The wet (sweat) far enough north

Recent months have been more like a ‘normal’ wet season, we’re told, with heat, humidity and even some actual rain. Sadly, though, not enough to cool the desperate, torched corals and their many inhabitants and friends. To refrain from blubbering, or worse, ranting about corrupt  politicians who fail to act on climate, preferring to party with coal mining magnates instead, the Matey shall hereby change the subject. (Poor ole Captain cops the odd rant — so much so that he had to escape to a rant-free, cyclone-free zone for a break!) NB if you also are upset by reef destruction and want to do something about it you can start here or here or here or here or here.

So, to non-ranty subjects … exciting purchases.

A storage locker recently became available at the yacht club, which Captain and Matey were very pleased to rent. Our little home has therefore experienced considerable de-cluttering of late. Even frequently used items like Matey’s new rollerblades can be stored ashore — sadly, one of her old pair was crushed some time ago by a heavier item being ‘stowed’ on top.

(NB rollerblading is now so uncool that Matey had to search far and wide to obtain a replacement pair. Apparently only children and a few men rollerblade these days: it’s a rare store that stocks them — even rarer is one that keeps women’s sizes. Acquiring a replacement pair required some effort, even on a visit to Melbourne, as Matey wasn’t keen to purchase these online.)

So, uncool as it may be, Matey, the only rollerblader in Port Douglas, still enjoys it as much as ever and has rediscovered hibernating, if well-upholstered muscles. Having pondered the wisdom of buying new blades ‘at her age’ Matey is so far pleased to have done so. She’s hoping her still reasonable sense of co-ordination and balance stays with her and osteoporosis stays away for some years yet.

The exciting purchase of a tiny car has improved our quality of life considerably and made possible many things that weren’t previously, such as regular escapes into the rainforest to soak in cool streams, and joining a bushwalking club. Though we briefly considered:

a) a motorbike, which was rejected on the grounds of having no storage space and more gear being required), and

b) an all-wheel drive for more adventurous trips, 
we knew once we had the option we would use a car more than we were used to when borrowing or hiring, which was only when necessary. Our new petite friend the Getz runs on very little fuel (not much more than a motorbike?) and we can hire a 4WD if required so we are happy with this purchase, both from an environmental and a quality of life perspective.

Dodging a bullet

As Debbie did the east coast we felt fortunate to be once again on a cyclone’s northern side copping only heat and humidity. Neither a puff of wind nor a drop of rain descended upon us until what Deb had morphed into was on its way to New South Wales. The wilting temperatures here required us to flee to one of our favourite cooling creeks in the rainforest.

To date the cyclone gods have been kind to us, directing their wrath further south. We did experience some of Oswald’s anger at his northern edge in Bowen, too close to escape strong wind and rain. He was much milder than Debbie however and the experience wasn’t too traumatic. Poor Airlie copped a direct hit then too. Though we knew we would be most likely far enough to Debbie’s north to escape her fury Matey was mildly wondering if we might receive a few blasts of wind or something more unpleasant as we’d never been anywhere near a Category 4 cyclone before, but what we got was no different from the milder cyclones we’ve been in range of, thankfully. Here’s hoping the weather gods remain our friends. Hearts go out to all the people and other creatures who weren’t so lucky. Matey again weeps for the smashed coral and their communities, already so bleached and with so much dead, and now more trashed by the cyclone. But Matey promised not to rant … deep yoga breath.

An Apple fail away?

In the buildup to the storm Matey experienced the great and painful disappointment of misplaced faith. After many years of frustrated groaning while forced to use PCs at work, and having had this experience bookended by the joy of reliability and smooth operations of Apple, Matey was quite distressed to discover a fairly new iPhone (thankfully still under warranty) is capable of unexplained failure. After ten days without a phone while the autopsy was conducted, and then after a week with the replacement, it failed too. Another week without a phone while the replacement is being autopsied and a cyclone is brewing. (!!) No phone means none of the weather apps used to monitor cyclones (quite important when one resides on a boat in north Queensland), and internet only when wifi, i.e. Captain mostly, was available. This was manageable, though extremely frustrating, while Capt was around and fortunately occurred before his trip south, so Matey was not dealing with brewing cyclone sans Captain and sans phone and wifi, but it might have been. (!!)

Not happy, Apple, considering how much iPhones cost. Matey is earnestly hoping her second replacement iPhone proves worth the dosh …

A word of advice if any reader experiences similar failure: start with a phonecall to Applecare.

Hmmm. Did any of that read like a rant? Apologies if so.

The joy of new discoveries

Ok, now for the good stuff. Wheels and an engine obviously mean the capacity to go further afield on land. So after Capt received a tip-off, we recently found a new watercourse and waterfall that even a lot of locals don’t seem to be aware of: Hartley’s Creek. One of the smaller waterfalls along the watercourse long before you reach the larger waterfall drops into a small pool with rocks that are positioned perfectly for one to perch oneself so that one’s entire back receives a pummeling as good as any massage the Matey has ever been blissed by. At this point photos will probably say more than words …

Our first glimpse of Hartley's Creek. This hints at what's to come.

