Whimsey

New Year 2012

2011-12-30T17:57:00.000-08:00

Wishing all our family and friends a very jolly, peaceful and successful 2012.

Sean's next relocation project

2011-08-30T20:38:00.001-07:00

Visiting Whimsey and found that there are new tenants.

Mum, dad and the relos were very cross with us when we came on board but sadly we need to relocate them as we are going up on the hard next week.

Time to antifoul, replace zincs and get an insurance survey. Meanwhile the crew are landlubbing.

Christmas in August in Marrickville

2011-08-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely get together to celebrate Erin's half century and Christmas in August. Great friends came together to enjoy mulled wine, turkey, veggie sausage rolls and a juice bar.

Back in Sydney

2011-03-24T00:14:00.000-07:00

Busy, busy, busy!!! We arrived back in Sydney on the 8th of March and have not stopped for breath since.

We spent a couple of days in Quarantine Bay, dinghied ashore to Manly and walked to get back our land legs. Then over the harbour to Glebe and the fish markets. It was a murky rainy day but through the rain we spotted old friends "The Road". As we hadn't seen the boat since 2001 in Curacao we had our fingers crossed and sure enough it was still our old friends Shirley and Taff and Rubbish the parrot.

The St Patrick's Day photos will follow.

Moving South

2011-03-03T16:52:00.000-08:00

We set off from Southport on a sunny Saturday lunchtime expecting to motor for the next 72 hours then hop into the nearest port. Less than an hour after switching on the engine to pick up the anchor we were sailing in a lovely 15 knot breeze past the high rises and beaches of the Gold Coast.
By mid afternoon we had found the Eastern Australian current which added a couple of knots to our speed.
Monday afternoon we were heading in to Port Stephens. Just 2 miles off the entrance we caught a mid sized tuna. Fantastic trip!
Tuesday was hot breezes and high humidity. The water here is so clear that we had a dip which cooled us down nicely. The skies started to darken and, as we sat in the cockpit drying off, a squall came through the anchorage with gusts up to 50 knots. Cannot imagine what the cyclone was like with 150 knots!
Some interesting skies - the clouds below looked as if they were tumbling!

Next week will see us day hopping down the coast to Sydney.

Brisbane Floods - Thank you Steve!!

2011-01-12T16:41:00.000-08:00

Tuesday morning it looked as if we were better to stay in the marina in Brisbane CBD. There was a strong weather warning for Morton Bay and the current in the river was already looking very strong. As the day progressed and debris started to float past we felt this was the right decision. However by mid afternoon the forecasts had the river heights going above the height of the pilings which meant that there seemed to be a real danger of the whole marina floating off the piles and careening down the river.

We decided to spend Tuesday night in a hotel and review on Wednesday morning.

Low tide on Wednesday was at 8.30, we arrived back at the dock at 7.30 and the walkway (normally 6 feet above the water) was under at least a foot of water. The docks were still floating and we managed to get on board. We had decided to try to get Whimsey out of the river as the alternative seemed to be that we would lose her. The current was extremely strong by this point.

We stowed and got ready to leave. All around us our neighbours were doing the same. We warmed up the engine and at around 9.00 began to try to leave.

Whimsey was in a berth with the flood on our stern, this meant reversing out into the flow before we could turn out into the river. The strength of the water meant that on full power in reverse with lines tied to the dock and pulled tight we could not move back at all. At one point the wheel wouldn't turn and for several horrible moments we thought that the steering cable had broken - it turned out to be a surge of water holding the rudder to one side. At another point we thought that a rope we had tied to the opposite dock and floated down to us had caught in either the rudder or the propeller - this was where Steve stepped in to help and between us and the neighbours on E dock we managed to get free. We took this line to the windlass and tried to use this to pull us out of our berth.

This is the line we used.

It took us until 11.30 and it all happened in the last 15 minutes. Without the help of our neighbours, but more particularly a bloke called Steve who worked with us almost all of that time in the blazing heat, we would not have been able to get out of the marina. We had never met Steve before Wednesday morning.

We cannot thank Steve enough, he worked with us, gave us encouragement and advice, pulled lines, pushed us off and couldn't have helped more. We will find him and thank him in person but wanted to say thanks here too.

The neighbours on E dock had an engine failure and had to leave their boat attached to the marina.

On C dock and B dock we could see other neighbours having the same problems as us. Dockside marina has quite a live-aboard community and we regularly get together for BBQs so we are really hoping that our friends and neighbours who weren't able to get away are ok. For most of us our boats are our homes and have been for some time.

