Australia Part 5
Goodbye Townsville, Onwards to Darwin
Click here for a map of Australian Walkabout.
April 2005 was a hectic month. "Avalon" was antifouled and lifted into the water - only to find the stern seal (newly fitted in Bundaberg) was not getting the water needed for lubrication, so it was back onto the hard again. After some head-scratching, hard work, fitting of new cutlass bearing, addition of metal scoops to prop shaft tube to aid water ingress and payment of more dollars, we were back in the water and on our way to the Breakwater Marina again. Meantime the campervan was up for sale; we were fortunate to find a buyer in Townsville who was easy about the handover date. So we were able to stock up with provisions, and run around town picking up various bits for the boat which were needed by Jim in his fitting of the new wind generator and HF radio. Around this time we decided to sign up for the Darwin to Kupang boat rally, which would leave Darwin in July. We met (for the first time) several boats in the marina which were also going on the rally, and started the process of emailing the various documents needed for our Indonesian cruising permit, as well as investigating what vaccinations we might need for SE Asia. Amongst all this we managed to visit the local cinema on several occasions, and become members of the local casino, not for the gambling aspects so popular amongst Australians, but for the cheap meals! On April 25 it was ANZAC Day, commemorating those who died in war. The dawn service, held close to the marina, was a moving experience, the lonely call of the bugle mingling with the sounds of the rainbow lorikeets flying overhead. Later, we watched a grand parade of servicemen and women, local organisations and schools along The Strand.
April 28 we finally departed Townsville. Click here for a map And so began our journey to Darwin, which took us 2 months as we mainly day-hopped along the coast northwest, then 'Over the top'. First stop, Orpheus Island. We linked up with Pam and Roger on "Cap D'Or" for a while, as we travelled through the Hinchinbrook Channel, to Dunk Island, into Mourilyan Harbour, a couple of days at Fitzroy Island and so to Cairns. This was something of a contrast after the quiet anchorages and island walks: a bustling cosmopolitan city, full of young backpackers, travel agents, restaurants. A few visits to the cinema, the shops and the fruit and vegetable market (to stock up on mangoes), and we were on our way again, via the Low Isles, and East Hope Island to Cooktown. There, being early in the cruising season,we were lucky to get anchored in the Endeavour River right opposite "Cook's Landing". We enjoyed, during our short stay, a visit to the James Cook Museum, and the best fish and chip meal we had had in Australia! After Cape Flattery, we anchored in Watson's Bay at Lizard island where we stayed a few days. We toiled in the hot sun up to "Cook's Look" where we had wonderful views over the island lagoon to the south,and also scanned the horizon looking at the breaks in the outer reef to the north and east, as had the great man before us. Hop, hop - Howick Island, Bathurst Bay, Owen Channel (Flinders Group), Hedge Reef, Morris Island, Night Island, Portland Roads, Shelburne Bay, Bushey Islet, to the Escape River. Each anchorage had its own delights and/or hazards, notably a group of Dugong swimming in Bathurst Bay, a large crocodile seen basking on the beach at Night Island, running aground (albeit briefly) coming into Shelburne Bay.
In the Escape River we had a chance to relax and socialise with 2 Australian boats, "Corniche" and "Marie Lynette", before making our 9 knots over the ground as we had a lovely beam reach sail towards the Torres Strait Islander community of Seisia. Our trip "Over the Top" had gone well, and we congratulated ourselves on making it so far! We spent a couple of days in Seisia, thumbing lifts to Bamaga, and finding no internet facilities the community computer. The next day we took the ferry through part of the Torres Strait to Thursday Island, (about an hour's trip through the reefs) and a bus tour of the island. Torres Strait Islanders are of Melanesian stock, totally unrelated to mainland aborigines.
After catching up with laundry at the local campground, and stocking up with fresh produce at the supermarket, we were ready to set sail across the Gulf of Carpentaria. Well, it lived up to its reputation as a washing machine, and Rosie became (mercifully briefly) reacquainted with seasickness: we were thankful, after a couple of days, to reach Gove, in the Northern Territory. Here, we had another stay, getting lifts into Nhulunbuy to use the free internet access at the local library, and to the Northern Land Council for permission to visit the Wessel Islands which are aboriginal lands. We found ourselves in the company of Peter and Pearl of "Maverick Dream" (originally encountered in Townsville) as we anchored at Wigram Island (one of the English Company Islands) prior to going with them, and John and Elspeth of "Galaad" through the notorious Gugari Rip, otherwise known as the "Hole in the Wall". It is important to get the right tide for this short pass, and, at the right time, we sped through one after the other.
