.: Next stop.....Australia

It is a bittersweet day for me today. At 7:00 a.m. this morning on a beautiful, bright sunny day here in Noumea, New Caledonia, I waved goodbye to Peter and crew aboard QuickStar, as well as our dear friends Marios and Ara on Bubas as they headed off to Australia.

A gecko stowaway on Bubas

This past week both the Captains - Peter & Marios (and Admirals, aka Diana and Ara) have been busy getting the boats ready for the passage. Peter was able to give Marios a hand, by going up his mast and replacing the main halyard, as well as making some changes to the running rigging on Bubas. Peter, of course was in his glory as he loves puttering on boats, plus this was the least he could do, since Ara has shared her many amazing culinary talents with us these past few weeks. As they were leaving today, she gave us a hand-made recipe book that she made for us, which we will treasure always!

Our crew arrived two days ago. David – a professor of architecture from Adelaide, Southern Australia whom we met in Vanuatu, has just celebrated his 60th birthday. He can now cross off one of his dreams on his bucket list…to make a blue water ocean crossing. David has already demonstrated his eagerness by helping to lug groceries and by swabbing down the decks, along with Barb (Jane….he said you wouldn’t believe it, if you saw him working so hard, ha,ha)

The other crew member is Barbara (26 years old) from Austria. She is an amazing young lady who speaks French, German and English. She has been on the road for two years via bicycle and “hitch-hiking” on sailboats. You can check out her blog at www.caretaker.cc/barbels-blog. Barbara reminds me so much of our wonderful daughter Kylie (25 years old) – full of life, enthusiastic, with a brilliant smile and a real keener. Barbara has already made herself indispensable on the boat and has promised to take care of the two “old guys”. She is so sweet and will also make a surprise birthday cake for Peter’s 59^th birthday on August 29^th. I’ll be sorry to miss celebrating his special day with him, but will make up for it when he arrives in Australia.

When Barbara gave me a hug goodbye she said how thankful and appreciative she was for our warm welcome and the opportunity to make this crossing. That made me feel so much better about not being able to make this crossing and jumping ship. It was a tough decision to make, but I know it was the right one. The past two days, I have had a major Lupus flare-up with my body hitting me over the head with a 2 X 4 (since I’m not good at reading subtle signs) to make sure I didn’t have a last minute change of heart. As always though, I will focus on and be grateful for all the things I can do, and not those few things that I can't.

Both Bubas and QuickStar were supposed to cast off the lines yesterday, but the weather didn’t cooperate. On top of that, Bubas ran in to a problem. They had taken on a crew member named Thomas (27 years old from Germany) to help them with the crossing and he had moved on board the day before. We all went out together and treated the crew to a dinner and an evening of celebration (Peter was feeling no pain by the end of the evening!).

Final morning....the safety meeting and pre-departure plot charting

Yesterday morning, while doing all the paperwork and running around from port captain to customs to immigration, Marios and Ara found out that their crew member has been banned from Australia for overextending his visa on his past visit there. They were told if they took him they would be arrested on arrival for people-smuggling. Needless to say they were very disappointed that he had lied to them (since he knew full well he was banned when he applied for his visa for Australia). They kicked him off the boat and then had to repeat all the check out processes to take him off the crew list. As I sit writing this at the waterfront café, I see Thomas walking the docks with his backpack, so he is looking for the next boat to “scam”.

Thomas in the blue shirt

It is really too bad that this happened as Ara and Marios are now making the crossing on their own, which makes Ara understandably nervous. The weather looks promising though, so hopefully both QuickStar and Bubas will have an enjoyable and safe trip. They have set up frequent radio schedules to maintain contact, especially once they separate. QuickStar is heading for Coff’s Harbour and Bubas is heading for Brisbane.

Saying goodbye to Marios and Ara... until we meet you again in Australia and until you visit us in Canada.

One of the greatest things about us sailing across the South Pacific for the past seven years is the life-long friendships we have made with people from around the world. It is also also the saddest part, because we have to say goodbye as well.

Glenda (from Venezuela) and Eddy (from Begum) on Helena, waving a final farewell to us.

So hard to say goodbye

Bubas casting off

I will now be heading to the airport for my flight this afternoon to Coff’s where I have arranged for a cozy cottage to spend the next week – 10 days, depending on how long it takes QuickStar to get there. I look forward to getting some projects done and getting back in shape for our next two months exploring Australia.

Very surreal for me to stand on the dock and cast off the lines for QuickStar

Barbara will be posting the daily blog from the Ham radio, so if you want to follow them across please visit this blog. Just a reminder that blog postings are subject to the radio propagation being cooperative for the message to get out, so if there isn’t a posting one day, please don’t be alarmed (this message is especially for Barbara’s parents who sound wonderful – Barbara has said that you are very loving and supportive of her adventures.)

QuickStar heading out to sea... Aussie or bust!