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From Sarah 9/28/99
September 28, 1999
We are anchored off Upolu Cay in the Great Barrier
Reef. It is high tide so the anchorage is rather sloppy - the sandy cay
that remains above the water at high tide is tiny, so we have little
protection when the reef is not exposed. It is beautiful however. The
water color is a gorgeous clear blue, and we look forward to a good
snorkel in the morning before the tour boats arrive. We have been a bit
spoilt by our time in the islands and are not used to sharing with 20, 40,
60 day trippers. Later - At 8:45 AM two seaplanes arrived and disgorged
about 25 people onto the cay for a couple of hours, complete with sun
umbrellas and drinks.
We are thoroughly enjoying Australia however, that
is when we are not in cities madly scrambling to get errands and chores
done. Landfall was made in Townsville after a fast, fast sail from
Vanuatu. We did 1200 miles in eight days. Because we were trying to
clear customs and immigration before overtime charges became effective we
were racing time - we even demoted our windvane during daytime the last
couple of days for more efficient hand steering. We made it in by Friday
3pm. Whew. Then after a very enjoyable half an hour - where immigration
charged us $120 and relieved us of our salamis, dried beans and other
items which we failed to eat because our passage was too fast - we were
in.
Margarita got to stay in a MARINA - what luxury, we
haven't enjoyed that since we left Mexico. Tied up to a slip, with
wonderful showers a short WALK away. Margarita was very happy. In fact
the first night she felt too rock solid still. Townsville was great fun,
although chaotic. We got our walking in as everything was 15 minutes away
and we were into town several times a day. It is a very extreme
transition to spend several weeks in outer island Vanuatu where life is
very simple and primitive, then a week out at sea, then hit a new major
country civilization where people are wearing trendy clothes and walking
around with cell phones. We are fascinated to see what fashions and
colors are in, and what movies are on. Then there is the whole different
Australian way of doing everything. !!! One thing that is fun about going
to a foreign country is to see the different and sometimes better ways
they have of doing things, such as packaging food, organizing the public
phones etc. This is as easy as it is going to get for quite while, being
an English speaking country. We made the most of shopping available, all
getting some new shorts - the first clothing spree since leaving
Anacortes. Hooray, throw out that holy underwear
After Townsville we stopped at Magnetic Island -
principally to try and see a Koala bear. There is a national park on the
island. We headed in at 6:30 AM and walked up along a lovely rock trail
in the eucalyptus forest. An Aussie boat told us to look for the poop on
the trail, and sure enough up on the crest after seeing poop Douglas
spotted one up a tree. They are supposed to be 'somewhat irritable" but
look very cute and cuddly. They supposedly get a bit drunk from the
eucalyptus leaves fermenting in their stomachs. This one was a bit shy
and scrambled higher up the tree as we tried to get closer.
Cairns was the next major town - a bustling tourist
centre with four inernet cafes every block and "tours tours tours "
advertised everywhere, lots of tourist boats going out to the reef. We
rented a landcruiser for two days to get out and see the outback and get a
taste of Australian dirt. We took lots of opportunities to go off the
road exploring little tracks, but in sections the road was so bad we
didn't really need to look for more. We were disappointed that the only
kangaroos we saw were dead ones by the side of the road, but lots of
eucalyptus forest and sugar cane. The terrain is so dry it appears
totally useless, just anthills scrubby gum trees and brown grass and the
odd heard of cattle. One town looked so bizarre we had to stop and take
photos. It consisted of a few houses a hotel, railroad tracks, masses of
large anthills and cowdung, and dry and hot!! Cattle were roaming freely
across the road and among the buildings. We were speculating on whether
we could get ice-cream when a voice comes from out of the bushes next to
the dusty road: "You's won't get ice-cream in this town". So we spent a
pleasant, hot while talking to an outback couple sitting in front of their
little house about life in Almaden
Back aboard Margarita Cooktown was the next
interesting stop. A little rough around the edges is how the guide book
describes it. Certainly after Cairns it is very small and laid back.
