After a lovely few days of gently bobbing, cool breezes & overcast skies (& now polished stainless rigging & staunchions) we have cruised around to the other side of Maggie Island & dropped anchor in a quite sedate Horseshoe Bay for an upcoming blow. We'll hang here for a few days & a catch up with Swifts' Rob & Judith before we decide what comes next. I should point out Skipper was given a used kayak & replaced my paddle board "Kat's Island", I've had it for 27 years & fibreglass was sodden, apparently! As always, click on pictures for enlargement.

We have finally departed the marina & have dropped anchor at Bolger Bay NW of Magnetic Island. No chance of any solar power as very overcast today, which makes it a perfect opportunity to polish the stainless.

Pre- departure update, we were going to leave today but have been rain delayed & will finally be at anchor come Saturday! Doing our final jobs, Skippers' serviced the main winches & furler lines washed, they were going green. We'll do a final fresh veg top up & laundry & a few catch up's with friends then we're off.

Let's try this. Woo hoo, it's working. I'm back, had some issues with YIT server. Well, I spoke to soon about the rain stopping, it's been endless & breaking all kinds of records. Floods, shops & roads closed, & a repreave at present from the deluge. Rod has now finished both engines (in closed hatches) & moved onto the generator, this weekends project, changing over to new glowplugs (makes the genny fire up). We're pretty much loaded up with our stores & spares & all sections organised, just delayed on washing covers, nothings drying. We're down to 24 days remaining in the marina & can't wait to be on anchor again. Oh apparently there is an issue on email alerts if anyone is using them, currently not working! Going out to Ardo's for lunch today with Ziggy & Tessa.

Nearly 3 months of non-stop rain has finally come to a end & water has subsided, roads have been re-opened & groceries are getting through. Skipper has serviced the Port side engine doing a cylinder head overhaul, starboard engine to follow. Had a build of barnacles in the inlet & hoses to the A/C pump, (the day it was 40 deg) so extremely hot whilst clearing the hoses etc, but clever skipper got it back up & running. Had a fun afternoon/evening with friends for my birthday yesterday with strawberry & mango daiquiri's, champagne & tiramisu!

Well heavens, it sure has rained on us here....(understatement of the year), crikeys, absolutely pouring & currently no end in sight! One minute hot as, next wet as, oh well, wet season really taking it's toll here this year, massive floods etc, but we're all good & no real ingress into the Bubble, but for stitching in clears not waterproofed! We had a great day in the wet for Australia day bbq (was to be up top) moved onboard. We caught up with some friends from Vic, who get very wet out in crazy weather, great to catch up. Whole trees down, branches strewn & debris floating in the water with crocodiles & we're about to get another weekend full of water. Not much else happening I'm still reading, onto my 19th in a row as skipper has started ordering parts & spares for engine & taking head off & servicing injectors etc. Looks like it will be clear weather for my birthday at least & we'll all be back to moaning about the heat!!!

Our fortnightly update, been super hot here, as to be expected, with about 5 more weeks of the worst left, so not to much outside activities. Skipper has replaced both toilets with new LED blue toilets seats, very cool, & has spent considerable time updating our Open CPN Charts. We have emptied one front locker, preparing for a paint job (too hot) & offloaded our old scuba tank! I've read several JD Robb books, excellent. We have both spent the day making new bridles for Pelagic II, me a 3 strand splice, skipper doing top job on a double braid. We are preparing for Australia day celebrations with a bbq & pavlova up top of the marina. Happy Birthday Mum.

We are now back in Townsville after our nice trip away. I managed to get a lot of gardening done with my new knee coming along & made good use of the Skipper doing several jobs around the house! We have now decided that we are over the heat & desparetely wanting to get back out on the water & in it for a swim, paddle boarding etc away from all things FNQ wanting to eat us! We had a crocodile in the marina 31st Dec, so no going near the edges! Unfortunately we are not covered by insurance until the end of cyclone season so we're stuck here, we will just start getting our stores back up & readying Bubble for her next venture.

We he have had a lovely Christmas with old sailing friends on Duet who gave up the sea for the land & had our friend Michelle come up to join us at Landsborough after horrrid trip on train & bus (track was flooded from Townsville to Mackay, ergo bus to Mackay) Bring on the survey, ha! We were also able to meet up with another Kerry & Rick from Starfish who have left their vessel in Lan Cowie, Malaysia, we may join them for a jaunt! Off to Michelle's tomorrow for another week & don't know if YIT will continue in the New Year!

Skipper has completed the removal, relining & installation of new 4 burner, griller stove which, naturally required adjustments of stove shelf & lowering under top of drawer beneath. I'm currently making a helm cover for a friend. We have had quite a bit of rain in the last few weeks which has kept the temperature down, & have had numerous catch ups with friends. We are now worrying about our rail trip south with all this rain & possibly cancellation due to floods, so here's hoping, Merry Christmas!

Quick update on yet another rainy, drizzly day which is great, in that it's keeping it quite cool (for Townsville) & has been since we first came into the marina. Skippers' been busy refurbishing Portlights & looking into options for a new stove as replacement seals are no longer available! I have been making various items & continuing with culling.

Skipper has been up & down mast & problem was discovered with anchor light cable having weird horizontal markings, haphazardly in a small section of cable approximately 1cm wide, for about 1.5mtr, 3.5mtr down from the top of the mast, & now we have removed Nav light cable only 2 spots less than a cm! All new insulated triple core tinned wire installed & bright shiny lights ablaze, yay! Husband did good! I have continued the cull & sorting down Port side of vessel & we now move onto freshening up paint in lockers etc.

We have settled back into marina life, catching up with friends & have just seen the movie "Lee", highly recommend. I've been busy clearing out lockers & shredding reams of paperwork no longer required whilst Skipper has been busy renewing cabin window inserts (4 of), changing from brown to white. Next job, is to go up the mast & see if it will be an easy fix to get the anchor light repaired, (he has a cunning plan), we just need an overcast day, so as not to fry in the sun & no wind, luckily we have steps up the mast so I'm only really winching bosuns chair up & not his weight!!!

With very few northerly anchorages & skipper out of beer we have decided to come into the marina a few days early. We have had a lovely time just hanging on anchor, trying to take photo's of F18's & chasing Shearwater birds off the boat, constantly, pooping everywhere & weird clacker birds trying to nest in Boom bag, determined little blighters! We ummed & arred about coming back here for cyclone season or to go down to Gladstone, figure we'll take our chances here for a cyclone versus constant storms down south, plus Darwin is the plan for the New Year.

Up early, again, had a nice sail back to Magnetic Island, Bolger Bay for 2 nights before we headi around to Horseshoe Bay, Thusday. Had a lovely day yesterday at Yanks Jetty at Orpheus Island & got a few nice photos & on the way here, got a serious buzz by 2 F18 Hornets flying sideways, straight at us less than 50 metres, the noise was incredible, skipper, in the right spot could see the pilot's helmet, so crazy close, awesome!!!!

We've headed back to Orpheus Island, picking up a mooring & will stay overnight before heading back to Magnetic Island.

We've come 20nm south, down the Hinchinbrook Channel to Haycock Island for an overnight stay prior to our return to Orpheus Island. Skipper made a few hundred litres of water, whilst I turned flat sheets into fitted. Rod spotted a shark & I saw a big sea snake, plenty of turtles but no croc or dugong spotted.