The water police and coast guard were up and down the river but could not help us to get out of the marina as the current was too strong and they had instructions to only intervene where life was in danger.

Once we were out into the river we had been concerned that we would have difficulty steering in the strong current, especially as there was a lot of debris to avoid. However we didn't have any problems and as we finally powered out of the marina had full control and were able to turn up and steer without difficulty. At one point the engine overheated and we had to anchor to investigate. Surprisingly this was not difficult and the overheating turned out to be temporary - probably debris in the water intake - and we were able to have something to eat and a few minutes rest.

We had deliberately chosen to leave when the tide was rising as we hoped this would slow the current, normally this would be impossible for us to make any headway but we travelled down the river at 8 to 10 knots (our normal motoring speed is around 4 knots). Once we reached the channel into Morton Bay the two sets of water meeting was a bit lumpy for about half an hour but nothing we haven't seen a hundred times before - except that the water was so full of mud that as the waves washed down the deck they left mud all the way down.

We motored across to Mud Island - about another half an hour in increasing calm waters and anchored in a peaceful anchorage with about 6 other boats. We were exhausted but relieved to be safe and able to report back to family and friends that we were out of danger.

Thanks to all of you who have sent us your best wishes. We send our best wishes to our friends and neighbours in Brisbane.

This last photo shows the gouges in the toe-rail from the rope to the dock.

Email hijacked we are both fine

2010-09-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

Tangalooma Wrecks

2010-06-06T21:32:00.000-07:00

Heading to Brisbane to top up the kitty but decided to spend a few days at Tangalooma Wrecks en route. If it's this nice when the weather is against us it must be glorious in the summer - we'll be back!!

STILL in Mooloolaba

2010-05-07T18:15:00.001-07:00

We have imported Whimsey into Australia - just the final paperwork to do. As always our plans are set in jelly - we think we are on the move but not sure if we are going south to Brisbane to find work or north to Bowen to escape the winter.

Still in Mooloolaba

2010-01-21T14:39:00.000-08:00

There is so much to do and see so yes we are STILL in Mooloolaba. Looking forward to all the activities on Australia Day and then more family visits. Very excited as Erin's Uncle Ron and Auntie Ann are visiting from England and then her Mum and Dad are coming up from Sydney. Hoping to get out for a sail while they are here. Pining for the waves!

Christmas is coming

2009-12-20T15:21:00.001-08:00

Whimsey is still in Mooloolaba and receiving visitors from all over the world. We have had all of Erin's sisters here this year which is a first. Fiona was here in August and Catherine and Bithia and their families have been with us over the past two weeks. Not all of Catherine's family though, Ashley and Shane are back in the cold in England. We are enjoing Mooloolaba and hope to be here for a while longer. A very merry Christmas to all our friends and family.

Mooloolaba Wharf

2009-08-17T06:06:00.000-07:00

Is a cross between Brighton Pier and the Florida Canals...

Mooloolaba

2009-07-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

We have finally arrived in Mooloolaba - a quiet overnight sail from Fraser Island. So far we are thinking that this is a really nice place so we might stay a while.....

Whimsey snug in Tin Can Bay

2009-07-15T17:07:00.000-07:00

As there was a Tsunami warning for the Australian coast last night just thought we'd put a quick note to say that we are snug and warm in Tin Can Bay - well away from the coast so safe and sound.

Tin Can Bay - Queensland

2009-07-06T01:53:00.000-07:00

Erin feeding dolphins and Sean by the water tower. Tin Can Bay is lovely, calm and sunny at the moment and the natives are all very friendly. We even managed to come second in the trivia with help from Alan, Karen and Julian.

Heading south

2009-06-20T16:54:00.000-07:00

We are sitting in the Bundeburg river getting ready to head south - but not far. We will cruise Hervey Bay and the Great Sandy Straits, hoping to see plenty of whales, and then down to Mooloolaba where Fiona (Erin's sister) hopefully will join us for a while.

Look out for the whale pics.

Bundeburg Show

2009-05-31T19:04:00.000-07:00

Right place, right time. We've been experiencing rural Auz and loving it!! The Bundy show included pig racing - too much fun - and our first rodeo. We are enjoying sitting in the Bundy River - fixing stuff and getting organised while the weather settles down.

Leaving Hervey Bay

2009-04-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend Whimsey will head out of the marina and out to Fraser Island to anchor again. The weather has been beautiful for the last few weeks and we are looking forward to sitting out in a peaceful anchorage. From there we will head back north to Bundeburg to extend our cruising permit so that we can continue to explore Auz for a while longer.

