WHITSUNDAYS AND TOWNSVILLE:

"THE RIDE OF MY LIFE

Sunday 2nd. My first look at Nova Vida. There she was moored in the Mary river. What a pretty yacht! My first experience in the dinghy was a bit scary. My brother assured me it was alright. It looked very small, I thought 'Is my bottom going to fit on that teeny tiny bench?' I looked at my brother, he looked confident. That look was what inspired me to give it a go. When ever I felt nervous or apprehensive I would look at Davids' face, and if he didn't look worried then I figured we were alright.

The next 2 days were spent preparing the yacht, getting food supplies, water, ice, fuel and deciding what clothes to take on board. The weather had turned cold and I hadn't packed any winter clothes. So a trip to town to pick up a few things. I still had hopes of wearing my bathers and sarong, so they were first on my list.

Tuesday 4th 9:22pm. We boarded the yacht for our first sleep on board. We were to set sail at 5:am Wednesday 5th. We started out as planned. The sun coming up through the clouds, a bit misty on the water, a beautiful scene. A few sailing lessons eg: how to steer, look out for buoys and how to turn the yacht when stationary using forward and reverse gears simultaneously. And off we go.

8.am. Our first hiccup! We hit a sand bank. At first I thought 'That's it! Our trip is over!' The yacht started to lurch to starboard as the tide went out. The wind sprang up and it was cold. I looked at David... he looked worried, so my heart began to pound. I looked to see how far from the bank we were.'Doesn't look too far' I thought. 'I could swim that'. David assured me we wouldn't sink. I started to feel better. By 11am the tide had started to come in, we felt the yacht starting to come upright. At its worst angle it was at about 45degrees. At around 2pm we were able to move off the bank. What a relief!

We sailed through the heads and plotted our course for Platypus Bay and Fraser Island. Up went the sails, I was very impressed. My job was to keep the boat facing into the wind while David and Cal put up the back sail. I failed miserably at that, it's harder than you think! What a spectacular sight to see the big front sail go up.

It was a beautiful trip to Platypus bay. As night fell the moon rose directly above the main mast like a personal protector to light the way for us. We sailed through Hervey Bay. The lights from the city lit up coast line like a diamond necklace. It was still dark when we reached Platypus Bay, so a little sleep for awhile, hoping to sight some whales when we wake up.

Thursday 6th 4.00pm No whales spotted today. So off we went headed for Bustard Bay. Our next stop was to be Gladstone. We sailed through the night. This was my first experience on night watch. I thought the sea was quite rough, but I was to find out later, this was nothing! We managed good speed all night around 6 knots. Dolphins swam with us some of the time. I felt reassured by their presence.

Friday7th. A beautiful trip to Gladstone, calm seas,blue sky, mmm, I had thoughts of donning my bathers if this keeps up. I'm just going to sit and soak it up. We docked at around 4.30pm. The marina was lovely, quite resort like. We spotted a pair of humpback whales as we approached Gladstone. This is what I imagined sailing was all about. We spent a few quiet days at Gladstone.

Wednesday 12th Late afternoon we set sail heading for Keppel Island. We sailed through the night, and reached Long Beach around 11.30am Thursday. Calvin and I went in the dinghy to the beach. The weather is overcast and very still, but it doesn't hide the beauty of this part of the world.

We set off again after tea in the dark. What an awful night! SEA SICK!! First time! I was able to take my turn on night watch though. It was the scariest thing I've ever done. The wind, the waves coming toward us towering over the boat, the sails flapping. I cried and prayed for most of my 2hr shift. I was so relieved when David woke up to take over.

Saturday 15th morning, things look much better. As I was feeling better I was making everyone a snack when disaster struck. David and Calvin were busy taking down the mizzen, it was raining and the auto pilot had given up, [they were multi tasking.] I saw water HOT water gushing out of the water cupboard. I SHRIEKED "HOT WATER GUSHING OUT OF THE CUPBOARD......Ouch! Ouch! Hot foot". Poor David had to drop everything and come to my rescue. A broken water hose. We arrived at Mackay marina exhausted, dirty,wet and smelly. So, a nice hot shower and well earned sleep.

Continued on the next page...

The photos at right: