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Well, we left Bluewater last Sunday and it is now Friday. We don't seem to have achieved anything much due to this pesky weather which is unrelenting. Apart from yesterday when we made an abortive attempt to leave for Fitzroy, we've been in the Trinity Inlet - mostly well up the inlet where it's quieter and a little more sheltered. On Wed. night we anchored off Cairns CBD with the intention of going ashore there but we felt anxious about the security of the boat anchored in a very strong tidal stream with poor holding. We then left on Thurs. morning but had only gone about halfway out along the channel when we were getting winds of 25 knots (more than 50 kms.) and more so, although we could have made Fitzroy easily, albeit uncomfortably, we started wondering how the anchorage would be for rolling. It's typical of most of the anchorages on this coast - all the way down to Bundaberg - where they appear to be sheltered from the SE, but often the swell rolls around whatever point is sheltering the anchorage and causes an unpleasant roll. So, we turned around and came back up the inlet where we'd been before and wondered what to do next. On the way we explored Smiths Creek where the Cairns Cruising Yacht Squadron is and where we will probably haul out next March. All good to reconnoitre in advance.
Up here is the most sheltered but you can't go ashore because of really thick mangroves, and anyway there's the crocs!! You don't leave the dinghy in the water overnight because there's a good chance that it will be partially or totally destroyed by morning. Crocs also have a love hate relationship with outboard motors where they will come up astern as you are motoring along and attack the outboard. Must give them somewhat of a toothache but who needs that? So we haven't been off the boat for almost a week and getting fairly bored. If it wasn't for the stock of good books we have on board we'd be quite stir crazy by now and probably picking spots of light off the ceiling!! One book deserves a mention - it's a biography of H.G. Wells and a fascinating read. If you get a chance the name is "A Man of Parts" by David Lodge.
There's also the marine stingers whose season is just beginning. One variety in particular has the ability to be lethal. So, generally this coast is hostile and one needs to be very careful. At least it's warm, unlike NZ, although there one generally doesn't need to worry about anything except the odd short lived blow and there's always good shelter no matter what the wind strength or direction. Touch of homesickness perhaps??!!
The GRIBS show no sign of the wind letting up until the end of next week so we've decided to go back into the marina tomorrow and get on with some more worthwhile pursuits and then if conditions are more benign later we'll go out to Fitzroy then.
We heard today of a 50' Beneteau which left Lizard sometime in the last 24 hours to return down here, but after half an hour they decided conditions were too tough and turned back so it vindicates our decision not to go there until we head north next year. The problem generally is that there is nowhere to go around here in these conditions. Anchorages out on the reef are worse because there's even less shelter.
So, it means that we have to go back into the marina. It isn't possible to anchor off as the approach is completely open to the SE which makes it tricky as you need to steer a fairly precise course to avoid going aground on the sandbanks close on each side. We sometimes think we spend too much time in marinas with a consequent insidiously growing reluctance to get out and sail, but it increasingly looks as though most of our next major sailing adventures will have to wait about 5 months. In the meantime we will keep trying and no doubt there will be the odd short lived opportunity, but it looks like being land based for a while.
Cheers from us again and hoping all is well.............
Jim and Jean (Gina)
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com
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Friday, 19 October 2012
Monday, 15 October 2012
Tiare Taporo III in Trinity Inlet
We are now anchored in the Trinity Inlet, Cairns - just downstream from Redbank Creek. This is a very extensive tidal inlet almost as big as Whangarei Harbour. There are thick mangroves on shore which largely preclude any chance of landing, even if one was sanguine about the crocodiles!!
We left Bluewater on Sunday and our original plan was to go north to Lizard Is. but we have flagged that plan because there is a gale warning out for most of this week and we had serious concerns about getting back against gale force SE winds. In any case we will be going there as part of our voyage next year to Darwin. So, we decided to go back to Fitzroy Is. once the winds die down and the anchorage not so rolly! In the meantime we have come into the Trinity Inlet which has the CBD of Cairns on its northern banks as you enter. It was suggested that it would be a good idea for us to come up here to get a bit of local knowledge in the event that we had to come back up here if a cyclone greater than Category 3 headed this way. Not a silly idea.
So, here we are and very glad to be in sheltered waters while the absolutely crazy winds rage. Right now it's 2000 on Monday night and the winds have died right down but during the day we have had gusts up to 28 knots so goodness knows what it's like outside. There is a strong tide running through here so at times we are held against the wind which isn't so comfortable but at least it's calm. There has been no rain and in fact continuing bright sunny weather.
We continue to meet lovely people as part of the cruising experience. The latest are Chris and Gilli from a wooden double ender called "Westwind". We have had drinks and BBQ's with them and others at Bluewater which has a great atmosphere. Chris and Gilli are leaving in a week or so on their voyage down to Tasmania to be part of the Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart in early February. We would love to be part of that and so would the "old girl" - the boat of course!! But, it's around 2,000 miles down there so would add 4,000 miles return to our already extensively planned itinerary to Singapore next year. That's 4,500 miles on its own.
Jean is cooking dinner - steamed salmon for her and roast rolled lamb noisettes for yours truly. The lamb is rolled with creamed macadamias and is absolutely delicious, courtesy of a great butcher at the Smithfield shopping centre! On that note the fresh food continues to impress. We have discovered a seafood place on the northern outskirts of Cairns which has bugs, prawns, squid and very good fresh fish of all kinds. Then there's Rusty's Market in Cairns where the array of fruit and vegetables is mind boggling and reasonably priced. Pawpaw, mangoes (just starting), citrus of all types, strawberries, avocados, pineapple, grapes, asparagus, beans, herbs, courgettes, and all manner of other greens you can imagine.