St Patricks Day 2009

2009-04-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

This year after 20 years of Sean requesting there was boxty on the pan on St Patricks Day. We had a lovely little celebration in the Great Sandy Straits Marina in Hervey Bay.

Snow in London

2009-03-15T23:20:00.000-07:00

We have had a brief - but very cold - stay in London but are now back on Whimsey in Hervey Bay.

The weather has not been much on our side so far this year but as I look out of the window today we have clear blue skies.

Ireland

2009-01-04T17:53:00.000-08:00

For family reasons we are heading to Ireland for January.

Christmas in Sydney

2009-01-01T00:02:00.000-08:00

We have flown to Sydney to spend Christmas and New Year with our Whanau (family and friends). Seans cousin and neighbour Joanne is backpacking in Auz and we met up at the Rocks. This christmas tree is made out of chairs given by the community.

Urangan King Tides

2008-12-31T23:50:00.000-08:00

We were looking for a safe harbour for Whimsey while we headed south to Sydney for Christmas and New Year. This is our view taken at the lowest and highest tides of the year.

Bundeburg in November

2008-12-31T23:45:00.001-08:00

Catching up on news. We headed to Bundeburg in November to meet up with some of the Bayswater crowd. Blue Heron (in the photo), Enigma and Whisper were all there - it was lovely to catch up with old friends. We also got to see roos in the wild for the first time.

Mission Beach Cassowary

2008-10-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

We left Whimsey in Bowen and travelled on the bus to Mission Beach to visit Mike and Tara - formerly on Catalpa - in their own patch of rainforest Eden. It was a packed weekend with Cassowary families wandering up the drive, leeches in the garden and snakes in the wall!! Great to catch up with Mike, Tara and Tia all doing very well and thriving on land.

Airlie Beach

2008-09-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

We've been here in Airlie for about 6 weeks on and off - out to the Whitsundays and then back to provision and check out the rum bar. Someone has to do it!!

Had a lovely week when Erin's family came up to visit - and brought Erin's neice who was visiting Auz from England. A week in Airlie goes very quickly.

Promise to update more often and to load some photos soon.

Sunset on Sean's 40s

2008-06-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

Here we are in Surfers Paradise enjoying a Guiness on Seans 50th birthday.

The shirt was a gift from Erin's mum - made by her!

Out of Sydney

2008-04-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

We are finally on the move from Sydney. It has been too much fun, with a niece and nephew to catch up with, and the rest of the family of course :) Stella is a bundle of laughs, very active and talkative too all of a sudden. She and Auntie Eee have made lots of great memories together. Vincent is ready to go, crawling in the last week with a big grin on his face no doubt. Bith and Neill are doing a fab job on the parenting front.

While we were here we also saw Erin's cousins Sue and Tim. Sue, Pete and PJ came out on the boat, young Pete pronounced it all 'cool'. We caught up with Tim and Chris at Christmas but Tim headed home to be with Uncle Ron (now well on the road to recovery from heart surgery) so we didn't manage a boat trip.

We've also caught up with lots of friends, old and new while we were here. The Kings Cross crowd has half moved over so we've spent some proper time with Sharon, Mickey, Les and Rick. We have also met the new generation - Molly and Paddy who are peas from the pod. We had a lovely weekend with Sue and Grant in the Hunter Valley getting some expert guidance to wine - hope to see you guys before we leave Auz.

Most of all it has been great to be close enough to Erin's mum and dad to pop round for tea or to have them over. Hard to leave.

But - we can't call ourselves cruisers if all we do is motor from Glebe to Middle Harbour so tomorrow we are heading out of Sydney and up to Broken Bay. We have been waiting for a window to NZ but have decided to start to head north (it's getting chilly here). If a window opens we will head back to Opua and probably up to Fiji again from there. If not we will probably head to Queensland and spend the winter in the Whitsundays.

Photos to follow.

Finally arrived in Auz

2007-11-13T19:31:00.000-08:00

When we left the UK in 1997 our only real goal was to reach Sydney and sail under the harbour bridge. We met each other in Sydney in 1989 and so this would bring us back to where it all started. Of course we had planned to be here for the Olympics in 2000 so we are a little late but still this is a milestone.

Bonjour from New Caledonia

2007-10-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous trip from Lautoka to Noumea - faster and smoother than we had expected. Now enjoying croissants, bagettes and a very pretty city.

