Landing with our feet running…

We've had a very busy first month back on Aussie soil… in Bundaberg we imported the boat, paid our tax and bought a car in preparation for the road trip home in January.  We then sailed 50NM south to Hervey Bay where Laurie's mum joined us for a week.  A trip to Fraser Island with our friends Ernie and Marilyn from Christmas Island followed by a week in the Great Sandy Straits Marina.  Then we took Moana Roa upriver 30km to Maryborough where we slipped her to anti foul and give her a polish.  Beau even worked on the boat on his 13th birthday!  Moana Roa is now ready for sale.  Next stops Tin Can Bay, Scarborough, and the Brisbane River….

Good ol' Aussie BBQ - Mum joins us for a week in Hervey Bay

Fraser Island - the biggest sand island in the world!

Ernie and Marilyn join us onboard

Wild dingoes live here and can attack! 

In search for evidence - dingo footprint

Mary River, Maryborough - the author of the book Mary Poppins was born here!

Beau is officially taller than Sonia!

Lots of history and a great military museum

Kara cleaning the prop shaft

Travis buffing the topsides

Ready for antifouling!

Ice cream cake for afternoon tea… 

Scrubbing up for Beau's birthday dinner

A new look for the teenager…

Moana Roa - FOR SALE

On Aussie soil again!!

We arrived at Port Bundaberg

Smiles all around as we complete the Pacific Ocean crossing!

Mike from "Tashi Delek" showed us some photos from his 3 Mt Everest expeditions...

Barbecue on "Tulu" farewelling Mike and Carol

Travis and Beau off to the skate par

Kara was mad keen to do Halloween so we had to prep the
local yachties at the marina - she had great fun!

Our new bus - we got a great private deal on a Nissan Pathfinder with only 50,000kms on the clock.
Now to buy a trailer in preparation for our road trip home in January

Final Big One...

The last big passage on the Pacific from Luganville, Vanuatu to Bundaberg, Queensland... 1000NM - 6 days - punctuated by a 12 hour stopover at Huon Reef, north of New Caledonia.
Here we landed on a sandy beach and saw birds and turtles nesting!

Arriving at Huon Reef we were the only boat

We had 12 hours to stretch our legs and explore the sandy cay

The Boobies were unafraid and allowed us to come very close

Many were sitting on eggs

Some had chicks

On the water the turtles were doing mating gymnastics!

On land in the evening they came ashore and started digging

We waited patiently as they dug deeper and deeper

And carved a perfect hole to lay their eggs...

In 3 months the hatchlings will climb to the surface and make their way to the water!

The rest of the passage we were confined to the cabin with consistent 30kn winds and seas crashing over the boat

Reading passed the days...

Vanuatu with Ollie

We arrived in Port Resolution – another one of Captain Cook’s anchorages - in the southeast of Tanna Island after a lively 500NM crossing from Fiji.  Cook was attracted by the glow of Mt Yasur, a volcano that has been continuously erupting for 800 years!

Laurie’s brother, Ollie joined us on Moana Roa. Gale forced winds caused his plane to abort the landing three times and fly to Fiji and back to Australia!

Vanuatu is like stepping back in time – almost primitive.  Here we have the new and the old.  Laurie’s Tahitian outrigger fascinated the paddlers in their dugout canoes 

The bumpy ride to the volcano in the back of a ute

As we approached the landscape changed dramatically from jungle to a lava crust and black sand

As we approached the landscape changed dramatically from jungle to a lava crust and black sand.  Mt Yasur, one of three volcanoes in Vanuatu that are continuously erupting

The tour took us right up to the rim of the crater.  We peered directly into the fumaroles experiencing the power – watching the lava being thrown 100m into the air, feeling the blast of the eruptions, and smelling the sulfur

The power was amazing!  The eruptions were potentially dangerous and we made sure we watched the lava rocks very carefully – the rocks landed a way from us but another yachtie reported that one nearly hit him on another occasion!

Time to explore one of the local villages with their grass huts and thatched roofs, subsistence - a very simple and natural lifestyle

Vanuatu has been given the name “The friendly islands” and they lived up to their name – very gentle, unassuming, and respectful people.  We got to know many people and we were invited into their villages

Sow in her pen of sticks

Trading some of our clothes and food for bananas, and bows and arrows for Kara and Beau

Kara the warrior girl…

Kids waiting for their dad to take the canoe fishing

Children coming home from school – the principal was happy to accept some of our documentaries on the only school computer

Fellow cruisers arranged a Happy Hour at the “Yacht Club” at Dillon’s Bay, Erromango Island

John William’s was a missionary from London who was killed and eaten here. Vanuatu has been strongly influenced by Christianity and we noticed many denominations represented throughout the country.  There is also the John From and Prince Phillip cargo cults – very fascinating!

At Erromango, we were taken to see the gravesites of the ancestors in caves, which were difficult to access

These are the bones of the village chief and his two wives and family.  Our guide spoke to the spirits before we entered

Time for Kara to relax and read

Cold coconut water is very refreshing – a shot of rum makes it even better!

Moana Roa beyond the mangroves at Lutes Village, Maskelyne Islands

Drinking Kava with the village chief and Stewart, our guide

When passing through Port Vila we met a couple who were running eye-glasses clinics for the Lions Club in Australia and asked us if we could continue them in the northern islands

We ran two clinics and fitted about 60 pairs of glasses.  It was a great privilege for the kids to be involved in this service work

Travis is helping an old man, apparently aged 105, with a pair of glasses!  He took the most powerful glasses but unfortunately his cataracts didn’t help

The AFL footy was a winner among the kids

Sonia and Kara with a newborn baby

Catch of the day – reef fish caught with a “musket blong solwater” (Bislama for a musket that belongs in the salt water i.e. a speargun)

We paddled and sailed to an offshore island to see the giant clam sanctuary

A local French-speaking family taking some of our “cargo” – as we are starting to clean up the yacht for our entry to Australia

Fog in the morning at Port Sandwich, Malakula Island

We visited a boarding school where the 13-year-old village kids are sent, if the families can afford it

Peering through the louvres into the classroom and talking with our kids about their return to normal school - only 4 months to go…

Port Luganville, Espititu Santo Island was a major WWII base and at “Million Dollar Point” we snorkeled on the heavy machinery, trucks, and tanks that were dumped by the Americans after the war