As well as that we have found a website that has great specials for wine - some as low as $4.99 per bottle. And not cheap nasty stuff. In fact we found some Grove Mill (from NZ!) Pinot Gris which was wonderful - Jean's favourite. Sadly it now seems to be out of stock - we should have bought the lot and cornered the market! If we'd sunk the boat, never mind!!
So, things aren't all bad - just the frustrations with this pesky weather which we probably still haven't come to terms with. We are looking forward greatly to the visits of Hamish and Sara (from Whangarei) and Jean's son Perry and his girlfriend, Tracie later in November. Hopefully we'll be able to take them out to the reef or Fitzroy.
More in due course as always,
Lots of love from us.........
P.S. Jean is much better although not completely back to her old self. She went to Cairns Hospital the other day for a check-up just as a precaution and all vital signs seem normal so that was re-assuring.
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We left Bluewater on Sunday and our original plan was to go north to Lizard Is. but we have flagged that plan because there is a gale warning out for most of this week and we had serious concerns about getting back against gale force SE winds. In any case we will be going there as part of our voyage next year to Darwin. So, we decided to go back to Fitzroy Is. once the winds die down and the anchorage not so rolly! In the meantime we have come into the Trinity Inlet which has the CBD of Cairns on its northern banks as you enter. It was suggested that it would be a good idea for us to come up here to get a bit of local knowledge in the event that we had to come back up here if a cyclone greater than Category 3 headed this way. Not a silly idea.
So, here we are and very glad to be in sheltered waters while the absolutely crazy winds rage. Right now it's 2000 on Monday night and the winds have died right down but during the day we have had gusts up to 28 knots so goodness knows what it's like outside. There is a strong tide running through here so at times we are held against the wind which isn't so comfortable but at least it's calm. There has been no rain and in fact continuing bright sunny weather.
We continue to meet lovely people as part of the cruising experience. The latest are Chris and Gilli from a wooden double ender called "Westwind". We have had drinks and BBQ's with them and others at Bluewater which has a great atmosphere. Chris and Gilli are leaving in a week or so on their voyage down to Tasmania to be part of the Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart in early February. We would love to be part of that and so would the "old girl" - the boat of course!! But, it's around 2,000 miles down there so would add 4,000 miles return to our already extensively planned itinerary to Singapore next year. That's 4,500 miles on its own.
Jean is cooking dinner - steamed salmon for her and roast rolled lamb noisettes for yours truly. The lamb is rolled with creamed macadamias and is absolutely delicious, courtesy of a great butcher at the Smithfield shopping centre! On that note the fresh food continues to impress. We have discovered a seafood place on the northern outskirts of Cairns which has bugs, prawns, squid and very good fresh fish of all kinds. Then there's Rusty's Market in Cairns where the array of fruit and vegetables is mind boggling and reasonably priced. Pawpaw, mangoes (just starting), citrus of all types, strawberries, avocados, pineapple, grapes, asparagus, beans, herbs, courgettes, and all manner of other greens you can imagine.
As well as that we have found a website that has great specials for wine - some as low as $4.99 per bottle. And not cheap nasty stuff. In fact we found some Grove Mill (from NZ!) Pinot Gris which was wonderful - Jean's favourite. Sadly it now seems to be out of stock - we should have bought the lot and cornered the market! If we'd sunk the boat, never mind!!
So, things aren't all bad - just the frustrations with this pesky weather which we probably still haven't come to terms with. We are looking forward greatly to the visits of Hamish and Sara (from Whangarei) and Jean's son Perry and his girlfriend, Tracie later in November. Hopefully we'll be able to take them out to the reef or Fitzroy.
More in due course as always,
Lots of love from us.........
P.S. Jean is much better although not completely back to her old self. She went to Cairns Hospital the other day for a check-up just as a precaution and all vital signs seem normal so that was re-assuring.
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Monday, 1 October 2012
Update from Bluewater - Tiare Taporo III
We are finding our stay here at Bluewater Marina to be absolutely pleasant and hassle free and a total change for the better from Yorkeys Knob. The only possible downside is the necessity for us to leave or arrive at near high tide and on a rising tide. The idea of going aground in a tidal river with the odd crocodile swimming around isn't an attractive one. We've been told that there is a 4 metre croc in the river, although we haven't made his acquaintance just yet!
We've met some very interesting people here and everyone is very friendly. Not least are Chris and Gillie on "Westwind" which was built in Tasmania of Huon Pine - a timber similar to NZ Kauri. She is another double ender about the same size as us but a foot wider. Chris, who is a boat builder, rebuilt her at Botany Bay over a period of nine years and in the process replaced at least 40% of her timber fabric. They are leaving soon for Tasmania to go to the wooden boat festival.
Made us feel we should be doing something like that as well but it's about 2,000 miles down there which would add 4,000 miles to our already long itinerary for next year which is already over 4,000 miles from Cairns to Singapore. We're wondering about whether we could visit the Kimberleys in WA (about 300 miles west of Darwin) after we leave Darwin next year for Kupang in Indonesia. Would all depend on whether Australian Customs would clear us out of Darwin and then allow us to remain in Australia for a few more days while we did that.
An invaluable (for us) aspect of our stay here is the provision of a courtesy car which is owned by a local boat broker. It's an old Corolla with signwriting all over it but it gets us around very reliably. We need to book it in advance and we can have it for up to 3 hours at a stretch. If we go to Smithfield the cost is $5 and Cairns CBD is $10. Way cheaper than the bus and so much more convenient. Especially when buzzing around the Portsmith area looking for boat things. Bit different from Jim's ancient Mercedes-Benzes but this is a different life now!!
