We've arrived in Kupang

The anchorage position is 10 09,54S and 123 34,36E

We arrived about 11 o'clock this morning and are now just waiting for the checking in process with customs, immigration and bio-security before we're allowed to go ashore. There are 40 or more boats here with more arriving every few minutes so it's going to be busy for a while and a good percentage are flying the Q flag indicating that they've just arrived as well. With this in mind, checking in may take the rest of the day. Not to worry, it's gorgeous weather and we'll just sit back to chill out for a while.

Once we're cleared, the first thing we want to do is find ourselves a good Nasi Goreng or Laksa, can't wait to try all the Indonesian foods. Yum.

In sight of land

Our current position is: 10 27,639S and 123 44,444E

I can see the lights of land off to our starboard side. We should be entering the channel in a few hours time then another three to four hours should take us up to the anchorage.

For a good proportion of the day, we were forced to motor as there was no wind but a gentle breeze finally developed in the late afternoon allowing us to pole out and move under sail; much more pleasant.

Our excitement for the day was coming up alongside another boat which is having engine problems. Seems as though he's getting air into the fuel but can't find where from so he needs to rig up a header tank to gravity feed the fuel. He didn't have any fuel hoses so we managed to pull up to him and toss him a bag with some of our excess line. Hope this works for him.

We haven't heard any news of Troutbridge since the first day but are not particularly worried as conditions have been so benign. He doesn't have an HF radio so can't call into the rally net each day to give his position. However, if he's experiencing the lack of wind as we were, he'll be sailing very slowly, no doubt reluctant to use his engine.

Our next entry should be from the shores of Kupang, Indonesia.

Getting there slowly

Our current position is: 11 06'144S 125 40'056E

During most of the day, progress was good with great sailing conditions, however, things have slowed down radically now and we're plodding along at just over two knots.

Over this area of the Timor Sea, there are numerous shallower banks and we've passed dozens of fishing boats throughout the night, some without lights which is always a bit of a challenge but conditions are calm and being out here is quite enjoyable.

Our connection to our email service is somewhat iffy at the moment so our blog entries may be a bit sparse for a while. I'm hoping it's just a temporary glitch but, once we're at anchor again, Paul will need to check the connections up the back stay, on the ground plate and behind the radio to see where the problem lies.

Ho Hum

Our current position is: 11 34'017S 127 43'354E which is not an awful lot further than this time last night.

The wind has turned to southeast which is good but it's only 8 to 10 knots which is not good so we're not exactly breaking any speed records. We tried all our sail configurations today but nothing really worked. We even deployed our genniker for the first time in ages but it just flopped and flogged and didn't really contribute at all.

However, on the positive side, it's been a beautiful day so no complaints on that score. My original thoughts that this trip would take about three days has been somewhat revised. Unless the wind picks up, at this speed we'll be looking at at least five days. Hope the welcoming party hasn't come and gone by the time we get there.

At the moment, I can see three boats behind us and one in front. This time last night there were dozens around but this morning, the rest fired up their iron gennies and disappeared over the horizon so we're wallowing in limited company.

PS: to date, we haven't been able to get a connection to send our emails so the entries will be piling up.

On our way

Our current position is: 12 01 450S and 129 21 650E crossing the Timor Sea to Indonesia and all's well on board.

We left Darwin with the rally at 11:00 this morning with virtually no wind and what little there was was right on the nose. Now, considering that for the past 100 days or more, the wind has been consistently from the southeast, why oh why, when we are heading northwest, does it suddenly decide that that is the direction is will come from? Beats me.

Within a few hours, it had died completely so we were forced to motor over glassy seas and this continued until about an hour ago (it's now 4 o'clock in the morning) when we were finally able to switch off and enjoy some peaceful sailing. It's actually quite pleasant out here at the moment. We won't be breaking on speed records but, at least, we're moving at about 4 to 5 knots in the right direction.

Farewell to Down Under

The time has come the Walrus said........

Yup, we're leaving Australia after seven months and now heading to Kupang, our first stop in Indonesia.  We'll certainly not be alone as there are over 80 boats on the rally, a few taking a slightly different route for the first month but the majority on the same route as us.

The two routes will join up just before Bali and the entire trip through Indonesia will take three months, dropping us off in Singapore before we head up the west coat of Malaysia.

So, farewell to Australia and all the people we met here, we've enjoyed it immensely but definitely time to move on. 

Preparing to leave

View from our boat tonight

Our stay in Darwin and, in fact Australia, is rapidly coming to an end; this weekend we depart for Kupang, our first stop in Indonesia.

