Roving Rear Commodore Report from New Caledonia to Australia
by Phil & Sarah Tadd 25 Mar 2023 00:04 UTC
In Sydney Harbour waiting for the fireworks © Phil and Sarah Tadd
Serenity of Swanwick continues her adventures in the Pacific where Covid finally catches up, and they join the Down Under Rally, before waiting for a weather window for the next leg of their trip.
New Caledonia was an interesting stopover and we found David Plumley (POR Noumea) most helpful, both with information and then assistance with repairs when our autopilot failed. There is a market close to the marina in Noumea and it is only a short walk into town for supermarkets and other shops; the chandlery is a bit further and more easily reached by bike or dinghy. The island is the third biggest source of nickel in the world (after Russia and Canada), so there is widespread evidence of opencast mining and after rainfall, the water turns red in many of the bays. While here we both contracted Covid, not badly but it did take a couple of weeks out of our cruising plans. We had hoped to visit the Loyalty Islands and Vanuatu but due to time constraints had to restrict ourselves to sailing in the lagoon and visiting Île-des-Pins.
At the start of September, we saw a good opportunity to make the passage to Australia with light following winds: we made the 800NM passage in just over five days. We cleared in at Bundaberg where the formalities went very smoothly. We had arrived early for the Down Under Rally as we wanted to fly home to the UK for the first time since the start of the pandemic. It was easy to arrange to lay up Serenity ashore for the time we were going to be away. One lesson learned from the pandemic was that if you leave your yacht and fly out of the country you cannot be sure of when you will return.
Six weeks in the UK and we were back for the welcome week of the Down Under Rally, arranged by John Hembrow (RRC Australia NE), with seminars giving plenty of useful info on cruising in Australia and well-organised social events. There were a number of OCC boats on the rally and we enjoyed meeting them (too many to list here).
Since late November we have been sailing south, first down through the Great Sandy Strait, sheltered from the Tasman by Fraser Island, then on to Moreton Bay and Brisbane. Then to Coffs Harbour, Port Stephens and Sydney in time for the New Year fireworks. But for now, we are patiently waiting for the right weather to head down to Tasmania.
This article has been provided by the courtesy of Ocean Cruising Club.