Up at 7am & off to Macushla Bay at the top of Hinchinbrook Island to wait out the next blow & to make some fresh water from the clear blue sea.

Took Bubble over to the service wharf at the Tsv marina yesterday where skipper filled up a few jerry cans, (fuel tanks already full), & put on some water whilst Jeff whizzed me up to get my Coles order etc & then back to Bolger for the night before we departed at 7am to Orpheus Island today arriving at 13:30pm. After skippers been up & down the mast a 1/2 doz times we've determined no power from somewhere a 1/3 of the way up the mast, so we'll need to run new cable. We have enough external light so we have decided to cruise north as is, & fix it when we have to return to the marina for cyclone season, again!!!

30 knot Southerlies have finally stopped, only for a few days however so we have moved around to NE side back to Bolger Bay where it's not so swelly after the blow & I now get to send the skipper up the mast to see whats going on with our Anchor light, hopefully just a loose wire, then we will decide if we're heading North or South pre cyclone season berthing.

Arrived at Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island to tuck in for next weeks blow, then head off once that's gone through, still undecided where we will base for cyclone season! Solar panels took a little longer as original concept didn't quite work, ergo a few more design changes & then additional bracing incorporated so we now have 1.4 kilowatts, so we'll see how we go!

We are back in the marina, just in time for skipper to sign for our Solar panel & various other bits & bobs! We copped quite a bit of smoke & ash with a wind change at Young bay & glad to have moved on to begin our re-configuration & installation of new panel, hopefully it all goes well & we're out within the week!

We have up anchored & come to the western side of Magnetic Island to Young Bay for a few days. We've had a few catch ups with various friends for skippers birthday & a surprise meeting with another couple we know from North Haven at the bus stop! There's been quite a display of whales breaching as they head south but didn't see any this morning. Maggie Island race week starts today so we'll have a better view as they all pass by with spinnakers out!

Lovely to be back hanging on an anchor, and we've had some absolute pearler conditions! We've had 2 boats come into the bay from our marina in North Haven SA, and had a couple of catch ups with them as well as 2 neighbours from Breakwater marina! Skipper's been busy monitoring new Lithium Phosphate Lifepod 4 batteries & as suspected we're right on the edge, so we have decided to get another 415amp Solar Panel taking us up to 1.4kw. As a consequence (& whilst keeping in touch with Pa 93yrs who's a bit dodgy) we have decided to assist Anapa going on the slip & go back to the marina (hopefully for only a week) to use marina car to get parts & fit panel etc, order everything now and go in 2nd Sept!

We have moved around to Horsehoe bay, eastern side of Magnetic Island to catch up with friends on Anapa, stretch our legs onshore, & see how I go with my knee getting in the tender!

Well, woo hoo & ye ha, we have finally escaped the shackles that have bound us to the marina & we can get back to cruising. We have anchored back at Bolger Bay west side of Magnetic Island, we will hang here for a few days just to check that all systems are go & whilst we monitor new batteries.

Another Antifoul completed, Rods 36th time, my 26th! Luckily wind & rain abated & we got back to our berth with the help of Anapa's, Jen & Tony. Bubble painted, polished, legs serviced & new anodes, job done. Now it's clean up time & get vessel ready to leave Townsville sometime next week, weather dependent.

I've returned to Townsville, back onboard, on the hard at Rosshaven Marine, the less said about that the better! Skipper has done a great job on his own with the boat fully sanded, legs & props cleaned & he has nearly finished polishing the starboard side. We getting the ice chill factor all the way up here, Brisbane airport was freezing & not much better here! The car has been sold so thanks to Jeff for picking me up. The wind is going to continue to blow next week which is going to make it tricky for us to get back in the water as well as to the marina, so time will tell. Big thank you to Michelle once again for looking after me, at least I was there to celebrate her Birthday, cheers!

Update on the "Bubble", skipper has been doing everything whilst I continue to recover from sugeries, I've had stitches removed & been given "gold stars" for both operations in terms of recovery, so we are effectively good to go, however with the slip it's too much for me going up & down stairs etc so I'm back in Brisbane (COLD) & Rod took boat around for the slip today & with 25kn winds the lift was cancelled until Tuesday! Everyday we get closer to leaving the marina & we now have the car up for sale with a possible buyer, not long to go!!

Sorry, been a problem, but thanks to Mike at "YIT" I think we're sorted! So skipper has finalised the completion of the installation of Lithium Lifepo4, woo hoo, nothing blown up, all systems good, minimal drama, yay! I went ahead with hand surgery last Wednesday & with that & knee surgery "I'm living the dream" (pain) & skippers been doing 12-14hr days climbing in & out of engine rooms a zillion times. Here's the the good news though we have another 4 weeks to go before we finally get to leave Townsville marina & get back out on the water, down side, we have to slip Bubble again, blà! Stay tuned!

Current update, after my flight back on a Fokker 100 straight out of the 1970's complete with ashtrays in armrests I am back onboard, & getting around albeit still gingerly with my new knee! Skipper has progressed with Lithium batteries & almost ready to shut down boat for change over, having to get new cables, lugs, fuses etc & make them all up & then we'll have to plug 240v freezer into marina & jury rig fridge for maybe a couple of days. Here's hoping not too many drama's.

We made a split decision last weekend to go back up to Cairns & join Tessa & birthday boy Ziggy & also to attend a Cruising Qld group of yachties at Zorkies knob. We got to catch up with old friends & meet knew ones, good times. Onto more important things, I now have a new knee WOO HOO! Apparently sugery went very well, I had a lovely private room with own ensuite, great meals & nurses very nice, bar 1 "nurse Ratchet"! Left hospital straight to the airport & Brissy, where I had 3 seats for my leg to rest upon & now being nursed by my friend Shell. Meanwhile Skipper is having a wonderful time drawing up electrical configuration diagrams as we make the change over to Lithium batteries!

So for a fortnightly update we're still keeping busy as we wait for new knee, 9 days to go. Skippers been putting LED lights under the cockpit & saloon tables & also the undersides of our cabin beds, complete with dimmer switches, super cool. He's also serviced engines & genny. I've had a lovely time cutting up old sheets & dyed with food colouring & making some funky overalls for the slip, also made a new dress.

Quick update, unfortunately I managed to pick up skippers lurgy & got a cold!! Yep, so surgery was cancelled....fill in the blanks, the alternative was I could have gotten a case of pneumonia, so bum, bugger & poo however, I do now have another date for 11th May, so stuck here a bit longer. On the upside we got our sliding doors back, which look fabulous, super happy, with clever husband (after getting his 2nd ever cold & giving it to me)!

Sorry, issues again with site, so, catch up... we've just spent 4 days in Cairns with our Pelargic friends, & drove through Palm Cove up to the markets in Port Douglas & have just returned to the boat in preparation for surgery Wednesday. Skipper's been up the mast & repaired the wind/speed meter, legend that he is & sails are back on, of course, nothing goes smoothly on a boat so whilst dragging main up on to the boom it snapped the bracket base on the AIS, awesome, so new base & re-run wires...woo hoo, eassy peassy!!!

