Pancake Creek lat. 24 degrees 01S long. 151 degrees 44E

After heaving to last night we got going again at first light (around 0530) and headed for the Pancake Creek entrance 11 miles away. It was beautiful morning albeit a little cold. We were both feeling somewhat jaded after standing watches last night - not used to it! We found the entrance with no bother thanks to our new chartplotter and cruising guide to the Coral Coast and came inside through the entrance which is very narrow but no dramas. However, the channel is very tortuous once inside and unforgivingly shallow should one stray from the beaten path. We passed 3 boats we had previously met at Bundaberg as they left when we were on our way in - Dutch, Channel Islands and American.

We anchored in what seemed a promising spot but when we checked the tide tables in detail we realised that we would be on the bottom at low tide as currently there is a tidal range here of about 3 metres. So we moved closer to the entrance where we had more water. We've spent a very peaceful day catching up on sleep and having some of our beautiful fresh fruit from the Bundaberg market for breakfast - custard apples, passion fruit, pineapple and plums.

Enjoyed a couple of Laphroaigs (Dennis brought a bottle) and about to have steak for dinner.

Dennis was so used to the boat from his past ownership that he badly injured his little toe on the staysail sheet leads which have since been mounted on deck. However, after quite a bit of blood we fixed it all up and had another Laphroaig which cemented the cure!! Dennis is a dab hand in the galley!!

Hummocky Island tomorrow (north of Gladstone) and after that Gt. Keppel. Good weather forecast so should be a good sail.

Watch this space.............................

At sea!!

It seems bizarre to be writing this email at 1 in the morning as we lie hove to 11 miles south esat of Bustard Point which forms the entrance to Pancake Creek where we are going to anchor later this morning when we have some daylight. The wind has dropped to around 8 knots from the south and we are nearly stationary as we await the daylight. We can see the loom of the lights of Gladstone from here (30 miles away) and are keeping a vigil for commercial shipping as Gladstone is a very busy mining port. At the moment we have on AIS a vessel  (name of "Agros") 8.9 miles away from us and heading more or less in our direction. It;s only doing 4 knots which suggests it's a tug towing barges. Can't physically see it as yet. Dennis is asleep and yours truly is keeping watch.

More as we progress north.....................

Lotsaluv from "Tiare Taporo III"!!!!!!!!!!

Finally leaving!!

This morning we are leaving for Pancake Creek and points north. It is now 0615 and the forecast is benign - if anything the winds will be too light. Gina is back in NZ and Dennis joined us the other day for the sail north. All future emails should be to ZMQ5985@sailmail.com because internet could be patchy. Keep watching this space.

Lotsaluv..........................

Nearly sailing again Bundaberg - Cairns

The big news is that we now have a  working watermaker and freezer!! And no thanks to the cowboys in NZ. But big thanks to the suppliers and fitters of these items here.

The freezer saga initially involved getting a new evaporator plate which then had to be shaped (bent) to fit the cabinet. The old one had developed a gas leak because it had been damaged in NZ during removal and refitting. However, because of changes in the manufacturing between the new and old plates the new plate could not be bent as was necessary so, after a lot of toing and froing we decided to follow another more expensive path which has involved custom making out of medical grade stainless steel pipe a looped system within the box. This was a highly skilled operation and we are very grateful to Rolf (the refrigeration engineer) for carrying it out to the high standard we now have. It is much more robust than the previous system and, while we still have the problem of the inadequately insulated box, it should see us through until we can rebuild the whole system - hopefully at cheaper Asian labour rates. And we would still be able to reuse the stainless pipe fabrication. Rolf finished the job earlier today.

The new watermaker HP pump has been installed and during a short test sail last week it more than met our expectations. We now feel confident that our future voyaging should be reasonably trouble-free, at least as far as those two items are concerned.

But the fact that any of this should have been necessary together with the frustration over many months plus the extra high cost is a sad indictment of some work done in NZ. The unfortunate part is that all of NZ gets tainted whenever these experiences come to light. There is a very extensive network of communication between cruising boats and news like this quickly gets around. Contrary to popular opinion, cruisers are not made of money and are by and large great do it yourselfers. If they are getting anything done on their boats they research it all very thoroughly on the internet and opt for the best and most cost effective option. More and more this means SE Asia as costs are so much more competitive than down in the SW Pacific. There was an article in yesterday's The Australian newspaper detailing a report which states that Australia is fast becoming less competitive internationally because of high domestic costs and their high dollar - even including the burgeoning mining sector. Australia is not the only country which has iron ore and coal.

