Friday 29th August to Wednesday 3rd September
Tipperary Waters Marina - Darwin
   After saying goodbye to the family, especially the 2 grandchildren we left the UK on Tuesday 26th arriving in Darwin at 4 a.m. Friday morning. We should have arrived Thursday but due to an error when booking the flights found ourselves with a 24 hour stopover in Paris. We didn't fancy that so managed to reschedule our Paris Singapore flight giving us the stopover in Singapore instead where we spent a pleasant hour or two  wandering around Simlin Square checking out the electronics equipment and a peaceful afternoon in the Botanic gardens.
   When we arrived at Darwin our friend Peter from Stolen Kiss met us at the airport - what a noble chap, we very much appreciated not having to search around for a taxi. Carillon was musty, as was to be expected after being closed up for 3 months, and very dirty but everything seemed to work.
   We plan to go cruising in the Kimberley for a few weeks but it's almost the end of the season so we need to get away as quickly as possible. Before we can leave the main things we have to do are to fix the fridge and collect the new dinghy and fit wheels and fenders to it. Fixing the fridge means picking up the new compressor from the chandler and installing it. Well it should have worked but it didn't and on investigation we discovered there was still one more part we need so it's back to the chandler to send for the last part. Meanwhile the new dinghy has been delivered. This is a crocodile proof aluminium dinghy (commonly called a tinny in Australia). Apparently the crocs in the Kimberley like to use the rubber inflatables as teething rings so we thought a tinny was a safer bet. The new part for the fridge wouldn't arrive for a day or two so we decided to go back to Kakadu for another look.

Thursday 4th September to Friday 5th September
Kakadu National Park
   With only a couple of days to spare we decided to re-visit Fogg Dam and Yellow Waters. In May we had seen a great variety of water birds at Fogg Dam but at this time of year there were not so many. A lot of the wetland had dried up so the birds had moved from the river bed to the grasslands either side of the dam. The resident crocodile could still be seen dozing in the middle of the now much smaller lake but the spoonbills had disappeared. The impressive black-necked storks were in evidence along with their young as were the innumerable egrets and ibis.
   We did the Yellow Waters cruise again and this time saw far more crocodiles than we had seen the first time. Everywhere we looked we saw the eyes and jaws of the saltwater crocodile. The birds we had seen on our previous visit were still in evidence along with the migratory magpie geese and thousands of whistling ducks.

Saturday 6th September to Monday 8th September
Tipperary Waters Marina - Darwin
   The new fridge part had arrived and was duly installed and Hey Presto we now, finally, have a working fridge. We spent a couple of days buying enough stores to last at least 6 weeks. There are no shops in the Kimberley so everything has to go with us. The buying part wasn't too difficult  - the tricky part was finding space on the boat to store everything then remembering where we'd put it.
   By Monday evening we were all ready so the lockmaster was booked for 9 a.m. Tuesday morning

Tuesday 9th September
Fannie Bay - Darwin
   To get in and out of this marina you have to go through lock gates so at 9 a.m. John the lockmaster opened the gates and off we went. The first stop is the fuel dock at Cullen Bay to top up the diesel in the tank and fill the jerry cans. Arrived at Cullen Bay no problem but discovered that we couldn't stop the engine. We'd had the whole system replaced before leaving for the UK so it should have been OK.. Eventually Steve got it to work and it's been OK ever since so we don't know what the problem was.
   After filling up with fuel we anchored off Fannie Bay ready to get an early start the next morning. We put the tinny in the water to see how it behaved with the 8hp outboard and it buzzed along very nicely.
Anchor position Fannie Bay:- 12° 25'.6S 130° 49'.4E, sand 

Wednesday 10th September
Fannie Bay to Indian Island - 30 miles approx
   The first anchorage isn't too far so we left about 9:30. At the moment the NW shore breeze comes in around midday and blows at about 10 - 15 knots until sunset when it starts to die away. The prevailing winds are SE but they don't seem to be blowing at the moment. We had a pretty good sail all the way and arrived at the anchorage about 4:30.
   We surprised a turtle which was in our path and hadn't seen us. It popped it's head up very quickly then dived under the water. We also saw a couple of dolphins fishing and a whale but are not sure what type it was. When we got to Indian Island we found a sheltered bay to tuck into so although the shore breeze was still blowing at about 15 knots we were sheltered from the waves and the sea was very calm.
Anchor position - 12° 35'.6S 130° 31'.2E, sandy mud 