So back here in Tsv, & hope everyone had a Happy Easter. Skipper has been very busy making framework for sliding doors either side at midships, just have to wait for the doors to be cut now, whilst I've been re-making hatch covers that have turned turtle with the heat here, pre knee op! We now need to sort wind meter at top of mast, put main & headsail back on & start getting vessel ready for movement without me!

Woo hoo, it's back working! Took a bit of clever investigation, (well I thought I was clever) & I located the domain host for the YIT website & rang NZ & we're back in business! Well I guess following on, floor is all done & skirtings throughout back on, & boat looks quite good. Ultimate news is I've been upgraded & moved over to a private hospital & I'm getting a new knee, 17th April! So whilst we've been waiting, Skippers just landed back at Maroochydore after a week in Adelaide & will be driving down to Brissy where I'm staying at Michelle's, eta 12pm whilst we have Col Quinrig give mainsail a birthday & make a new front cover.

Well, thankfully TC Kirrily didn't double back, got some great sky shots following though! We have quite a bit going on with both hull floorings cut & laid (not glued & not the shed floor), we are now working on entrance & saloon, pretty tricky trying to cut & lay, when nowhere to cut, but we'll get there. The replacement unit for Aft, stbd A/C has arrived & skipper is starting on that, supposedly straight fit replacement (but of course not)! We have had to buy a replacement 96 led light for our cockpit, which carked it (weird flashing white & blue) & then our awesome ceiling fan died 4yrs old, luckily got a new one half price, woo hoo $20! Also Sirroco nav room fan died on special $180, along with boat hook finally ceased after going for a swim, I think in the Hawkesbury!! We had a marina cyclone debrief which is helpful for all & caught up with friends.

So here's an update on Cyclone Kirrily here in Townsville. After mandatory evacuation at 2pm, we left the boat & promptly got hit by a heavy rain shower prior to reaching the car! Arrived at the Lodge & got safely tucked into the 2nd last end unit, there wasn't masses of rain & wind due to locality, but come midnight she whirly gigged her way through, with evac sirens sounding, I sat happily on the balcony, very protected, as was the car, skipper & Phil both asleep (both exhausted). Not huge carnage here, winds 175km, power was turned off at the marina, lost tv signal at the lodge when upgraded to Cat 3, (ergo watching storm). We returned to the marina 8.30am, ran up generator having used 7amps an hr overnight, fridge & freezer on 240v hanging on invertor (wind genny tied off), prior to power being turned back on. Have proceeded to put everything back on, boat dry, no damage & all good! Thankfully it was nowhere near as bad as predicted. Hopefully it doesn't double back!

I thought I'd do a quick update pre our Cat 2 cyclone!! So Bubble has been stripped as best we can, mainsail rolled into boom furler, headsail off, bagged & downstairs, tender & solar panel ratchet tied, top panels & portico strapped down (only just got them, store empty). All covers, cushions etc removed, all hatches locked down & she has been double roped in her pen. The full moon was bringing a king tide but that is no longer an issue (we hope). Evacuation is happening between 12 -3 pm & we will be heading off to stay at Yongala Lodge with neighbour Phil. On other matters, we laid (not glued) our cabin with new flooring & we both hate it, so are waiting on our next choice to arrive & also our port aft A/C condenser has a crack in it, so waiting on a new one of those, hopefully we'll still have a boat to come back too! Oh and skipper did an interview with a reporter onboard for The Bulletin!

Happy New Year, apologies for the delay, we have had quite a bit on & it's only going to get worse with our latest lot of madness! Firstly I must say I am loving my new collapsible silicone container drawer Shell bought for me, yay! I've made some more glasses coasters & a new dress, & restitching covers with the good cotton. Skippers been busy with various jobs, mainly the overhaul of the stbd engine water pump & currently putting on a bigger water trap for the A/C, too much floating debris from the rain (currently some choice words abound). We've had the sad passing of our Townsville friend Crumpy, who Rod has known for some 42 years, so catching up with other long not seen mates. So now for the madness, we have decided to renew our floors throughout Bubble with 2mm Vinyl floorboards, argh (I can already hear the swearing) so I am merrily drawing up the floor plan to get a sense of our requirements. I have only 3 days to go before seeing the specialist about my new knee & info as to how much longer we have to wait!

Merry Christmas to all & hope it was a good one! Well skipper has run cables (more holes in boat M) & fitted & connected up the Starlink system, we sailed all the way from Adelaide & barely lost signal with our booster, but for NT & outer reef we can use this. We've had fun at the marina Christmas party, & catch ups with others & have been joined by my friend Michelle for Christmas, I've whipped up a dress for her & are just now driving back to the marina after a lovely cool swim in Little Crystal Creek followed by a great lunch at the Rolly pub. It's Shell's last day with us today & she gets to fly back to Brisbanes carnage of weather!

I've had a bit of a log on issue, so apologies for delay. So we had done all our prep work for Cyclone Jasper, lots of doubling up on ropes etc, I didn't think it looked like it was going to hit here but may possibly double back in the next week! That said, our friends just got back to Aust from New Caledonia & raced fron Bundaberg (check in) up to here ahead of cyclone, so good times have been had with them. We've started up on various jobs, 1 being the sorting of the hoses, (we have a zillion). I am back on the sewing machine repairing huge covers for Phil & sewing replacement covers for us. Skipper now busy drilling yet more holes in boat (sorry M) for Starlink cable (new WiFi connection) bought awhile ago, but has neither been needed nor set up & wired. Tomorrow we have our marina party (postponed because of cyclone), so spent sometime stitching snow & fir to my red dress!

Bit more than 2 weeks for an update, sorry. Had nearly 3 weeks in Brisbane gardening with my friend & I'm now back in Townsville with humidity at 70%, just on the edge of the storm that saw my flight delayed by nearly 3 hours, great lighting strikes in the air! Skipper has been busy re-vamping heads, re-coating varnish work & spending money, buying a new microwave an air fryer & a car, (being that were stuck here for 4 months) we can get out & about more without 2 hour limitations on a car.

With blue skies the weather has been lovely, 10kn breeze & pretty much 30 degrees every day. Rods back dealing with anchor winch spare motor & I've made a new bbq cover, tool bag & 1 1/2 tops! We've had a few trips out & about & catch ups with friends & getting organised for BrissyTuesday.

With the ferries going to & fro the island, Picnic's anchorage is far to rocky/rolly for us & we have now returned to the marina as our base for the wet season, keep insurers happy against cyclones, whilst our friends on Pelargic are facing Cyclone Lola in Noumea, so fingers crossed for them. Rod will have to fly to Adelaide, whilst I go to Brissy & wait for a new knee!

We moved around to Bolger Bay to make some fresh water the day before, having caught up with Roo bin esq & meeting Jen & Tony off Anapa & have now moved around to Picnic bay, keeping an eye out on possible cyclone around Solomon Is.

So we had a quick trip over to the "Duck pond" (just outside of the marina) to vote last weekend & have just now dropped anchor at White Lady Bay (think Horseshoe Bay), 2 little beaches here and a string of "Shark Bouys" so no paddle boarding again! We're currently biding our time with various issues & contemplating aeroplane flights.

