en route for east timor

Well that was quite a start line with more than 100 boats. Some left early, cheats! There is a prize for the best dressed boat crossing the start line, and as we had done a last minute bit of laundry that morning we contemplated festooning the rigging with undies. However in the end just put the bunting flags up - very few people did anything so we are in with a chance.

As it is a 4-day trip we decided not to motor unless really uncomfortable; consequently we landed up near the back of the fleet. Didn't matter (except to our moral) as on the whole we have had good winds and are now in the middle of the pack with many people slowing down as they don't want to arrive in the dark. It is likely that we will arrive in the dark too, but are waiting until tomorrow morning to see how far we have still to go.

So our position is 11 19.568 and 126 14.496 at 16.00 25th July. One small albacor tuna in the frig. Hardly anyone in sight, amazing how they all spread out. G talked to a (British) tanker last night who was having a job wending his way across with all the blobs on his radar. He didn't know what was going on!

Darwin

It is evidently the coolest July in Darwin for many years, and we are enjoying the fact that although temps rise to 32 C in the middle of the day, it is pleasant and comfortable the rest of the time and humidity is low. We had heard many complaints about the place, the heat being one, so we are lucky.

Another complaint was that anchored as we are in shallow Fannie Bay, tides can be up to 8 metres, so huge expanses of soft mud are exposed and it is difficult getting the dinghy in. Also wrong, tides are only that big at springs, and we have managed to go in at high or half tides when the hard sand (no mud) is no problem at all.

In fact we are really enjoying being here. Darwin is a small city and we can cycle to the centre easily. Buses are cheap so a trip to the more distant large shopping mall is also easy. Most of the boats have arrived, and it is fun meeting up with old friends and making new ones. 110 boats registered for the rally, but a proportion of those are in the 3 marinas, and the anchoring area is huge anyway. The first time we will see everyone together will be at a BBQ next Saturday. In the meantime we head over to the Darwin Sailing Club where we all have temporary membership and can have a beer on the large outdoor terrace to watch the sun go down. No rain and very little cloud in the sky so sunsets are pretty good.

Darwin was just about destroyed in cyclone Tracy in 1974, only 400 houses remaining undamaged. Consequently it has been rebuilt with more substantial buildings and more thought to planning hence walkways, cycle tracks and pedestrian shopping areas. The Northern Territory has the largest percentage of Aboriginees, and their culture and art is visible everywhere, in museums, craft centres and street art. There are still huge gaps between these communities and the country as a whole. Life expectancy, general health, educational levels, unemployment, alchohol and drug abuse, domestic violence, and crime levels are a worry. So at least it is good that after years of abuse and neglect the Aboriginal culture is being appreciated.

For the last few months we haven’t looked far beyond arrival in Darwin, so now are starting to think about Indonesia and what we will see there. I’m pretty sure we will find the corruption and disorganisation infuriating at times, but are looking forward to seeing somewhere that is new to both of us.

Darwin

After shooting through the narrower channels with the tide at over 10 knots we arrived in Darwin at about 8pm yesterday evening. It wasn't all fast as you have to ride the tide from Cape Don, then have a middle patch which is against the tide but wide so not much flow, then pick up the tide again for the last part. We came in with the radar on so that we could pick up anchored boats, and suddenly saw a large area of blobs just where we were planning to anchor. It was a strange shape so thought it was a fish farm so anchored to one side of it. This morning of course we realized that the blobs were all anchored boats! Haven't counted but there must be about 50 yachts here (plus 3 marinas all full). At the latest count 110 boats on the rally.

As we have mentioned the tides are up to 9 metres in Darwin, so the best time to get the dinghy to land is at high tide or you have a long drag up the sand. Our new dinghy wheels will be put to good use, though they do have 2 trolleys for the purpose at the yacht club. We went in to get our bearings and find out where things are, and tomorrow will take the bikes in as it looks as though we can easily cycle into the city from here. We have to visit customs for duty free fuel permits, and get our visas from the Indonesian consulate.

Glad we are anchored out as it is quite hot - 32 C today. A breeze on the boat and we have the sun awning up so not too bad. More when we have explored a bit. Nice to have radio reception and to have mobile and internet access again.

On to Darwin

We left Two Island Bay yesterday morning, having had another day there walking the beach and finding fresh croc tracks and a pretty old whale skull. Lovely spot. The idea was to do an overnight to Oxley Island, across the big bay to the north of Arnhem Land. We are going really well though, a fast a pretty comfortable trip so have more or less decided to keep going to Darwin. May have to stop somewhere to wait for the tide which runs very strongly and gives you a fantastic run for 84 miles!