Domini

Selamat Pagi Boatbloggers® and welcome to the latest edition of the Boatblog® brought to you direct from Wonderful Indonesia.

It was a two day sail from the Lei anchorage to the island of Pulau Buru,

… where we dropped the hook in the delightful village of Tifu.

Once again we had the most fantastic welcome from the village. We were greeted by the village elders as we came ashore.

There was a marching band,

And a concert by the Tifu Ukulele Orchestra.

All the villagers went to such an effort to make it a really big day, and what they lack in ‘stuff,’ they make up for in ingenuity – if you look closely you can see that all the bunting is made out of plastic bags.

In the evening Ju & the Tiffuettes got to play the Tifu Festival.

Everyone here really loves music. The kids all play the ukulele and the next day followed us back to one of the boats for a jam. One piano, 42 ukuleles, 2 guitars and a pair of maracas.

Sadly we couldn’t stay in Tifu for ever, and all to soon it was time to head for our next stop – Waketobi. 

And once again we were given the warmest of welcomes. As luck would have it, our visit coincided with Independence Day. For once Independence Day wasn’t a release from British rule which was a relief – it’s the Dutch who are the villains of this particular story. We swapped our flag with one of our new friend’s Indonesian flag and went on a procession through the main town.

We ended up in the parade ground where we were guests of honour.

A word about this strange hand signal that we are all doing.

It’s actually a “W” for Waketobi. I’ve got lots of pictures of us doing it, but you have to be careful because if you get the angle wrong and can’t see your thumb it sends a very different message. And you have to be very careful how you do the sign for Indonesia.

Then there was a lot of Independence Day marching,

And plenty of pomp and ceremony.

And like everywhere else in the world, the Indonesian kids were bored stiff being made to sit around for so long in their fancy costumes while the grown ups messed around. But they made a brave face of it and managed to smile for the camera.

Until finally the flag was raised.

It’s quite weird being such celebrities. The paparazzi just won’t leave us alone.

All those years in showbiz trying to get a bit of attention when all we had to do was come to Indonesia. 

But it’s not all functions. There’s still time for scuba diving. Even if there are sea snakes down there.

Apparently ten times more poisonous than a cobra. Still quite cute. As deadly venomous creatures go.

We went round a Bajo village. In the past the Bajo were a nomadic seafaring people, but now they live in houses built on stilts so that they can remain connected to the sea. 

Their way of life is under threat worldwide, but they seem to be thriving here in Waketobi.

One of the Bajo delicacies is dried puffer fish skin.

Looks delicious, but these ones weren’t quite ready to eat so unfortunately we couldn’t try them. Never mind – next time.

Even for hardened sailors like ourselves used to the gangplank, it’s quite hairy getting from one house to the next.

They now have more modern housebuilding techniques.

Sadly when the tide goes out, you get some idea of the scale of the rubbish and plastic problem that seems to be endemic in Indonesia.

But it’s fascinating to see this traditional way of life.

Even the shops are on stilts.

The Venice of the East.

Another interesting place is called “The Thousand Steps,” which as it sounds is a thousand steps that you climb down. To be honest, it’s probably about two hundred, but it feels like a thousand by the time you get to the bottom.

A long way, but when you get there, there is a natural spa.

You put your feet in the water and all the little fish come out and start nibbling away at the dead skin on your feet like mini piranhas.

You’d pay a fortune for that in Chiswick.

It’s a thousand steps down, and unfortunately a thousand steps up.

So by the time you get to the top, your feet are all covered in dead skin again.

We had a night off the boat at a luxury local resort. It was nice having all the little things that landlubbers take for granted. Flush toilet, unlimited shower, walk around bed and of course air conditioning.

We bought some new goggles so we can fit in with the locals when we go swimming.

Not sure these are going to catch on.

There have been lots and lots of festivals. Each with their own characteristics. This was an Indonesian version of Love Island, where boys and girls meet and attempt to woo each other.

We’re not sure what the fish is all about. 

If love blossoms, the happy couple get to go on the swing together.

All overlooked by a man on a horse.

And to celebrate the romance, they fly the an impressively long kite.

A lot of fun, but what it all means is anyone’s guess.

One day, Ju managed to climb a palm tree.

What a hero!

Just time for the Arty Farty Competition.

The first entry is Ju’s Bajau ladder.

Also by Ju – Starfish

And Lyn’s Almost Sunset.

And the winner is Lyn, with Almost Sunset.

Ok – so we weren’t being exactly truthful with Ju climbing a palm tree. That’s the genius of AI. This is how the photo started – with a horizontal palm tree. 

