Sailing from Cairnes to Darwin and exloring the Top End. Sadly we said goodbye to Hanna and Richard who flew home on the 12th of September. It has been a great three weeks; we have loved having them with us. Following their departure we turned our attention to boat repairs, the wires attaching the dinghy to its davits had broken and the alternator had packed up. On Monday after a lot of legwork literally, we found a garage that could mend the alternator. This ...

Hanna and Richard join us for a holiday Hanna and Richard arrived in Sydney on Sunday morning, 23rd of August. William and I had flown to Sydney from Mackay on Saturday and hired a car. We picked them up from the airport and went to explore Sydney, parking the car at the opera house. We then took a ferry from Circular Quay across the harbour to the zoo. The zoo was great fun, with magnificent views of the harbour from the cable car. We saw all the main Australia...

Half way round at last. Out on the Blue arrives in Mackay. This was the end of the trip for Nancy and Jim after eight months and about 10,500 miles. We said goodbye and they went off to explore Queensland by car. They are flying to Florida at the end of August. We shared one last adventure together driving to Cape Hillsborough Nature Resort where we saw wallabies but no kangaroos. Apparently the kangaroos were a bit aggressive and started beating up the camper...

This was the end of the trip for Nancy and Jim after eight months and about 10,500 miles. We said goodbye and they went off to explore Queensland by car. They are flying to Florida at the end of August. We shared one last adventure together driving to Cape Hillsborough Nature Resort where we saw wallabies but no kangaroos. Apparently the kangaroos were a bit aggressive and started beating up the campers at the resort, so they were moved. Then on to Eungella Natio...

A brief stop in New Caledonia We visited New Caledonia for a brief stop over on route to Mackay. New Caledonia is the fourth largest island in the Pacific, being 250 miles long by 31 miles wide. It is mountainous and as we approached it appeared much more barren than the previous islands we had visited. It is surrounded by an offshore barrier reef which is the largest insular coral reef in the world. The hills are covered with pine trees and the New Caledonian...