Thursday 11th September
Indian Island to Peron Islands - 70 miles approx
    The decision this morning was whether to coast hop around the bay or to do an overnight sail directly to the Berkeley River. We can only get into or out of the river for a few days either side of spring tides so the next opportunity to go in would be in about 4 days time. If we went directly there we would have a couple of days sitting behind the island at the entrance waiting for a big enough tide to go in so we decided to do a hop further down the coast today and maybe go across the bay tomorrow.
   We left early since our hop was still about 70 miles and would take all day to do. There was no wind in the morning so we motored but as compensation we caught a 75cm king mackerel on the way. It made sashimi for lunch and dinner for the next 3 days so Steve's under instructions not to catch any more fish just yet.
   The wind came in about midday and pushed us along at 6 - 7 knots all afternoon. The anchorage looked a bit exposed when we got there since the wind was still blowing at 15 knots and there was a bit of a chop but by sunset it had all calmed down.
Anchor position - 13° 10'.9S 130° 06'.1E, 4.5m, sandy mud  

Friday 12th to Saturday 13th September
Peron Islands to Reveley Island - 170 miles approx
   The winds are blowing from the NW at the moment so going any further south would mean a long passage against the wind to get to the Berkeley River so we'll head across the Joseph Bonaparte (or Blownapart as the Aussies call it) Gulf today in the hope that we can sail a good part of the way. It's about 170 miles so should take a bit over 24 hours. From our anchorage behind the Peron Islands it looks on the chart as though we should be able to leave to the south but after several tries and running out of water we gave up and went out to the north the way we came in.
   The winds were pretty light until about midday then they came in from the NW at about 10 to 12 knots increasing to 15 - 18 overnight and stayed in until we reached Reveley Island at the mouth of the Berkeley River about 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. We were able to sail close-hauled all the way. There were short sharp waves for the first half of the trip causing the boat to throw green water all over the place and crash around a bit but then everything seemed to calm down and it was all a lot more comfortable. In the middle of the bay about 80 miles from the nearest land we saw a large sea snake swimming on the surface out towards the open sea.
   When we reached Reveley Island the wind was still blowing 18 - 20 knots and the seas were quite rolly so it was a bit challenging getting the sails down. We didn't want to leave it until we were sheltered behind the island because it's a narrow shallow channel and the potential for making a real screw up would be quite high. The anchorage was still pretty windy but at least the seas were fairly calm. We would be able to get into the river at high tide the next morning at about 6:00 a.m.
Anchor position - 14° 22'.7S 127° 48'.6E, sand 

Sunday 14th September to Friday 19th September
The Berkeley River
   At about 5:45 a.m. Sunday morning we lifted the anchor and in the darkand carefully followed the way points into the Berkeley River given to us by a friend in Darwin keeping our fingers crossed that they were reliable. It's a fairly complicated entrance with sand bars to avoid and cross and our friend's way points were perfect. The shallowest spot we crossed gave us about 1.7 metres under the keel but most of the time we had at least 3 metres under the keel. Sunrise saw us inside the river passing the 4 catamarans anchored just inside the entrance and finding ourselves a quiet spot about a mile up the river. We had a few jobs to do including padding the aluminium handle on the front of the dinghy so it didn't dent Carillon's paintwork and padding the oars so the rather agricultural rowlocks we'd bought in Darwin didn't wreck the varnish on the oars if we had to use them.
   The Berkeley River is navigable for about 15 miles. Not far from where we first anchored was a small creek so we explored it by dinghy in the afternoon. According to our Kimberley Cruising Guide there is a waterfall at the end of the creek - unfortunately at the end of the dry season (which is now) there's no water in it but the rockwall was quite impressive. We found some familiar birds and some not so familiar ones and a small crocodile resting in a shallow patch of water. It gently sunk beneath the surface as we approached.
Anchor position - 14° 21'.8S 127° 45'.7E, sandy mud 
   About 5 miles further up the river is Casuarina Creek. Again the creek ended in a rock wall at the end but this one had a small waterfall where we could have a refreshing shower and clear some laundry. We climbed to the top of the waterfall and followed the stream bed for about a kilometre or so to find some aboriginal rock art. The stream bed at this time of year is a series of shallow rock pools with pandanus trees at the edges. In the wet season it would become a raging torrent with a spectacular waterfall cascading into the river below.
Anchor position - 14° 23'.4S 127° 43'.8E, mud 
   About 9 miles up the river is a 4 mile stretch of narrow rock gorge. The cliffs tower above a fairly narrow river channel as the river winds it way upstream. About 15 miles from the entrance are rock bars separating the tidal part of the river from the freshwater flow. Although there is still a sea breeze it is much hotter than at the entrance. This high up the river there is very little current although the tidal rise and fall still spans about 4 metres. Not far from the rock bars is another little waterfall with a handy little niche near the top just big enough to sit in to have a shower. Steve was keen to do some fishing so set up a rod holder for the new dinghy. He went off to check it out and caught a large trevally. Unfortunately he caught it while Lyn was in the middle of cooking dinner and it was way too big to fit in the fridge so very reluctantly he threw it back on the premise that he could always catch another one the next day.
Anchor position - 14° 29'.1S 127° 39'.9E, rocky mud 
   By now it was getting to the time when we either had to leave the river or stay for another 10 days when the tides would be suitable again for getting over the sand bar. We decided to motor back down the river ready to leave first thing Saturday morning. When we arrived back at the entrance the catamarans had all disappeared so we assumed they had left then one motored past us so he must have been anchored up one of the creeks.
Anchor position - 14° 21'.3S 127° 46'E, sandy mud 

