Darwin

Arrived in Darwin very early Wednesday morning around 4am! Had a couple of hours sleep before the fisheries boat came around to treat all the World ARC boats at anchor in Fannie Bay. The Government are trying to keep the water free of marine pests so they spray all sea water inlets under the boat with some chemical to kill off any mussels that may be present. A diver went underneath Trompeta and checked the hull for growth and declared us clean and good to enter the Marina. There are big tides here up to 7 metres so there is a lock to pass through before entering Tipperary Waters Marina. The lock is not very wide and only big enough for one boat at a time so we had to wait our turn to enter the lock. Once through the Marina is lovely - quite small and a real family atmosphere. Unfortunately our friends on Anastasia cannot be here as no Catamarans are allowed in because they are too wide to fit into the lock. Anyway we got chance to see them last night at the World Arc prizegiving. Incredibly we got 3rd place in our class despite coming in last! We did try and sail as much as we could on the passage and played around with our new Parasailor so that took time and made us slower. Today we fly to Alice Springs to do a one day tour to Ayers Rock tomorrow. Our friends Charles and Marie (Dreamcatcher) are coming with us so it should be a fun weekend. we are staying two nights in the Alice Springs Airport Hotel as the tour company pick up and drop off at your hotel. Looking forward to seeing one of the great wonders of the world!! Thursday Island was the start of this last passage and we just anchored off Horn Island for one night before setting sail for the trip to Darwin. Torres Strait is remowned for strong winds but the weather was kind to us so we did not see more than 28 knots of wind the whole passage. There were strong tides approaching Thursday Island. Our previous anchorage was off Mount Adolphus Island and we had to battle against the tide to enter the bay but once inside it was lovely. You do need to get your timing right as it is uncomfy going against the tide. Much better to wait for the right tide as we did going through Dundas Strait. If anyone looked at the World ARC fleet viewer you would see us sailing north for a couple of hours then back south so we arrived at Cape Don exactly 4 hours before high water which is the right time to get current with you all the way through to Darwin. Have spent the last day doing laundry and Peter took the stack pack (sail bag) off to get the zip stitched up again. We also needed to get some stitching done on the bimini and dinghy cover. The sail maker took these away yesterday so we should get them back Monday all being well. We leave for Bali on Wednesday.

Kuranda Rainforest

Yesterday we took a trip to the rainforest with Phil & Andrea (Anastasia) and went up on the Skyrail and back on the old Kuranda scenic Railway. Skyrail was a ride up the mountain in a gondalier with a stop half way at Red Peak which is the highest point then at BArron Falls which is a rather spectactular waterfall where a Hydro Power station has been supplies electricity to the national grid. Kuranda is a very touristy place with lots of shops selling souvenirs and several cafes and restaurants. We stopped for lunch in a restaurant which overlooked the water which was fun. After our visit to Kuranda we made our way to the Railway station to catch the train. It used to be powered by steam up until 1964 but is now run by a diesel engine.It went very slowly through the rainforest with commentary along the way describing how it all used to be when they built the railway in 1891. Back to Cairns and Peter and Phil wanted to visit Bunnings which is a very large hardware store a bit like B&Q. Peter bought a new cordless drill with two battery packs which he was delighted with as his old drill had been broken for a while.Phil also made some purchases and by the time we got back to the marina it was dark. we all had a light dinner on Trompeta before having a reasonably early night (10pm). It made up for the previous night which was Caroline's birthday dinner when we did not get to bed until midnight!! Unheard of for us! Peter had to visit a dentist this morning as he had broken a tooth and the jagged edges were starting to cause him discomfort. So....for a grand total of A$460 (about £320) he had his tooth extracted! Anyway all is well again now and we are getting the boat prepared ready to leave first thing in the morning to head up to Thursday Island. We shall stop overnight half way and arrive in TI on 21 August for the rendezvous on 22 before we set off again for Darwin on 23 August. There is unlikely to be internet on TI so next blog from Darwin. Should reach darwin by around 28th August.