And then Rory photoshopped it. It was still quite hard holding on though – so you should still be impressed.

It’s not as easy as it looks producing a world class blog like this.

Rory made a few other options we could have used, but they weren’t quite so convincing.

That’s all folks!

Sampai jumpa from all of us here in Indonesia.

Ju & Lyn

Selamat Pagi Boatbloggers®,

The more astute of you may have guessed from the title that we have at last arrived in Indonesia. It was a fairly uneventful five day crossing, and mostly downwind (that’s with the wind behind you for the landlubbers out there). So we were able to get out the two foresails in what we call The Butterfly.

It’s more being blown across the sea than actual sailing, but it gets you there just the same. 

Our fishing skills are definitely improving, and we managed to catch a squid.

Half way across it was Lyn’s Birthday – so we celebrated in style,

…just as she came up to start her 3 hour night watch. Happy Birthday Lyn! Not many people going get to celebrate their birthday in the middle of the night on the deck of a boat somewhere in the Torres Strait hundreds of miles from land.

The only problems came as we approached the Indonesian coast at night. There were literally hundreds of fishing boats, some completely unlit and with nets up to twenty five miles long. The other hazards are called FADs, which stand for Fish Attracting Devices, and basically they are small bungalows anchored to the seabed, often in depths of hundreds of metres so you can find them far out from the land. 

The fish like the shade, so they all swim about underneath, until the fishermen come along and try and catch them. They’re not too bad in daylight, but in the dark they are pretty much invisible, and it would certainly spoil your night  to run into one of these.

Our first stop in Indonesia was at a town called Debut in the Kei Islands.

Where we had the most fantastic welcome. The whole village turned out to say hello.

And walking along the street is like being a movie star. Everyone wants to shake your hand or take a selfie with you, and if you stop to ask directions the chances are you will be invited to back to that person’s house for dinner.

They arranged traditional music and dances for us, like this Boat Dance.

It was all a lot of fun.

And we attended official functions put on by the local dignitaries, who gave welcoming speeches in Indonesian.

Possibly not as much fun as the music and dancing, but it was nice of them all the same.

There was so much to do at Debut it’s hard to compress it all into a single blog. And there’s two more islands to go yet!

We drank fresh coconut on the beach,

We went to the fish market. Ju, not particularly a fish fan at the best of times, was still not tempted.

We could have given them our squid if we’d known.

The fruit and veg market was fresher than Waitrose.

There is a seaweed farm.

A few interesting facts about Indonesian seaweed. It is used in over 1,500 products including fertiliser, medicines, paint, toothpaste, textiles, make up and animal feed, and their biggest exports are to Belgium. It sells for about US $1.50 a kilo. There’s lot’s more interesting facts about seaweed that I could mention, but you’ll just have to do the tour.

And we can’t not mention the beach.

Now we have done a lot of beaches over the past few years, in some of the most paradisiacal (is that a real word? – Ed) parts of the world. From the Caribbean to the silver sands of the South Pacific so we consider ourselves to be leading beach experts with very high standards. And it is fair to say that this beach has the softest sand ever! It is like walking on flour. Put it on your bucket list.

These ladies insisted we tried the synchronised dancing,

…which was a lot less synchronised after Ju joined in.

The freshwater cave is stunning, and a great way to cool off in the tropical heat. Actually, this was the first swim we’ve had since New Caledonia. We were too frightened to get in the crocodile/shark/jellyfish infested waters in Oz! So it was particularly fab.

Our next stop was at Banda, a little island a day’s sail away. (Don’t worry Boatblog® Fans – only another two islands to go).

The snorkelling here is superb.

Once again, the people were unbelievably welcoming. They put on music and dancing in the nutmeg forest.

And showed us how they harvested and dried the cinnamon,

…and the fish.

You’ll be glad that Apple hasn’t yet developed the iSmell app yet.

This is the volcano that erupted in 1988. The volcanic dust destroyed lots of the nearby islands, and you can still see the lava flow down the side of the mountain.

And after another 24 hour sail, we arrived in Ambon. Again the welcome given to people arriving on small boats couldn’t be more different from the one that we offer back home.

Ju got invited to jam with the local musicians.

You may have noticed the radical haircut.

It seems they only do one style in Indonesia which they learnt from the US Marines, but they make up for it with a fabulous head and shoulder massage.

And then it was round the corner to another little anchorage called Lai. The kids were especially keen to see us,

…and even more keen to see the boat.