Saturday 20th September
The Berkeley River to Seaplane Bay - 20 miles approx
   High tide was about 9 a.m. so we left about 7:30 a.m. If we touched the sand bar on a rising tide we could easily get off again. If we left on a falling tide and touched the bottom we could be stuck there for 24 hours. The minimum depth we had going over the sand bars was 3.3 metres (that's 1.3 metres under the keel). The sea was calm so it was quite an easy exit. Our overnight stop would be at Seaplane Bay about 20 miles to the north. It's called Seaplane Bay because in 1932 two German pilots were forced to land there when their seaplane developed a problem. They used one of the floats to paddle to somewhere they could get help then returned, fixed the plane and flew away.
   As we left the Berkeley River we were just in the process of putting the main up when the fishing line started reeling out. Steve grabbed it and spent the next 15 minutes trying to reel in whatever was on the end - it was putting up quite a fight. As he brought it up to the stern we discovered that we had caught a small shark. We didn't want to lose the lure so we managed to get the shark on to the swim platform and Lyn held it down while Steve extracted the hook from it's mouth trying to keep his fingers clear of the shark's teeth. Eventually we got the hooks out and let the shark dive back into the sea. It was amazingly strong for it's size. After that we had a superb sail with clear blue skies and about 10 - 15 knots of wind arriving at our anchorage in the middle of the afternoon. It was a little bit exposed to the sea breeze but so is every other anchorage along this coast so we rolled a little during the night but still managed to sleep.
Anchor position - 14° 06'S 127° 32'.3E, sandy mud  

Sunday 21st September
Seaplane Bay to Koolama Bay - 25 miles approx
   We left Seaplane Bay about 9 a.m. hoping for a repeat of yesterday's superb sail and the sea breeze came in on schedule but then drifted away again and eventually disappeared altogether so we ended up motoring. Koolama Bay is a largish bay again facing north so exposed to the sea breeze. We tucked in behind a small headland out of the worst of the swell. The King George River empties out into Koolama Bay and also has a shallow sand bar across the entrance. We knew that the tides were all wrong for us to get into the river but we hoped to be able to explore it by dinghy.
Anchor position - 13° 56'.1S 127° 19'.8E, sandy mud  

