Jonny and Kate's Sailing Adventures

It has been a busy two weeks moving into our new apartment.

I picked up the keys on tue 3rd and then went to the apartment on wed 4th to meet the moving guys who were bringing our stuff from the UK. They weren’t very impressed with the 3 flights of stairs but did a great job and got everything upstairs. Unfortunately despite the electricity company saying we were connected there was no electricity in the apartment so I had to go back to the apartment on Thurs 5th to meet the electrician. When we finally got keys to the switch room we hadn’t been switched on so that was a simple fix.

On the sat morning we left the hotel and got the ferry to Manly and picked up a hire van. We then went to Ikea (dining table and chairs, bed, bedside tables, lounge chairs), Fantastic furniture (sofa bed, tv stand), forty winks (mattress) and 2nds World (kettle, toaster, vacuum cleaner, iron and ironing board). On the way back to the apartment we navigated Sydney city centre to pick up our stuff from the hotel (including our ebay tv). Back at the apartment we started carrying things up the 3 flights of stairs!! Tony, White Hawk crew, came over to help so he and Jonny carried the larger items up the stairs. The boys then went to collect our ebay fridge and washing machine. The guys did a great job getting the heavy items up the stairs and I am very grateful to Tony for coming to help and getting me out of the heavy things. We then headed to the nearby mall to get some food and essentials to move into the house. By the time we were back it was too late to put the bed together so we slept on the mattress on the floor but we were so tired it didn’t matter!!

We spent Sunday putting together Ikea furniture. It looks abit like we are camping as our small amount of furniture doesn’t really fill the apartment. We are currently using the sofa bed in the lounge as a sofa until Jonny gets paid and we can buy a sofa. We are looking forward to the first pay check at the end of the week.

We had a busy week settling into life in our new apartment. Jonny is getting the bus to work which seems to be going well. He gets on early enough in the route to ensure he gets a seat which is good. Whilst Jonny is at work I have been busy sorting out paperwork and moving us into the apartment. On Thurs an electrician came out to fix some broken lights and smoke alarms. We have a plumber coming on mon to fix the leaking kitchen tap.

As Jonny got paid on Fri we decided to hire a car for the weekend and go and buy sofas and also look at cars on sat and then go to the boat on sun.

On Sat we managed to get 2 2 seater sofas from Ikea in the back of a Nissan Tiida!! After Ikea shopping we worked our way around the used car yards and managed to find a Daihatsu Applause in good condition with air con for $1400 (about £800).

On Sun we collected our ebay desk and then went up to the boat to pick up more stuff. This was our 3rd trip to move things off the boat and despite 2 suitcase bags and 2 ikea bags we still have things left on the boat!! With the car full we had a drive around the Pittwater area including Palm Beach (where Home and Away is filmed) which is a spectacular area that we are looking forward to exploring in the boat. The final thing to buy on Sunday was a bbq. After looking at a couple of options we managed to buy a bbq and squeeze it into the car. Back at the apartment Jonny set up the bbq so that we could use it to cook dinner.

It has been a crazy 2 weeks since finding the apartment but we are starting to get settled and the apartment is starting to feel like home.

Some pictures of our apartment - i love my washing machine (an ebay bargain) which has been running non stop since we arrived and Jonny was very pleased with his new bbq - after buying the bbq we had to go to the supermarket to buy some steaks for him to cook on it!!

I am still trying to find work. I am applying for teaching jobs to start in Jan, the new school year. I am hoping to get some temping work between now and Jan.

We seem to be settling back into land life ok although Jonny is missing the boat. We had a huge thunder and lightning storm last week and it took me a few minutes to realise that I didn’t have to be scared we would get hit and didn’t have to put the spare VHF, GPS and laptop in the oven!!

Last week has been a very social week. On Mon night we went out for a curry with Andy and Lauren (White Hawk Crew), Nick (White Hawk Crew) and his girlfriend and some of their other friends. This was my first visit to a curry house and it was a amazing – I cant wait to go back. On Thurs night we went to a bbq at Nicks house, on fri night we went to a local pub to celebrate a birthday, on sat I went to a tuperware party in the morning and then we went to a bbq with some of Jonnys work friends and on sun we spent the day with Ray and Brenda (Sunchaser).