After asking around for a good quick place for lunch all directed us to
the RSL (veterans club). A small cosy pub really. Neill was informed he
nearly had to "shout the bar" (buy the house a round of drinks) for not
taking his hat off right away when he came. They had a good museum there
and Cooks lookout (we have been following Capt. Cook's tracks all along
the pacific) which we had the typical bad timing to do just as it was
getting dark, a big bowls club in the center of town with all players
wearing their whites and wide brimmed hats. And two diesel docks with
noone about interested in selling us any. Also several notices around
along the river's edge warning of estuarine crocodiles.
9/25/1999 We are currently underway in the Gulf of
Carpentaria, and have just caught a nice fat tuna fish for dinner. This
is proving to be a calm passage, even though the seas get up to 2 metres
they are more even than anything we encountered in the Pacific, and we are
going smoothly under genoa dead downwind on our way to Darwin. Our
travels from Cooktown up the inside of the Great Barrier Reef were great -
fast and protected, although the shipping channel threads its way though
reefs on either side and is very narrow and dogleggy in places and needs
constant vigilance to avoid all the tanker traffic. We had an interesting
time of it one evening but lets not go into that. We did have an
absolutely brilliant time at Lizard Island where we spent eight days.
This is an island out near the edge of the barrier reef, very dry, hilly
and surrounded by glorious waters and reefs and has something like 23
beautiful beaches. Not many people there either due to its more remote
location. There is a small resort, a research station, a small campsite
and yachties, lots of sea turtles and other marine life, and lizards of
course, and that is it. The kids had a blast because our friends the
Hoptoads were there, so most days were morning school then fun, fun, fun
till bedtime. We visited the research centre for the tour they put on
(more of a fundraising event really), played frisbee in the water and did
lots of snorkeling. We also once again followed Capt. Cooks footsteps up
a 500 m climb to a beautiful view of the lagoon and reefs. In fact the
lagoon on the South side looked so tempting that we spent a couple of days
there before we left, and found some really excellent snorkeling in the
pass. Sailing Margarita through the pass was exciting as usual. The pass
was only a couple of boatlenghts wide with a very strong trade wind
blowing. On sailing through coral we always take up typical roles:
Douglas is up the ratlines for a better look through the water shouting
alarmist things such us "Coral to Port", "Coral straight ahead" and "don't
go starboard". Emma is reading off the depths and trying hard not to get
distracted, Bronwen is up at the bow giving the calmer prognosis and Neill
and I are either steering or looking at the chart or ahead. It is often
tense, and if one should need to reverse direction and the sun is not
overhead you feel completely blind all of a sudden because of the glare on
the water. However, at least the charts are right here, unlike several
other countries we have recently been to.
We got a lot of boat chores off the list while we
were at Lizard, including restitching all the panels on the genoa, which
was a major workout and once again - at times - required participation of
the whole crew. Neill cleaned and lubed the mast track which was still
full of Tanna Volcano dust and was giving us hard times getting the sail
up and down. And did some electrical fixes In all it was a productive,
relaxed and fun family time in beautiful surroundings.
Darwin will be busy. Another big provision, as
well as picking up a year's worth of school for three children. Then we
have the challenge of trying to stow it. There are a number of things to
fix as usual. And the aft diesel tank needs cleaning out which means
Emma's bunk needs to be removed. (thankyou Gorden for making it at least
possible). Then it is off to Indonesia. Anybody fancy joining us for
that part?. It should be fine - I talked to a yacht on the radio this
morning that was on their way back from several months there and had a
great time. He told us some places to definitely avoid. We have just had
our two year anniversary of the cruise and have left the Pacific. BOO
HOO! It is hard to imagine another whole ocean full of countries being so
friendly and warm. Oh well, on to new horizens and no doubt more
adventures.
Love from all on board Margarita
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