We are well advanced with our deck re-caulking and now only have one left to do. Would have done it over the last weekend but there was the possibility of rain and we didn't want to take the risk. Instead we repaired some splits in the deck planking in the cockpit area, some of which MAY have been leaking or at least COULD have leaked in the future. By the time we get up into the monsoon rains of SE Asia we'll be as watertight as possible. The two maxims of cruising on a yacht are not to hit anything and to keep water out. So far, apart from scraping over some shoal bits once here and once in New Caledonia, we've been doing a pretty good job in those areas! We've also been doing fun things like renewing the hinges on the toilet seat and attempting to remove mould from our port water tank breather pipe!
Jim hasn't had a haircut since Airlie Beach in early June(and that was only a trim!) so is starting to look like a great mop of white hair floating about the marina. Noel and Litara, take note. Definitely not up to Noel's standard we're sure. We're thinking of starting a wig business!
Today (Mon.) was Queens Birthday in Queensland and we decided to walk up to the shops to get another Telstra voucher for our internet access. There was a bus stop right there so on a whim we decided to go a bit further north to Trinity Beach where Jim had stayed in a previous life 15 years ago! We had a very good Italian lunch along with a bottle of Australian Pinot Gris which was from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, and surprisingly good. We had a walk along the beach which was all brown with stirred up sand from the usual strong SE wind blowing. Then eventually arrived back at Bluewater in a mellow mood!
We've been absolutely astounded at the unfolding Dotcom saga which we've been reading in the NZ Herald. We believe that law enforcement in NZ is corrupt as evidenced in all the nonsense that's been unfolding with the usual lack of accountability. Arthur Alan Thomas is a good example of Police corruption. We despair of NZ and it's future with the secret agenda of this Government. We voted for them in 2008 but by last year were already becoming very disillusioned so were pleased we had the opportunity to vote for an alternative while we were still in Noumea. Regardless of one's opinion of Dotcom, there seems little doubt that he will have to sue either the US or NZ Govts. or both in order to recover, not only damages for losses to his business, but also his legal costs. The total would be well over $2 billion and once again the NZ taxpayer will pick up the tab. Then the power generators will be sold at firesale prices because of the Maori water ownership caveat! On top of that the Kiwi dollar (and the Aussie) stay at ridiculously high levels which is ruining our export trade. In Australia's case the iron ore prices have fallen below the cost of extraction for most of the mines and this combined with the high Aussie dollar is creating an untenable situation long term. The high Australasian dollar values are a result of comparatively high interest rates available to foreign investors and also the rorts being perpetrated by the counterfeit creation of paper money by the U.S., Britain, the Eurozone and now Switzerland as well. In the meantime China is building up its reserves of gold to hitherto unprecedented levels.
Where will it all end? If you ever read the NZ Herald on-line you will see from time to time a blog on some of these subjects under the by-line of "Tiare Taporo III". It provides some mental stimulus and an outlet for the frustrations we feel.
But ultimately the best is to stay sailing and we are doing that as far as possible for now. On or about the 10th. Oct. weather permitting we will leave here for Lizard Is. (150 miles north) and then back here 3 weeks later to snug up for the cyclone season in the marina - the only cyclone rated marina in Cairns. At least while we're away from here we'll be away from internet access and thus will have an enforced absence from political commentating!!
As always watch this space and lots of love from us..........
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com
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We've met some very interesting people here and everyone is very friendly. Not least are Chris and Gillie on "Westwind" which was built in Tasmania of Huon Pine - a timber similar to NZ Kauri. She is another double ender about the same size as us but a foot wider. Chris, who is a boat builder, rebuilt her at Botany Bay over a period of nine years and in the process replaced at least 40% of her timber fabric. They are leaving soon for Tasmania to go to the wooden boat festival.
Made us feel we should be doing something like that as well but it's about 2,000 miles down there which would add 4,000 miles to our already long itinerary for next year which is already over 4,000 miles from Cairns to Singapore. We're wondering about whether we could visit the Kimberleys in WA (about 300 miles west of Darwin) after we leave Darwin next year for Kupang in Indonesia. Would all depend on whether Australian Customs would clear us out of Darwin and then allow us to remain in Australia for a few more days while we did that.
An invaluable (for us) aspect of our stay here is the provision of a courtesy car which is owned by a local boat broker. It's an old Corolla with signwriting all over it but it gets us around very reliably. We need to book it in advance and we can have it for up to 3 hours at a stretch. If we go to Smithfield the cost is $5 and Cairns CBD is $10. Way cheaper than the bus and so much more convenient. Especially when buzzing around the Portsmith area looking for boat things. Bit different from Jim's ancient Mercedes-Benzes but this is a different life now!!
We are well advanced with our deck re-caulking and now only have one left to do. Would have done it over the last weekend but there was the possibility of rain and we didn't want to take the risk. Instead we repaired some splits in the deck planking in the cockpit area, some of which MAY have been leaking or at least COULD have leaked in the future. By the time we get up into the monsoon rains of SE Asia we'll be as watertight as possible. The two maxims of cruising on a yacht are not to hit anything and to keep water out. So far, apart from scraping over some shoal bits once here and once in New Caledonia, we've been doing a pretty good job in those areas! We've also been doing fun things like renewing the hinges on the toilet seat and attempting to remove mould from our port water tank breather pipe!
Jim hasn't had a haircut since Airlie Beach in early June(and that was only a trim!) so is starting to look like a great mop of white hair floating about the marina. Noel and Litara, take note. Definitely not up to Noel's standard we're sure. We're thinking of starting a wig business!
