Yorkeys Knob 7 days on

Found out the other day who Yorkey was. Apparently a bech-de-mer fisherman from Yorkshire who also owned property hereabouts. And something of a local identity in his day in the late 1800's. The knob is actually the first raised headland you come to north of Cairns. We walked up to the top the other day - quite a steep walk too with a good view from the top.
The weather right now is very pleasant. Fine and sunny getting up to 25C during the day but getting cool at night - down to 10-11C. Some more inland places even up here are down into minus figures at night.
Here in the marina we are right under the flightpath for Cairns International but we are only getting inward descending flights so not so bad. In fact we like watching the aircraft low overhead. It's a busy airport though because sometimes there are 3-4 flights overhead within a 30 minute period.
We've been vacillating (as usual!!) over future plans. Dennis and Jim briefly met another boat ("Crusoe") at NE Percy on the way up from Bundaberg and they are in the marina only 3-4 boats away from us. He is American (away flying helicopters in Nigeria at the moment) and Raewyn is a NZ'er. Another ex nurse in fact. The boat has U.S. registry but was built in NZ - in Wellington so she and Tiare have something in common! The first owner was a man called Robinson - hence the name!! They are leaving next month to head north to Gove on the Western side of the Gulf of Carpentaria from where they intend to leave for Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo via E Indonesia. There was a suggestion that we could follow the same route and the idea has certain attraction as it would mean we would still get to Malaysia this year. However, there is a wariness with making major decisions like that on a quick ad hoc basis. There would be all the Indonesian bureaucracy to attend to (cruising permit and visas) before we could go and then all the passage planning with research into possible anchorages and the navigation between. A lot to do and we just don't feel ready at this stage.
If we stick to our most recent plan which is to go to the Louisiades (PNG) in Sept. and then Darwin/Indonesia with Sail Indonesia 2013 next July we'll take a lot of the stress factor out of things and that's what this life should be all about. We plan to go back south to Townsville after the Louisiades as long as the prevailing SE winds allow and spend the summer there as it has less rainfall than Cairns and just might be a bit more bearable as regards humidity and temperature. It will still be very sticky though and the hire of an air conditioner is probably going to be a necessity. And there's always the wild card of a full blown cyclone which is something we'll just have to play by ear.
Anyway, back to Yorkeys. We are just a 30 minute bus ride from Cairns and the other day had a very interesting conversation with the driver who it turns out has a boat in the other marina here and drives buses wherever he spends any time. They were looking for bus drivers on Magnetic Is.............!!
Cairns has grown since we both (separately) were last here - roughly 15 years. The waterfront on the Trinity River is very swept up with smart restaurants by the score. One wonders how any of them make any money with the undoubted high rents and the tourism downturn. We were accosted by a restaurateur outside his restaurant away from the waterfront and his sales pitch was so good that we decided to have lunch which was a good decision because it was one of the best meals we have had in Australia. Jim had pork fillet on a sweet potato mash and Jean a salmon salad. We'll go back when we next feel we can afford it!! Although it wasn't particularly expensive, but yachties sometimes feel a bit impecunious!!
Half way between here and Cairns is the Smithfield shopping centre which is very large and has absolutely everything including Coles and Woolworths supermarkets. And that's only 10 mins on the bus. The surroundings here are very lush and tropical - big contrast to the general aridness of Bundaberg. Good standard of housing and generally an overall air of prosperity.
Lots to do while we're here - finishing off the deck re-caulking and some painting maintenance. We haven't started yet as Jean's injury has yet to fully heal but it's making good progress. In the meantime we might see the sights - Cooktown 350 kms north, the Kuranda railway and the botanical gardens which are a must see apparently.
So, lots to see and do and the first week has already flown by.
Always pleased to hear from you with your news from time to time.
Lots of love and cheers from us
Jim and Jean xoxoxo
s.v. Tiare Taporo III
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com

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