The King of Masseurs

A little geyser bubbling fresh water out of the rock

Hartley's Creek Waterfall and swimming pool

A favourite cooling station

Looking towards Silky Oaks resort

Golden orb spider from underneath. Cute, non?

Spring Creek waterfall, visited with our new bushwalking club friends

This one really is a cutie!

The normally dainty Trevethan Falls after rain

At beautiful Mt Amos: our friends' water source

Friends' almost private little gorge at Mt Amos. 

Almost high tide in Port Douglas on the day of the cyclone. 
Luckily it didn't come here or a storm surge could have lifted the pontoons higher than the pylon.

Boatyard bliss

With the Port Douglas tourist season coming to an end Matey’s paid work dried up, which enabled us to contemplate hauling out before the wet season was upon us: a quick scrubbing back and repainting of the hull to keep the barnacles at bay — non? Hmmm — it’s rarely that simple. The proposed one week on the hardstand soon morphed into three.

Hauling out at the Cairns Cruising Yacht Squadron enabled us to have Ebb Tide propped up high, which gave good access to the centerboard casings. This turned out to be timely as a small hole was found in one. Best to find it before it becomes a leak! The centerboards were completely removed and the ropes were replaced. Amazingly, on the day prior to relaunching, we managed to get them back into position, with new ropes on and the pre-industrial rope and pulley system working smoothly again. This seemed an unlikely achievement at the time.

Glazed not crazed

Captain, on a whim, decided to order new windows. This created a few days’ extra work with the dismantling of the old, cleaning the gunk away, and installation of the new, but they have provided such joy Captain and Matey are both wondering why this wasn't done several years ago. It’s likely we’ll be celebrating the benefits of actually being able to see through windows for some time to come. If only we’d realised that good visibility was one of the main functions of windows … 

Wooden it be luverly

Matey embraced the task of varnishing all the interior wood. This included not just floorboards, but all cupboards, panels and wooden detailing; quite a job as it turned out, with the thrill of sanding the bits that couldn’t be removed inside the boat and the resulting blanket of dust that continues to reveal itself. The challenge and concern is that much of this wood had previously been treated with beeswax. The wax seemed to have evaporated from the more sun-exposed sections, while other areas required significant sanding. Whether the teak will happily accept this change long-term remains to be seen …

While Matey was labouring away at the wood Captain was having even more fun touching up the gelcoat, and the hull. Captain has decreed next time we need to water-blast the hull completely to take it back to its original gelcoat (i.e. remove all layers of antifoul).

Generally, we’re pleased with the result, with the new windows looking good even from the outside. After three fairly intense weeks a sanity break at Fitzroy Island and Turtle Bay reminded us why we live on a boat and made the boatyard bliss seem worthwhile. A week before the Xmas crowds we had Turtle Bay to ourselves and only a few other boats were at Fitzroy Island. A day’s sail and we were back at Port Douglas, with a warm welcome home.

At least we had a view of water and were high enough to catch some breeze

We managed one day off to go to Behana Gorge 

Once a naughty boy ...

Our freshwater bath at Turtle Bay

Legless

We have been based in Port Douglas for many months now. Matey has acquired some work and we’ve enjoyed socialising as numerous friends have escaped the cold climes with a visit to FNQ. We’ve increased our circle of ‘local’ friends too. Transient though much of the population here is, there are enough ‘keepers’ for us to feel quite at home in our new locale. Matey has even experienced a ‘girls’ night out’.

While the Matey has been working hard on improving her barista skills the Captain has been refining his persona as the putative ‘boat bitch’ and galley slave. He was not to be outdone in the hard yards stakes and many outstanding boat jobs have been attended to. This frenzy of activity has resulted in new batteries, a new fridge and lovely new ambient lighting, which has brought great joy to Matey (the migraineur) whose eyes no longer need to be aggravated by harsh and flouro lights. (Thanks Klaas for the inspiration!)

Even the drive leg has been removed and taken apart, a job the poor old Capt could not possibly avoid any longer, as one of the seals had frozen and the entire leg needed to be dismantled and eventually taken to an engineer for some attention. The result is a gliding propeller that moves with ease and we hope a drive leg that will hum happily for many years to come.

A new aerial has been installed so the Matey can occasionally still listen to radio the old-fashioned way without demolishing too many gigabytes. Luckily someone on the boat knew a thing or two about antennas, and was eager to demonstrate his skill on the home front, so the Matey didn’t have to wait too many years for this particular improvement.

The new fridge was an exciting acquisition that involved more than just purchasing and installation. The boat’s original bar fridge operated on gas, which meant the tedious replacement of a nine kilogram gas bottle every two weeks (via bicycle), the storage and weight of extra bottles, the unnecessary expense and needless use of a fossil fuel, and it was not a great system for remote cruising. The new fridge is electric and powered by the solar panels so some wiring and tinkering was required. Thanks again Klaas for your assistance! :)

Despite the frenzy of activity we have still managed to do some exploring.