We've really quite enjoyed our layover here in the Northern Territories. The weather has been incredible, sun every day with sufficient breeze to keep our wind generator producing that which it was designed to do – make electricity, and we've experienced some of the most incredible sunsets imaginable right from the cockpit of our boat.

It's also been one heck of a busy and frustrating time as Darwin is a tad laid back and what doesn't happen today, may happen tomorrow or may not, usually the latter. Someone mentioned that NT doesn't necessarily stand for Northern Territories but rather for Not Today, Not Tomorrow, Not Tuesday and Not Thursday, to which I've added, NoTever. However, it's all done (or not) in a friendly manner so one can't get too aggravated. We're told it's excellent training for what we'll experience in Indonesia.

In some respects, we're happy to be leaving as we've found Australia to be horrendously expensive putting us in a position where we weren't able to travel, stop for a drink or light meal or generally enjoy a bit of time away from the boat.  Apart from friends who took us to Sydney (fabulous), a quick trip to Warwick and another friend who took us to see Surfer's Paradise, we've been unable to see anything of the country other than the coastline we've passed.  We give our great thanks to them, much appreciated.  Despite that, we have enjoyed it and would have loved to see more.  On our radio net each morning, they have a session called "money-saving tip of the day" to which one cruiser suggested "bypass Australia".  I guess that sort of says it all.

The 'girls' at the BBQ

Sail Indonesia and the rally organisers entertained us last Saturday night to a fabulous BBQ get together here at the club where we were able to meet many of the other participants and have a fitting celebration for Paul's birthday. The trip back to the boats that evening proved to be quite an exercise as Darwin experiences huge tides (6 to 8 metres), When it came time to leave the club, it was very very low, leaving us with a long trek across soft wet sand dragging our dinghy for what seemed like miles.

 

In preparation for the trip northwards, we needed to organise some Indonesian money.  Well, the Rupiah is one of those currencies that has a zillion zeros on each note.  We went in today to collect our ordered funds from the bank and came back with a huge bundle of notes making up several million Rupiah.  Now, in truth, this is worth very little but it's great fun to hold several million somethingorother in my hot little hands for while.  For once I can truly say "I'm a millionaire!"

 

Here in Darwin, we haven't quite worked out if crocodiles are an issue or not as one source says that they haven't seen one in 40 years where the next states that the authorities removed some 300 from the region just last year.  Who to believe?  Regardless, one is a little wary when venturing into the water.  We managed to wrap a fishing line around our prop which meant that Paul had to dive down to cut it all off.  This took quite a few attempts as he didn't want to linger just in case.  Fortunately, mission accomplished with no missing appendages.  I trust Indonesia is void of said creatures - we want to enjoy our swimming.

The Story of a Rudder

Troutbridge High & Dry

When Pete on Troutbridge arrived in Darwin shortly after us, one of the first things he wanted to do was to beach the boat to see to a few problems.

Little did he know that the port rudder had all but disappeared.  It was severely broken with a long crack across so that when several of the chaps tried to help him straighten it, it simply fell apart completely.  Disaster!   He wouldn't be able to participate in the rally under these conditions and lack of funds didn't allow him to call in a professional to rebuild it for him.

This is where Paul stepped in by stating "I will build you a rudder!"   And so, Calypso got turned into a workshop for about four days with cutting, chiseling, sanding, epoxying and fibre-glassing a new rudder.  Pete didn't have power on his boat to enable it to be made on sight.  Imagine my thrill at the state of the boat. 

After the first fitting which was remarkably close to the mark, it was a case of a few adjustments (more chiselling so more dust) and then it was just a wait for a good low tide.

The final fitting was a perfect fit but the epoxy got too hard at the last second which stopped it from seating 100% but it stuck solidly with the help of a Spanish windlass and a few more bandages of fibreglass so, hallelujah, Trouter's is back in the running and was relaunched on the next tide. 

PHOTO GALLERY:

In a sad state

The 1st fitting with John on Kailani

2nd fitting - a perfect fit

The final touches

Delightful Darwin

The anchorage from the DSC

Darwin is great. We love the town with the anchorage here in Fannie Bay outside the Darwin Sailing Club.  It's a beautiful setting overlooking the vast bay with a couple of hundred yachts anchored out there - marvellous.

It may not be the cultural centre of the world but Darwin offers a host of activities in sports, arts, museums, libraries, culture and many additional activities – a surprising number for such a small city. There are many terrific markets each week with great fresh produce, arts & crafts and food stalls from dozens of different nations, all with some form of local entertainment.