So yesterday, we had a dinghy ride ashore, went for a wander, then lunch at the pub & chat with a lonely local, and a nice stroll along the beach. Today we had a quick catch up with the "Roo bin Esqu" crew & then thanks to a moron that sailed in amongst anchored boats, right across our bow, no engine, & dropped 5 metres of chain 10 feet in front of us, & another loser who anchored over the top of our anchor, we've move back to Bolger Bay, with 30 plus knots forecast tomorrow, we put out our happy 50 metres & we'll sit it out again, for another week. People are stuck up north at Thursday Is, Cairns etc, still trying to get back south pre Nov 1st, cyclone season, because the wind won't stop!

Up & at it at 7am (joy), we have moved around to Horseshoe Bay for the next 30kn blow coming over the weekend & suss out the whole voting thing, tried doing it before we left town but ballots were not printed. There's been some glorious night skies, still trying to catch the shot!

We have left the marina & have just anchored back at Bolger Bay. Skipper did an awesome job of replacing engine mounts, on his own, in under a day & no swearing!! I did hospital/ Dr thing & await a decision from them before determining our movements from Townsville.

We have come into the marina for a planned "1 week" stay initially for my hospital appointment, but now skipper has the ominous job of changing over the engine mounts in situ, so timing may blow out, plus we just lost a circlip off a winch, so we'll have to chase that up too.

Finally enough of a break in the wind to do an 1 1/2 hr jaunt over to the duck pond (outside of the marina entry) & do a dinghy ride into the marina where Phil off Vivamus (our neighbour in the marina) is going to drive me around to get essentials, think beer, wine .. oh & food!

Thought I'd do a brief update, & advise of nothing new, 80 odd boats around at Horseshoe & a rally going on & we are still getting blown about with our neighbours "Roo Bin Esq". We've had 2 catch ups on both boats, lovely couple, it is however just too rough to dinghy about further, they did get their drone out early on so we now have a lovely shot of Double Bubble at anchor in the bay, very shallow here & have to anchor a fair way out, lots of crocs ashore, so very much boat bound, with various things to keep us both amused, currently making bread as our food supplies slowly diminish, no wine & only 7 cans of beer! The marina is full & we are not able to go in again until the 23rd for yet another Dr appt.

Well after a few days and a mad influx of boats all trying to anchor on top of each other we have up anchored & away back to Bolger Bay NW side of Magnetic Island. We had a lovely day out, ashore, even enjoying a very nice lunch. Skipper repaired compass light (wiring seemed to have collapsed with age) he also diagnosed & repaired over the phone Duets pump failure which was meerly the switch, clever skipper, he does that a lot & should start a business!

We did a quick trip over to the marina yesterday, offload rubbish & fill up 120 litres of diesel in jerry cans, then back to Bolger for the night to make more water & we have now come around to the NW side of Magnetic Island into Horseshoe bay ready for the 25kn South easterlies headed our way tomorrow, (this place will fill up pretty soon). Just as an aside Horizon anchored in the bay near us yesterday, a boat from our marina in Adelaide! This wind will blow for another week at least so this is the spot for now.

Up early to go with tide & make our way back to Maggies Bolger Bay, skipper has spotted a tiny split in the sail, 15mm ish, so I have myself a little sewing job! I meant to show the pictures of the Lucinda jetty, the longest in the southern hemisphere!

Up & away at 6.50 today & picked up a mooring at Orpheus Island 10.30. We'll stay here today & make water, (to muddy in the channel), get some washing done & general clean up and probably head on down to Magnetic Island tomorrow.

Up anchored enroute to Haycock Island inside of Hinchinbrook Channel, (think Cardwell FNQ) where we're wanting to get a good spot before everyone else comes into the channel to escape the strong south easterlies coming next week. I can't recall if we had a good signal so am posting now, hopefully I can stil get a footy score, with the up coming Blue moon, maybe a few more good shots & no bugs! Last time we were here we watched a crocodile steal a crab pot! Ok so super, we have just anchored, & have signal, now we can watch the footy, yay. Repairs to the anchor winch all seem to working fine, so woo hoo.

Off early again with a very pleasant cruise up to Macushla Bay, atop Hinchinbrook Island on the skippers birthday! Lots of whales along the way, still to far away for a decent shot!

So after testing everything prior to departing, the wind meter refused to spin at anchor, so up the mast the skipper did go, & with a bit of engineering nohow, he fixed it. So off at 6.50am today, beautiful clear day trip up to Pioneer Bay, Orpheus Island, picked up a mooring 13:50pm. Skipper saw several whales bounding about early, whilst I slept & only saw 1! We'll stay here overnight & head for Maclushla Bay top of Hinchinbrook Island tomorrow.

Well 3 surgeries later, quite a few get togethers & a whole pile of sewing we have finally departed the marina & anchored over at Magnetic Island's - Bolger Bay. We'll hang here for a day or 2 to ensure our anchor winch is working properly underload prior to heading north.

So we have had a good catch up with our friends Micky & Sue, from Cairns heading back to SA & also caught up with our friends from SA heading to Cairns, both caravans, with friends due to arrive by yacht maybe tomorrow & a catchup with our Pies supporter who Power play tonight. With the howling South easterlys still raging on were saving ourselves from being boat bound & remain for another week as La Nina turns to El Nino & sorts itself out. After 11 years the tv decided to start dying so we've bought a new one, with skipper altering brackets etc., I've finished cushions & just have a bit of tightening to do on bases, looks pretty good. We've also finally given in & bought a decent trolley to lug jerry cans, gas bottles & beer etc.

Firstly, cyst came back benign so excellent results there, & I've moved onto "soft foods" light pasta's etc. We had planned to leave Thursday but with the next weeks weather, friend Phils 70th & friends coming here from Cairns we've decided to stay another week! Skippers been pfaffing with various jobs & I'm now sewing covers for back cushions we've just cut up, endless sewing! We had every boaties fear happen yesterday with a big steel boat losing control in the marina & took out 2 boats, 1 liveaboard, 1 cruiser, very loud crunches, & a fair amount of screaming! V8 Supercars are on here, with various other activities, even treated to a "Loop de Loop" airshow this morning!

So sorry to all the southerners but goodness me, we have had some beautiful weather, with most boats going out to the reef in ideal conditions, we are of course not one of them! So surgery has been done & cyst removed, & they think the nerve is intact, now all my food needs to be pureed for at least the next 4 weeks, woo hoo, so fingers crossed for benign results with follow up next week & hopefully we can be on our way by the end of the month. Skipper has been busy doing little touch ups here & there on deck & made laminate surround to hide bigger electric winch cables, good job, he also put up sensored strip lighting in the pantry. I'm now back phaffing with cushion covers & finishing flyscreens, biding our time, getting sorted, watching the footy, hanging out with Albuquerque neighbour! Our delay in leaving meant we were here for 25mins of the new F35 jet & just 1 lucky dude getting to do his thing above The Strand, so close to us - AWESOME

We have had another delay with regards to us leaving as I have had another surprise crop up health wise & face another surgery, another scan now & surgery asap! We have both been busy I have completed cushion covers for now, (will phaff with them later), Rod has had to re-do sink plumbing all due to not being able to get a plug that fits a 30 year old sink, so thats now sorted. We've had a few catch ups with friends as we were each departing, even gone to the movies (Maybe I do) with Sailway friends. We also went out & bought a 1 burner Induction cooktop (of course new pot/pan required) works a treat, super fast & no heat in galley!

