Jean's return Northwards from the Whitsundays

Hi to everyone,
Jean arrived back here last Saturday (the 19th.) after a tiring 5 weeks in NZ nursing her sister back to reasonable health. They had both flown from Auckland to Brisbane on the 18th. and then driven through heavy traffic out of Brisbane to Maleny which is normally 2 hours north in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. There is a health retreat there and Jean and her sister spent the night there before she left her sister in the good hands of the retreat and drove back to Brisbane (leaving Maleny at 0600 on Saturday) to catch a flight to Proserpine which is the nearest commercial airport to Airlie Beach. Jim was so glad to see her ("Oh frabjous day - caloo calay"!!), although she was totally exhausted, both physically and mentally. Still, we are in the marina now (at AUD400/week!!) and this is a great place to relax. A few days of that and she should come right.
We had been thinking that with all the delays and uncertainties we have had that we might have to flag Darwin/Indonesia/Malaysia this year and we had even been thinking that we might consider going to the Louisiades (800 miles north of Cairns at the SE corner of PNG and part of PNG). Then the plan would be to go past the north coast of PNG and then sail direct for Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo (Sabah). However, this involves around 1,800 nautical miles non-stop in what would likely be quite light winds and without sufficient fuel to motor much of that distance, we would have difficulty. Otherwise we could spend next summer in Australia but with the heat/humidity and possibility of cyclones that isn't too attractive an option either. Then there is the issue of quarantine because, as we are a timber built vessel, we would have to apply for a further 12 month extension to stay here which may prove difficult to get. The Australians seem to be irrationally obsessed with protection against timber boring insects when in fact they probably have more than anywhere else - certainly more than NZ!!!
We have been talking to other boats also in the Indonesia Rally and they all reckon we still have enough time to get to Darwin by mid July so we have remade our plans and will be leaving here on Saturday (the 26th.) initially for Nara Inlet, Hook Is. to give Jean a brief look at the northern Whitsundays. Then we'll sail nonstop for Magnetic Is. (although we might stop once on the way) which is 165 nautical miles north of here. That's about half the distance to Cairns. Another must see on the way is the Hinchinbrook Channel which we will do. If we undertake a few of these longer passages we should be able to make up sufficient time to get, first to Cairns, and then Darwin on time. Here's hoping!! But as they say where there's a will there's a way.
So, some R & R for Jean, some further re-provisioning and we'll be off. As always watch this space............
Love from us
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com

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