Australia, Part Two May 6
Seth and I are back aboard Heretic after spending the winter in the United States. After I earned my degree in December, we taught high school academics at Mt Mansfield Winter Academy in Stowe, Vermont, a seasonal private school designed for ski racers. Seth also taught skiing to very young children at Sugarbush resort, and we both enjoyed quite a few days skiing there and in the surrounding backcountry. While it was great to see snow again, and catch up with family and friends, we are happy to continue sailing.
We returned to Heretic where we had left her in the marina in Yorkey’s Knob, a sprawling suburb of Cairns. She was in good condition after her 7 months’ stay; thankfully for us, the hurricane of early March hit Australia further south. Nonetheless, she kept us hard at work on maintenance. We have been busy varnishing to protect against the terrible UV light down here, and repairing a few tears in our jib and mainsail. As marine parts are much less expensive in the United States than in Australia, we were careful to buy those which we wanted to replace. Among other things, we were able to replace a stanchion base which the jib bent when we were hit by a low pressure sailing up to Fiji last year.
Our major maintenance problem has been the Yanmar engine we acquired in New Zealand. We thought that running fresh water through the raw water intake would prevent bad corrosion. We were wrong. Concluding that the engine had seized, we called in a mechanic, who promptly told us we had to haul and have it entirely taken apart. This would mean another month in Cairns, most of it spent on the hard, as well as thousands in mechanic and yard bills. Just as we were getting ready for this ordeal, however, Max, an Aussie who kept his boat in the marina, stopped by for a chat. Max had grown up on a farm and had much experience with tractor engines. In typical Aussie fashion, he asked why we hadn’t just dealt with it ourselves: “Just take the head off–it’s only a couple of bolts.” So we got out Nigel Calder and gave it a try. Two days and a bottle of Inox (Aussie WD 40) later, we had the pistons moving again, and new head gasket ordered.
With the engine running again, we were excited to see something of the Great Barrier Reef. Nonetheless, we were not able to escape Yorkey’s Knob before witnessing one of Australia’s biggest holidays in action: Anzac Day. Something akin to our Memorial Day, the Aussies had a short service in remembrance of the fallen troops before turning to the important business of the day at the bar. In fact, the bar was such an important part of the day that they even held the service there.
A few days later, we had a blustery sail out to Michaelmas Cay, where the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park has set up a couple public moorings. The little cay was nothing more than a scrap of sand with scrubby grass, but appeared to be home to a very large population of sea and shore birds. Day and night terns, boobies, noddies, and the like wheeled and called overhead and roosted on the shore. We did our first dive in months, and were excited to see three big trevally, two sea turtles, and some of the largest parrotfish yet.
We are now in Port Douglas, a much smaller and frankly prettier town than Cairns, with a quiet anchorage in the mangroves. So far, the highlight here has been the Rainforest Habitat, where we witnessed a stork building a nest, and many kangaroos loping around the grasslands. We plan on being here for a few more days before continuing our cruise up the coast. We are hoping to stop in a variety of places along the way to do some hiking and some diving. Not far from here is a nice hike on Cape Tribulation, and the Hope Islands a little further north reportedly have good anchorages. We will make a short stop in Cooktown, the last town before Thursday Island, before going on to Lizard Island and the Torres Strait.
Cheers,
Ellen and Seth