Greetings from Townsville

Dear Cracklin Rosie fans

Greetings from Townsville.  When we last reported in, we had just arrived in Hamilton Island with Bev and Ken Mullin in tow, waiting for Ken’s partner Janette Spencer to arrive.  Hamilton Island is Rottnest Island as we would not like it to be, with full-on large resorts, a comfortable marina, a very expensive grog shop and untold little golf buggies running around that one can hire.  However, it does have a good bakery, better ablution facilities than can be found on Cracklin Rosie, better coffee than Moccona instant, and $10 cocktails while watching the sunset. 

After Janette arrived, the five of us had a short sail to Cid Harbour, which is a very safe anchorage between Cid and Whitsunday Islands, where we stayed the night, along with about 17 other boats.  We dined alfresco on a gourmet meal prepared and cooked by Janette on our hanging-over –the-stern-barbecue, based on what scraps we could find in our larder and some items from the Hamilton Island General Store.  Janette and Don slept outside in the cockpit, given that things are pretty crowded down below with five on board.  The next day we sailed across to Whitehaven Bay, which boasts a very white 5 km long sandy beach, and joined untold tourist boats, other yachties, and two seaplanes who arrived for the Whitehaven Beach Run.  We watched this event until the tide had turned to allow us to get through the narrow Solway Passage and back to Hamilton Island.  The trip back was rather rough, but the team held it all together, if you get my drift.  At a rather critical time, the engine decided to play up, and after a lot of head scratching back at Hamilton Island, Jim and the local mechanic found that all the fuel pipes had been incorrectly fitted in Hervey Bay.  It remains a mystery to Those Who Know About These Things how the engine had been working at all.  However, all is now fixed.

On arrival back in Hamilton Island, we met Helen Burnside and husband Mike Cleaver, who had come over to replace Ken and Janette.  After effecting the changeover on the 21^st, and the aforementioned engine repairs, we (Jim, Bev, Helen, Mike, Don), plus a satisfactory amount of food and refreshments and far too much luggage set off for a circumnavigation of Whitsunday Island, with overnight anchorages at Cid Harbour, Nara Inlet on Hook Island, Cateran Bay on Border Island and Whitehaven Bay.  Mike and Don tried sleeping outside in the cockpit three nights in a row, each time being chased inside by rain in the middle of the night.  Not happy! 

Cid harbour was even busier this time, with 38 boats anchored across the expanse of Sawmill Bay.  Helen, Mike and Don did some exploring ashore, and Mike swam back to the boat, just because he could!  Nara Inlet was less crowded and we copped a wind squall as we entered which buggered up the headsail furler.  However, smart work by Jim resulted in a repair and after looking at some Aboriginal cave paintings in the morning, we pressed on to Cateran Bay (Border Island) through the quite narrow Hook Passage.  Despite having been told it was not a good idea to tow the dinghy, we towed the dinghy until the painter (explanation for landlubbers – rope connecting dinghy and boat) came adrift from the dinghy, which was then seen floating about 30 m behind Cracklin Rosie.  After some heroics by Mike, Jim and Don, we managed to recover the dinghy, get the outboard off it and haul it onto the foredeck.  This incident has been added to the many Lessons in Cruising that we are having every day!  We did some enjoyable snorkelling over a fringing coral reef at Cateran Bay, and again at Chalkies Beach the next day, while anchoring overnight again at Whitehaven Bay.  Finally, we returned to Hamilton Island, having completed our circumnavigation.  While not in the same league as Flinder’s circumnavigation of Australia completed in a leaking sailing ship on 1803, we did feel some sense of achievement.  After saying farewell to Bev, Helen and Mike last Sunday (28^th), Jim and Don reprovisioned the boat, and set off for Townsville on Monday 29^th. 

Since then, we have had four very good sailing/ motor-sailing days into Townsville (arriving yesterday afternoon 2^nd July).  We covered 150 nm, with overnight anchoring at Gloucester Passage, Cape Upstart (named by Cook) and Cape Bowling Green (yes that is right – God knows who named that!).  Today, we have had morning coffee with Louise Watson (spouse of ex-Ag Dept rangeland hero Ian Watson who is kite-surfing in Cocos) and her mother Pat.  Louise has kindly lent us Ian’s car, and we have since made a modest contribution to Townsville’s economy getting haircuts ($15 ea!) and purchasing some more boat stuff.  We look forward to shouting Louise and Pat a feed at the Yacht Club over the weekend.  We are ahead of schedule and will be here for about a week while waiting to collect our next volunteer crew person in Jenny Crossland who is arriving here on the 7^th, and after she has checked out Townsville, we will be on our way for Cairns, via some promising looking anchorages.  In Cairns, we will be collecting experienced ocean sailor Wayne Fletcher, who will be with us until we reach Darwin in early August.

Now – on the subject of the blog – we are still having trouble with uplifting photos through our phone hotspots, and so in response to overwhelming requests by no fewer than one person, we will start a Facebook as well a blog, hoping that it is easier to get the photos into Facebook.  However, the text will be the same in both places.

Ok, that is enough for now – we will soon be going over to have a sundown drink with a nearby boatie couple and then home for dinner.  It is all go here in Townsville. 

Regards

Don and Jim