We decided to stay in Airlie Beach for the rest of the weekend to see the remainder of the Reef Festival as more "family fun" was promised. Before we left for land on Sunday I noticed that on the Sunrise breakfast show James Tobin was doing the weather report from the back of jet-ski in Airlie Beach, had look out the companionway and saw him far across the bay! Watched him and his crew come back into the anchorage and the next report was done right near our boat... so close we could hear them warning him when he was due on but the camera angle was wrong for Luna Ray to be in the background. We landed the dinghy again near the lagoon and went down to the foreshore where they had a range of ... read more

Wednesday was a warm day with light balmy breezes. A perfect day for exploring a place I have had in mind for some time - Cole Island. Some years ago, on a flight up or down the coast I happened to look down and see a special island. A small one off the northwest of Lindeman Island that looks so perfect its hard to believe it isn't man-made. It has an off-centre irregular lump of land covered in bush, and 3 beaches connecting its projections forming a triangle of beaches. With barely any wind the motor to Cole Island was just over an hour. As we came around the bottom of Seaforth Island I noticed the cardinal marker for Spitfire rock was missing. Cole is not known as anchorage so this was something else special. Except ... read more

The new toilet seal arrived finally on tuesday which coincided with a calming of the wind and the first clear day in a while. So we headed north out of harbour walls and had a nice 4 hour sail, rounded the west tip of Brampton Island and anchored next to the public jetty. The next morning was clear with little wind, the first day its been warm enough to have breakfast in the cockpit and our first morning in the Whitsundays. Paddled to shore, breaking the left rowlock along the way! Carefully got out on the rocky beach beside the jetty and carried the dinghy to the high tide mark. Then over the old train tracks and followed the path to the resort which closed a couple of years ago. Along this path there were butterflies ... read more

16th July - Before some pre-passage checks - I've made a list from previous bad experiences - Naomi's dad invited us to check the VHF radio with him before we left. It had been fine the day before. We called him but never heard a reply via the repeater station and also never got the usual brief bit of static from the repeater after transmission. So we called the coast guard on Ch 16 and could talk to him OK but not on the repeater channels. Meanwhile, we later heard, Naomi's dad had heard our calling message, said a few things and goodbye, and signed off thinking our radio was fine! Curious but since we could still use Ch 16 it did not put off the trip. With trepidation we started our overnight passage at five ... read more

Well the time has finally come and we have left Yeppoon after 4 weeks. Its been a great stay, thanks greatly to Naomi's parents' hospitality, could happily stay longer but time marches on and the cyclone season is only a few months away so its well overdue that we leave. Did get lots of jobs done during our stay - resealed leaky toilet hatch, new brushes on anchor winch motor, stripper mounting welded, new spacer to correct welding, new raw water impeller, resealed impeller cover, had new front sail made, resealed impeller cover again, had new cockpit cover (bimini) made, cleaned fuel pre-filter, refilled gas tank, ordered new rope, made window supports, cleaned hull, sanded and repainted hull stripe on both side (biggest job by far), repaired sink cover, topped up battery water, ordered graphics for ... read more