Monday 22nd September
Koolama Bay and the King George River
   We got up fairly early and spotted 3 crocodiles in the bay hunting for breakfast. It brings it home to you just how common they are here. Steve was keen to catch another fish and went off in the dinghy to a part of the bay where we hadn't seen any crocodiles and returned very quickly with quite a decent sized garoupa. After we'd filleted it he disposed of the scraps in another part of the bay. We don't want to encourage crocodiles to hang around the boat by throwing the scraps over the side.
    The King George River is navigable for about 6 miles but has a sand bar across the entrance. We need a  2 metre tide to get into the river and at the moment that only happens in the middle of the night. Here at the moment the tides are sort of diurnal (that means there's only one high and only one low tide each day although there is a sort of flat patch in the middle of each tide). High tide is about 3 a.m. and taking Carillon across a shallow sand bar into a strange river in the pitch dark isn't on the sensible things to do list. We took the dinghy across about midday but it's 2 miles to the entrance from where we're anchored and the sea breeze was beginning to throw up a very choppy sea so after a quick look inside the river we decided to return to Carillon and leave exploring the King George River until we come back next year when the tides will be a lot more favourable.
Anchor position - 13° 56'.1S 127° 19'.8E, sandy mud 

Tuesday 23rd September
Koolama Bay to Faraway Bay West - 15 miles approx
   We need to get round Cape Londonderry which has a reputation for being a difficult passage so we  decided to anchor in Faraway Bay West, which is about the closest anchorage to Cape Londonderry, ready to leave early Wednesday morning so that we can round the Cape before the sea breeze really kicks in. Had a good sail with about 10 - 15 knots from the north and headed for the west side of the bay. The area says unsurveyed on the chart but we thought there might be a sheltered anchorage behind an unnamed island. It was perfect - we had about 5.5metres of water at low tide and were tucked in behind a headland almost out of the swell. The island was joined to the mainland by a sandspit and there were rocks fringing the bay but where we were in the middle we had a flat sandy bottom and good shelter.  
   Towards sunset while Lyn was having a shower at the back of the boat she jokingly called to Steve to keep a lookout for crocodiles. Stepping back on deck from the swimming platform (that's where the shower is) she spotted a 3 metre croc just a few feet from the boat. Lyn had been washing dishes after preparing a fish pie for dinner and the slight residue washed into the water must have attracted the croc. It hung around within inches of the boat for about an hour before deciding there were no fish then drifted off into the twilight. We know it can't climb onto the boat but it's still a bit disconcerting to have it eyeing you from such a short distance. Crocs can jump about 4 feet into the air so Steve is under strict instructions not to pee over the guard rail tonight.
 Anchor position - 13° 54'.1S 127° 06'.2E, sandy mud 

Wednesday 24th September
Faraway Bay West to Mission Cove - 60 miles approx
    We left at dawn and motored until about midday. The wind started late morning but only at about 6 - 7 knots from behind. We put the mainsail up anyway on the assumption that the sea breeze would increase and we would be able to sail. We rounded Cape Londonderry in an almost flat calm but as we approached Cape Talbot a little further on we suddenly had 16 knots of wind. We were running almost dead square so we hand-steered until we were able to turn inland and bring the wind a little further forward. The wind had been gusting up to 30 knots so it was quite exciting. Just off Cape Londonderry we had spotted 2 whales, one large and one small, presumably a mother and calf. They were lifting their tails into the air and slapping them down on the water. We headed towards them but they disappeared before we got close.
   We had intended to anchor in what looked like a protected bay between the Governor Islands but when we got there it looked a bit more exposed than we had expected to we continued on another 5 miles to Mission Cove. Here we found an anchorage in about 6 metres protected from the swells and seas. The land is so flat that we still had a strong wind but at least we weren't being rolled all over the ocean.
 Anchor position - 14° 06'.6S 126° 42'.8E, sandy mud 

Thursday 25th to Friday 26th September
Mission Cove
    Mission Cove got it's name from the Pago Mission established in 1908 which used to be situated about a kilometre from the eastern shore of the bay. It was abandoned in 1937 because of a lack of a reliable water supply and reestablished at Kalumburu about 30 kilometres away on the banks of the King Edward River. We went ashore to find the ruins but there's not a lot there. Partway along the track to the old mission someone has built a small house but it was unoccupied at the time. Later on we discovered it was occupied at times by a small family who own a large part of the surrounding land. Security is obviously not a problem since the doors and windows were unlocked and open.
   The landscape is sand and scrub and right now at the end of the dry season looks very parched. We noticed that there were large stacks of rusting oil drums throughout the whole area but we don't know what they were used for.
    Early in the morning Steve took the dinghy and went trolling for fish but unfortunately caught a rock and lost the lure.
 Anchor position - 14° 06'.6S 126° 42'.8E, sandy mud 