Today there is a strong wind warning in effect because of the usual situation of a big fat high down in the Tasman Sea. There is a strong wind warning out for the East Coast from Moreton Bay to Cairns so we're hoping that when Dennis and Jim set sail on the 18th. the conditions will have moderated somewhat. At least the wind is with us. Right at this moment we have 22 knots in the marina! If it's like this we'll wait for more benign conditions. Still, Dennis used to own "Reflections of Wellington" in Wellington so he probably thinks this just a gentle breeze!

The boat has been in turmoil in the last few days - getting the engine serviced, the freezer installed and Jean has been working like a trojan getting storage and food organised.  In a 38' boat whenever one opens storage bins under bunks it's always disruptive because the bed has to be pulled up and all the squabs and other paraphernalia but somewhere until the job is finished and calm reigns once more. We should be used to it by now but somehow we never seem to be.

Jean is getting ready to travel back to NZ on Monday to be with her sister for 4-5 weeks and we are looking forward to Dennis's arrival on Sunday. Then it will be off into the deep blue yonder once again........................... Tiare is straining at her mooring lines right now - she can't wait to get going after 5 months in the marina!

Cheers from us

Jim and Jean (Gina) xoxox

s.v. Tiare Taporo III

www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com

 

 

News from Bundaberg

Hi all,

We are pleased to report that at long last our watermaker is commissioned and working. We left the marina here early this morning and went about 12 miles out into Hervey Bay. We tried all the sails and systems and after some trial and error due to having forgotten which end was which with the staysail sheets, etc we eventually settled down and enjoyed the tranquillity of the local sailing scene. The wind promised to increase to 20 knots from the SE but the opposite happened and we finished up with about 2 knots. Not enough to move this old girl but maybe the elements were treating us kindly for our first nautical foray in 4 and a half months!! Anyway, it was good to be out on the briny once more - enjoying the coastal views from the Burnett River entrance to Burnett Heads, Mon Repos and Bargara.

We then came back in and took on fuel in preparation for the coastal passage to Cairns (750-800 nautical miles) which Jim will be sharing with Dennis Bouverie (the former owner of the boat back in Wellington in 1979).  Jean is flying back to NZ to be with her sister and will rejoin the boat in Cairns near the end of May for the continuing voyage to Darwin, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.

Tomorrow hopefully we will have our freezer back in commission and all will be well. The purists among you will say we should be able to do away with such civilised accoutrements but for us they enhance the cruising experience.

We've been reading with increasing concern developments back in Godszone. The ACC imbroglio and associated political corruption, the Crafar Farms controversy and associated concerns with state asset sales generally - watch out for even more power increases over and above those which have just happened. Alongside this is the ongoing appeasement of Maoris through the disgraceful sellout over the foreshore and seabed issue and ongoing Waitangi Tribunal settlements at a time when NZ is sliding into ever more indebtedness - mainly to China. Then see that John Key is now saying that the return to surplus won't be as robust as initially reported - this is political speak for an ever worsening financial situation. In all likelihood there will be no "surplus" at all. On that note all you have to do is look to the Pacific and see that Tonga is indebted to China to the tune of $120M - a sum that can never be repaid. The biggest building in Nuku'alofa is the Chinese Embassy!!! Fiji will have even more debt and China will be seeking some quid pro quos - of that have no doubt. Military bases perhaps? It may be instructive to read and subscribe to Muriel Newman's newsletter - www.nzcpr.com In the latest one there is an indepth analysis of the damage that so-called biculturalism is causing NZ. NZ is a country of only 4.5 million at the bottom of the world and can absolutely not afford the divisions and in-fighting presently going on with fundamental constitutional issues. The only hope NZ has is to have a Government of unity and genuine leadership to take the country forward as one - otherwise we're dog tucker!!

The overall scene is grim in our view and we are just so appreciative of the fact that we can leave all that behind and realise our dreams of voyaging by sail while we are still physically capable. But it is by no means all beer and skittles. It is fraught with anxiety when sailing onto a coast where one has never been before and then there are the on-going maintenance and preparation issues. We've just re-launched after antifouling on the hard and then there are the passage planning and provisioning matters to attend to. One cannot just go sailing off into the sunset - one has to plan in detail which involves working out daily distances, suitable anchorages and meal planning. There are also financial issues. The AUD is some 20-25% stronger than the Kiwi at present so this adds to our costs substantially. But we hope that when we leave Darwin the lesser costs we will encounter further north will more than outweigh the high costs we have had to deal with here. Hopefully in amongst all of that there may be opportunities for sitting back in the cockpit with a cold beer or glass of wine occasionally!!

