind a bush – how does that work??

So north we continue.

In Margaret Bay we encounter a prawn boat that is selling fresh prawns at ‘bargain prices’. Trouble is, even after sharing with others cruisers, we end up with 7.5 kgs for ourselves. Life is tough. We start up the secondary freezer to cope only to find that our battery bank won’t hold its charge as it should. Never mind, I think they‘re worth it!!!

Sunset over Flinders Dave's first catch with the new lure

We seem less motivated to stop for any length of time probably due to not being able to swim, not knowing whether we are welcome onto aboriginal land, not having much in the way of guide books to motivate us into land activities, my knee limiting me to how much walking I can do (but is improving), the battery situation causing Daryl to think that we need to find a marina for the boat in Darwin, coupled with the awareness that there are many miles to cover.

We had a night in the Escape River. It’s lovely to be in a flat anchorage after a few rolly nights at sea. The river is riddled with pearl farms and the area has grave sites as a reminder of the men who lost their lives as pearl divers in days gone by. From here we gauge the tides for a safe sail through Albany Passage and on around to Cape York. This feels like a major landmark for us, the most northern point of Australia’s mainland. I opt out of the clamber to the point and instead Daryl takes me on a sedate dinghy tour of the point, while David does the walk.

Looking across at Cape York from C York Island C York from the top of C York Island


Seisia Harbour Repair time in Seisia Harbour

We then stop for a couple of nights in the little town of Seisia. Its name formed from the initials of six of the original Torres Strait Islanders that settled there. From there we sailed on across the Gulf of Carpentaria and then motorsailed our way to Darwin. There were quite strong sea currents which meant for about 6 hours the going was slow and then the next six the progress was great. Darwin gets up to 7 metre tides.

Customs checking up on us Sunrise as we depart Escape River

We’ve got into a marina, batteries are on order, we’ve hired a car, the temperature is around 30 degrees and all is good.

Arriving in Darwin Sunrise over Fannie Bay



The good thing about having big steel
prawn boats as mates....PRAWNS !!!

Bundaberg to Cairns. May 2009

Well, one thing we can say is that the Australian East Coast, north of Mooloolaba, has given us wonderful sailing conditions. Once inside the Great Barrier Reef we have had some of the best sailing yet. The majority of the sailing has been with the spinnaker up in around 15 knots of wind. We have day hopped our way up and through the Whitsundays to Airlie Beach.




A group of playful dolphins we encountered


Daryl wandering the beach Crab activity between tides


Sunset at North Percy Island

Sunset at the top of Hook Island Camels on Airlie Beach

We had a week by ourselves in the Whitsundays before going back into Airlie Beach to pick up Gaye and Brian and friends Michael and Faye. The weather wasn’t playing the game and we had renamed them the ‘Wetsundays’ by the time we left. Never mind, fun and relaxation were high on the agenda and that we did. I didn’t realize what beautiful butterflies there are in the natural environment throughout these islands. We did a couple of pretty walks on South Molle Island and Hook Island.

Faye, Michael, Gaye and Brian Brian's great butterfly shot

View from the lookout on South Molle Island The cheeky parakeets


Bushwalking at Nara Inlet Cave drawings of the Ngara people

And what holiday in the Whitsundays would be complete without a day at Whitehaven beach. We were able to anchor the boat just off the beach and swim ashore. It lived up to its reputation, a beautiful white sand beach.

Whitehaven Beach Michael and Faye on Whitehaven Beach

Swimming at Whitehaven Drinks with 'Three Ships'

Troppo night aboard

Although the visibility and sea temperature weren’t great for snorkelling, Gaye was determined we were going to still take the opportunity and snorkel. Because much of the Whitsundays is marine reserve and protected some of the fish were huge.

Sunset at Hook Island Gaye chatting with the locals

Snorkelling at Hayman Island Brian feeding the bumphead wrass

Daryl feeding the friendly spadefish Brian in for a dive

After dropping our guests back at Airlie we did the fastest clean, provision, water, and fuel up on record and we sailing up the coast within a couple of hours.!! We had a night at Magnetic Island and one at Dunk Island. We’ll remember Magnetic Island for the pub that charged us $9.80 for a beer and a water!!! …and the fact that it was a gorgeous day on a gorgeous island. We can’t hang about, so it’s a swift sail up and into Cairns with an hour to spare before our new crew, David arrives.