Saturday 27th to Sunday 28th September
Honeymoon Beach - 4 miles approx
    Motored the few miles to Honeymoon Beach. The chart indicates that the bay is too shallow but there's a deep channel on the west side of the bay that goes almost up to the beach (avoiding the small reef with the 2 darters sitting on it just before you reach the beach). It turned out to be a good sheltered anchorage. The headland on the west side broke up the seas kicked up by the afternoon sea breeze.
   There is a campground on the beach but it's pretty run down. We met a family who'd been there for some time. They had a large 4WD truck to get around in which, amongst other things, held a largish tinny and two quad bikes. They seemed pretty independent and were just touring Australia with their 2 small sons.
    Had better luck with the fishing here and caught a small grouper which was delicious baked whole in a curry sauce. We think we'd like to get round to the next big bay (Vansittart Bay) before starting to make our way back to Darwin. The route to Vansittart Bay takes us through a narrow channel with a semi-submerged rock in the middle and at spring tides the current runs at 4 - 6 knots so we're trying to work out the best time to go through when the current won't be too strong and the shore breeze won't be howling (as it seems to during the afternoons). We think we can do it in about 4 - 5 days time.
Anchor position - 14° 06'S 126° 40'.8E, sandy mud 

Monday 29th to Tuesday 30th September
Governor Islands - 10 miles approx
    We wanted to have another look at the anchorage in the Governor Islands now that the strong easterly winds had gone away. On the chart it looks sheltered from everywhere but the south. We worked our way into the bay, the bottom seems very flat and we were able to get right to the top of the bay and anchored not far from the beach where we would have about 4 metres of water at low tide. It is very sheltered from the NW sea breeze although maybe not so good in a strong SE wind. There are a couple of ospreys who must live in the rocks on shore since we see them hunting over the bay very frequently.
Anchor position - 13° 56'.7S 126° 41'.5E, shale and mud 

Wednesday 1st to Thursday 2nd October
Anjo Cove - 8 miles approx
    Anjo Cove is about as close as we can get to the passage through the Eclipse Archipelago. At this time of year it's completely sheltered from the NW shore breeze and the SW to NW winds. It is open to the SE but this late in the season there is no wind from the SE. The bottom shelves gently towards the beach and we can tuck well in and still have 4 metres of water at low tide. There are no obvious signs of crocodiles but that doesn't mean that there aren't any.
    Steve went trolling for fish but the only thing he caught was a barracuda and we had been told by the people we met in Honeymoon Beach that sometimes the barracuda carried ciguatera poisoning. This makes the fish toxic and can have serious effects if you eat it so he let it go.
    We took the dinghy ashore and walked across the peninsula to check out the bay on the north side. The tide runs at 1 - 2 knots through the  channel between us and the Sir Graham Moore Islands to the north and we could see the tide rips on the surface. We also saw four turtles in the bay but they didn't stay on the surface long enough to get photos.
Anchor position - 13° 57'S 126° 34'.1E, shells and mud 

Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th October
Freshwater Bay - 28 miles approx
    Today we go through the tricky channel inside the Eclipse Islands. We would like to go through close to low tide to ensure that we can see Middle Rock which our pilot tells us is wrongly charted, we would also like to go through with little wind since wind over tide conditions in a 4 - 6 knot current could be quite unpleasant and we need a flood tide so that we have it with us not against us. Low tide this morning is about 8:00 a.m. so if we leave at dawn we should get to the channel soon after low tide. Everything went according to plan and we transited the channel soon after low tide. We had no trouble finding middle rock, it was showing about 2 metres above the water and the chart is indeed inaccurate. The deep water channel is ESE of the one shown on the chart. Surprisingly, even though we were early in the flood tide the current was still running at 6 knots with swirls and eddies pushing us around all over the place. We were making almost 10 knots over the ground. Once through the channel everything calmed down and we motored on to Freshwater Bay. There is a pearl farm on the north side of the bay and as we entered the bay a seaplane landed to bring passengers to the mother ship anchored in the bay. Our anchorage was in a small bay on the south side of Freshwater Bay where we found a sheltered spot with about 7 metres at low tide 
    At the back of our small bay is a creek through the mangroves (dries out/very shallow at low tide) which leads to a rock bar. Above the rock bar are a series of freshwater pools and it's possible to walk some way up the river bed before the vegetation becomes too thick. Just past the rock bar we startled what we think was a rock wallaby which are supposed to be very shy and difficult to spot. (Not being experts we could be quite wrong). Earlier in the season there is apparently a waterfall at the rock bar but we only found a trickle.
   We had intended to move on to Jar Island on Sunday and waited until late morning for the shore breeze to start so that we could sail. Unfortunately we couldn't start the engine. On investigation Steve decided it was a problem with the fuel system and spent some time bleeding the system. Eventually the engine started but was running very rough so he checked all the joints and found a broken jubilee clip that should have been securely fastening the fuel pipe to one of the filters. He surmised that air was getting into the system and causing the problem. On replacing the jubilee clip he found this to be the case and the engine was running properly again. By this time it was too late too leave for Jar Island so we stayed put for another night.
Anchor position - 14° 00'.8S 126° 11'E, shale and mud 