So this brings our first Indonesian Boatblog® to a close, but don’t worry Boatbloggers® there’s at least another 15 stops on the Wonderful Sail 2 Indonesia Rally, so we’re not going to be short of material.

Just time for the Arty Farty Competition, and this edition has several entries. First up is Lyn’s Boat on a Beach.

Not bad. Next is Cave Diver – submitted by Ross on Acushnet.

That’s properly Arty Farty. Then Seaweed by Ju.

And Tree Root, by either Ju or Lyn – we lost track.

And the winner is…

Ross, for Cave Diver, which entitles him to take the Captain and crew of Domini out for an all expenses paid slap up dinner.

Terima Kasih for reading.

Sampai Jumpa!

Ju & Lyn

G’day Boatbloggers®

It’s Wednesday morning and we’re anchored on Thursday Island right at the top of Australia, getting ready to sail to Indonesia at the next decent weather opportunity. That’s right dear reader – from now on we are heading back home.

It’s taken a couple of weeks to get here from Cairns. When you’re actually in Cairns it feels like you’re already in the far northernmost reaches of Queensland and it doesn’t look that far on the map to the top – a couple of inches or so. But in fact it’s about 500 nautical miles. And it’s pretty remote. There’s hardly any people living this far north, there’s no phone signal – well not till we got Starlink – and there’s nowhere to provision. 

Which is of course what makes it so special.

First stop was Lizard Island. Captain Cook’s log reads “…the only land animals we saw here were lizards, which occasioned my naming the island Lizard Island.” And here’s a descendant of one of those very lizards.

A great navigator. But perhaps not the most imaginative when it came to naming places.

Quick quiz.

What rank was Captain Cook?

Answer below.

Lizard Island is especially famous for its walk to the top of the mountain which is called Cook’s Lookout, because it was where he climbed to look out and see if there was a break in the reef that he could sail his ship through. He’s still not blowing us away with the names. And today it looks just the same as it would have done when Captain Cook was here all those years ago.

Apart from the airport.

It’s quite a climb.

So we made sure to sign the visitors’ book.

And the views are amazing.

Next stop was Flinders Island, which is famous for its aboriginal rock art. We were the only boat for miles around, and the only people in the anchorage. So it was a bit nerve racking going ashore in the dinghy knowing we were completely on our own. What if the dinghy anchor dragged and the dinghy drifted off? It’s happened before. What if it punctured on a rock? That’s happened before too. What if a big crocodile bit a big chunk out if it. That’s not happened before, but it might. What if, what if.…???

But we didn’t want to come all this way and not see the paintings. So intrepid adventurers that we are, we braved the unknown and off we went.

It’s very pretty. And very hot and humid. As our entry for the Mr Wet T-Shirt competition goes to show.

Not bad eh?

The paintings are worth the trek.

We were surprised to see one of Domini.

And though the temptation to spray paint “Ju & Lyn Woz Here!” was quite strong, we decided we’d better not.

Do you remember Liz Truss and the lettuce? We didn’t expect to find evidence that the Indigenous People of the island ran a similar competition with a coconut.

The coconut won.

Next stop was Pelican island which was stunning and not normally on the route for most cruisers.

We went past Sunday Island on Thursday. (Don’t worry, we’ve got Wednesday and Friday Islands to go yet, so this joke has got lots more fuel in the tank.)

It’s famous because this is where Captain Bligh landed, having travelling thousands of miles in an open boat after he and some of his crew were cast adrift  from HMS Bounty.

Apparently his first words as he stepped ashore were, “Keep your spirits up men. One day they’ll make a film out of this and we’ll all be heroes. And that mutinous pirate Fletcher Christian will be revealed for the scurrilous knave that he is.”

True story. He probably didn’t expect it to be a musical as well.

All we had to do now to get to Thursday was Round the Horn. And this is us doing just that.

It’s not actually THE Horn that we rounded. In actual fact, it’s Horn Island, but that’s good enough for us.

So here we are on Thursday Island, at the Top Pub In Australia.

I think they mean it’s the most northerly – it’s probably not the top in any other sense.

And so this brings to an end our travels in Australia. We have had the most fabulous time, the Australians have been great fun and incredibly welcoming. The land and scenery is beyond spectacular. We’re really going to miss it.

Just time for a few Arty Farty shots. Both from Flinders Island, and both by Ju.

This one he calls “Flower.”

And this one he calls “Rock.”

(And you call Captain Cook unimaginative with the names – Ed)

Next time we see you, we shall hopefully be in Indonesia.

