Brisbane to the Louisiade Archipelago, PNG to Maryborough, Australia 2007

We arrived in Brisbane in Nov 2006. It was hard getting back to work after 5 mths of cruising the islands of Tonga, Fiji and NewCaledonia.  
Eric did maintenance and improvements on ‘Erica’ and some renovations on a yacht across the river. Cathy worked for a nursing agency getting most of her shifts at Mater Mothers hospital within walking distance from ‘Erica’s’ moorings. It was very convenient and pleasant being moored right in the middle of Brisbane city next to the Botanical Gardens.

In June 2007 we set sail sail for Townsville, 600nm north. We spent a night at Tangalooma bay Moreton Island, off the mouth of the Brisbane river where ship wrecks form a breakwater.It is a very popular snorkelling spot

Fraser island shelters the mainland off Tincan bay to The Mary river and we beached “Erica” at Garry’s anchorage to do a hull clean

After spending several days in Maryborough, 20nm up the Mary river,

 we set to sea again stopping in Bundaberg, 5nm up the Burnett river. Here we took a tour of the Bundaberg rum distillery.

Travelling with friends on SV Caesura, off the coast of Gt Keppell island we encountered navy exercises and motoring in mirror calm conditions we came close to war ships. At night we witnessed pyrotechnic displays as aircraft bombed areas ashore. We were instructed to head to sea away from the exercise area which took us to the Percy islands

The Percy islands were magical where we used our kayaks on the sand dunes

The fishing was great and Eric kept us supplied in fresh fish

 There is a shack on the beach where yachties over the years have left memorabilia

We anchored in many beautiful spots in the chain of islands on the way north. This was the Digby islands

We reached Townsville in mid July and after stocking up with food and supplies we set off for The Louisiade Archipelago off Papua New Guinea.

This voyage took us 5 days and was our first offshore passage on our own without crew. We had a lot of fun sailing within sight of 2 other boats. ‘In Decision’ from  Hobart, Tasmania, and ‘Caesura’ from Sandspit NZ.

The fishing was great and we dined on fresh MahiMahi

Our first anchorage was at Panasea island where the locals visited to talk and trade

We spent 5 days here helping to get a yacht off the reef. They had miscalculated when coming between the 2 reefs into the lagoon and ended up on the reef. The hull wasn’t breached and they were able to sail back to Cairns for repairs.

The yacht was moved across the reef on her side until she was in deeper water

This was a very happy occasion when she was able to float upright and was towed to the anchorage

The Louisiade islands are very remote, with no roads, electricity or telephone apart from the large island of Misima where there was once a gold mine. Transport was predominantly by sailing canoe, although some islands had outboard powered fibreglass banana boats which were given to them by Asian fisheries in payment for the collection of Beche De Mer (Sea cucumber).

Their lifestyle is subsistence farming and fishing. Two things to enhance their lifestyle was trading with yachties for a few months each year and seasonal  Beche De Mer collection .We found the people to be shy and polite and keen to view our boating lifestyle and learn about our part of the world. We were invited into their homes and to their cultural festivities

From here we sailed to the Deboyne group of islands..Panapompom, Panaette and Nivani island.

Panapompom island elementary school dancing

The children loved bubbles

Lollipops aboard "Erica"

At Panapompom island we took a thrilling sail on a local boat to Panaette island where canoes are made. Panaette is one of the few islands with big enough trees to carve canoe hulls from.

The children were delightful and loved to have their photos taken.

Our good friend Warwick joined us for 10 days from NZ. We walked to the local school and gave supplies to the teachers and played games with the children

Children were fascinated seeing their reflections in our bulkhead mirror, eating an iceblock for the first time, having their photograph shown back to them through the camera, and to feel the warm water from the boarding platform shower to mention a few.

Children at Sabara Island

Children at Gigila island

Money is not used between the islands. The people trade what they have made or in produce from their gardens or pigs. Baggi is a shell which is ground to a round shape a hole put in the middle and threaded. This is then sanded to make a round disc and is worn as a necklace

We attended to their medical problems as best we could and when it was realised that I was a nurse we had a steady stream of the injured and sick out to our yacht

We also repaired watertanks, leaking boats and mechanically operated sewing machines..

On Misima island where there used to be an Australian operated goldmine the infasructure included roads,vehicles,water supply,electricity,phone service, a hospital, schools and modern housing but unfortunately this is all deteriorating as the funds are no longer there to keep it all functional.

