Am writing this aboard the windChalmer about 6 nautical miles south of Ballina. Getting good internet connections at sea. One day I connected to an unsecured wireless connnection and think it could have been a ship :) Good speed.
Again, we have had very light winds - so averaged about 4 k for the first two hours while sailing, then when we dropped to 1 or 2 k we kicked the engine over. So motor sailing yet again. I know our lovely friend Gary who lives in QLD and sailed everywhere said he motor sailed on the NSW coast more than anywhere else.
A very large dophin - about 10-12 feet followed us for quite a while, must have been old as he was pretty scared. Saw a few other, and a very large school of fish. A few fishing boats out today in the calm waters (like Lake Macquarie). While Ian had a sleep - a saw something odd in the water - junk? whale? right on our bearing, so altered course and a very large tree trunk went by. Must be one from the floods in Ballina maybe? The stories it could tell eh?
Oh yes, we got buzzed by an airforce F1 18 this morning. Larikin who needed something to do LOL. No was lovely. Reminded me of my brother and what he got up to in the airforce.
We are going to sail through the night tonight. Past Byron Bay - should go past that in the early evening. Full Moon by about 9 pm and then work our way up the Gold Coast.
So the next blog should be from the Gold Coast hopefully. :)
Our first overnight sail was lovely. Beautiful moonlit night and reasonable winds. As we came towards Southport the sunrise on port side was vying with a huge moon on the starboard side. Despite the concrete jungle, Southport did look good with the rise reflecting on the high rise glass.
Meet up with my cousins, Shirley, Trevor and Faye and also friend from school days Brian Dodds and his wife Jan. They own a cat - Another Angel - and work in Vanuatu Islands delivering medical staff and supplies to very isolated and disadvanted people. Great work Brian and Jan.
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| Rob on watch, Ian sleeping |
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| Another Angel - Medical Teams for Vanuatu |
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| Robyn sporting her new air dried hairstyle with her cousins in Southport |
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| Collecting the cousins |
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| Robyn, Shirley and Faye |
hi robin are you heading in to Manley, Brisbane after Gold Coast
ReplyDeleteNo not to Manley, we are on a rush to MacKay so I can fly back on 31st to see our new grandson, Euan Flynn and family and friends. So bypassing Brisbane this time. We want to spend about a week there and see you all then. Ian wants to catch up and go fishing with you :)
ReplyDeleteWhen we sailed through the night and it was very rough, we could see the lights of Brisbane in the distance and thought of you and Shazz tucked up in bed LOL. Am enjoying the adventure. The bad bits do go away.