G’day for now.

Ju & Lyn

Answer to Quick Quiz.

Captain Cook was a lieutenant when he discovered Australia. He was never a Captain, but in those days whoever was in command of the ship was called captain anyway (with a small c). So now you know. Here at The Boatblog® we don’t just seek to entertain, but to inform as well.

G’day Boatbloggies, 

And welcome to another action packed edition of The Boatblog®

We’ve been Carrying on up the Queensland Coast, through The Whitsundays, and very nice it is too.

They are all little bits of paradise in their own ways.

We had some pretty good winds and found that – like the best guitar amps – our boat goes up to ELEVEN!

We anchored off Hummocky Island, Hunter Island, Pearl Island, Naked Lady Bay (well we couldn’t not stop there) and Airlie Beach. Ju came here nearly forty years ago (doesn’t that make you feel old) and he’s glad that they seem to have remembered.

One of our favourites was Magnetic Island.

Where we went Koala hunting.

And actually saw some.

They are particularly cute, and one of the few animals in Australia that is unlikely to kill you. 

Though the Aussies call them Drop Bears. Apparently they get so stoned on eucalyptus leaves that they drop out of the tree, and if they land on your head can kill you. Unless they’ve just made that up to wind up the Poms.

There was parrot feeding in one of the parks which Lyn especially enjoyed.

And great views from the top of the mountain.

By now we were well and truly in The Land of the Crocodile.

And we wanted to see some. So we went up the Hinchinbrooke Channel which is famous for croc sightings with our friends Pelles and Ullas on Loupan.

We looked all night with searchlights, but didn’t see a single one. Though we’re pretty certain they saw us. 

The next day, Pelles said there was one under our boat.

Hmmm. Not convinced. This AI isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

But by now, our appetite was well and truly whetted. We wanted to see crocs, and our next stop – Cairns – was the place to do it.

If there’s two things that we really don’t want to get too close to, it’s jet skis and crocodiles. How often have we sat in an anchorage fuming as jet skis come bombing past, wondering why anyone would want to go to nowhere so quickly. And why we don’t want to be near crocodiles seems to be pretty obvious. So in theory a jet ski crocodile safari should be about one of the worst things we could do.

Well…adventure before dementia, Ju and Ross from Acushnet decided to give it a go.

It turns out that zooming along on a jet ski is brilliant! We were getting up to 40mph and it’s very exciting. And strangely, the urge to go and buzz an anchored yacht is almost overwhelming. (We didn’t! – no need to write in and complain to the editor.)

And you can get pretty close to the crocs. These are the salt water version. The Aussies call them salties, or swamp lizards. And as they say down under, they’re pretty bloody lethal mate.

This one is over 4 metres.

They are like prehistoric monsters, and really quite magnificent, though Ju was quite glad he could zoom off at 40mph when the croc came for him.

The freshwater ones apparently are more frightened of you then we are of them. Though maybe the person who said that doesn’t know quite how frightened we are of them. Besides, they’re virtually invisible. Can you see this one? (Answer below.)

We won’t be going swimming anytime soon.

With so many animals that can kill you it seemed sensible to learn how to protect ourselves. So Ju went down to the rifle range.

Not bad for a beginner. 

Mind you it helps having a laser sight.

We also went up the old Kuranda Railway into the mountains.

Which was all very pleasant.

Then to Port Douglas and The Mossman Gorge.

And of course we couldn’t miss the opportunity to go SCUBA diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

Ju was very pleased with his new underwater camera light, which made the colours of the coral even more spectacular.

So look out for LOTS more underwater photos in coming blogs. Yippee.

This is a huge nudibranch. They’re normally tiny, but this was about six inches. 

There’s a joke there somewhere.

Australia can be a quite dangerous place. We’re often surprised how anyone actually survives at all. We all know about the sharks, the crocs, the funnel webs and the snakes. But there’s plenty of other things to trap the unwary, and in case you aren’t nervous enough already, there’s plenty of signs to remind you.

Stingers…

Waterfalls…

Jellyfish..

Submerged boulders and “People have died here…”

Cassowaries…

And even the museums all have their dangers.

You don’t see that at the Imperial War Museum.

But now it’s time to leave Cairns and head towards Thursday Island, which is halfway between Wedesday Island and Friday Island. We kid you not. Captain Cook was obviously running out of ideas by the time he got this far north.

So just time for a gratuitous sunset.

…and an arty party photograph called “Rocks.”

And for those of you without the David Attenborough gene, here is where the crocodile was hiding.

G’day for now cobbers.