We are enjoying our lives here and seem to be settling in well. We have made lots of new friends and are enjoying our new busy social life.

Here are our pictures from our time in Sydney:

Approaching the bridge and the opera house. It was a lovely peaceful morning in Sydney as we made our way through the harbour

Harbour bridge and Opera house

Sydney city CBD skyline

A popular form of transport in the city is the harbour ferries

Newtsville with the Bridge and Opera house

Opera House

Jonny and the opera house

Despite knowing we had plenty of clearance under the bridge it was still nerve wracking to approach it

Clearance under the bridge

Blackwattle Bay – located right in the centre of the city. A convenient anchorage but noisy due to passing traffic on the Anzac bridge. The first anchorage Newt has dragged her anchor so we only stayed one night.

Off Store Beach, Manly Cove. A gorgeous anchorage that we will definitely be returning to.

The tourist shot of us and the opera house

Jonny ready in his new suit for his first day at work with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

It has been a busy 2 weeks since we arrived in Sydney. We left Newtsville on her new mooring buoy in Careel Bay and moved into a city centre hotel.

After a lot of research and viewings we have found a place to rent. The house viewings system here is slightly crazy!! They have open days on a sat and wed where the agents open the house for 15 mins. You turn up with about 20 other people and try and view the property and decide whether it is for you. You have to decide and apply by the afternoon if you want the property otherwise it will be leased!!

After some ok, some bad and some very bad properties we have found a large 2 bed apartment in Fairlight about 10 mins walk from the beach. We get the keys on tue and are moving in at the weekend.

We spent last weekend in a hire car driving round looking for furniture. It was a crazy day trying to find beds, sofa beds, sofas, fridges, washing machine, dining tables etc all in one day.

This weekend we are hiring a van and going round to collect all our purchases before carrying them up 3 flights of stairs to our apartment!!

We have had a busy social time since we arrived catching up with people we met on the trip, meeting new friends and a PWC bbq.

Jonny started work at PWC today and I am trying to work my way through the mountain of paperwork to register as a teacher.

We seem to be making progress towards getting settled in and are looking forward to moving into our apartment. It definitely doesn’t feel like we have been here less than 2 weeks!!

Our pictures from Noumea, New Caledonia and Coffs Harbour, Australia. Unfortunately we didn’t have very long to explore New Caledonia because we got a good weather window across to Australia that we wanted to take. It looks like it would be an amazing place to do some cruising and we look forward to getting back there one day!!

Noumea, New Caledonia

From the Havannah Pass on the bottom south east corner of New Caledonia it is 50 miles through reef to Noumea. We didn’t know how hard it would be to navigate through the reef but the ‘small’ channel markers made it easy!!

One of our jobs in Noumea was to straighten the genoa track – Jonny had moved the car back and not locked it off and it bent the track. Warren (Memphis) with his blow torch and big hammer helped Jonny straighten the track.

The harbour at Noumea

Coffs Harbour, Australia

On the way into Australia we replaced our slightly faded red ensign with a new one.

The approach to the harbour

The approach to the marina

View of the marina from the top of Mutton Bird Island

We were very excited to make landfall at Coffs Harbour. Coffs Harbour is 250 miles north of Sydney. We are unsure whether we are going to do this as one leg or break it up into smaller hops. Hopefully the next pictures will include one of Newt and Sydney Harbour Bridge!!

We have had a great time in Fiji and have enjoyed re visiting some of the places we went to on our honeymoon 4 years ago.

On the way to Fiji at one point we had 2 fishing lines out ? they both caught a fish at the same time!!

Lautoka is a sugar cane city. On the docks is a sugar processing plant. Black ash from the dock blows over the anchorage.

The first picture shows the ash that was swept up in the cockpit

The second picture shows the ash in the bathroom because we forgot to shut the window!

At the market in Lautoka we bought kava roots to take to any villages we visited as a gift.

Vuda Point was a lovely marina just south of Lautoka. It was well protected and sheltered. It is abit isolated but is easy to get the bus/ taxi to Lautoka and Nadi. It is a great place to get work done.

Because we weren?t happy with the performance of our Sea Hawk antifouling we decided to re anti foul in Fiji where it was cheaper than Australia.