All of the above is a challenge though, which we would not be experiencing had we not embarked on our chosen course (no pun intended). We will be regaling you with more as time rolls on.....................

Cheers and love from us xoxox

Fw: Tiare Taporo III

Hopefully this will be the last comment in a very long sad saga. Unfortunately the effect is that it rubs off on NZ as a whole. The only thing that NZ has got going for it is the lower dollar compared to Australia (some 20-25%) and lower labour rates. And of course the quality of work at Norsand!! Don't worry, we continually tell people about that but the reality is that boats in Australia are almost always either staying here or carrying on to SE Asia. So NZ isn't on their radar. Hope all is well at Norsand.

Cheers,

Jim and Gina (soon to leave Bundaberg)

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Jim Donald <tiare_taporo@yahoo.co.nz>
To: "info@partridgeyachts.com" <info@partridgeyachts.com>; "openocean@xtra.co.nz" <openocean@xtra.co.nz>
Sent: Monday, 2 April 2012 9:16 PM
Subject: Tiare Taporo III

I had hoped that I wouldn't have occasion to have any further contact with you, but today we discovered yet another issue with the watermaker which I just had to mention as yet another example of the unbelievably shoddy work we were the victim of at your hands.

We were commissioning the new HP pump when a hose blew. When we took the hose off the fitting we found an end cap from the old HP pump which had jammed inside the hose and caused a local rise in pressure sufficient to cause the hose to rupture. This had obviously been left in the hose when the system was originally installed. I am addressing this to both of you as I think both Partridges and Opua Engineering were together involved in the installation. Apart from the aggravation, this has cost us another hour's labour and of course a new length of hose. Thank goodness it happened here and not off Cape York.

Apart from being involved with John Martin (the present owner of the ICA) in the building of the house in Landing Rd., my association with you would come a very close second.

The engineer/shipwright who has re-installed the watermaker made a comment this morning - "bloody cowboy Kiwis". This sums the situation up exactly.

Jim Donald

Hardstand travails

It is now Tuesday evening and we have been hauled out since last Friday. We had to back into the travelift dock as otherwise our forestay would have fouled the travelift crossbeam and, although we always reverse like an unpredictable whale, we managed the exercise with our customary insousiance!! Having accomplished that we then were lifted out on the Travel Lift and the first thing that happens is that the boat is waterblasted to get any residual fouling removed. Then we were trundled across the road to the working hardstand where we have been ever since. The first job was to wetsand the whole hull which was accomplished with a hose and Scotch scouring pads. The hull after 12 months and many miles was looking better than she has looked in recent times and we put this down to the antifouling paint we had used back in Whangarei - Hempel ablative. Fortunately it's available here too and so we have been using it again.

The main problem we have come up against is the wind which blows through the boatyard at about 20-25 knots from 1000 every day. So, it's necessary to get working no later than 0700 which we will do again tomorrow and hopefully will complete two coats which, considering the excellent condition when we hauled out, should be sufficient for the forthcoming voyage to Malaysia. Then we can get it done again, but because of the lower labour costs, we won't be doing it - yaaayyyyy!  

We are on a gravel surface which is better for our timber hull but it tends to be somewhat messy. A heartwarming sight was Jean in her overalls lying on her back on the ground under the keel applying antifouling paint to the bottom of the keel and getting liberally spattered with the aforementioned!! So, antifouling is not all fun - far from it.

On another note we've had the Queensland State elections and the LNP Party has been returned with a historic majority  The only concern with this is that a weak opposition (Labour has only 6-7 seats in a Parliament of over 60 seats) can result in some less than democratic situations. Still, it seems that democracy is an illusion anyway so why should we be concerned?

After the wind got up this morning we went into Bundaberg and after waiting for the bus for a time, we were offered a lift by a very kind couple, Ron and Margaret in their Landcruiser. They have a property on the Burnett River with a schooner which they built themselves moored at the bottom of their garden and they and the boat survived last year's floods. Their anchor is now buried under 2 metres of river silt! We picked up our laptop which we'd left for a checkover and then some provisioning after which we caught the bus back to the marina. Early start in the morning to complete the antifouling.

As always watch this space.......................

Love from us