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Smoke and Roses - Half Way Around the World



Logged 1150 Nautical Miles

7 Days 8 Hours

149.75 Hours Sailing 26.25 Hours Motoring

July 19 – 30

Vanuatu to Australia

As we head west from Vanuatu, we will be leaving the South Pacific and entering the Coral Sea. Arriving in Mackay, Australia, we have now crossed the entire South Pacific Ocean, 9000 nautical miles in 6 months. We are half way around the world. The 1150 nautical mile leg took 7 days and 8 hours. Within the last 12 hours we entered the Great Barrier Reef through Hydrographers Passage and started seeing whales. This was the first time we have seen whales while cruising, there were several. The closest came within 50 feet of us. Very cool.     

I was very ill at the start of the voyage from a coral infection and did not get out of bed for two days. It was a good thing that Dan convinced Claudia to full fill her crew commitment to us, as the two of them double handed the first half of the trip. Claudia learned quickly and was very observant; she did a good job doing watches. Fortunately the sea was mostly calm and there were no storms. With winds averaging 15 to 18 knots, it was great sailing. The weather was the coolest we have felt for two years, it is winter here. On the fourth night I started doing one late night watch, giving Dan and Claudia a seven hour break. We arrived in Australia, at the Mackay Marina just after dark and tied to the fuel dock along with several other boats that we visited with.

Clearances started at 7:00 am with inspections by the Australian Border Force, with a sniffer dog and Agriculture Bio-Security as well as customs and immigration. Bio-Security found two tine ants and asked us to use bug spray. That evening during the World ARC Sundowner Happy Hour poolside at the Clarion Hotel we met some new cruisers joining the fleet that did the first half of the world cruise a year prior. The next day was busy doing boat shores, bookwork and some serious provision at the mall in the city center.

The Mackay region offers a world of nature to explore, including wallabies and kangaroos on the beach, rainforests and fresh water gorges as well as spotting Platypus in the wild. I was excited to explore and see unique animals in their natural habitat. As much as I enjoyed the pristine, remote islands of the South Pacific, it is a real pleasure to be in a first world country. The currency and power are still different but this feels more like home than anywhere we have been in the last ten months. There is so much nature to explore and the friendly people are very laid back, I really like it here.

At 5:00 am Sunday morning was the World ARC Tour to Cape Hillsborough to see Wallabies on the beach. The sun rising and lighting up the sky over Casuarina Beach made for a stunning natural background. Watching the Wallabies and a couple kangaroos come to be fed was truly an iconic Aussie experience. A couple of the wallabies had little joeyies in their pouches. After eating they retreated back to the forest. That was awesome! The welcome dinner and prize giving for leg 7 was that evening at the Clarion Hotel. The food was very good, everyone that crossed the Pacific was recognized and Smoke and Roses took third place in multihull division. We also said goodbye to three boats leaving the fleet, they were “Christine”, “Lunatix” and “Ocean Bird”, and they will be missed.

Monday started with a Mackay to Darwin cruising briefing, each boat will set their own route and schedule to sail around the coast and meet again in Darwin in early September. Next we went on a road trip with the crew from “Mischief”, Dave, Wendy and Neen to do some bushwalking to the Finch Hatton Freshwater Gorges and to the Eungella National Park to spot Platypus in the wild at Broken River. There were lots of sugar cane fields on the way. The first stop was at a pie place for lunch. The pot pies came in several flavors with vegie, chicken or beef served with an optional order of fries and gravy. After a 45 minute walk in the Eungella rainforest we came to the Araluen Cascades, a cold freshwater gorge. Eungella has the largest stretch of subtropical rainforest in Australia; Finch Hatton Gorge was beautiful with unique vegetation and large boulders. Dan, Dave and Neen went for a quick dip in the cold, fresh water. Our last stop was at Broken River to try to spot platypus. The park was lovely and had several viewing spots along the river. Spotting these shy creatures took patience, first you saw air bubbles then the platypus would surface. We saw several little platypus as well as some cockatoos in the trees. It was a great day and we enjoyed spending time with the “Mischief” crew.

In hind sight we probably should have stayed a little longer in Mackay to scout for boat parts and supplies, but it required a cab ride into town and we were not sure where to go. We left the next morning to cruise the Whitsunday Islands and Great Barrier Reef.

Agnes Long


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