Monday 6th to Thursday 9th October
Jar Island - 13 miles approx
    Around late morning we motored out of Freshwater Bay then put up the headsail and sailed gently down Vansittart Bay to Jar Island. There is a small pearl farm in the middle of the bay and a much larger one on the SW side of the bay opposite Jar Island. Our chart showed a rock in the middle of the channel but when we reached it we found the chart inaccurate and the rock further to the SE. It wasn't visible at high tide but it had been marked with a small white buoy. The anchorage at Jar Island was very pleasant. We were sheltered from everywhere although there was about a 2 mile fetch to the west. We had to anchor a little way out in about 8 metres at low tide because there were rocks inshore. We took the dinghy ashore onto a yellow sand beach and went exploring. A hundred metres or so back from the beach we found a rocky outcrop with some examples of Aboriginal Art.
   On Wednesday we sailed over to a small bay on the east side of Vansittart Bay to look for the remains of a DC3 that had crashed there almost 70 years ago. Apparently the plane was flying from Perth to Broome and the pilot became disoriented in bad weather and darkness and was running low on fuel so made an emergency landing in the bush. All the crew got out and were rescued a few days later. From the beach the site is marked by a small pipe sticking up out of the dune at the back of the beach. From there you look across a mudflat and you can just see the remains about 50 metres into the bush on the far side.
   Wednesday we explored the northern part of Jar Island and were privileged to find more Aboriginal Art galleries.
   All the time that we had been here there was activity at the pearl farm including a number of seaplane landings but by Wednesday they had finished what they were doing and the mother ship gathered up all the working boats and steamed away down the bay.
 Anchor position :- Jar Island - 14° 09'.7S 126° 13'.9E, shale
                               DC3 site - 14° 07'.9S 126° 17'.7E, sandy mud

Friday 10th to Saturday 11th October
Anjo Cove - 32 miles approx
   Today we are starting to make our way back to Darwin. The tides are good for the passage south of the Eclipse Islands past Middle Rock although the weather forecast is for 10 - 15 knots from the east. We'll motor up to the northern end of Vansittart Bay and if it looks rough we'll dive into Freshwater Bay otherwise we'll go through. When we reached the northern part of the bay the sea was very calm and the shore breeze was just coming in. The strong ESE winds hadn't materialised so we headed through the passage. It was no problem at all, the fierce current we had encountered going the other way was now a gentle 1 - 2 knots pushing us through. We went slightly east of our outward track and had 20 - 30 metres of water all the way.
Waypoints for passage through channel:- 13° 58'.899S 126° 20'.501E
                                                                13° 58'.131S 126° 21'.039E
                                                                13° 57'.226S 126° 21'.501E
   We'd planned on anchoring in Geranium Harbour on the south side of the Sir Graham Moore Islands but the shore breeze was blowing at 15 - 20 knots from the NE and the swell was working it's way into the anchorage so it all looked a bit rough. We decided to go on the extra 3 miles to Anjo Cove where it would be sheltered from all but the SE. When we got there the wind was still blowing but the seas were flat calm.
Anchor position - 13° 57'S 126° 34'.1E, shells and mud

