Time to clock up some very pleasant ocean miles from Fiji to Tanna ( Vanuatu).
It was easy down wind sailing, but we did manage to rip the clew out of the main sail – boats there is always something to fix, but over all it was a very pleasant 464nm to Port Resolution and a very smooth check in process, where the officials on Tanna travelled across the island to check us in. Our luck was in that day as some boats had been waiting days to check in and not only did we get checked in promptly, but that afternoon we were piled in the back of a 4 wheel truck and taken on an extraordinary dusk expedition up Mount Yasur, a very active volcano!
The trip in the truck was extremely uncomfortable as there were no paved roads just very uneven cart tracks leading to the Volcano. It was incredible just stood on the crater rim as the sun set and the fiery lava became visible against the dark sky.
We made the short sail to Port Vila and spent a very pleasant few days preparing from our passage to Australia. John also created an excellent design and fix for the mainsail clew, he did an awesome job of making it a lot stronger than the original design.
The passage from Vanuatu to Bundaberg Australia was another awesome ocean passage, 1102 nm and mainly down wind sailing. It took us 7 days with very kind seas, a few fish were caught and it was mainly light sailing winds, with the parasailer flying beautifully.
The Australian check in at Bundaberg marina was one of the most professional, well organised and sensible processes we have experienced. Yes, it was thorough but they came prepared with all our prefilled paperwork and their inspections, and questioning made us feel they were doing a great job of protecting the Australian boarders.
We spent a a very pleasant week in Bundaberg taking receipt of our new toys: electric bikes, minicat, new lithium batteries, updated starlink, and boat bits galore!. We had great fun scooting around on the bikes and enjoying the good food and well stocked stores. That week our preparation for the Australian coast included John fitting Air con,- blissful on those scorching days, I made fly screens, and we took to biking rather than swimming for exercise due to shark warnings!. We also topped up the sunscreen store, bought new hats and I have come to love my UV shirts.
Fraser Island and an inland shortcut to Brisbane was our next very pleasant potter, with a fair wind and tide to take us past Brisbane port and up the Brisbane river dropping our hook in the middle of Brisbane city. Now it was time for some city slicking!. The cycleways in Brisbane are awesome, and it’s very pretty especially around the south bank. The food, our anchoring location and access to everything by bike really brough a huge smile to our faces, it was just fun to be in the middle of the city for a week.
A week of city slicking was enough and we headed out of the river to visit the islands around Morton bay before taking the outside passage down to the Gold coast. Not only was the weather good to us again, but there is 2 kt current helping us go south, all you have to do is wait for the wind to turn from the north, check the tides at the next inlet and off you go! Gold Coast here we come….
Video of a few weeks on Joline:
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