Gentle day, put into Ballina to sit out some bad weather. The tail end of Cyclone Debbie that hit hard further north. As we were coming into the river, we were obediently leaving a port mark to our left when we gently touched bottom. A boat which was a short distance away then proceeded to move the mark!

Uncomfortable day motoring into wind and current. Glad to be stopped.

Light wind day, caught big tuna. Cyclone Debbie in North Queensland looks like it may be quite severe.

Shorter motor today to Port Maquarie

Light wind and a strong, 4 kt current against us, with a fair amount of rain. It was all made better by a pod of dolphins swimming with us just before Camden Haven.

Nice day sailing, 25kts broad reaching. Rainbows, flying fish, dolphins and black seagulls possibly shearwater...

Not much wind today, but good motoring. Impressive thunderstorm this evening. Glad we are in a sheltered spot!

Arrived in beautiful Jervis Bay. Not much wind today, but a great day. Looking forward to spending a few days in the bay

Nice sailing today. Arrived into Wollongong, saw a penguin in the harbour and tied up alongside a friendly boat

Anchored near the Zoo, awesome view of Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge!

Made it to Pittwater hooray! through 40kt headwinds and big seas which shredded our bimini, and nearly claimed our liferaft. Looking forward to sleep.

Left the Gold Coast, heading south. Nice to be at sea again, good sailing though upwind.

Left the Gold Coast, heading south. Nice to be at sea again, good sailing though upwind.

Got through the Jacobs Well shoals no problem. Bit colder today!

Moved to a more sheltered anchorage. Gradually heading south.

Nice sailboats from Scarborough marina. Saw another Dugong and a turtle.

Just got to Mooloolaba. Eventful day today. Gearbox seized, and couldn't get into forward. Fixed that, then I made Aussie Pies for lunch, and set fire to the oven. Put it out with our dry powder extinguisher, which covered everything with white powder. Coming into the marina, discovered the boat wouldn't reverse, which made parking more difficult. Ready for a beer now!

Another good day, through the sandy straits and the shallow Sheridan Flats without any problems.

Good day of sailing 20-25 kts of breeze, amazing wildlife including a Dugong, several rays, two turtles and many dolphins. What a place!

Made it to Bundaberg Port Marina, despite broken autopilot and nasty weather. Waiting for the quarantine man to come and check the boat for termites...

Labouring upwind under motor into Hervey Bay. Grey weather with rain. We thought Australia was supposed to be sunny!?! Not too far to go, we are looking forward to stopping. Autopilot still not working.

Autopilot not working all night, quite hard work. Has started working again now, fingers crossed it stays!

Close reaching, 10kts of wind. Flat seas, nice sailing, making good progress.

Light winds for a while, but we are in no hurry. Nice sailing.

Left New Caledonia, heading towards Australia. Good to be at sea again. Breezy start, 35kts. Settled down now.

Arrived to Noumea, excited to be here! Off to find cold beer.

Waiting for daylight to approach the island, and the pass through the reef.

Waiting for daylight to approach the island, and the pass through the reef.

Wind decreasing, but still making progress. Need to time the approach to make the pass through the reef in daylight.

Good 24 hour spell wind 20-25 kts on the beam. Flying along, seas a bit rough.

Light winds so far, but picked up a bit recently.

Winds 11kts, broad reaching. Good to be at sea again.

Winds 11kts, broad reaching. Good to be at sea again.

Made it to he lovely Vuda point marina. Tomorrow we pick up the new autopilot hopefully....

Anchored outside the cool looking Octopus resort. In the bar for cold beer and snacks.

Utterly beautiful anchorage near Sawa-i-iau Island Caves. Sweet little village, we gave our Kava to the head yesterday and today will do some exploring.

Beautiful anchorage in the Yasawa islands, and we bumped into our friends Colin and Tansin on Burmese Breeze. They kindly invited us over for Spaghetti!

Some beautiful sailing today, and another stunning anchorage.

Anchored in a new bay, and had a look round the local village. After presenting kava to the chief, we were free to have a look around. We saw the school, and the church and were invited in for tea with a family. Tomorrow we will take the school copies of the BBC wildlife documentaries we have.

We were heading to Vitu Levu, but too windy with gusts >35kts, so we detoured to Yandua. A very pleasant island that so far seems uninhabited. We are in a beautiful anchorage surrounded by coral, and had a turtle come and say hello.

Left Savusavu marina and dropped anchor outside of the fancy Cousteau resort.

In Copra Shed Marina, Savusavu