Ju & Lyn

Welcome back Boatbloggers®,

Finally the cyclone season is over and it’s time to raise a glass as we are back on the good ship Domini and sailing up the Queensland coast.

It was Ju’s birthday, so Lyn treated him to a special day out on Fraser Island with the 4X4 Explorer Bus.

We’re not going to tell you how old Ju is, but we will give you a clue. 

So young looking and handsome

For his years on this earth,

But he’s just one year younger 

Than the year of his birth.

See if you can figure that one out. And if you can – keep it to yourself.

We went all over the island – including the fabulous seaside lake.

Believe it or not, it’s a freshwater lake in the middle of the island. And it’s the first water we’ve seen since we’ve been here that is guaranteed shark- and crocodile-free. So we went for our first Down Under swim.

We saw the big satinay trees. 

The old wreck.

(We set ‘em up for you, we really do)

And we went up the creek. No paddle, but with coffee.

The highlight of the day has to be the ride in the little plane. It actually took off and landed on the beach.

It was a real adrenaline buzz.

We think we might have found another hobby that we can’t afford.

But unfortunately, having just got back on the water, our Australian visas needed to be recharged. Australia is now like Europe (Grrrr!) and you have to leave the country after 90 days – even if it’s only for a few hours.

So we had to go to Bali for a week.

Which is not so terrible.

We took a Balinese cookery course,

…and learned how to make the famous Indonesian delicacy Bebek Goreng – or as we say in English, herby duck.

You bash up a load of fresh herbs and spices and rub it into the skin,

…and then finish it off using Ju’s favourite cooking technique.

Delicious.

We even had the good fortune to meet Raymond, who happens to live in Bali and is the organiser of our next rally – Sail 2 Indonesia.

Thanks to you and your wife for a fabulous lunch Raymond.

It’s a beautiful country and we’re looking forward to getting back here later in the year. 

But next time on a boat!

For now, it was back to the bright lights of Brisbane,

…and then Bundaberg on the Tilt Train (so called because it…er…tilts). 

We’re back on Domini now and heading up the Queensland coast. We have just arrived at Great Keppel Island which is a little bit of paradise.

If it makes you feel any better, we’ve been stuck here for a few days waiting for decent weather. It’s actually raining!

It doesn’t look too bad in the photo – but it is pouring down.

So that’s all for now Boatblog® fans. Just time for the Arty Farty Competition, and we have two entries. The first from Lyn called Rust.

And Ju’s entry called Reach For The Sky.

And the winner is….

Rust!

Good on yer mate.

See you soon.

Ju & Lyn

We regret that due to an editorial oversight this edition does not contain the usual gratuitous sunset. But we can do a rainbow.

G’day Boatbloggers® and welcome to this year’s first Boatblog® brought to you from the Land Down Under.

Or should that be the Vanblog®. To be honest we haven’t done very much sailing so far this year. We got back in March to Brisbane where we had left Domini and then spent a few weeks getting her ship shape and ready for the passage north. 

There was plenty to do, including replacing the trampolines.

That’s nearly TWO HUNDRED knots! And Ju made the mistake of volunteering to help Darrin the Rigger to do it, which was something he was beginning to regret after three days of tying noose knots.

Unfortunately, even though Domini and her crew were ready to sail, we couldn’t leave straight away because it was still the cyclone season, so we decided to do a road trip.

First we needed a van.

Then it was time to hit the open road. And it sure is open. 

It starts off pretty green (and stormy), 

…and after a thousand miles or so, it starts getting pretty red.

Which is how you know you’re in The Outback. 

And then the road runs out completely and becomes a dirt track.

Now it’s just you, the bush, and the emus…

If you look closely you can just see Rod Hull working the one on the right.

There’s kangaroos as well of course. And 40 billion flies. Not to mention Death Adders, Taipans, Brown Snakes, Funnel Web Spiders and Redbacks. But fortunately you don’t see too many of those, though Ju did find a giant green frog living in one of the bush dunnies which rather put him off. 

But really this is cattle country,

…and the cowboys still round them up in the traditional way – with helicopters and quad bikes.

Some of the wild camp sites were idyllic.

But we were a long way from Domini.

The Australians love to gamble. Unfortunately, as the quad bikes and motorcycles took over for the stock work, there just weren’t enough horses around to hold any decent race meetings. They had to have something to gamble on and the answer turned out to be Lizard Racing. And every August, Eulo hosts the Lizard equivalent of the Grand National.