Christine Anne bought a new cruising chute and sock. They gave us their old sock which should make handling our cruising chute much easier ? we are only slightly worried about the green colour!!

The beautiful bay at Musket Cove where the regatta was held.

Making swords for the Pirate day kept the boys entertained for the afternoon!

Our pirate day costumes

Pirate day was held at Beachcomber Island

2 kite surfers also made the 10 mile trip from Malolo Lailai Island to Beachcomber Island

A hobie cat race was part of the regatta. The sailors amongst you will appreciate the special rudders!! Designed so the resorts guests can sail the cats over the reef but not great for performance!!

A party was held on the sandbar. It is underwater at high tide and appears as the tide goes out!!

A NZ vs the Rest of the World tug of war. The Rest of the world won.

Jonny taking the outboard to pieces to try and find the problem.

We entered the dinghy in the ?Best Dressed Dinghy? competition and came second. ?Monkey? was our very cute figurehead!

Our second place prize

Jonny and Jeff (Nemesis). The final night required sulas to be worn!

The resort staff perform some traditional Fijian dancing

On our trip through the Yasawas we anchored off a village and went ashore to explore.

We took some pencils, crayons, baseball hats and toys for the school which the children loved.

We were given a basket of papaya from the village

The engine needed an oil change before we left Fiji. Instead of paying expensive chandlery prices we found a store in town. They dispensed oil from the drums and we ended up with 7 coke bottles full of oil!!

We have really enjoyed the 3 weeks we have spent cruising around the Vava?u group in Tonga.

Neiafu is the main town which has a lovely market and lots of restaurants and bars.

Port Maurelle was one of our favourite anchorages with a nice beach, some nice walks and lots of whale watching.

We saw whales on the horizon several times but one trip from Port Maurelle to Neiafu we saw 3 different pods.

The lovely rainbow made up for the rainy weather!

We hoped to explore Swallows Cave by dinghy but unfortunately the weather was never good enough for us to get there.

Lisa Beach was a well protected and peaceful anchorage.

Larry and Sheri sailed through Tonga in the 80s and fell in love with it. They now live aboard their floating Art Gallery where Sheri displays her wonderful paintings. They were a lovely couple and we enjoyed 2 visits to the nearby anchorage.

To get to the eastern anchorages involves a slightly tricky reef pass which is marked by buoys but they are tiny so Jonny took the dinghy to explore first whilst I hung back with Newt.

We spent a couple of windy days hiding at Vaka?eitu which was a lovely spot.

On the way to Tonga we stopped at Niue for 4 days which is an amazing island. It is a coral island that has been pushed upwards twice by volcanic eruptions. The island is about 50m high but almost completely flat on top.

When we arrived there was just us and Calysta in the bay

You use a crane to lift your dinghy onto the wharf to protect it from the swell that can build

We had an amazing day driving round the island visiting caves, rock pools and chasms.

Avaiki Cave

Palaha Cave

Limu Pools

Talava Arch

Matapa Chasm

All around the island are ?sea tracks? leading to reef, caves or small beaches

Anapala Chasm

This is the main beach on Niue

Niue was an amzing place to visit and we strongly recommend any other yachts heading this way stop there.

Moorea

There is a sting ray feeding station in Moorea that we went to visit. The sting rays and black tip reef sharks were amazing.

View from the lookout on Moorea

Our anchorage in Moorea

Huahine

Waves breaking on the reef surrounding Huahine

Our sheltered bay with a mooring buoy

Jonny grating the flesh from a coconut to make coconut milk for the bread.

The beach at the north end of Huahine

Religious sites in Huahine

Overlooking the lagoon in Huahine

Bora Bora

As we are approaching Bora Bora

A stunning anchorage in the Bora Bora lagoon

Throughout July there is a festival held throughout the Society Islands. In Bora Bora they build a grandstand and a small village including bars, restaurants, shops and arcades.

There is a dancing and singing competition between the local villages. The first picture was the village singing the night we went to watch. The other pictures are of a different village dancing. Throughout the week each village sings and dances.

Whilst on the south end of Bora Bora we visited several snorkeling sites with amazing fish.

