Believe it or not the three weeks in Cairns simply flew by. For the first two weeks, we were anchored in the river and concentrated on doing a number of boat jobs in preparation for the next part of our trip: installing sound deadening in the engine bay to reduce the engine noise, getting new shade cover for the bow (now can put almost all the boat in the shade), getting the dinghy outboard serviced, sourcing and ordering a new larger fan for our cabin, and various other things that I now can’t remember. These things might not sound like much, but some were significant logistical exercises in getting to the right shop (usually a combination of dinghy and walking), and then being able to get the materials etc back to the boat eg., the sound deadening was 4 large heavy lead impregnated sheets which we loaded into a taxi to get back to where we had left the dinghy, and then had to balance these in the dinghy for the trip back to the boat. We had a fair bit of rain during this time, which cramped our movements a little.

It wasn’t all work though. We caught up with our friends Claude and Lana who live at Yorkey’s Knob on a couple of occasions. They generously took us to their place so we could do several loads of washing and while this was drying we all went to the local yacht club for a very pleasant light lunch out on the deck.

Yorkey’s Knob looks like a very nice little community and we can see why Claude and Lana have been enjoying it there. Claude is a member of the Cairns Yacht Club and so Phil actually went dinghy sailing with Claude one Saturday. Phil hasn’t raced in a dinghy for about 30+ years, so he got a real thrill out of it. We also started to meet some of the others who are doing the Indonesian rally and organised a get together at a local bar and restaurant one evening.

For the final week in Cairns, we moved into the marina which is very conveniently located near the main part of town. The waterfront area is very nice and the local council have done a great job in compensating for the boring mud flats which are exposed at low tide. There is a large horizon swimming pool surrounded by lawn and lots of palm trees, and a boardwalk along the foreshore where you can find numerous BBQs (each named after a bird), a child’s water park, playgrounds, a skate park, and exercise stations. They also run free fitness classes at the pool each morning of the week. At night, the trees in this area are lit up with coloured lights. The city has a great feel to it, with lots of people out and about enjoying it.

Reece and Emmaline (our son and his girlfriend) gave us a wonderful surprise with an unannounced visit during this final week. They arrived on Monday morning and found us at the marina in the middle of the messy job of changing the engine oil and filters. Apparently, there had been quite some plotting to keep the visit a secret from us so we were completely unaware of their plans. It was very exciting to see them stepping onto our boat!! They stayed in Port Douglas for the week, using a holiday gift voucher. This meant that they got to have a holiday, see a bit of the area and catch up with us.

We also had a visit from our good friend Leonie, who arrived on the Tuesday night. Reece and Em came down and we all had dinner together on the boat. What a treat to have a “family dinner” while in Cairns.

Leonie stayed with us on the boat until the following Saturday and was a terrific help with the final preparations. On the Friday we sailed to Green Island for the day taking Leonie, Reece, and Em with us. Another very pretty little island although quite touristy as it is a popular day trip location for Cairns based tourists (like us!).

The excitement mounted during the week with a couple of briefings about the rally, and meeting lots more of the other boats. Leonie also joined in with the Indonesian rally briefings and social events which gave her a very good sense of our forthcoming trip and a chance to meet some of the people we will be sharing it with. The atmosphere in the marina was certainly enhanced once we all put up the rally “battle flag” and the official pennant. It was also a busy week in terms of final preparations. We had a visit from the fridge mechanic, the HF radio technician, and the mosquito screen man, so now the fridge is gassed up, the HF has our own MMSI (identification number) in it rather than that of the previous owner, and we have 4 mosquito screens that will attach to the inside of the hatches with magnetic strips. Then we took delivery of 4-5 months of groceries from Coles and a couple of weeks worth of frozen meat, all of which we stowed away.

This was followed by a trip to the market for fresh fruit and vege, the bottle shop, and a final trip to the supermarket for a few last minute things. By the time we had filled the water tanks (750 litres) and fuel tank (360 litres), the boat was groaning and was certainly a bit lower in the water. Everything in sight was washed with several trips to the laundromat and we were finally ready to go. No trouble sleeping that night though!

We slipped out of Cairns marina on Monday 6th July bound for Low Islets which are just north of Port Douglas. A pretty spot but we didn’t explore it as we wanted to get going the next day up to Hope Islands, for a night and then the plan was to go onto Lizard Island and stay there for a few days exploring the reef. The trip to Hope Islands started out well with clear skies and perfect wind. Before too long we had the spinnaker up and were enjoying a cracking sail. However, the beak on the spinnaker pole broke just after lunch and we were soon changing our destination to Cooktown for repairs. As luck would have it, phone reception appeared after several hours of being in a black spot and we were able to arrange for a replacement part to be sent up from Cairns the next day. So here we are in Cooktown, having spent the day today getting the old broken part off the spinnaker pole, which was no mean feat. It involved lots of banging and hammering (at a workbench in full sun), and the use of various other tools all borrowed from other boats and also the helpful guy who runs Cooks Landing.

Cooktown is a lovely town with lots of history which is very well displayed in various locations. We plan to see some more of it tomorrow and then resume our journey to Lizard Island on Friday.