The most memorable day for lizard racing occurred in 1980 when champion Frilly Woodenhead flashed across the line in a record 1.8 seconds. Frilly Woodenhead was however later beaten by Sydney, a cockroach flown in by the Sydney Cockroach Club. Unfortunately at the end of the special match race disaster struck. The cockroach club members were all excitedly jumping around when one of them landed on the champion insect. A memorial service was later held at the pub.

We’re not kidding.

Aussies speak a strange language. They shorten words and add an “o” or an ‘ie” instead. So ‘afternoon’ becomes ‘arvo,’ and a morning break is ‘smoko’ – short for smoking break, even though no one smokes anymore. They drink stubbies, and wear thongs on their feet. And in the bush like to name their towns after things they like to do. In this example we see that they like beer and French emperors.

But alas all too soon we had to leave the giant bottle trees, 

…the bush barbies,

…the roadside lunch stops.

…and deserted campsites,

…and bid farewell to the Big Red,

…and make our way back to the sea.

And so we bring to a close this special one off edition of The Vanblog®. Though there is just time for The Arty Farty prize. Is this drone footage of a tree in the desert, or a little weed?

And the caption competition.

Why did the emu cross the road?

Answers on a 50 dollar bill to the usual address.

Hopefully we will be back to the Boatblog® very soon.

G’day muckers.

Ju & Lyn

G’day Boatblog® fans,

And Merry Christmas from The Land Down Under.

Though it does seem strange to have a Christmas tree in 30ºC

Yes – we finally made it to Oz. We arrived just as the sun was setting, 

…so we had to anchor out and wait for morning to clear customs and immigration.

There was a time when all you had to do to enter Australia was steal a sheep, and in more recent times hand over a tenner. But nowadays it’s a little trickier. Before you can officially enter, you have to go through Biosecurity. It’s all very friendly and efficient, but the boat has to be fully inspected inside and out – they even have sniffer dogs – not so much looking for illegal drugs but checking for invasive species of insects or plants. They’re worried about you bringing in a cockroach. This, in the land of the Funnel Web and the Death Adder.

We landed in Bundaberg because we had joined the Down Under Rally which is based there – not as some have suggested because that’s where they make all the rum.  The Down Under Rally is great and among other things, they put on lectures about sailing the east coast of Oz,

And they throw parties – lots of parties – film nights, jam sessions and barbies. (That’s barbecues for those of you who don’t speak Australian) This one featured a one man band – not just a bass drum, elbow tambourine and a mouth organ here. This was didgeridoos, Ry Cooder guitar and a load of ethnic percussion. Brilliant.

But soon it was time to move on, as we needed to be south of Brisbane by December to be out of the cyclone zone.

So we headed south past Fraser Island. Which is a pretty scary place. It has crocodiles, great white sharks, dingos, brown snakes, and spiders. Not to mention deadly stinging jelly fish. 

We were told to be, “…alert, not alarmed,” though if a crocodile isn’t a reason to be alarmed it makes you wonder what is. 

So we stayed alert. We were told to carry sticks, and stand back-to-back if you were attacked by a pack of dingos.

No worries.

We did see one dingo but he kept his distance, probably because he could see we were armed and dangerous.

We also saw a  brown snake – the second most poisonous snake in the world – which alas we don’t have a picture of as it is hard to take photos and run at the same time.

But not all of the animals in Australia are deadly.

We went to The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. For thirty dollars you could actually hold one.

Thirty bucks! They must think we’re a few stubbies short of a six pack.

But the roos were cute, especially the little joeys.

We went for a walkabout in the rainforest.

What lives in here?

Probably something lethal, so we didn’t go in to find out.

Brisbane seemed strangely familiar.

Is it just me or does that look like a mini Southbank? They’ve even called it Southbank.

We – well, Lyn – decorated the good ship Domini for Christmas,

…before it was time to get her taken out of the water,

…and put on the hardstand, somewhere between Superyacht Marina and Multihull Central.

She’ll be right.

And now it was time for us to fly across the Outback and home for Christmas.

It makes you realise how massive Australia really is.

Catch you later cobbers.

Ju & Lyn

Oh, before we go – here’s a picture of a cool looking tree, for no other reason than…er.. it’s a cool looking tree.

Salut Bateaublog® fans,

As you may have guessed, we are back in the French South Pacific, this time at Nouvelle Caledonie, or as you probably know it, New Caledonia. It looked pretty idyllic when we arrived, even though there were big waves and 4 knots of current against us when we went through the pass.

Fiji and Vanuatu were both fantastic in their different ways, but we have to say it is great to be able to have a Carrefour and some fabulous French restaurants.