We took a tour of the island with a local man stopping to see a cave of skulls and bones.
Below where the children are is the entrance to the cave.

Noone seemed to know where the bones came from but the cave had a tunnel all the way back to the village and it was thought that the location was a good place for the spirits to depart

Nutmeg plantation and processing mill

Soon after we arrived in the Archipelago the bush telephone network got word around that Eric was a boatbuilder and had copper nails to trade.  During our travels to many islands and villages Eric was asked for advice about building timber trading boats.

Maurice and his family on Bagaman Island

Due to the lack of tools and knowledge Eric realised that many of these started projects would never be completed so he put it to the people an alternative. He had noticed fibreglass “banana boats” that were holed and out of use and often the outboard motors were broken and unable to be fixed. He had a thought to do some fundraising in NZ and Australia and if successful come back the following year to construct a 38 ft sailing boat out of 2 of these boats. Cutting off the sterns and joining and widening them and building a cabin with a centreboard and lifting rudder, mast and sails would give the people skills in boatbuilding and a very useful boat for trading between the islands.

Eric discussing plans with Tony (Gigila Is representative) at the Independence day celebrations on Pana Tinani Island

Independence day celebrations

All too soon the visa ran out and we were ready to head back to Australia. We had decided to take a trip to the southern end of the reef some 100nm from the northern entrance but partway there we had a radio call from our friends with some medical concerns
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 Christian had a small coral cut on his leg which became septic and he had rigors and was feeling quite unwell. We decided to sail back overnight following our track on the GPS navigation. It was a bit unnerving through the reef and island chain, but we got there safely to find that Christian was very unwell with a cellulitis in his whole leg and suffering from septicaemia.

After 3 days of IV antibiotics we sailed back to the main island to get some further supplies ( we  had given all our supplies away to treat sick locals) The medications had to be flown in from mainland PNG

Remote nurse Naomi giving cathy the antibiotics from the mainland

Once Christian was well we sailed to a lovely clean lagoon and island for him to recuperate. Cathy sailed our boat, her first solo voyage and Eric helped Christian and Gina.

 After a few days we then sailed to Cairns, an amazing passage which took us 4.5 days with perfect winds, seas and currents and good fishing

Clearing customs and Immigration in Cairns

After spending a week in Cairns we spent a wonderful 2 mths sailing down the coast exploring many of the islands and bays

Zoe Bay, Hinchinbrook island

 Our daughter Kellie and neice Rohan  joined us in The Whitsunday Islands where we enjoyed feeding cockatoos and snorkelling

we spent a few days here, but we were on edge as a tropical cyclone was forming in the Coral sea near Cairns so we were keen to head south. Australians live with these occurences every cyclone season, but it put the shivers up us and we were pleased to see its track move away. We had a fairly boisterous sail non stop over 3 days to get to Bundaberg in time as our son Ryan flew in to be with us. We had a full boat which was a bit cramped but we made the most of it, exploring the north and western side of Fraser Island.(The largest sand island in the world)

Ryan pulling the kayak up the sand dune 

During our stay an outboard malfunction sparked a fire and burn’t the dinghy and outboard to the waterline.

We set sail up the Mary river to Maryborough where Ryan flew back to Canada from humid temps in the 30s to Vancouver where the 2 main highways were closed due to heavy snow falls. Kellie and Rohan plan a trip across Australia

Cathy starts a 13 wk remote nursing contract, on the 17th of Dec in Brewarrina, NSW, which is 800 miles NW of Sydney. A township of 1500 people, a third being aboriginal. The hospital has 12 acute and 8 nursing home beds with a 24/7 emergency care facility with a GP on call.

‘Erica’ is being hauled out of the water on the 8th of Jan and Eric is doing a complete external repaint and changes in the cockpit. Not an easy task in this heat/humidity but he will be under the shade of Tarpaulins under a stand of Gum trees, which will make the task bearable.

We have booked a 3 week holiday in NZ at the end of my contract in mid March.

We are planning to go back to the Louisiades in June 2008 to Gilila Island where Eric proposes to build a sailing boat for the locals out of 2 fibreglass banana boats.  Christian and Gina of ‘Caesura’ are  going to help with the project and Christian is designing the rig.. Gina is applying for funding for materials and we are seeking help/donations from other cruisers.