Today (Mon.) was Queens Birthday in Queensland and we decided to walk up to the shops to get another Telstra voucher for our internet access. There was a bus stop right there so on a whim we decided to go a bit further north to Trinity Beach where Jim had stayed in a previous life 15 years ago! We had a very good Italian lunch along with a bottle of Australian Pinot Gris which was from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, and surprisingly good. We had a walk along the beach which was all brown with stirred up sand from the usual strong SE wind blowing. Then eventually arrived back at Bluewater in a mellow mood!
We've been absolutely astounded at the unfolding Dotcom saga which we've been reading in the NZ Herald. We believe that law enforcement in NZ is corrupt as evidenced in all the nonsense that's been unfolding with the usual lack of accountability. Arthur Alan Thomas is a good example of Police corruption. We despair of NZ and it's future with the secret agenda of this Government. We voted for them in 2008 but by last year were already becoming very disillusioned so were pleased we had the opportunity to vote for an alternative while we were still in Noumea. Regardless of one's opinion of Dotcom, there seems little doubt that he will have to sue either the US or NZ Govts. or both in order to recover, not only damages for losses to his business, but also his legal costs. The total would be well over $2 billion and once again the NZ taxpayer will pick up the tab. Then the power generators will be sold at firesale prices because of the Maori water ownership caveat! On top of that the Kiwi dollar (and the Aussie) stay at ridiculously high levels which is ruining our export trade. In Australia's case the iron ore prices have fallen below the cost of extraction for most of the mines and this combined with the high Aussie dollar is creating an untenable situation long term. The high Australasian dollar values are a result of comparatively high interest rates available to foreign investors and also the rorts being perpetrated by the counterfeit creation of paper money by the U.S., Britain, the Eurozone and now Switzerland as well. In the meantime China is building up its reserves of gold to hitherto unprecedented levels.
Where will it all end? If you ever read the NZ Herald on-line you will see from time to time a blog on some of these subjects under the by-line of "Tiare Taporo III". It provides some mental stimulus and an outlet for the frustrations we feel.
But ultimately the best is to stay sailing and we are doing that as far as possible for now. On or about the 10th. Oct. weather permitting we will leave here for Lizard Is. (150 miles north) and then back here 3 weeks later to snug up for the cyclone season in the marina - the only cyclone rated marina in Cairns. At least while we're away from here we'll be away from internet access and thus will have an enforced absence from political commentating!!
As always watch this space and lots of love from us..........
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com
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Saturday, 22 September 2012
Fitzroy Island
We finally left Yorkeys Knob Marina with great relief on the 15th. We had insisted on staying an extra week to get our "free" week which is all we've managed to retrieve from our ill fated "investment" in the Louisiades Rally. Not sure whether it was worth it as it became very unpleasant but anyway we did it and then escaped to Fitzroy which is a volcanic (high) island 18 miles from Yorkeys Knob just south of Cape Grafton which is SE from Yorkeys.
We started off at 0730 and had a good sail for about half an hour with Cairns City on our starboard hand. Then the wind dropped and headed us (how unusual!!) so we motored the rest of the way.
There is a resort there and the island is visited daily by daytrippers and tourists from Cairns. We anchored in the bay in front of the resort along with approximately 8-10 other boats. A fairly deep anchorage (about 10 metres) and beautiful clear water. We launched the dinghy and went ashore each day where we alternately went for walks or sat in the bar!! There are a few good walks through very pretty rain forest including over to Nudey Beach where another yachtie of our acquaintance claimed to have seen 6 young women in a state of considerable undress!! Unfortunately we missed the spectacle. For the most part the weather was beautiful with clear sunny days and not too hot - yet. Cool nights and one night a bit of rain which necessitated closing the fore hatch. Always exciting being awakened out of a deep slumber by the gentle patter of rain drops on one's forehead!!
All in all a very relaxing time and we met several other yachties - all Aussies. We tended to meet at the aforementioned bar at Happy Hour time. There's one thing about yachties - they always seem to manage to suss out times and places of the best prices!
We met Jonathon and Jo and another couple whose names we forget from a catamaran called "Backchat". Strange how you tend to remember boats and faces but names are very elusive. Then there were John and Nancy who are on a Leopard catamaran (which they had bought in the Carribbean a couple of years ago) called "Alana Rose". They are on their way to Darwin from where they plan to continue to the Kimberleys, WA and then across the Great Australian Bight in a circumnavigation of the continent. A big task given the size of the place. By the time we get to Darwin next year we will have covered over 2,000 miles from Bundaberg. John very kindly downloaded onto our computer some charts and cruising notes that he had of the Northern Territory and Indonesia. They'll be handy next year.
Then, 3 days ago we came back - this time to Bluewater Marina half a mile up the same river from Yorkeys. Totally different from Yorkeys (although that wouldn't be hard). We were met at the dock and our lines taken which was in total contrast to our previous experience. A much more friendly atmosphere. Bluewater is a residential marina development and so far they have some berths available for casual visitors like us. They are the only cyclone rated marina in Cairns (up to category 3)so we're as secure as we can be. The biggest issue would be storm surge, rather than wind or wave action, where due to low atmospheric pressure the sea level rises and in extreme cases marinas have risen so much that they've floated right off their retaining piles. However, as we say that is extreme and all should be well. The Queensland Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting up to 4 cyclones forming in the Coral Sea this summer but it's entirely possible that none of them will even eventuate or make landfall and if they do they will probably be in a manageable category.