Sunday 12th October to Tuesday 14th October
Faraway Bay West - 53 miles approx
   Started early and motored towards Cape Londonderry. The forecast S/SE winds didn't happen so the seas were very calm and we had a couple of knots of current with us. The shore breeze came in at the usual time so we sailed around Cape Londonderry with 3 - 4 knots of current with us and a northerly breeze. We were making about 8 knots over the ground. We had intended to anchor in Jim's Bay just south of Cape Londonderry but we were making such good time that we got as far as Faraway Bay.
   We anchored in the same bay as before where the crocodile had shown so much interest in us but we didn't see it this time - we knew it was there though. We had set an anchor buoy since it's always good to know where the anchor is especially if you happen to catch the chain around a rock. In the morning the anchor buoy was nowhere to be seen but when we lifted the anchor there it was, still attached to the line but full of water with definite crocodile teethmarks puncturing it. Maybe we should make the anchor buoy out of aluminium as well as the dinghy.
   We'd planned to go to Koolama Bay on Monday in the hope of finding a bit more shelter from the swell but we had a look around Faraway Bay first. We had the fishing gear out and got a bite but it turned out to be another shark - this one was a bit bigger than the last one we caught and would have been difficult to get on board but it solved the problem for us by biting through the line and swimming away. Yet another lure gone. We looked at a bay on the eastern side of Faraway Bay quite close to the entrance which seemed to be sheltered from the NE swell which had rolled us around the previous night. We found it was very well sheltered so decided to stay there instead of going to Koolama Bay.
Anchor position West side - 13° 54'.2S 127° 06'.1E, sand
Anchor position East side - 13° 55'.4S 127° 10'.1E, sand

Wednesday 15th to Friday 17th October
Darwin - 253 miles approx
    The trip back to Darwin should take about 2 days. We'd picked these particular days because we had a full moon and it's always much more pleasant when sailing at night. The weather forecast was for variable winds to 10 knots with inshore seabreezes and isolated storms closer to Darwin. It turned out to be one of our more tedious trips. The winds were less than 7 knots for the whole time apart from a storm just outside Darwin so we motored the whole way. We only saw one other vessel until we got into Darwin Harbour.
   The second night we had spectacular electric storms over the land and a rainstorm at 4 a.m. just outside the approaches to Darwin Harbour. The maximum winds in the storm were about 25 knots and since we had no sail up it wasn't a problem.
   We arrived in Darwin about 7 a.m. We'd called the marina the day before to let them know we were on our way and had been told the tide would be high enough for us to get in up to about 9 a.m. so we called again at 8 a.m., they opened the lock gates, and in we went.

Saturday 18th October to Tuesday 18th November
Tipperary Waters Marina
   The most important thing to do now we're back in harbour is to sort out the engine problem. We duly called our friendly mechanic to discuss the problem and after a lot of tinkering, pulling and shoving he removed the fuel injectors and the fuel pump. We'd hoped to get away with just having the pump overhauled but the cost of the repairs turned out to be almost as expensive as a new pump. The new pump has to come from Japan since no-one in Australia has any in stock and the lead time for delivery is 2 months so that job has to be put on hold until the new pump finally arrives.
   The other big job was making chocks for the new dinghy so that it can be securely tied to the deck and won't move around in big seas. Steve spent a week or so on the job sawing, sanding and painting and the result is a very elegant set of chocks that should hold the dinghy in almost anything.

Wednesday 19th November to Tuesday 25th November
Brisbane
    We'd planned a diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef in early December and decided to spend an extra couple of weeks in Brisbane beforehand to spend time with some old friends from Hong Kong who lived in the area. The flight to Brisbane from Darwin leaves at 2 a.m. - a very unsocial hour - and arrives about 7 a.m. Brisbane time. Feeling extremely washed out since we hadn't got much sleep we picked up a car at the airport and managed to find our way to Corinda, a suburb on the SW side of Brisbane, where our friends Alasdair and Joan lived.
   It was good to catch up with them. Steve spent a happy day with Alasdair and friends at the Australia v New Zealand cricket match while Lyn went into town with Joan to check out the Art Galleries and catch up on a bit of shopping.
   Friday evening saw us at Fig Tree Pocket just across the Brisbane River with Bill and Barbara and their two children Ellie and Alex. We spent a happy few days exploring the area around Brisbane. Brisbane itself is a crowded modern city set on the Brisbane River between the Sunshine Coast to the North and the Gold Coast to the South. Much of the surrounding area is National Park where you can spend time walking in the rainforest, looking at waterfalls and listening to the birds. We took a trip along the river using the City Ferries and spent an afternoon at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which houses lots of other Australian animals as well as Koalas.