We kept company with "Galaad" over the next few days, and were glad that we had made the decision to visit the remote and sparsely populated Wessel Islands. We showered in the water dripping through the rock layers, found aboriginal paintings and flocks of bats in caves, lots of tracks in the sand - were they from turtles or crocodiles? We collected shells, dipped (cautiously because of the crocs) in the sea, and explored - we found a curious collection of stones on one island in the shape of a fish, and were glad that we hadnt touched it when we learnt later in the Cultural Centre in Kakadu that it would have significance for local aborigines.Our fishing efforts were rewarded at various times with catches of a short billed spearfish (one of the marlin family), shark, black kingfish, but it was at this time, en route to Elcho Island to visit the aboriginal community at Galiwinku, that we caught our largest spanish mackeral, over 8 kg. Thus it was that we were able to present to the first aboriginal lady we saw, a large portion of the fish. We found it was voting day for local elections and met the labour and liberal candidates who were in attendance at the voting hall. We bought fresh produce at the supermarket and were interested to find the prices quite low - we later learnt that such items are subsidised by the government. More local people were around that and the following day, in the latter case with ashes on their skin, apparently a kinsman had died and the body was being flown in that day. At the local school there were sports competitions in progress with teams from several aboriginal communities that had flown in and were staying for several days.An overnight passage brought us to North Goulburn Island. The next day we anchored in Malay Bay and from there we went through the Bowen Strait to Palm Bay, Croker Island: there was no wind,the sea like glass, so,during the course of the day, we had a great view of a crocodile over 2miles from shore, 3 turtles and a small group of dolphins.
Port Essington was next en route, and there we stayed for a few days, visiting various parts of the Gurig National Park. The Black Point Cultural Centre gave an interesting insight into the early trading that took place between the Macassan Trepang fishermen (from Sulawesi) and the aborigines, whilst at a visit to the Victoria Settlement 25 miles further into the natural harbour we investigated the flawed attempt of the British to sustain a community in this isolated and harsh environment. The large brick chimneys, reminiscent of Cornish tin mines, were the main evidence of a village which lasted only 11 years, and which was superseded many years later by Darwin as the region's centre. But that city lay several days ahead for us. We pondered the conflicting information about how best to use the huge currents to our advantage: in the end we hopped from Port Essington to Alcaro Bay for a night, then to Cape Hotham, finally in the early hours of 27 June we zoomed through the Vernon Islands with several knots of tide with us, and turned left towards Darwin. Well, we got the tides right, but as we set off on the final leg, a strong wind warning was issued, and our left turn was directly into the teeth of a 30 knot wind. In the shallow bay a rough sea quickly built up, giving us a very unpleasant few hours struggle to get in before the tide turned against us as well!
With a population of over 70,000 Darwin is a lively, modern place. Unfortunately, we havent been able to explore much more of it than the supermarkets, chandleries and DIY stores whilst madly buying food and boat-bits for the next stage of our travels. However, we managed to ignore the deadline for leaving for Indonesia which was looming closer, to make a week's escape to Kakadu, Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) and Litchfield National Parks. It is hard to say which we enjoyed more: each had its own character and excitements. In Kakadu we saw the ancient aboriginal rock paintings at Ubirr and Nourlangie, walked through the sandstone pillar areas, viewing more saltwater crocodiles in the muddy East Alligator River, and circled round one large billabong towards dusk spotting jabiru, magpie geese, ducks of all varieties, black pigs rootling in the mud and skippies grazing at the water's edge.
We took the 8-hour trip up the gorge carved out by the Katherine River: at this stage of the dry season,as the river level falls, the rocks prevent a clear run up, so we walked at each stage between the 5 gorges we visited, with more rock paintings to see, and a barbecue to enjoy at lunchtime. We shared a swim with one of the 2 freshwater crocodiles we saw: these are so different to the 'salties' being much smaller and looked cute rather than menacing. Litchfield is noted for its freshwater waterfalls and plunge pools: we swam in clear, pristine, cool water at 3 different places, sharing these variously with people, fish and a Mertens Water Monitor! All too soon it was time to return to the big city but we found more sailing friends who had come in to Darwin while we were away.
The Darwin-Kupang Rally is our first sailing rally experience and amongst nearly 70 boats this year (of over 8 nationalities) we inevitably discovered we had met some of these before; amazingly one as long ago as 3 years previously in the Marquesas and not seen since (the collection of boat-cards is invaluable in these circumstances). But it has given us the opportunity to meet some of the sailors at the social events prior to departure on July 23. How we get on as we travel towards Bali will be documented on the website www.darwinbalirace.com
As our 21 months in Australia draw to a close I have been re-reading Bill Bryson's "Down Under" and have chuckled merrily at his expressed sentiments with which I agree so much. Here is just a little "There is no place in the world like it. Eighty percent of all that lives in Australia, plant and animal, exists nowhere else. More than this, it exists in an abundance that seems incompatible with the harshness of the environment.....it is home to the largest living thing on earth, the Great Barrier Reef..... this is a country at once staggeringly empty and yet packed with stuff........it is old: at some point in the great immensity of its past it was quietly invaded by a deeply inscrutable people, the Aborigines, who have no clearly evident racial or linguistic kinship to their neighbours in the region".