We are looking forward to taking off again in about 3 weeks for Lizard Is. 160 miles north. Happily Jean continues to improve - helped no doubt by the shedding of all the unpleasantness of Yorkeys. For those gory details see our previous blog!
More from us again in due course..........
Cheers and love from us
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com
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We started off at 0730 and had a good sail for about half an hour with Cairns City on our starboard hand. Then the wind dropped and headed us (how unusual!!) so we motored the rest of the way.
There is a resort there and the island is visited daily by daytrippers and tourists from Cairns. We anchored in the bay in front of the resort along with approximately 8-10 other boats. A fairly deep anchorage (about 10 metres) and beautiful clear water. We launched the dinghy and went ashore each day where we alternately went for walks or sat in the bar!! There are a few good walks through very pretty rain forest including over to Nudey Beach where another yachtie of our acquaintance claimed to have seen 6 young women in a state of considerable undress!! Unfortunately we missed the spectacle. For the most part the weather was beautiful with clear sunny days and not too hot - yet. Cool nights and one night a bit of rain which necessitated closing the fore hatch. Always exciting being awakened out of a deep slumber by the gentle patter of rain drops on one's forehead!!
All in all a very relaxing time and we met several other yachties - all Aussies. We tended to meet at the aforementioned bar at Happy Hour time. There's one thing about yachties - they always seem to manage to suss out times and places of the best prices!
We met Jonathon and Jo and another couple whose names we forget from a catamaran called "Backchat". Strange how you tend to remember boats and faces but names are very elusive. Then there were John and Nancy who are on a Leopard catamaran (which they had bought in the Carribbean a couple of years ago) called "Alana Rose". They are on their way to Darwin from where they plan to continue to the Kimberleys, WA and then across the Great Australian Bight in a circumnavigation of the continent. A big task given the size of the place. By the time we get to Darwin next year we will have covered over 2,000 miles from Bundaberg. John very kindly downloaded onto our computer some charts and cruising notes that he had of the Northern Territory and Indonesia. They'll be handy next year.
Then, 3 days ago we came back - this time to Bluewater Marina half a mile up the same river from Yorkeys. Totally different from Yorkeys (although that wouldn't be hard). We were met at the dock and our lines taken which was in total contrast to our previous experience. A much more friendly atmosphere. Bluewater is a residential marina development and so far they have some berths available for casual visitors like us. They are the only cyclone rated marina in Cairns (up to category 3)so we're as secure as we can be. The biggest issue would be storm surge, rather than wind or wave action, where due to low atmospheric pressure the sea level rises and in extreme cases marinas have risen so much that they've floated right off their retaining piles. However, as we say that is extreme and all should be well. The Queensland Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting up to 4 cyclones forming in the Coral Sea this summer but it's entirely possible that none of them will even eventuate or make landfall and if they do they will probably be in a manageable category.
We are looking forward to taking off again in about 3 weeks for Lizard Is. 160 miles north. Happily Jean continues to improve - helped no doubt by the shedding of all the unpleasantness of Yorkeys. For those gory details see our previous blog!
More from us again in due course..........
Cheers and love from us
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com
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Friday, 21 September 2012
The tribulations of Tiare Taporo III
Captain Cook named a cape just north of here Cape Tribulation and, although his problems were far greater than ours, we can't help the analogy.
There is a marked contrast between the Yorkeys Knob Boating Club Marina (where we have been since late June) and the reception we had 2 days ago here at Bluewater Marina which is just half a mile further up the same river. We contacted Bluewater to let them know we were coming in and Rick the manager said he'd be on the dock to take our lines. Makes berthing so much easier when there is someone on the dock to do that - the only other places where that occurred were Port Moselle in Noumea and the Koumac Marina on the NW coast of New Caledonia. Compare this welcoming attitude with Yorkeys who during the whole two and a half months we were there never appeared to care whether we were there or not. Certainly we were never welcomed and never had a visit from any of the marina staff to enquire how things were going.
We don't want to continue to labour the issues we had with the Louisiades organiser, Guy Chester, or with the marina, and apart from any official complaints we intend to make, this will be our final word on the matter. We have referred to the extreme disappointment we encountered in dealing with Chester and his point blank refusal to refund our Louisiades fee of $A990. At one stage he did indicate that he would "probably" be able to refund something less than $A100, but then later appeared to indicate that this would only be forthcoming if we agreed to keep quiet about our overall experience. That was insulting as he must think we are very cheap!! After we first met him Jim was struck by his similarity of personality with his other bete noir, John Martin of the Island Cruising Assn. in Opua NZ. Both have egos way in excess even of their ample physical sizes and both suffer from a complete lack of integrity. We could kick ourselves that we ever agreed to join his rally (much less pay the fee) because we had these bad vibes from the outset. We have always told ourselves to obey our instincts but in this instance we broke our own rule. Probably because we were looking at an enforced stay in the Cairns area of around 8 months and felt we needed some variation to that. As it has happened we later became aware of another possibility and that is another rally to Lizard Is. about 160 miles north of here which we will take part in during Oct. - Nov. and doesn't cost anything!! Happily Jean is improving all the time and should be fine by the time we depart for Lizard.
We have already referred to the dodgy arrangement Chester has with the marina. We say "dodgy" because for some inexplicable reason the marina chooses to keep it confidential from the berth owners affected. We were told about the arrangement at a meeting we had with Chester on board his vessel "Sanctuary" after we had asked for the fee refund. In essence the marina makes available to Chester one week's berthage for all the rally yachts at $A80 per week as against the normal weekly berthage of $A250. It is perhaps no big deal in pure financial terms but, as we have said, they don't tell the berth owners whose incomes are affected. We were told to keep this information highly confidential for this reason. However, in view of the way we have been treated and the unpleasant attitude we have received from the marina we do not feel bound by any such stricture.