Cairns

After a pleasant sail to Magnetic Island we anchored overnight in Horseshoe Bay for a decent nights sleep before our next sail up to Cairns which was another overnight one. The winds were a lot stronger for this sail and as I came up on deck at 11pm to relieve Peter he was struggling to control the boat as we had too much sail up for the wind which was gusting up to 34 knots. I was able to take the helm while he dropped the main sail and we just sailed on the genoa which was a lot better although the boat does roll more when you have no main sail up. We were still doing decent speeds of up to 7 knots without the engine. The highlight of our trip was seeing humpback whales as we are in the middle of their breeding season which is May to September. I actually heard the whales inside the boat and it sounded really eerie like a child moaning. We had planned to anchor just before Cairns in either Turtle Bay or Mission Bay but both were not attractive due to the strong winds. We did go into Mission Bay and I got the anchor off the bow ready to drop but Peter decided he did not want to stay there overnight so anchor went back in it's holder and we called up the Marina to ask if we could go in a day early. Our reservation was for 3 nights from Sunday 12th August. Anyway no problem and we are now secured in our berth in Marlin Marina which is adjacent to the lively city of Cairns. There are a lot of World ARC boats here as it is the last place to provision before Thursday Island which is our next rendezvous on 22 August. When we arrived here yesterday morning we met up with Marie (Dreamcatcher) and she asked us to go for dinner with them to a Brazillian carvery meal which was an 'all you can eat' for a fixed price dinner. It was excellent. The waitress brought some sweet potato chips and salads and vegetables then waiters kept appearing with long skewers of meat which they carved at the table and you simply took hold of the meat slices with a pair of tongs. There was scrummy beef, pork, lamb, chicken, chorizo sausages and seafood. The food was not cheap as the bill for two of us with a bottle of wind was A$140 (£100) but comparable to a good English restaurant. Caroline (Peat Smoke) has her 53rd birthday on Tuesday so no doubt we will have a night celebrating with her and her family who are all on board now. Two daughters and a son from Scotland who are not sailors!! So now we are in a Marina again so Peter is tackling a few jobs like servicing the engine and resealing the front hatch which has started to leak - again! I have done more laundry and cleaned the oven top. Tomorrow I will do the oven and fridge. Peter is going to visit the chandleries as there is a big store called Whitworths here which is Australia's largest on line chandlery and can source just about anything.

Bye bye Mackay

Our new Parasailor finally arrived yesterday so at last we are getting ready to depart for our cruise up to Thursday Island via Cairns. The delay was caused by us not wanting to pay the tax but in order to speed things up we had to part with A$1,800 which is about 1,300 GBP. Hopefully we can claim most of this back when we leave Darwin under the Australian Tourist Tax Refund Scheme but it is likely we will be short by about A$500. Oh well at least we have the new sail now and can try it out before the next leg! Whilst here in Mackay we thought it would be prudent to get another rig check done and the rigger found a cap shroud which was not safe so that is being replaced today. Good job we got the rig checked here!! Our insurance company will pay for a free rig check when we get to South Africa but that is another few months away and there is some challenging sailing to be done between now and then! Whilst in Mackay we have visited the Canelands Shopping Centre and had enough retail therapy to last another few months. It was a good place to reprovision though as two large supermarkets were well stocked with all the items required. I even managed to find a portable ipod docking station so now we can have music even if the generator is not running. Peter has aquired a bluetooth gps so now he is downloading charts onto my ipad to give us another navigation system apart from seapro on the laptop. Getting used to the cooler weather here which reaches 20 degrees C during the day but is much cooler at night dropping to 12 or 13 degrees C. Looking forward to sailing north again as Cairns is a little warmer at max 23 during the day. We are booked into Marlin Marina in Cairns for 3 nights from 12 August. Expect to leave early tomorrow morning and sail overnight to our first anchorage on Magnetic Island which is some 200 miles so will take us about 30 hours sailing depending on the wind. The plan is to be near Cairns by Saturday so we can go into the Marina Sunday morning. Had a farewell dinner for Dimitry and Natalia last night as they leave the rally here. We have had an invite to Moscow where they live although they also have a place in the country a few hours drive from Moscow. August is the best time to go we are advised and it should be hot at that time of year! So who knows what the options are but we want to finish the rally first before making any firm plans. The rally is getting smaller as another boat has pulled out of the rally here (Eva) as the owner has been diagnosed with lung cancer so his boat is for sale and he has flown back to Germany for treatment. Another boat (Samsara) has structural problems and will not be continuing as there is a lot of work to be done to make her seaworthy again.So with two new boats joining us in Darwin and Bali that makes 20 in total.