So nearly good to go on Friday/Saturday being that the southeries still have a while to blow up the coast we'll use that to go further north where it's warmer, when the change comes will head back south aim for Tassie (in summer) & then go "West about" to the Kimberlies next year, who knows, we're very fluid! I've completed "rubbing strake" & it's now secured on tender. Rod has mastered eye splicing on sheet ropes for our headsail so hopefully no longer gets snagged, excellent job, complete with heatshrink! We've also mounted a "solar headlight" over anchor chain, works a treat! Also after approx 10 years "hard labour" sewing all our covers my little Elna sewing machine finally died so luckily 50% off at Spotlight & making new covers for cushions as fabric burrs badly on previous ones.

So enroute now for hopefully last MRI & the end of the doctor shuffle, we're now paid up until the 2nd of June & then we're back out to sea, woo hoo! We are still undecided, but we'll probably go north for awhile & then meander down for cyclone season at Fraser Island or hey go to Louisades!! We've both been busy, skipper setting up Starlink, running bigger cables, making bracket etc as another alternative to our Iridium Go. Sorting engines & spares etc & had to polish out all the a/foul ingrained after slip. I've made another outboard cover this one for Ziggy & Tessa & their new dinghy!

Well happy days & hip hip hooray, we are in the water & back at the marina with skipper currently hosing off the black antifoul, dirt & dust, inground into our beautiful deck! We have decided to give Oyster White Alltex No 5 a try, it seems to reflect the light better & appears to do a better job repelling barnacles, we shall see. So with days of rain & then 10 days of 35kn SE we couldn't go back in until the wind dropped off ergo 20 days & $4,500 later, we're back. We met new yachties on the slip "Beyond Outrageous Reloaded" Shell & Tony, so we had company the whole time watching each other work!

Well happy days on the slip, bonus is, the first few days had a lot of heat build up, then down came the rain, so we got held up a bit with that & now have had a lovely cool breeze blowing straight on us as we work, realistically Rod doing most of it! We were fortunate in Rod locating in the give away section in the marina a 6mth old A/C with a note saying it rattled so clever skipper pulled it apart & got it going for a cool cabin jury rigged for exhaust & drainage into the heads sullage (our 4 A/C's are salt water cooled so no good on the hard)! Weather is going pear shaped later in the week, blowing big time so we won't be back in the water until mid next week, unfortunately planned to be done pre my surgery but not happening now so pressure off to do the job in a hurry!

Fortnight update, we seem to be constantly on the go of late. We had Rods cousin Kelly & her lovely friend Barb come for a visit for a few days after driving up from down south. We also had a couple of visits from our friend Wayne up from Bundaberg, & we got to yell at the telly & watch Power v Pies game, we lost again! We "au revoired" our friends from "Starfish" Rick & Kerry as they've sailed off up north to Darwin, we may or not join them, insurance looks to be approx. $9000 for that trip, Cape Tribulation is now the cut off for insurance, now considered "Remote" so incurs extra fees. We are now waiting on our new alternator to be re-jigged so we can go "woo hoo" around to the slip next week for ANNUAL slip. We also had a lovely surprise visit from our Bowen friends, John & Ann, great to catch up, albeit a quick one.

Well woo hoo, I'm back on, yay! I think maybe that last whirly gig that we dodged & ended up in Auckland did a lot more damage than we heard about here! So as a catch up, I went to Perth for my Aunty Kaths funeral & saw quite a number of reli's I've not seen in, easy 20 odd years then after a weeks recovery from that we both flew to Brisbane with Rod heading down to assist Duet in having topsides painted & I went to Michelles to garden.

Well we have certainly had our fair share of rain recently & barometer is going down again with curly little system off in the Coral Sea, think it will miss us, looks like heading over to Auckland on the weekend, opposite direction to my heading on a plane to Perth to farewell my beautiful 95 yr old aunt. We had a lovely Australia day get together with friends & Skipper has been busily ticking items off our "to do" list, & finally have lovely doors over a little cupboard we have under the saloon table, end to end the chain, wired up new repeater plotter screen whilst I'm still sewing yet more covers, this time for instrument cover at helm to protect controls, compass etc & now repairing big cover over saloon that got torn in the last storm we just had.

An update on all things Double Bubble in Townsville with success at last being achieved on the drama of the anchor winch, the one thing we did not have was a reversing solenoid so this was ordered with the motor & was in fact too small for the motor, needless to say one very peeved skipper! I've been having some Emmett Technique treatment which is allowing some freer movement for my body, thank heavens. We are both continually busy, I'm back on the sewing machine, outboard covers are now the game with 1 down for Stu, & Ziggy's to commence. We've caught up with several couples & enjoyed a lovely Thai meal last night with Lisa & Stu, Lanise & Ty & the pups (we were on puppy sitting duties yesterday), & I did a few feet & hands.

Happy New Year folks, so glad that YIT appears to be working in 2023, thank you Mike. So lots have been going on, starting with great New Years gathering being enjoyed on the Bubble with another spontaneous night of hilarity with the return of Ziggy & Tess back to the marina with Pelargic from Cairns on Saturday night with Lisa & Stuart, all a bit quiet Sunday! The anchor winch drama continues with the people at Nilsons in NZ, we just got another motor today, same thing happening, drawing way too much yet a smaller motor @ 1200 watts, put ours back on @ 1400 watts, works perfectly (replacing ours because its 30 years old & we don't want the anchor winch to fail enroute to Darwin). I got booked in for a new knee op for 10th Feb & Bupa no longer covers it, so the waiting game for public hospital commences.

Well Merry Christmas to all & hope you had as much fun as we did. We were fortunate enough to be invited up to Frenchs Beach (near Ingham - 1&1/2hrs north & spend the day & night there so no driving. Lots of great food, with great company (the usual suspects) & fun games of croquet & quoits, and out there disco dancing, hysterical! So the saga of the anchor winch continues, as the new motor was a dud & so now waiting for FedEx to return to work & deliver part motor to replace the dud section which has been in Sydney for 9 days now, so needless to say we have not been able to take boat out. I got a present sent from Denmark- Europe in less time & still waiting for a present from Victoria, all order on the same day, very poor. I'm not sure what will happen with this "yit" website if it will continue to work as there is no 2023 across the top, I'm hoping if you click on "All" (after 2022) it will allow you to view it, if you view on a mobile turn phone sideways. This site closed down 2 years ago & I've been allowed to continue to use it, if it no longer works I will have to find another way perhaps a facebook page, so maybe google Double Bubble for entry after New Years day, if nothing appears on Yit.nz, stay safe have a great New Year, cheers Kath

Apologies for delay, I do try to keep it to f/nightly updates whilst in marinas. So today is the big day, finally the motor & reversing solenoid for the anchor winch has arrived & Rod has been flat out wiring, cutting holes, running new wires, (so it can be dropped remotely) painting the locker, cleaning & painting anchor winch unit etc & now we will put up a shade cover to install unit back in it's hole on deck. I've done nothing but sit in front of a sewing machine making effectively 20 bean bag cushions, 10 finished products & now moving on to 3 dresses for a friend. We also dressed the boat with 1500 fairy lights, a gift from a friend (he wants an outboard cover made) ready for marina christmas party.