As regards the marina, they have denied that any such arrangement exists and indeed that they have nothing to do with the rally. If what Chester told us is true then they are obviously telling lies. We have been on the receiving end of several threatening emails from a Stuart Vella who purports to be the marina manager. Vella has issued veiled threats of our being sued for libel and expulsion from the marina!! So, you can see things deteriorated markedly towards the end of our stay. This so-called manager who never even had the decency to come to see us (we have in fact never met) couldn't in our opinion manage his way out of a paper bag! We complained twice in writing during our stay there about the lack of cleanliness in the showers/toilets and the laundry. We never received a response. In one toilet there was a lavatory brush just lying in all its naked and unhygienic glory on the floor. In the others no brush was in sight. The shower curtains were mildewed and the floors invariably plainly dirty and awash with water with no mop even. There was no method of drying one's hands and again in one toilet no liquid soap for our entire stay. In the laundry there was no flat surface clean enough to even put the laundry bag down on much less fold clean laundry. Jean always took a cloth with her to clean sufficiently so that she could fold things.
Yorkeys Knob makes much of its restaurant but on the 2 occasions that we were foolish enough to eat there we felt that the meals were substantially below acceptable standard and nowhere near worth the exorbitant prices.
Then there was the question of our berthage. We were paying the exorbitant monthly rate of $A895. Bluewater is substantially less. At the expiration of 2 months we needed a further 12 days before our "free" rally week kicked in. Firstly the marina said that as this was less than a month we would have to pay the weekly rate! We told them what they could do with that and then they backed down with bad grace and no apology and said we could pay for two weeks at the monthly rate. We again had to point out that it was only for 12 days and that when we went to school there were 14 days in a fortnight. We finally paid for the 12 days at the monthly rate, albeit incorrectly calculated. In the midst of all this Chester threatened to "withdraw" his "offer" of the "free" week's rally berthage to which we were contractualy entitled as we had paid the full rally fee. We told him we were going nowhere and precisely what he could do with his threatened withdrawal.
To summarise, our experience at the Yorkeys Knob Boating Club Marina has been by far the worst that we have had in all 10 marinas we have spent time in since leaving NZ in July 2011. And we have never had any trouble or unpleasantness in any other marina and in fact have very fond memories of the people we invariably met.
Although we have only been at Bluewater for 2 days so far, the contrast is stark. We are sure that our stay here will be most pleasant. Last night we went to the weekly residents' drinks and BBQ where we met a number of the other marina residents.
On a happier note we we will be blogging about our recent experience out at Fitzroy Island.
Until then, cheers from us............
----------
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There is a marked contrast between the Yorkeys Knob Boating Club Marina (where we have been since late June) and the reception we had 2 days ago here at Bluewater Marina which is just half a mile further up the same river. We contacted Bluewater to let them know we were coming in and Rick the manager said he'd be on the dock to take our lines. Makes berthing so much easier when there is someone on the dock to do that - the only other places where that occurred were Port Moselle in Noumea and the Koumac Marina on the NW coast of New Caledonia. Compare this welcoming attitude with Yorkeys who during the whole two and a half months we were there never appeared to care whether we were there or not. Certainly we were never welcomed and never had a visit from any of the marina staff to enquire how things were going.
We don't want to continue to labour the issues we had with the Louisiades organiser, Guy Chester, or with the marina, and apart from any official complaints we intend to make, this will be our final word on the matter. We have referred to the extreme disappointment we encountered in dealing with Chester and his point blank refusal to refund our Louisiades fee of $A990. At one stage he did indicate that he would "probably" be able to refund something less than $A100, but then later appeared to indicate that this would only be forthcoming if we agreed to keep quiet about our overall experience. That was insulting as he must think we are very cheap!! After we first met him Jim was struck by his similarity of personality with his other bete noir, John Martin of the Island Cruising Assn. in Opua NZ. Both have egos way in excess even of their ample physical sizes and both suffer from a complete lack of integrity. We could kick ourselves that we ever agreed to join his rally (much less pay the fee) because we had these bad vibes from the outset. We have always told ourselves to obey our instincts but in this instance we broke our own rule. Probably because we were looking at an enforced stay in the Cairns area of around 8 months and felt we needed some variation to that. As it has happened we later became aware of another possibility and that is another rally to Lizard Is. about 160 miles north of here which we will take part in during Oct. - Nov. and doesn't cost anything!! Happily Jean is improving all the time and should be fine by the time we depart for Lizard.
We have already referred to the dodgy arrangement Chester has with the marina. We say "dodgy" because for some inexplicable reason the marina chooses to keep it confidential from the berth owners affected. We were told about the arrangement at a meeting we had with Chester on board his vessel "Sanctuary" after we had asked for the fee refund. In essence the marina makes available to Chester one week's berthage for all the rally yachts at $A80 per week as against the normal weekly berthage of $A250. It is perhaps no big deal in pure financial terms but, as we have said, they don't tell the berth owners whose incomes are affected. We were told to keep this information highly confidential for this reason. However, in view of the way we have been treated and the unpleasant attitude we have received from the marina we do not feel bound by any such stricture.