Here at the Boatblog® we don’t normally post pictures of our lunch as to be honest we think it’s a bit naff, but it has been so long since we had a fillet steak we decided to make an exception. Bon appetit!

Unfortunately the day we arrived was a Bank Holiday Monday. Actually, that’s not strictly true. We arrived on a Friday. The Bank Holiday was actually on the Tuesday – November 1st. So of course that meant that the Monday had to be made into a Bridging Holiday so that no one went back to work for just one day. And because there was a holiday on the Tuesday, that meant you had to stop work at 11am on the Friday otherwise it wouldn’t have been much different from a normal weekend. So having arrived in New Caledonia at first light on Friday, we had a frantic dash round to Immigration, then Customs, then Bio-security before they all shut – and we’d have had to stayed on the boat until they all opened up again on the Wednesday. Glad to say we made it all just in time.  

C’est la vie.

Noumea, which is the capital city, is very like Pape’ete in Tahiti, except with a lot more money,

…which comes from the nickel mine that they have on the island – apparently 40% of the world’s nickel comes from here. You see a lot of Porsches and the like, which it is fair to say was not true in Fiji or Vanuatu – or even French Polynesia.

But here there is enough money to be able to observe the trickle down effect in action.

You can’t come to New Caledonia without going to the world famous…

…Iles des Pins. Which doesn’t mean the Islands of Pins, but the Islands of Pines. And you can see why.

Pines everywhere you look.

We went on the tourist bus on a trip around the island.

A bit clapped out, but we went to all the best places.

We picked coconuts, 

…which were super fresh.

Saw the war memorial…

And generally had a very nice time.

Of course, we can’t come to a Pacific Paradise without doing a bit of diving, 

…where you could even catch your own lunch.

We shall spare you the photos of the wall of sharks and the grouper and the eels because here at the Boatblog® we never want to repeat ourselves and you’ve seen all that already in the episodes from Polynesia. 

So that just leaves us time for the Arty Farty Competition and this time there is just one entry from Lyn.

We can’t actually remember what it is so it doesn’t have a title – it’s either the ceiling or the floor – but as the only entry we declare Lyn the winner.

A number of our fans have asked us about how the blog is put together. Obviously there is a huge team behind such a prestigious project, and it takes a considerable amount of hours and expertise to come up with such an international product. Nevertheless, in the style of Blue Planet and others, we are prepared to give you a quick peak just some of the work that goes on behind the scenes. 

That’s all for now as we need to get ready to set sail for Australia, and the water is so clear here that seems like a good time to go and give the the hull a scrape. 

They won’t let you into the land down under with barnacles on your bottom (ooh missus!)

So it’s au revoir for now, and g’day next time we speak.

Ju & Lyn

(What – no sunset? Ed)

Oh, go on then.

Hello again Boatbloggers®

The next leg of our circumnavigation takes us to the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, famous for its active volcano – Mount Yasur. The glow from it was apparently what attracted Captain Cook to land here in 1774, and now all those years later it has worked it’s magic once again on the crew of Domini. 

But first we had to bid a fond farewell to Fiji. It has been a wonderful adventure and we wished we could have stayed longer. The staff at the marina came to wish us bon voyage with a traditional Fijian song, and presented us with local flowers.

We were sorry to leave.

Unfortunately our last few weeks in Fiji were tinged with sadness as Ju’s mum died and we had to return to England for the funeral. But at least she is now back together with Pa, and the Two Ronnies are reunited.

So it’s goodnight from him, and it’s goodnight from her. Night Ma, we are going to miss you.

Our first stop was Port Resolution, named after Captain Cook’s ship.

We thought Port Domini sounded better, but since he got here first, he got to choose. He also called the islands the New Hebrides, but on Independence was over ruled and it became the Republic of Vanuatu. So maybe it’s not too late.

We were greeted by Stanley from the local village who arranged all the immigration and customs formalities for us at the Yacht Club.

Stanley then took us on a guided tour of his village, where they still live in the traditional wooden houses with reed roofs.

They may look flimsy, but even in a cyclone they last longer than a British Prime Minister. Or a lettuce.

There is an active construction programme,

…and the canoes are still made from tree trunks using nothing more than an axe.

As luck would have it, the next day was our anniversary. 27 years and never a cross word. So we went to the local restaurant,

…and had a romantic dinner for eight, with our new found friends from Askari, Acushnet and 2K.

But we hadn’t come here for the gourmet cooking, good though it was. We had come to see the volcano. 