So I can't see the wind speed/direction or the barometer reading as I've been in Brisbane since the 14th Nov, doing my annual slave fest for my friend Michelle, woo hoo, digging in the dirt, where it's been quite cool..(16deg min) so use to FNQ weather. Poor skipper suffering & waking in a sweat at 4am with A/C pump dying, so drama involved there, stay tuned. Well update, at airport now, thankfully Skipper has received new pump for A/C so boat will be nice & cool for my arrival. The motor for the anchor winch was irrepairable so awaiting new motor from NZ. Rod has been keeping up with our friends in the marina, with a nice bbq enjoyed.

We certainly have been busy, me slaving away on the sewing machine & making a constant mess, I should point out, all this sewing is on a $139 Elna, not a Sailrite Sewing machine. Skipper has made even more changes (read more expense) changing the saltwater feeding impellor pump for the generator over to a 240v driven NO impellor pump, we think that it will fix the problem of a dry start up on the impellor, thus splitting them (see 14/8/22). Sanded & re-varnished cockpit table & the big job, removed our awesome, "strong as" anchor winch, located some new bushes, pulled it apart, given it a clean & taken the motor to an auto electrician to hopefully work his magic for approx $250, so seriously fingers crossed!

We certainly have been busy, me slaving away on the sewing machine & making a constant mess, whilst skipper has made even more changes (read more expense) changing the saltwater feeding impellor pump for the generator over to a 240v driven NO impellor pump, we think that it will fix the problem of a dry start up on the impellor, thus splitting them.

So a current update has had us catch up with some friends & get on to our job list. So skipper has upgraded our solar panel to a 400 watt, which put in 29 amps on start up (more than the existing 3 we had all together), so now we're getting 50 amps in total, we assume we can then keep our wine fridge going whilst underway, not necessarily for wine! I have just completed a 90% UV block out shade screen that we can keep up whilst underway, shading cockpit whilst still being able to handle/access mainsheet traveller. So it's now onto additional rain covers at sides (over side entries) completely protecting open cockpit when it rains, of which we had 2 days of, quite pleasant.

Well thats it, we've both cracked it (along with everyone else) how BOM can get it so wrong, weather not going to improve so we've bashed our way across the sea & come into our berth a couple of weeks early & get set for cyclone season.

Worst trip this year BOM says 10 knot E, try 20+ knots SE on the nose, washing machine seas, awful! We have anchored back at Bolger Bay, Maggie Island besides our marina neighbours Sailaway. We had little choice but to go today as it's going to blow incessantly for another week, need to get away from mangroves, full moon tomorrow!

We have started our run back to Townsville by departing Haycock Island, Hinchinbrook Channel at 6am arriving at Orpheous Island 10.30am, we will stay here for the night on 1 of 2 mooring buoys and then back to Maggie tomorrow. It is a really pretty prehistoric type place Hinchinbrook but man the bugs, so by the time I finished making 14 screens & perfected the enclosure for the cockpit all hatches have been closed as we have actually been getting rain, something we've seen very little of!

So after a lovely sleep, skipper actually got a coffee in bed (rare event) & upon alighting got tripped up in the sheet, fell & smacked his head & shoulder on the bedsit so expecting great bruises! We went for dinghy ride ashore, albeit wary, absolutely no swimming, theres a caged camping area set up there with bbq, showers & water (you have to treat it first), got some great pics! With another blow expected this week we have returned to Haycock Island, midway down the channel saw a hundred "alien" bugs come out of the gaps in the portico, gross, sprayed madly. Thinking of skippers mum today, RIP Coral 5yrs.

We have left Gayundah (still bugs/midges galore, but much better than on a full moon) & twaddled on up to the top of the channel ( past Cardwell) & gone right, around to Missionary Bay atop of Hinchinbrook Island, quite a pleasant trip, lovely breeze & a couple of good looking beaches which will have to wait until tomorrow as we arrived here near on 2pm & we need to make some water & get organised for a roast for tea & hot showers, oh, finally finished cockpit screen, yay!

We left from Haycock Is. & went on up the channel to check out other anchorages, went up passed Gayundah creek (eaten there in 2020- full moon) to suss out "Boat Passage" looks good & deep enough just not enough "swinging" room, ideal if you're 30', so turned around & we are now anchored in Gayundah Creek. Still sewing screens!

Having departed Orpheus Island we've lined up the lead light & gone over the shallow bank along side the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere, traversed the channel & dropped anchor at Haycock Island in Hinchinbrook Channel, it is really quite beautiful, somewhat prehistoric, much like the oversized bugs, march flys etc! I've commenced fortifying Bubble & have been busily making more screens, just put our large back mozzie screen on, which still needs a few reno's from last trip! Much excitement instantly as skipper spots a crocodile dragging/being dragged by a runaway crab pot, called over some locals, croc dragged himself up onto the island & pot now floating in channel, great!! Trying to get someones attention to retrieve pot so as not wrapping itself around a prop!

We left Bolger Bay at 8:30 & arrived at Hazard Bay, Orpheus Island 14:30 (we came here the 1st time, near on exactly 2 years ago 25/9/20)! Aim to catch the tide in the morning into Hinchinbrook Channel (near Lucinda).

After a very busy day for us both, skipper giving Bubble a scrub & a bubble bath, I've cleaned, washed etc & grabbed a few more stores, we have departed the marina & come back to Bolger Bay of Maggie to stay in range for a signal to watch the Grand Final.

Left Horseshoe Bay came straight over into the marina, fuelled up, gas refilled, loads of washing, shopping, now sitting with Lisa, yay! We decided to spend an extra day as we had a lot to do

With a change in wind direction we have up anchored & come down to Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island (Maggie)! We got to blow kisses & give a wave to "Big Mama" Lisa out on a charter heading to Picnic Bay, can't wait to catch up & may go into the Breakwater for one night soon to re-load etc & perhaps catch up then. We're thinking about visiting Hinchinbrook channel again soon so we will stock up.

We have moved on past Townsvilles port & continued up along Magnetic islands west coast up to Bolger Bay & despite all weather maps saying wind to be in a NE direction it's a NW onshore!!! I've been wanting to stay here often but am concerned about midges now, we shall see.

As a postscript; fire up mozzie coils @ 4pm & burn whiite sage incense, no bites!!!

Up at 5am this morning, (just got to sleep at 4) and after 69nm, averaging 7kn we have chosen to drop anchor in Cleveland Bay for the night. We are 2hrs out from Picnic Bay, Magnetic Island & 3 1/2hrs out of Townsville and preferred to get settled in daylight & decide options in the morning, probably into Breakwater, Townsville grab more fuel & maybe go around Maggie Island as we've not been across the top!

Ann came and met us in the marina, very kindly drove us to the shops, droppped us back for a few chores, clean fridge & oven etc, fill up with some water then she came back to show us their new home & catch up with John, & we hope his health continues to improve (a lovely couple) nearly 2years to the date that we last saw then. We departed at 6.15 (goody), love being up early, not! So on an average of 6 knots we moseyed along for 7& a bit hours & dropped anchor in Shark Bay, Cape Upstart (think Home Hill, just below Ayr)! Few more beach shacks since we were here before, about 10 boats.

Just coming up to the entrance beacons to Bowen Marina (as opposed to anchoring) so we can have a catch up with John & Anne, get a few things & head to Townsville (Magnetic Island), Sunday. Lovely trip up, lots of coral spawn on the top of the water. Bowen marina is not up to the usual standard, we had to move berths as a broken off weathered wooden mooring pole nearly pierced port aft hull, they've put plastic tubs around some of them, which don't really help, it's mostly for fishermen & the Far Nth Cruising Yacht Club has no room at the inn.

