Now
it is about time to bring a few lines from our part of the world.
We
arrived at Cairns and checked in without any trouble. Nice people- that is
the customs officers and the quarantine people.
We
were welcomed by Gunnar´s wife and daughter and had a few days together
before they went for a travel in Australia. Mette chose to sign off in
Cairns – she wanted to go backpack to Bali and meet with some friends
there.
Now
Dennis and René were alone on the boat and they managed to fix a lot of
things on the boat. The old lady has to be in good shape before the long
trip in the Indian Ocean. But this is no problem – in spite of her 28
years she had never been in a better shape.
Lise,
René´s sweetheart, arrived at Cairns in order to join us to Darwin and
probably also to spend a little time with René. And while René and Lise
enjoyed each other’s company Dennis went diving on the outside of Great
Barrier Reef together with Susan’s cousin, Teresa, and her boyfriend
Martin together with two of their friends, Tajo and Henrik. They arrived
by chance a couple of days after we did and they moved in on the boat
because Dennis was not to be left alone (René and Lise had moved to a
hotel).They had 6 dives in two days! Terrific dives but the water was not
as clear as we had seen it in the Pacific but we saw a lot of fish and
mussels at the size of a small washing maschine. They call them Giant
Clamps. When you touch them they close. You can actually put your whole
arm into them and if you are lucky you can get it out again!! They do not
close so hard, it is as if there are big lips to close up and they are so
soft that you easily can full your arm out. Exciting to try - especially
the first time!
Then
we sailed along Great Barrier Reef in sheltered waters and this was the
most terrific sail we had ever made-crystal clear water, no waves or old
sea and magnificent wind. It is marvellous to navigate among the many
islands, reefs and cays that you find all the way along the east cost of
Australia. Always something exciting to look at – at times you had to
mind one's P's and Q's in order to get round the natural obstacles. The
nature of Northern Australia is impressive. Close to the shore you could
see the most striking mountain- and rock formations in all sorts of
colours and at the reefs the landscape was filled with uninhibited atolls
everyone covered with lots of mangrove trees. Here we were with the
spinnaker and Lise at the helm-you cannot - it
couldn't be better even Lise enjoyed the sail because we were very steady
and still moving at a speed of 6-7 knots. You have to try it is not
explicable- sorry!!
We
made a few cosy stops on our way to Darwin. The first one was at Lizard
Island, a small island at the size of a shopping centre. We anchored deep
into a lagoon and a few nanoseconds later we were swimming in the
crystal-clear water. We could not dive here because it was only 7-10 m
deep but we snorkelled instead.-Then you can move more easily because you
do not have to carry the heavy weight on your back. You get used to hold
your breath and Dennis and René are able to hold it for about 2 minutes-
that is if they do not use too much energy submerging. At night we enjoyed
a nice meal and the good red wine Lise brought from the aeroplane. We
turned in pretty early because we had decided to climb to the only vantage
point on the island early in the morning. It is best to go early because
in the middle of the day it is so warm that it is hard to do anything but
lie in the water or sit in the shade with a lukewarm beer(..our fridge
finally got its deathblow) On our way up Lise suddenly screamed because
she saw Goanna Lizard, a giant liazard. It is not actually dangerous but
it acts aggressively defending its territory and it makes the sound of a
snake.
It
was a terrific view at the top and you could see everything from the
mainland to the outer reef. This was the place Cook found his passage,
Cooks Passage, of course.
After
a quick swim we left for Portland Road. Here we met the police who drove a
four-wheeler and they offered to drive us to a nice beach 10-12 km away
and even to bring us back. During our stay on the beach they went to visit
an aboriginal tribe. Nice people in Australia. When we came back to the
boat we invited them in for a cup of coffee and had a nice chat about
crime, aboriginals and crocodiles. Actually a crocodile of 4.5m was seen
at the exact same place as we had left our dinghy. As an example of the
hospitality we were met with was the offer we were given : we had run out
of toothpaste and one of the policemen offered to drive us 250 km back to
their base to get it and then return us the next day – when he was off
duty. Too wild and we did not avail ourselves of the offer. We were not
desperate.
The
rest of the trip to Darwin went nicely and the notorious “Torres
Straedes” north of Australia was covered without troubles. We had a
couple of fine stops at Thursday Island, Black Rock and Crocker Island.
We
had hardly arrived at Darwin before we were invited to Enne´s 50 year’s
birthday. He sails Nordstjerne, another Danish boat. In fact we are quite
a Danish colony here. 4½ Danish boats are staying here: Nordstjernen,
Condor, St. Ludmilla and ourselves plus Liselotte which includes a Swedish
man and Danish woman. We had a terrific party and Dennis was sent to bed.
But it was 5 o’clock-so..
On
27. July it was Dennis´birthday and the first part of our new crew
arrived. Christian (Dennis´ little brother) and two of Dennis´ sea
scouts, Claus and Christoph) were fetched at the airport early in the
morning. When they arrived the first party had just ebbing away but was
soon re-established- but at on a low flame.
24
hours later Michael (Rene’s big brother arrived) and the new crew was
assembled. Lise is still on board and now we are 7 on the little boat but
it is a question of will and it works nicely.
We
have stayed in Darwin for almost 10 days and spend the days hunting crabs
and preparing the boat for the Indian Ocean.
We
also made a great trip to Kakadu, the national park. We rented a minibus
for 4 days. Jesper, a young Danish guy from one of the other ships came
along. We drove many km the first day and visited an aboriginal centre
with good information of the area. Then we left for our first overnight
accommodation. Rather expensive-about 100 kr each for a dirty room for 10.
The following day we went on a boat trip to watch crocodiles. Great
success lots of crocks and we can tell you they don’t exactly look
friendly. We also saw old “graffiti” (caveman art) 3 waterfalls and
enjoyed ourselves swimming, jumping from cliffs etc. We had a long drive
back to Darwin. On our last day we saw Kathrine Gorge, a place where a
river runs through steep cliffs- beautiful but touristy and ups we had a
speeding ticket too. We drove 1200 km but this is only a small fraction of
Australia. A huge country.
Now
we start a lot of sailing from here and to the Maldives - a long distance
and the time is scarce. Lise leaves for Denmark 8. August und we plan to
leave on the 10th
Nice
greetings from the crew