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 !!!