We only have a few jobs to do before we set off again, this is just a stopover really. Our next port of call should be Coffs Harbour in NSW.

Welcome to Vincent William - Bithia and Neill's son and Erin's nephew. We are, of course, rushing to Sydney to see him and Stella his big sister.

Sorry no photos for this one.

Musket Cove Regatta

2007-09-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

Salty pirates in the beachcomer race - crew on Freedom Hunter.
Erin - not coming last in the kayaking race (dressed in black).
Princess Fatima - didn't make the finals.
Whimsey Galore - finalist in the princesses competition.
All in all we have had a lot of fun!! Recommend the regatta to anyone who is in the area. Lots of friends turned up here - some new and some old.

Fiji's hot and sunny west coast

2007-09-10T19:51:00.000-07:00

This will be a quick one as the connection is a bit slow. We have had a lovely couple of weeks making our way from Savusavu to Vuda point marina. Look out for the photos of the giant clams and Sean working with Kameli to try to mend the water pump on Makongai.

Leaving Savu Savu

2007-08-19T15:35:00.001-07:00

After a wonderful month in Savu Savu it is now time to move on. We have been welcomed into the homes and lives of so many friendly people it will be hard to say goodbye - but only until next year.

We are moving west towards Lautoka and Musket Cove for September where Erin's mum and dad will join us for a week.

SavuSavu Darts Champions

2007-08-07T16:02:00.000-07:00

Arvind, Sean and Gopen - some of the winning darts team. Planters Club SavuSavu 21st July 2007. NEWS FLASH - we had our pictures in the Fiji Sun newspaper!!

2007-07-26T19:28:00.001-07:00

This is Savusavu where we are now.

One of the many stunning ocean sunsets on our trip.

We were given the best part of a large wahoo in Minerva reef by Don on "The Scotsman" - so much that Erin marinaded and dried it on the back deck.

Savusavu

2007-07-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying life in Savusavu. In the two weeks since we arrived we have been invited to, and attended, a Hindu wedding and Sean is now a member of the local darts team. Our plans, as always, are flexible but we are aiming to head from here to Koro, then to Kandavu up to Lautoka and the islands of the west. However, Sean would also like to go to the Somosomo straits and the east of Vanua Levu so all of that is still under discussion.

We haven't heard from anyone in Bayswater since the big blow a couple of weeks ago so are hoping all is well.

I'm having problems loading photos but hope to have some pictures up soon.

Finally in Fiji

2007-07-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

After a longer than expected trip - 4 weeks - we arrived in Fiji. We did spend 12 days in North Minerva reef waiting for the right weather so I suppose it wasn't so bad.

Savusavu is lovely - really lush and tropical and we are enjoying the change of weather.

More to follow - going to a seminar on village culture.

Erin and Sean

Waiting for weather

2007-06-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

We are in Opua in the Bay of Islands waiting for the next good weather window to head north. Not a bad place to wait except for the talk of Polar blasts which sound far too cold - still not reaching us yet. Earliest departure looks like mid week.....

Boat work in beautiful places

2007-05-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

We have had a successful trip up the coast of New Zealand with new winches installed (Erin) engine work (Sean) painting (Erin) engine work (Sean) etc.

Fingers and toes crossed we are nearly ready to head North. Until then we will enjoy the lovely Bay of Islands.

On the move - Whangarei

2007-05-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update - Whimsey is now in Whangarei Town Basin. Sean is investigating the engine (what's new) and Erin is trying to keep out of Arthurs Emporium.

Whangarei is a 3 hour motor up the river, even at high tide we had about 2 inches under the keel at times so an interesting trip. It is quite lovely and everything is really handy but all the same we plan to be on the move again by the end of the week.

Panama Canal

2007-03-27T20:29:00.001-07:00

Just to get these photos up here, and to test out the process. This is us going through the canal on March 15th and 16th 2002. We searched on both sides of the canal, in Balboa and in Panama city and found a grand total of 18 cans of Guiness for the St Patricks Day celebration. The transit crew were: David, Randy, Carl, Sarah, Sean and Erin.

Sean fishing at sunset on Gattun Lake

Under the bridge of the Americas.

Here we are

2007-03-21T14:44:00.000-07:00

Here we are in Auckland:
the fuel tank is out
the pushpit is off
the life lines are off and
the life rafts being serviced.

After 4 1/2 years in Auckland Whimsey is getting ready to head off into the Ocean again. Fiji here we come!