We are leaving Bora Bora over the weekend and will not have proper internet access again for about 2 weeks until we reach Tonga. If you wish to e mail us please use our sailmail address.

Tahiti, Society Islands

We had a prize giving for the Rangiroa to Tahiti race held at ?Le Truck?. ?Le Truck? is a group of catering vans that set up in the centre of Papeete in the evening and set out tables for you to eat at.

Tahiti Market

As we went from the anchorage to the town quay this outrigger had fun surfing on our dinghy wake!!

As part of the rally you could have a go on a traditional sailing outrigger

Kate and traditional dressed Polynesian men who were part of the Blessing ceremony for the rally

As part of the rally you got a free night on the town quay in Papeete. It was quite noisy and hot on the quay but great to be in the centre of town.

Our free rally t shirts!!

The best part of the rally for us ? the outrigger race with 4 cruisers and 2 locals per boat. We won our heat!!

One of the traditional games in the beach part of the rally. You had to carry the bananas on your shoulder and do a lap of the course.

The 2nd traditional game ? husking a coconut and trying to extract the most milk

The 3rd traditional game ? stone lifting. Our team didn?t enter this part!!

After the prize giving there was traditional Polynesian dancing.

The very busy anchorage at Moorea

Nuku Hiva, Marquesas

The view from the top of the cliff we walked up overlooking the bay and anchorage.

An example of Marquesan carving in the park

The Taiohae Bay anchorage

Ina (Lucey Blue) arranged an ice cream party to celebrate Norwegian Independence Day. This was Jonnys third bowl of ice cream!!

One of the reasons the tap water in Taiohae Bay is not drinkable is the pigs infecting the river

The crepe van on the dockside

We were surprised by the modern buildings on such remote islands

Daniels Bay ? a local called Daniel was relocated from this bay so the American programme Survivor could be filmed there.

A Tiki statue ? part of Marquesan rituals

The second largest single drop waterfall in the world

An early start to visit the Saturday morning market

A 39km outrigger race.

Manihi, Tuamotus

Well built modern buildings on a remote coral island

Russ and Ray came to pilot us into the lagoon and to the anchorage

A pearl house on stilts in the lagoon

The anchorage in Manihi

We visited a small family run pearl farm

A sign post showing we are more than half way between Panama and Sydney

The Tuamotus islands are made up of a ring of land with a lagoon in the middle. This picture shows the lagoon, the thin strip of land and then the sea on the other side.

Rangiroa, Tuamotus

The anchorage in Rangiroa

Rangiroa to Tahiti Race

As there were 13 boats leaving Rangiroa on the same day we decided to have a race!! You started your time when your anchor hit the bow roller and stopped as you crossed the first channel markers at Papeete. Engine hours had to be added to your time and based on a 40ft boat for every foot over 40ft you had to add ˝ hour and for every foot less than 40ft you could take off ˝ hour. Although this was only a rough handicapping it seemed to work well as the first 8 boats finished within 3 hours including a 34ft boat, 41ft boat and a 48ft boat.

At the start of the race with Rangiroa in the background

Here are our final pictures from the Galapagos:

Since leaving Panama it has been so hot that even the bimini doesn?t provide enough shade and we have had to make sides for the bimini from the shade netting we bought in Las Palmas.

After a delivery from Pegasus we finally got our parcels from Panama and are now flying our new Colvic Owners flag and Ocean Cruising Club flag.

Overlooking one of the bays is a statue of Charles Darwin

The large swell in our last few days in the Galapagos caused a local fishing boat to end up on the rocks.

and from our passage from Galapagos to Marquesas:

We weren?t expecting the grey overcasy skies and to need our wet weather gear in the Pacific!!

Throughout the 22 days we saw some spectacular sunrises and sunsets

This was our 2nd catch of the trip ? a wahoo. (We were so excited by the 1st fish ? a blue fin tuna ? we forgot to take its pictiure!!)

Our 3rd fish of the trip ? a MahiMahi

During the 22 day passage we saw a German boat called Ohana, one freighter and this 90ft wooden sloop called Seljm

At 3pm we saw land for the first time ? you can see the very faint Fatu Huku?.

.... But we didn?t arrive at Nuku Hiva where we were making landfall until 7am the next morning!!

Newt needed a good clean when we arrived!!