It has blown 20knots continually whilst at Airlie, we had our final catch up with Duet & other friends who all departed to different destinations down south. So as Duet left a few hours later Martica May arrived (our marina neighbours from Townsville, Mick & Marta so with a great catch up I preceded to spend the next three days making curtains for their saloon, now with that job done & a northerly approaching, we have parted ways, with them heading south (along with hundreds of others) we have come back up to Woodwark Bay (sth of Double Bay, just 2hrs up from Airlie) to wait out this blow & prepare for the northern trip to Queens Bay, Bowen, fitting as we have woken this morning to hear of the Queen's passing, very sad.

11 days later it has stopped blowing 20+ knots for a few hours so we have made our escape from Double Bay back to Airlie Beach for a final catch up with Duet a re-stock of everything and we are out of here, you get 2-3 days (if your lucky) then 10 days of rubbish, over & over since May, with another La Nina coming we have decided to take our chances with a cyclone up north as opposed to down south. We have had the whale & calf at the entrance the whole time just hanging out, very cute & 1 seagull hell bent on living on port pulpit!

11 days later it has stopped blowing 20+ knots for a few hours so we have made our escape from Double Bay back to Airlie Beach for a final catch up with Duet a re-stock of everything and we are out of here, you get 2-3 days (if your lucky) then 10 days of rubbish, over & over since May, with another La Nina coming we have decided to take our chances with a cyclone up north as opposed to down south.

We have left Airlie Beach & come north up to Double Bay, with only 1 other boat in here (in our spot), as we came around the corner a mum whale & her calf were splashing about at the entrance, unfortunately we'd already gone passed before skipper spotted them so not the best photo! We have a week of wind heading our way hence the move to tuck in here & just hang out.

We've arrived back in Airlie Beach to drop off Michelle after a fun filled time at Macona Inlet with it's 5 different beaches. Joined up again with Duet for super fun filled time on the beach playing Boccie and back to Double Bubble for curry feast for skippers birthday, Nigel making curried cauliflower & Michelle making 2 curries, slaving away, much mirth & merriment was had by all....very quiet the following day!

Better late than never, we moved back to Airlie Beach (PROSERPINE ish area) after catching up with Stewie at Cid Harbour and so after collecting our special cargo, best friend ever Michelle, we've moved back to Macona Inlet. We've had fun times with Nige & Kez off Duet in Airlie & will meet up again possibly tomorrow, got a great fireworks display last night for Race week, lots of yachties everywhere, and now anchored near Tip Er Ova & Liquid Insanity, (great name)!

After a couple of stunning days enjoyed at Macona Inlet, lots of little beaches, heaps of turtles, still can't get the shot, lots of fish, none caught though (if only it could be like that all the time), but alas the wind is returning for another few days so we have up anchored and are heading back to Cid Harbour - WHITSUNDAY ISLAND, where we know Bubble sits comfortably in 20/25kn SE.

After a fun few days we have left Airlie & currently underway to Macona Inlet- HOOK ISLAND, as we've not been in here where not sure about signal (I hope so we play today), poor husband may have to send modem up the mast, anyway I thought I would update now just in case. Met up with "Tip Er Over" enroute & there telling us of lots of whales about so, luckily skippers not seen them! So all things anchor winch, thought we'd dodged a bullet as Rod replaced the solenoid in the switch box, sounded good, woo hoo, lifted anchor this morning, still dodgy, so it looks like $1000 for replacement motor which will then have to be altered to fit, or $7000 for a new winch & the footprint will be totally different, both coming from NZ, then that means going into a marina $200 a night in Airlie so...stay tune on that issue. Had a fun night last night at bbq on the beach, met some new boaties & finally met up with "RodKat" a boat that was anchored beside us in Raby Bay at the start of CoVid, nice, fun people!

After a cruddy trip back to Airlie Beach going around the corner from Woodwark Bay (10-15 knots, NOT, more than 25kn) we have finally settled amongst the other 80 odd boats here getting ready for next blow from the north, thats it, thats all it does, blows, blows & then blows some more, had to come back for mail & possible catch up with some special friends arriving soon! Still having issues with anchor winch, looking more like motor than switch, of course, parts not available, will have to see what clever skipper comes up with!

Status update, the wind has finally eased up so we departed Airlie Beach at 10am, with it's horrible, rolly anchorage and have come around into calm Woodwark Bay 2 1/2hrs later, lovely. We will spend the next few days here for exploring & testing new Celfi Go signal booster, seems pretty good already, was lots of fun trying to solder antenna wire outside in the wind (& no, you would have to completely pull cable through boat). We had issues again with anchor winch today, we've already replaced the deck switch once, skipper has now cleverly made up a remote hand switch to ascertain if problem is switch or winch motor (more expense)! We will hang here for a few days or so, Daystar is here & Duet will join us on Monday, before we head back around for mail.

After a not particulary nice trip we have moved back to Airlie Beach to gather up more supplies before hiding from next blow. People that cruise around here yearly have all said they've never seen this much wind & awful weather, still despite being cold it's definitely warmer here than down south. Rod did a trip over to Hamilton Island on Duet to help Nigel collect Kerry from the airport, says we won't be taking Bubble in there, plus it's $200 a night! We had a bakers dozen of mega expensive boats (1 carried 40,000 litres of fuel) worth multi millions, looked like a city at night!

We have left Bauer Bay & charter boat loons & moved over to Cid Harbour - WHITSUNDAY ISLAND (early I might add) to wait out this next blow, can't recall how good internet was so posting now.

An update purely to upload some pretty cool vista shot's, (especially since I had to endure nature walks) again!!! So minding our own business, doing stuff, I'm down stairs & hear a voice, see hands holding the boat through the open hatch & Rods yakking to someone, tis only one of his best mates from primary school, seriously, dropped his anchor in front of us! I had lots of dealings with his adorable dad Norm & mum Jan through Quins & Searles.

Well just like that the switch was flicked, the rain stopped, the fog lifted & hello blue skies & sunshine, yay! Should not complain as the entire east coast gets hammered again & goodness me did it get a bit chilly, we had to locate, trackies & jumpers, socks & slippies for 15 degree days in the Whitsundays. So with the sun out everyone made mad dashes into town (18 tenders tied up when we arrived), laundromat totally chockers, grab more stores & watch all the boat take off in different directions, Double Bubble dropping anchor in Bauer Bay - SOUTH MOLLE ISLAND, Duet having departing earlier in the day (a 2hour trip here from Airlie Beach. Got a few different jobs done with skipper replacing griller hob he raided from a stove in Breakwater Marina.

Little update, so firstly found a dentist with the lovely Taylor doing a great repair job & didn't cost a fortune, hurrah! We're still waiting for 1 more big blow, expected tomorrow (todays was a bit of a blow out) & then we'll up anchor later in the week, to an, as yet, undetermined destination. Been fairly blowy & rolly here, we thought about moving but we can dinghy in & walk up the hill to the shops, & catch the bus to Bunnings, where we're going tomorrow (yay)! We've also had a few bbq's ashore & catch up's & sundowners & a lovely meal aboard Duet last night.