As regards the marina, they have denied that any such arrangement exists and indeed that they have nothing to do with the rally. If what Chester told us is true then they are obviously telling lies. We have been on the receiving end of several threatening emails from a Stuart Vella who purports to be the marina manager. Vella has issued veiled threats of our being sued for libel and expulsion from the marina!! So, you can see things deteriorated markedly towards the end of our stay. This so-called manager who never even had the decency to come to see us (we have in fact never met) couldn't in our opinion manage his way out of a paper bag! We complained twice in writing during our stay there about the lack of cleanliness in the showers/toilets and the laundry. We never received a response. In one toilet there was a lavatory brush just lying in all its naked and unhygienic glory on the floor. In the others no brush was in sight. The shower curtains were mildewed and the floors invariably plainly dirty and awash with water with no mop even. There was no method of drying one's hands and again in one toilet no liquid soap for our entire stay. In the laundry there was no flat surface clean enough to even put the laundry bag down on much less fold clean laundry. Jean always took a cloth with her to clean sufficiently so that she could fold things.
Yorkeys Knob makes much of its restaurant but on the 2 occasions that we were foolish enough to eat there we felt that the meals were substantially below acceptable standard and nowhere near worth the exorbitant prices.
Then there was the question of our berthage. We were paying the exorbitant monthly rate of $A895. Bluewater is substantially less. At the expiration of 2 months we needed a further 12 days before our "free" rally week kicked in. Firstly the marina said that as this was less than a month we would have to pay the weekly rate! We told them what they could do with that and then they backed down with bad grace and no apology and said we could pay for two weeks at the monthly rate. We again had to point out that it was only for 12 days and that when we went to school there were 14 days in a fortnight. We finally paid for the 12 days at the monthly rate, albeit incorrectly calculated. In the midst of all this Chester threatened to "withdraw" his "offer" of the "free" week's rally berthage to which we were contractualy entitled as we had paid the full rally fee. We told him we were going nowhere and precisely what he could do with his threatened withdrawal.
To summarise, our experience at the Yorkeys Knob Boating Club Marina has been by far the worst that we have had in all 10 marinas we have spent time in since leaving NZ in July 2011. And we have never had any trouble or unpleasantness in any other marina and in fact have very fond memories of the people we invariably met.
Although we have only been at Bluewater for 2 days so far, the contrast is stark. We are sure that our stay here will be most pleasant. Last night we went to the weekly residents' drinks and BBQ where we met a number of the other marina residents.
On a happier note we we will be blogging about our recent experience out at Fitzroy Island.
Until then, cheers from us............
----------
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Saturday, 1 September 2012
Re: Tiare Taporo III - update from Cairns
Hi Guys,
Good to hear Jeans health is improving.
Sadly I thought YNBC was the most pathetic marina I have been to as well, never will I go there again, the Port Doug. Marina is cheaper and has a proper yacht club with sociable people, check them out. The YKBC was noisy and not many yachties used it, staff unfriendly.
We are now at Sutera Harbour, paid our full membership, and will now be full members, it is a nice setting with all+ the amenities, very comfortable spot and less $$$ than YKBC. (good medical stuff all over town as well). We installed a aircon, and ordered satelite TV, takes 2-3 weeks to come install the dish. We bought a second hand membership for a good discount MR36K instead of the MR50K advertised.
We came fairly straight to KK and would have spent more time at a few overnight spots, as we were going to haul out in Kudat, but the owner was too hard to deal with, as he would not work with us on the lifting keel, so we didn't haul out, that gave us 10 days in KK I would have rather spent a few days at lankayan Island (day sail north of Sandakan - free moorings too), or Banda Naira. The stops along the way before clearing in was no worries, I suggest you clear out of last Indonesia port for Kudat, but stop along the way, easier than Sandakan, and no one will question you, we meet a guy in the boat yard in Kudat who was 3 weeks and never cleared in yet.
Cheers
Brent & Raewyn
--- On Sun, 2/9/12, ZMQ5985@sailmail.com <ZMQ5985@sailmail.com> wrote:
|
Tiare Taporo III - update from Cairns
Hi to all,
Well, the best news is that Jean is definitely improving. She still has to be extremely stringent as to her diet - nothing acidic basically. This means no alcohol, coffee, most fruits, and no gluten. It's very restrictive but we're hoping that as time goes on the need for most of these restrictions will lessen.
We've been settling into life here - finding our way about, going to the weekly Cairns (Rusty's) Market and getting various items needed for the boat. We went to the cinema the other day and saw an Australian made film, The Sapphires. This is about a quartet of Aboriginal female singers who were discovered and eventually taken to Vietnam during the Vietnam War to entertain the troops. It was a poignant film and dealt with all the issues of the day, particularly some pretty nasty discriminatory racism which was the case in most of Australia in those days.
This marina (Yorkeys Knob Boating Club) has a courtesy mini bus which goes to a major local shopping mall at Smithfield 3 times a week so provisioning is no problem. In addition the buses into Cairns leave from a stop about 800 metres from the marina. Only problem there is that direct buses to town only run at commuter times. Otherwise it's necessary to change buses at Smithfield or the James Cook University campus. Then it can take an hour and a half!!
We are getting on with the deck caulking - we've now completed 16 out of 22 (73%) as well as some shorter seams on the foredeck and in the cockpit. We've now still got about 2 weeks here and hope that we might have completed most of them before then.
