Happy days! We picked up Kathleen from the airport on Horn Island in the afternoon on the 25th June. Amy was more excited than anyone, from months she has be asking “how long till Fluff gets here?” and for the last fortnight she has been marking off a calendar that she had made. Finally after all the wait Amy ran up and jumped all over Kathleen.
Jumping for Joy
Finally has her sister back
After we went back to the boat we motored across the channel to anchor off Thursday Island. Kathleen was running fevers, had a rash and feeling pretty crook. We wanted to make sure there was nothing that was going to turn ugly halfway across the gulf so we had a trip to the hospital for a checkup. They took some blood but suspected it was only a virus and nothing to worry about. There is a bit of dengue going around Cairns and we were worried it could have been that or some other mosquito transmitted disease. Thursday Island is the administrative center for the Torres Strait. For a small population it has good services and the hospital was big and well staffed, but because everything has to be bought in by boat, it’s expensive. Food is about double, I had a gas bottle refilled and it was $65, fuel is $2.10 a liter, a look in the real estate window has a four bedroom house for rent at $1000 a week.
There was a terrific weather window for the crossing of the Gulf of Carpentaria, so we headed over to the mainland to Siesia. This little town has a caravan park for the mostly 4WD’s that tackle the track to the top of Australia and a supermarket, we made use of both. First a quick shop to have fresh supplies for the passage and then a much enjoyed shower, long and good pressure, not the quick splash out of the shower bag. So after a 5 hour passage to Siesia, shopping and a shower we were ready for the 3 day passage to Gove, we left that afternoon. Poor Kathleen, sick as a dog then rushed around all day before a big passage straight off the plane. The rush was worth it. The passage was very comfortable, we have really been very lucky with the wind. For the week we stayed in Cooktown we were blown onto our side with the rub rails underwater and I was not looking forward to this part of the trip as strong winds a typical up here at this time of the year. But the gods have been kind and we have probably had two days where the wind was over 25 knots since Cooktown, mostly 15-20. Probably shouldn’t be talking like this too soon, got to get back yet!
Amy looking after a very sick Kathleen on the first night across the gulf
On the 27th June I woke my wife at 2:00am to say “happy anniversary, now it’s your turn to take the watch”. We have been married for 21 years! Later in the day we exchanged some gifts but mostly slept as neither of us sleep well on the first night out.
Favorites, my favorites
After 69 hours and 360 miles we arrived in Gove. This place exists as it does because of the massive bauxite reserves around here. It has a population of 4500 and that qualifies it as the Northern Territories 4th largest town! The anchorage is huge and comfortable. At the head of the bay is the Gove Yacht Club and not much else. The town is a 11km walk (or $70 return taxi fare) on a sealed track that is separate from the road. We dropped anchor at about lunch and made our way to the club for a beer. The caretaker offered to give us a lift to town on Monday which we accepted but we also walked to town as everyone need to do something after spending all that time on the boat. We checked out the town and done our shopping at Woollies and also ordered our fireworks before catching the taxi back.
On the way to town
The Northern Territory still has a cracker night. Every other state in Australia has banned fireworks but you can still buy them here on one day of the year. The kids were pretty excited and so was I. I grew up with cracker night but they have not experienced the joy of blowing something up. The caretaker of the club invited us and some other yachties to the club for the night. We all had a good night but the locals scared us with stories of crocs and when we left the tide was right out and it was very dark. It was a long dingy trip back.
Fun!!!
Next day we headed towards the Hole In The wall. This is a narrow passage 64 meters wide and a mile and a half long. On spring tide the current can rush through here at 10 knots and to be in there at that time is said to be terrifying. Again one of the locals told us horror stories about this passage and we were a bit nervous about going through. We timed our passage to go through at the top of the tide and the water inside was close enough to slack. Once inside the water went really calm and we enjoyed the views and the knowledge that we conquered the Hole In The Wall.
Hole In The Wall
Half way
Some of the rock walls inside.
The anchorage on the other side.
One the way we had one of the seams on the headsail come apart. The material of the sail is fine but the thread that is holding them together is perished. I’m disappointed as we paid a guy in Yamba to refurbish this sail only 9 months ago and we have now had to re-stitch this sail 4 different times by hand as the thread has given way. This time there was a 3 meter section that needed to be re-done, triple stitched, it took ten hours!
Hand stitching the headsail, not happy
Now we have left the hole in the wall and are sailing overnight to Goulburn Island, 180 miles. We should be in Darwin in about a week.
2 comments:
hawkeye says the old sea dog lives syill even ian has taken the part of blackbeard with his new found whiskers.
i am not suprised that everything is going to plan, you are all doing what a true sailor does plans and execyes them in a professional fashion, WOMEN do a good job at sewing as it leaves them busy so us men can have some peace from the nagging
Blackbeard's wife ordered that the whiskers walk the plank.
Post a Comment