All up the side of the mountain the steam comes out through the ground, making for a natural sauna. 

And the Tannans (if that’s the right word) use the hot clay for face and body paint.

Not sure it looks quite so good on Ju.

But we wanted to get even closer, so Stanley arranged for a pick up truck to er…pick us up,

…and off we went to the rim of the Fire Mountain.

It was quite a climb to the top, 

But worth it.

It was quite scary when the volcano exploded, but it was all very sulphur-y so if you got nervous and let one rip, no one really noticed.

They told you not to lean on the barriers.

Just in case. 

History doesn’t tell us what happened to the people who leaned on these.

It was all pretty spectacular.

The next day we went to the market in the main town of Lenakel. There is no proper road, so it was back into the 4 wheel drive and out across the ash plains.

It’s quite a bumpy ride,

…so you need to keep getting out for a break.

The market had all the fresh fruit and veg you could want.

And there was even an Academy of Music.

They are very conscious of the effects of climate change in the South Pacific. This was on the wall of the restaurant.

Which roughly translates as “Protect all marine life. It belongs to you.” Not a bad sentiment.

Tanna is an amazing island and it is a shame we couldn’t spend longer here, or be able to visit the other islands in Vanuatu. We’re now waiting for a weather window to sail to New Caledonia.

Tankiu Tumas for reading. (That’s “Thank you too much,” in Bislama.)

There’s just enough time for a few entries for the Arty Farty prize.

Well, to be honest they’re not really entries for the Arty Farty competition – to be honest we can’t even remember who took them – they’re just more gratuitous photos of the volcano.

And why not? It’s pretty special.

So it’s Lukim Yu from all of us here in Tanna.

Lukim Yu

Ju & Lyn

Bula Bula Boatblog® Fans,

The most exciting thing about this blog is not that we went diving with bullsharks – though that is pretty exciting, more of that later – but that we had a visitor from back home.

Our very old friend Sally came to stay for a few weeks.

Among other things, Sally is a keen diver, which gave Ju a great excuse to do lots and lots of diving.

She is also a keen underwater photographer with a very fancy camera. You will be pleased to know that we have edited her photos down from four thousand and seventy two, to just three hundred and six.

We even did a freediving course, which is amazing. Ju went from being able to hold his breath from just 40 seconds, to almost two minutes, and got down to 16m. Which comes in very handy when you are snorkelling with mantas, who can hold their breath for a lot longer than that.

But the highlight has to be the dive with the bullsharks.

Sorry about the camera shake. Actually, it’s not camera shake. It’s cameraman shake. Those sharks are BIG.

You swim down to about 20 meters and then a kamikaze diver starts feeding the sharks. Not by hand of course, but on a large pole. He wears metal gloves, but these amazing creatures have mouths bigger than your head so that’s not going to help much. I asked him how long he had been doing this, and he said he started on Saturday which was a bit worrying.

They use these little poles to keep the sharks from eating the customers, while you sit behind a protective safety wall that they’ve built, 

….though you can’t help thinking, “What if they come from behind?”

At least you don’t have to pay until after the dive, so if you do get eaten you haven’t lost anything.

Sadly, lots of them had been injured by fishing hooks, which you could see dangling out of their mouths with the wire still attached.

They are very big, very aggressive and they come very close. You could easily reach out and touch them if you didn’t mind losing an arm.

They are absolutely magnificent.

But as well as being a diver, Sally also likes fishing. We have to confess that the good ship Domini’s fish catching record has not been great; so far we’ve only managed to catch one size 12 wellie. But Sally is an expert. She was taught by her brother Paul who is a fly fishing champion. At least, he’s got all the right gear and talks a good game, even if he doesn’t catch much. So were looking forward to a fantastic fish supper.

And here we are, enjoying a fantastic hog roast.

The fishing could have gone better.

This is the one that got away.

One evening we were invited to an Indo-Fijian religious festival by our new friends Ravi and Anjani. There was a fantastic band, 

…though they didn’t do much in the way of blues so Ju couldn’t really join in.

And Sally tried the Kava.

Very nice. Though she thinks she’ll stick with the Sauvignon Blanc. And lots of it.

Just time for our arty farty competition. First entry is from Sally called “Giant Clam.”

Pretty amazing. Next up is Ju with his “Cool Cave.”

And finally, Sally’s “Jaws.”

Or should that be “Gums?”

And the winner is….

“Jaws.” Well done Sally.

You can come again.

Bula Vinaka, and Moce for now.

Ju & Lyn