After a few catch ups w/ Duet & Daystar & a bush trek across the island (nature argh) we have moved on from Happy Bay, Long Island & have returned to Airlie Beach where Te Poe Rava & "M" are, as well as P&O's Pacific Explorer & the HMAS Shepparton. Unfortunately I thought we'd enjoy a fantail on the trip & lost half my filling so now I have to locate a dentist in Airlie, just great!!!

HAPPY BAY - LONG ISLAND (SHUTE HARBOUR ish)! Again with the early morning wake up & so we have now rocked & rolled & washing machined our way across "Three Fathom Patch" & anchored in a lovely little bay having left Gulnare Inlet can't say we'll be going back there, very wind on tide & it's still blowing, see how we go here. Blue bayou playing.

WHITSUNDAY ISLAND - Updating now as we traverse Hunt Channel (talk about Unpleasant channel) as we will be turning off into Gulnare Inlet & not sure about signal, seas very choppy & blah! We had a lovely night aboard Duet, meeting their friends Andrew & Anna, also met ""M" & Tracey & John, great fun night, all of us moving now to snug anchorages for next blow, Duet dropping friends off at Hamilton Island & will join us in Gulnare, just have to watch out for the dangerous reefs on entry.

Well quite obviously I'm still having issues with certain people understanding I'm retired, seriously, happily sleeping & made to get up at 6AM, honestly!, so here we are now at Cid Harbour after awful trip across "Unsafe Passage", I kid you not, crappy trip. Anyway Skipper foolishly about to show his prowess & do a 4 hour turnaround trek up the Whitsunday Peak, me I'm going back to sleep!!

Update, sorry for delay, but Double bay is a far better anchorage than Woodwark bay and we have now moved back to Airlie Beach & caught up with Tip er ova!

We have left Double Bay anchorage & come back down an hour south to Woodwark Bay (just up from Airlie Beach). Woodwark is where the tele series by Jack London, "Tales of the South Seas" was filmed in the 1990's, we've yet to explore. Skipper says he read it's $14,000 for min 3 nights to stay in Paradise Cove Villa's the resort here!! Das Almos & Plan B are both at anchor here too. Despite the promise of gaining better reception it appears to be worse, Skipper having to put the router up the mast (already missed the footy), now I'm going to miss JB & Billy on the radio! Whipped up a nice batch of pikelets for brekky today, haven't had them in years. Still not strong enough to upload photo's. Must add it's been really cold like 16 deg at night, not use to this, I vote going back north, had to put heater on.

DOUBLE BAY - After a lovely evening aboard Duet for dinner we have parted ways with them heading down to Hamilton Island to collect friends, a $200 overnight cost in the marina. We have opted to come back to this lovely bay, all tucked in by ourselves & wait out the forthcoming blow! Rod spotted his first boat "Opal", 35' Duncannson, sans mast, a triple planked oregon (she could be getting sand/varnish job), no-one aboard. She was built by our friend & riggers dad Barry Quin, he sailed her up the east coast of Tassy & up to Qld - Runaway bay.

AIRLIE BEACH - We decided to leave Whitsunday Island at 10am & come up & over to Airlie for a few supplies before moving tomorrow for a more protected anchorage from the South Easterlies that are going to blow for the next week. Yesterday we had pretty much the whole anchorage at Sawmill to ourselves and it was the 252nd year anniversary on the day 04/06/2022 of Capt Cook being there! Oh and as a "by the by", worldwide 10 people DIE from shark attacks compared to 150 dying from falling coconuts annually! Going to have to watch where I walk on the islands now!!!

SAWMILL BAY - WHITSUNDAY ISLAND, 10nm off Airlie Beach. With the wind changing direction we have moved down to the next bay offering a bit better protection, it's nearly 2 years since we were here last that was on the skippers 60th bday. We had Duet over for a "Rod's roast" last night, they have gone out to the reef today, only 8 moorings there, & with the wind blowing up it will reduce visibility, so we've opted to give it a miss this time.

Had sundowners last night with Kerri & Phil in the beautiful Double Bay, very serene. We departed for Whitsunday Island this morning to finally catch up with Duet's Nigel & Kerry who we've not seen for 6mths, anchored in pretty Mays Bay.

DOUBLE BAY EAST - 10kn North of Airlie Beach, next bay south of Earlando. After a less than comfortable night at Gloucester we departed at 7am through the Gloucester passage and out into the Whitsundays group anchoring here in Double bay for the next blow, signal a bit "iffy" again, trying to watch the footy yesterday was a bit tricky but at least we won, yay! We have just been joined by "Te Poa Ovre" & we will hang here until Wednesday. Beautiful blue water here, yet still can't swim, stupid sharks, skipper says no getting on paddleboard either! Got a few more nice photo's.

ECO RESORT - Gloucester Island, (off BOWEN) have arrived safely, beautiful day, Bubble got a bit of a "giddy up" there for a bit, (naturally weather not as presented)! 12 knots on the nose, then 20+ from behind! Tried vinegar as a mosi deterent on my skin last night, seemed to work, (still had mosi coil & citronella lamp going)didn't stop a 3" locust scare me in the cockpit! Have set up our remote control candles in the saloon, fairy lights in cockpit & back deck, & my pretty in the saloon, no power drain necessary (& looks pretty)! We're off through the Passage tomorrow a shortcut & will anchor at Double Bay (above Airlie, off Grassy Island)!.

CAPE UPSTART - Rough parallel to Ayr - travelled 67nm. We have anchored right on sunset (& another pearler sunset I might add)! Wind started out at 6-7kn petered out to between 2.6 & 1.4 knots, still we managed roughly 6 nautical miles per hour (6nm p/h)! Just a few beach shacks here, very protected. Off in the morning to Gloucester Island (think Bowen)!

And we're off, finally leaving Townsville & Maggie Island behind us as we travel south enroute to The Whitsundays, may go through to Cape Upstart or anchor at Bowling Green for the night, yet to be determined! Had a bbq on the beach with Phil & Kerri - Te Poa Ova with yet another awesome sky show sunset & had Mick kindly drive us around the island for some more fuel & a few more stores, nearly $7.00 for a continental cucumber, so not having that. And a big Happy birthday to you Garry!

Sorry update, after a fun meet & visit with our new neighbours the previous night we left Town at 7.30am back to Maggie Is at 9.30 & dropped anchor. After all the rushing about the previous couple of days the skipper had a day off & we went ashore in the afternoon & caught up with our old neighbour Mick from Marjoriemay (he has the singing dog Wally)! Watch the sky go through some amazing colour changes & came home in the dinghy in the darkness with our fab new sensor light working a treat! We find out this morning that there's been 5 sightings of a crocodile here near where you put the dinghies on the beach so hmm!

So quick update, after a lovely night at anchor (our 1st in awhile), we put bubble through her paces & fired up the desal unit & as half secretly expected, once under pressure 1 of the plastic fittings cracked & 2 others showed signs of splitting we came back into the maintenance berth in the marina on Sunday in search of parts. It is not feasable to go through & change all plastic fittings over to stainless because it entails the breakdown & complete removal of the unit so until it becomes necessary we will just change over as required. Coming back in did gives us a chance to catch up with some other friends we missed saying goodbye to, so now clever skipper has had a big day, driving around, getting parts & has now fixed the desal, so we try "take 3" in the morning!