At Emerald Creek Falls with Klaas and Jetty

The drive leg before its dismantling 

Amputee

Spring Creek Falls

Port Douglas sunset    

Selfie at Spring Creek Falls

Rock wallabies at Granite Gorge Nature Park

Awww!(some)

Bloomfield Falls

Preparing to 'tyre tube' after rain

With Julie at Mossman Gorge

Julie and Henry at PDYC

With Emma and Frank at Low Isles

Dan and Suzie en route to Low Isles

Paddle-boarding down a creek

About a week ago a croc trap was installed near where we are anchored to remove one of our larger neighbours. Once the door had dropped down we decided to investigate, and sure enough, a very large reptile was inside, though the early morning sun wasn't at the best angle for photographs. We got as close as we are ever likely to be to such a monster without morphing into brunch. He was very quiet and didn't move. Maybe he had expended all his energy fighting the trap during the night?

Zoom for a glimpse of our 4 m neighbour inside.

Poor Mr Croc was to be moved on and some of our human neighbours might be pleased about it. Boat folk are not always known for their sobriety and recently one of our neighbours, though unable to stand upright, managed to get into his dinghy and manoeuvre  it back to his boat. Mysteriously, though, somehow he ended up in the drink. Fortunately no crocs were immediately to hand or the Matey might be relating a sorry tale. A passing vessel managed to quickly haul him to safety, despite the dark, to the Captain's great relief. Said neighbour was none the wiser about his brush with the elements the next day.

Deflated yet hopeful

It is with a heavy yet hopeful heart that the Matey writes this post. A visit to the Low Isles and a snorkel there on a perfect day revealed many beautiful things, including coral that seemed to be in quite good shape. The water visibility wasn’t good, with a lot of sediment floating, resulting in an often green hue. Yet despite this Matey once again experienced the magic of joining the marine life in their world, which here at least, is looking relatively healthy. A long, slow glide with a green turtle restored Matey’s sense of joy in the amazing planet we inhabit, and hope that us humans will care for it as we should. Matey feels sad at the loss of so much beauty further to the north, where the reef has bleached, but hopeful that enough pockets of coral, like at the Low Isles, have survived the bleaching to go on and spawn new coral to replace the dying and dead. Then the young coral and companion species need enough years of sufficiently cool waters to become colonies and replace dead reefs. But where there is life there is hope!

RIP Dinghy the First

Our dinghy had been looking increasingly ragged and the cover was becoming quite tattered. It had acquired the fond name of ‘the deflatable’ as its glue seams failed and each time it was repaired it would remain inflated for a day or so and then fail in another place. Captain was unwilling to give up on the sad sack our trusty steed had become and determinedly fixed each failed seam, with loving care and patches, though the process of glueing curved seams and leaving it ashore overnight to fix, in croc-infested waters required some patience, the occasional borrowing of a dinghy, and now and then the flagging down of passers by for a lift ashore.

Swimming to and from Ebb TIde not being an option, we finally faced the sad fact that the dinghy’s reliable life was over. We then experienced the warm and friendly (and sometimes a little too relaxed!) customer service to be found in FNQ. Good ole Captain had already made enquiries in Cairns and sourced a possible replacement dinghy. A phonecall or two later and the new dinghy was on the way to arrive in Port Douglas within two hours. Mr Delivery was flexible and happy to make the detour to collect the new dinghy immediately. Mr Salesman was fine with payment after the dinghy had arrived. A few complications resulted from the rushed delivery, such as the wrong sized seat and oars being sent. Being relaxed and apparently quite busy, he needed a few reminders to sort this out, but we were impressed by the goodwill and trusting nature of these great people who went out of their way to help us out, and save us from what could have been a frustrating and inconvenient wait sans dinghy.

Dinghy the Second

The new dinghy has welded seams. We hope this means failing glue won’t be a problem. It also has an aluminium base and Captain managed to source some fabulous pneumatic wheels for it that pop up and down easily as required, and so far roll over each surface they have been tested on without complaint. This is a definite improvement on the plastic ‘wheels’ of the previous dingy, which bogged in sand and refused to turn, and never seemed content rolling on smoother surfaces such as ramps.

Dinghy II, being slightly longer and wider than Dinghy I, seems to rise to the plane more easily, which is good news. It is also smoother to row. Sadly though, its once eager-to-start motor is showing signs of becoming temperamental. Hopefully a thorough service is all that is required …

Also inflated

Captain recently decided another exciting purchase was essential. A paddleboard, while not advisable where crocs abound, is an enjoyable way of getting around elsewhere, say, at the Low Isles. It’s a good way of turtle spotting and checking out coral clusters when the water’s flat and clear. Why did it take us so long to realise a paddleboard was mandatory?

The sad sack hangs limply from davits 

Who wouldn't be cheered by these beauties?

What a healthy new dinghy looks like, hanging from the davits. Note stylish wheels.

A flat surface on a calm day. Why not yoga?