Austalia: WanderLust 3 Sails North to the Torres Straits

September 25 2007
14*40'S
145*27'W
Lizard Island

12 DAYS AND 1200 MILES AGO, I left Sydney alone heading north along the East Coast of Australia. Just north of Brisbane and around Moreton Island is a terrific small marina, Mooloolaba. There I picked up the Hunter salesman, Matt Lunsdroin and the Williams family for a 5 day voyage. The Williams Family had ordered the new Hunter 49 at the Sydney Boat Show and I offered them a long weekend cruise on WanderLust 3 so they could get the feel of the big boat. They were delighted and I reported about the trip on my web site (www.H-TV.com) a week ago. We overnighted on some beautiful island bays on the way up to Airlie Beach.

In Airlie I finally met up with my long time buddy Walt Nielsen from Mill Valley CA. He married Jan and now lives between her large ranch above Airlie and his home in Northern CA. They showed me a great time the 3 days I waited for the next guests to arrive. Matt Hayes is an Olympic and Australian sailing champion who invited his 2 sons, Josh 13 and Alex 8, along with his long time buddy Tim Hayes, a former Australian Navy SEAL with his 2 kids, Harry 13 and Kayla 16, for a cruise up the coast to Cairns. We stopped during the day at truly gorgeous island bays then Tim, Matt & I sailed through the night to the next anchorage hitting such famous spots as Whitehaven Beach off Hamilton Island, 'Magnetic Island' above Townsville, the Amazon like Hinchenbrook Channel up to Dunk Island and our favorite bay so far Fitz-Roy Island just below Cairns. The enclosed photos are all from these well known Coral Coast Hot-Spots.

In Cairns, Matt and Tim flew the kids back to school and another Hunter 49 customer, Allan Pascoe, came aboard to sail up the last leg of the Coral Coast with me to end in the Torres Straits at Thursday Island. We had powerful SE winds of 20-26 knots and sailed the first 24 hours at a 9.5 knot average putting us over the 200 miles-in-24-hours mark again. We are now taking refuge at Lizard Island inside the 'Great Barrier Reef' system. In the well written guide book "Cruising the Coral Coast" by Alan Lucas, he says; 'Lizard Island is a popular terminus for cruising boats sailing north with the northeast winds. The island has one of the best trade wind anchorages on the north coast. On approach the island appears drab, dry and bald in patches but belie the real beauty of this island with its combination of reef, clear water and white sand.' The peak, at 358 meters, is named 'Cook Lookout' from where Captain Cook sought his escape from these waters and spotted a passage where his "Endeavour" could finally go east out of the reefs and off soundings. Captain Cook wrote in his log, "with a mixture of hope and fear proportioned to the importance of our business and the uncertainty of the event..." he ascended the hill.

After a good meal then a long rest, Allan and I will set sail for the final leg of 300 miles which will put me at Thursday Island. On Thursday is the last Customs office where I will check out of Australia and head across the entire Indian Ocean towards South Africa. I will report weekly on my progress but it will be difficult to send any quality photos. That will have to wait until I get into a port on the east coast of South Africa, probably Richards Bay then Port Elizabeth.

Australia: Whitsunday Island Group

Australia, September 19 - 23, 2007

Matt, an olympic sailor and Hunter Yacht distributor for Australia and New Zealand, wanted to have his family experience the joys of the cruising lifestyle. Along with his two sons, Alex (8) and Josh (13), he invited his good friend and former Australian Navy SEAL, Tim with his two kids Harry (13) and Kayla (16), along for the voyage. With only 5 nights to sail north from Airlie Beach to Cairns, we chose 4 of the most beautiful tropical islands for our daily stopovers. (Left to right: Josh, Alex, Matt, Kayla, Tim & Harry )