Wednesday 26th November to Saturday 29th November
Mooloolaba
   We fancied visiting Mooloolaba because we liked the name but it's also a holiday destination. It was very commercialised as we'd been led to expect but also very casual. We met up with Keith, another of our ex Hong Kong friends there and enjoyed a seafood meal together. The better known resort of Noosa is a little way up the coast from Mooloolaba so we drove up there and had an enjoyable walk around the headland spending time on the way to watch some guys kite-surfing. It looks great fun but not easy. The beaches around Noosa and Mooloolaba are long and white with fine sand. It was quite windy while we were there so we spent one afternoon playing in the surf. The waves looked enormous as they came rolling in and the only thing to do was go with them. It was quite exhausting.
   The other thing we did was to check out the local marinas since a possible plan for next year is to bring Carillon down this coast so it's good to get details of places to stay.

Sunday 30th November to Wednesday 3rd December
Back to Brisbane
   Spent a few more days with Bill and Barbara and got to see the well publicised film 'Australia' which was set in the Northern Territory around Darwin. Visited a few more parks including Mount Tambourine where we found lots of friendly larikeets willing to pose for photos.

Thursday 4th December to Friday 5th December
Cairns
   Our dive trip would be taking place from 6th to 13th December from Port Douglas but getting to Port Douglas entails flying in to Cairns so we gave ourselves a few days there to look around. It's very much a tourist town with restaurants, hotels and tourist shops lining the streets close to the sea. We took a trip on the 'Sky Rail' which is a cable car ride over the tops of the hills to a town called Kuranda then a scenic train ride back. From the cable car you can see right across Cairns and way out to sea as you skim over the treetops. Kuranda was originally a hippy village and still retains some of that character. It's full of markets and tourist shops and probably wouldn't survive today without the tourist trade from the 'Sky Train' and Scenic Railway.
   One thing it's best not to do at this time of year on this coast is to swim in the sea. Box jellyfish and the tiny Irukandji jellyfish are common on this coast in the summer and can inflict a possibly fatal sting. Cairns have solved this problem by building an artificial lagoon right next to the beach but not connected to the open sea and is the perfect place to cool off when temperatures are up in the mid to high 30s. Diving is OK since the dive sites are quite a long way offshore and the jellyfish stay close to the coast.

Saturday 6th December to Saturday 13th December
Port Douglas and the dive trip
   Our checkout time in Cairns was 10 a.m. so we had a bus pick us up at that time to take us to the dive boat in Port Douglas. We'd booked a week on the liveaboard diveboat 'Undersea Explorer'. The trip to Port Douglas is only about an hour but the diveboat didn't leave until the evening so after leaving our gear at the office we had the rest of the day to explore. We checked out the marina to get contact details and prices before wandering in and around the town.
   The diveboat left at about 8 p.m. to motor out overnight to the Ribbon Reefs in the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef. The selling point of this boat is that it takes part in research projects and sometimes has a scientist on board. On our trip our scientist was Andy Dunstan and he was studying the nautilus. During the trip he would set traps to try to catch some then tag them, put them back in t he sea and track them to try to gain more information about their behaviour. We also had 2 or 3 marine biologists on board connected with various research projects.
   We dived at the Ribbon Reefs and the famous Cod Hole the first day then moved to Osprey Reef which is well outside the Barrier Reef and in excellent condition. We were extremely lucky with the weather and had calms or very light winds all the time. Normal conditions are 15 to 25 knots of SE winds making the seas much bigger and the diving, especially recovery, much more difficult. Because conditions were so good we were able to spend an extra day at Osprey Reef rather than returning to the Great Barrier Reef for the last few days diving.
   As well as learning about the nautilus we saw 2 or 3 different kinds of shark, many large pelagic fish and because the reef was in such excellent condition, lots of small reef life. As the week drew to a close we did our last day or two's diving back on the Barrier Reef and noticed that in those areas where there were many day boats the reef was in much poorer condition with much evidence of diver damage.
   We arrived back at Port Douglas late on Friday afternoon to spend one night there before flying back to Darwin.