On that subject we have had a most disappointing time over the last month or so. We withdrew from the Louisiades Rally in early August when we realised that it would not be a good idea to take part in view of Jean's health. We asked for our fee ($A990 - over $NZ1,200) to be refunded and were refused point blank in a most discourteous and peremptory fashion. Our reaction was predictable and we threatened them with legal action but the cancellation policy as written is at best misleading and at worst deliberately misleading. There seems some doubt as to whether we would succeed or otherwise. However, part of the rally deal was that we would get a "free" week's berthage from 8/9 to 15/9 so we are determined to stay and at least recover that, although for us the week is of course far from "free" and the stay here has now become quite unpleasant. The whole business has left a very nasty taste and we will be doing everything we can to make people aware that if they do enter this rally in future, they would need to be very sure they won't be cancelling. In addition to all this we were made aware by the rally organiser of a dodgy arrangement they have with the marina for the "free" week for rally participants. This is supposed to be highly confidential. Since we told them that this could well become public as an unintended result of any legal action we might take, we've been threatened with expulsion from the marina and being sued for libel!! Another issue that arose was that we needed another 2 weeks between our last month for which we had paid at the monthly rate and the start of the "free" week. The marina told us that, as this was less than a month we would have to pay the weekly rate, in spite of having been here for 2 months already!! We refused point blank and then they backed down and said we could have the 2 weeks at the monthly rate. However, it was actually 12 days and we had to point this out to them too. So, things here are only fair to middling and we are looking forward to the day when we can leave.
We intend to go out to Fitzroy Is. for a few days before we go to another marina where we expect we will be much happier - and more secure from cyclones. The litany above is an entirely new and unpleasant experience for us. Since 2009 we have been in 3 marinas in NZ - Town Basin and Marsden Cove in Whangarei and Opua in the Bay of Islands. In addition we have been in 2 marinas in New Caledonia - Port Moselle in Noumea and Koumac in the north and now 4 in Australia - Port Bundaberg for 4 months, Abel Point at Airlie Beach, Breakwater at Townsville and now here. This is 9 marinas (some for considerable periods of time) and we have never been treated as we have been here. In particular we have very fond memories of all of the above marinas and we miss the friendly people we invariably met.
Sadly the Louisiades Rally and the Yorkeys Knob Boating Club Marina will not be getting any good publicity from us.
Cheers from us
Tiare Taporo III
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com
----------
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Well, the best news is that Jean is definitely improving. She still has to be extremely stringent as to her diet - nothing acidic basically. This means no alcohol, coffee, most fruits, and no gluten. It's very restrictive but we're hoping that as time goes on the need for most of these restrictions will lessen.
We've been settling into life here - finding our way about, going to the weekly Cairns (Rusty's) Market and getting various items needed for the boat. We went to the cinema the other day and saw an Australian made film, The Sapphires. This is about a quartet of Aboriginal female singers who were discovered and eventually taken to Vietnam during the Vietnam War to entertain the troops. It was a poignant film and dealt with all the issues of the day, particularly some pretty nasty discriminatory racism which was the case in most of Australia in those days.
This marina (Yorkeys Knob Boating Club) has a courtesy mini bus which goes to a major local shopping mall at Smithfield 3 times a week so provisioning is no problem. In addition the buses into Cairns leave from a stop about 800 metres from the marina. Only problem there is that direct buses to town only run at commuter times. Otherwise it's necessary to change buses at Smithfield or the James Cook University campus. Then it can take an hour and a half!!
We are getting on with the deck caulking - we've now completed 16 out of 22 (73%) as well as some shorter seams on the foredeck and in the cockpit. We've now still got about 2 weeks here and hope that we might have completed most of them before then.
On that subject we have had a most disappointing time over the last month or so. We withdrew from the Louisiades Rally in early August when we realised that it would not be a good idea to take part in view of Jean's health. We asked for our fee ($A990 - over $NZ1,200) to be refunded and were refused point blank in a most discourteous and peremptory fashion. Our reaction was predictable and we threatened them with legal action but the cancellation policy as written is at best misleading and at worst deliberately misleading. There seems some doubt as to whether we would succeed or otherwise. However, part of the rally deal was that we would get a "free" week's berthage from 8/9 to 15/9 so we are determined to stay and at least recover that, although for us the week is of course far from "free" and the stay here has now become quite unpleasant. The whole business has left a very nasty taste and we will be doing everything we can to make people aware that if they do enter this rally in future, they would need to be very sure they won't be cancelling. In addition to all this we were made aware by the rally organiser of a dodgy arrangement they have with the marina for the "free" week for rally participants. This is supposed to be highly confidential. Since we told them that this could well become public as an unintended result of any legal action we might take, we've been threatened with expulsion from the marina and being sued for libel!! Another issue that arose was that we needed another 2 weeks between our last month for which we had paid at the monthly rate and the start of the "free" week. The marina told us that, as this was less than a month we would have to pay the weekly rate, in spite of having been here for 2 months already!! We refused point blank and then they backed down and said we could have the 2 weeks at the monthly rate. However, it was actually 12 days and we had to point this out to them too. So, things here are only fair to middling and we are looking forward to the day when we can leave.
We intend to go out to Fitzroy Is. for a few days before we go to another marina where we expect we will be much happier - and more secure from cyclones. The litany above is an entirely new and unpleasant experience for us. Since 2009 we have been in 3 marinas in NZ - Town Basin and Marsden Cove in Whangarei and Opua in the Bay of Islands. In addition we have been in 2 marinas in New Caledonia - Port Moselle in Noumea and Koumac in the north and now 4 in Australia - Port Bundaberg for 4 months, Abel Point at Airlie Beach, Breakwater at Townsville and now here. This is 9 marinas (some for considerable periods of time) and we have never been treated as we have been here. In particular we have very fond memories of all of the above marinas and we miss the friendly people we invariably met.
Sadly the Louisiades Rally and the Yorkeys Knob Boating Club Marina will not be getting any good publicity from us.
Cheers from us
Tiare Taporo III
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com
----------
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