We were ready to leave, we had been up to Customs and
cleared out with them, we had been to Immigration and cleared out with them,
meals had been prepared and frozen, all was in order. We were leaving midday
today.
Leaving the Immigration office, we got a call from a young
Spanish girl – I had placed a sign in the marina office last week saying we
were leaving soon and had room aboard for one or two crew – she had just seen
it, and did we still want/need crew as she was available. We quickly tossed up
- we were organised to do the passage just the two of us, but an extra person
aboard means more sleep for us!! A valuable commodity when facing an 8-day
passage – so five minutes later we were climbing the stairs back up to
Immigration and changing our paperwork to enable Andrea to accompany us to
Southport. Then of course it was back to Customs and a quick trip to the store
for a few more provisions.
This time we were leaving for sure.
Goodbye beautiful Vanuatu, an extremely brief visit that
left much of it unseen but time for us had run out and we needed to be out of
the cyclone area before December 1st to satisfy our insurance
policy.
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| A magnificent sky |
However – not such a good plan to approach a pass through a
fairly narrow reef at midnight with only electronic charts to guide us. The
moon, which had been poking through the clouds intermittently during the night
now disappeared completely, so we could not rely on her help. With both engines
on “just in case” and Andrea and myself on the bows trying to see any obstacles
through the blackness, Jamie, relying almost entirely on technology took us
through the entrance as if he had done it a hundred times before. Not a
procedure we would recommend actually, but achieved marvellously and it was
with great relief we sailed through New Caledonian waters and out the reef on
the other side as dawn broke.
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| Sailing across from Vanuatu back to Australia |
Of course, the good times don’t last forever and the wind
dropped away necessitating a period of assistance from the trusty Yamnar. We alternately
motored and sailed for the next day – and half of the next – looks like it will
be a slow trip home!! We were counting down the miles and after 6 days we still
had 173nm to go before landfall back in Australia.
On Sunday 28th October, Phil sent us a weather
update via the Garmin Inreach so we were aware that a nasty patch was ahead of
us, and in anticipation of winds 35knots plus, we put two reefs in the main and
had it ready for the third. It was predicted to hit us around 8pm but it was
closer to 10pm that we hastened above to put the next reef in the sail – too
late – the squall hit just as we were in the process of doing so and blew a
huge hole in our mainsail – between the second and third reef points – the main
was still useable above the third reef – just. With enough to continue sailing
and with around 140 nautical miles to Southport off the Queensland coast we
limped home, catching sight of the Australian coast on Monday afternoon.
It was with great relief we sailed through the Gold Coast
Seaway, then dropped the anchor, raised the yellow “Q” flag, and poured a glass
of wine just before sunset on Monday 29th October.
Customs and Immigration formalities were completed at the
Southport Yacht Club next morning, Andrea left us to join friends in Brisbane
and we returned to Paradise Point where we had spent some time at anchor last
year.
We had made the passage from Port Vila, Vanuatu to
Southport, Australia in 7 days and 5 hours – we thought we had been going slow
but the customs boys said they thought we had made a fast trip compared to most
other boats passage times.
What a journey.
We left Australia on 23rd November 2017 and
arrived back on 29th October 2018
In the 11 months we have been away
- we have travelled around 10,000 nautical miles
- sailed to New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and back to Australia
- seen so many incredible places
- met so many amazing people
- AND HAD SO MUCH FUN !!
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| Our route over the past 11 months (but take away Tasmania - we hadn't been here yet) |