Right here at the Club, it's been a hive of activity with the Minnow sailing nationals for the kids as well as any number of tiny racing boats including Lasers, HobiCats and a couple of fascinating speed craft I think called Moths.

On our first weekend we went down to watch the annual beer tin boat races – each entrant was a boat made solely out of beer tins (only in Oz). Good fun with a fabulous market to boot.

Most of our time has been rushing around trying to get provisions, boat parts that needed fixing and spares that we know we won't be able to obtain over the next 5 months.

As Indonesia is predominantly a Muslim country, wine is going to be unobtainable so we thought we'd take a few casks with us but that is not as simple as it sounds. Firstly, they have a serious social problem here due to the excessive drinking habits of the Aboriginal population so they have strict laws on what they can sell, how much and where. We discovered that in down town Darwin, they are not allowed to sell sherry or port at all. Just outside of the city, they are not allowed sell more than a two litre box of wine at a time so getting a reasonable supply without multiple trips to both ends of the city is nigh impossible.  The logistics of carrying that weight along with our groceries makes it impossible to stock up.  I've been trying to do this part myself as Paul, my usual pack horse, has been so busy with a myriad of other chores. I fear wine will be off the menu before too long.

We're told that beer is plentiful and cheap in Indonesia but, sadly, I'm not a beer drinker and have no great desire to become one. Perhaps an odd sip in the heat of the day will just have to be my 'spot' for the day.

PHOTO GALLERY:

The 'Wimbeertin' raft

The croc canoe

Anyone for a didgeridoo?

The obligatory sunset shot

The Minnow nationals

Sundowners at the club

Some Photos to previous entries

I've added some photos to some of the blog entries posted earlier when we didn't have internet access, primarily to the two from Lizard Island and the Cape York entry.   I guess that there are only just so many gorgeous sunsets I can include before it gets monotonous - but, my, being out there at sunrise and sunset on some days is just so fabulous so indulge me.

We've arrived in Darwin!

 

Arriving in Darwin

Two o'clock Friday afternoon, July 5th, we made it!

The trip into Darwin took us down from Cape Don through the Dundas Straits and on into the van Dieman Gulf, then on through the Howard Channel before turning southwards to head into the Darwin anchorages. 

We had heard some horror stories of conditions within the van Dieman Gulf; churning eddies and whirlpools, severe reverse currents and how we had to be sure to get the tides just right in order to make the passage safely without bashing into heavy seas and adverse currents.

Well, we must have done something right as it was an absolute dream of a trip.  For a very short while this morning, we had a current against us but it was a mere half knot, the rest of the time we had almost two knots with us.  It was sunny, fairly windless and turned into a really pleasant couple of days. 

Sunrise in the van Dieman Gulf

So we're here!  Now first we'll just relax and clean some of the thick salt deposits off the boat, catch up on some desperately needed sleep and then we'll go into wherever we need to go to check up on the happenings and information concerning the rally and get our visas for Indonesia.

And now that we're finally back with an internet connection, I'll be adding a few photos to some of the past entries, something I wasn't able to do using the ship's email services.

Crossing the Arafura Sea

Our current position is 10 59.720S and 134 31.064E crossing over the Arafura Sea.

One great thing about this lifestyle is that it's like constantly living in a geography lesson; the new places we pass through that we'd never heard of before. How many of you knew where the Arafura Sea was? I didn't until now.

We had a wonderfully social time during our stay at Two Island Bay with the final evening being Canada Day. There was a get-together aboard Inspiration Lady, a Canadian boat, where we celebrated with the most amazing turkey dinner and all the trimmings. What a feast.

It hadn't been our intention to stay that long but the wind picked up viciously so there wasn't much point in heading out into those conditions. We left this morning with predictions of lighter winds but no such luck - they've been constantly around the high 20's and into the 30 knot range all day. The high winds aren't so much of an issue as the huge seas; the waves and swells have been unbelievable at times. Trouble is now, predictions indicate no wind in a couple of days so we had to make the most of what we have while it's there. Let's see how these predictions pan out. The only thing that is usually really predictable is how wrong the weatherman can be.

We had a relayed message from Pete on Troutbridge to say that he'd collected and fitted his new fan belt and, at the time, was passing just north of Cape Wessels where we were anchored but he couldn't get down the western coast to join us - he wasn't able to motor against the winds. Therefore, his plan was to just carry on to Darwin perhaps stopping once at Cape Don if he could manage it. He must have had a pretty tough time crossing the Gulf though.

If all goes well, we should be in Darwin before the weekend.