Middle Percy Island

Middle Percy Island has been a highlight so far on the trip. We stayed in West bay where the A-Frame is which is a structure for crusing sailors to hang out. We had a goat stew there and ended up helping out building a new fence for hte permaculture setup at the homestead. The Island is rich in History and was an amazing experience to see how you can live in a self sufficient mannor. The Island has had some ongoing land tenure issues but hopefully they will be able to save the goats from destruction!
From Middle Percy island we went to Scawfald, Keswick, Brampton - the first resort we have been asked to leave from... and then onto Airlie Beach.

South Percy Island

We hiked up to the top of South Percy island through dense undergrowth and many weeds (which have been a hige problem since it was declared a National Park and all of the goats killed). The picture from the top shows Middle Percy Island.

Life on Passage

This sequence of photos shows what it is like when you have been out to sea for about a day and a half. The first is of the sunrise to the east, with Cookie the navigator doing the navigation, and with the Percy Islands to the north, Skippy is steering (and overlooking the dirty dishes) while steve is asleep down stairs off watch after having the 2am to 4am graveyard shift... a beautiful passage.

Cruising under the Kiwi

From Musgrave we had the Kite up for about 36hrs strait which was wonderful we were on the way to Middle Percy Island (MPI) which is about 170nm. As you can see from this photo we were using the one sail policy for this leg!

Murphy

While in the beautiful city of Bundaberg we managed to meet up with a lepricorn who was selling cheap bikes, we were tricked out of our $45 and had the handle bars, brakes and rear wheel fall off within the first 10km, luckly being able to use a hammer and a shifter we were able to get Murphy up and running in a safe enough manner. We now have wheels on the boat, combined with a piece of rope and a skateboard we can now travel around on land in style and with speed. This picture is of Murphy strapped to the back of the Frog on the way out of the Burnett river. From here it was a 60mn sail to a coral cay called Lady Musgrave. It is one of only a few cays with a navigatable lagoon, which meant that at low tide we had full protection from the swell (at high tide it was like being anchored in the middle of the ocean, an amazing anchorage and a fantastic first taste of the reef, we stayed for a few days before deciding that we should head further north...

The Rum Factory!

While in Bundaberg we went on a factory tour of the Rum factory, which is right by the river. There were millions of liters or rum (they have to store it in oak barrels for at least 2 years before it can be sold). It was good to see the home of Australian Rum, we did have to be carefull to watch out for Drop Bears as they have a bit of an issue at the factory!

Topsy Enhancment

In Bundaberg It was decided that due to the next stop being a coral lagoon - Lady Musgrave- that Turby being all inflatable my not mix so well with the sharp coral so we tested the outboard on Topsy... when the mighty 4hp Suzuki was lowered onto the transom the flex could be seen and the cracking heard, and this was before we even tried to start the motor, so some modifications were necessary. Luckly we were anchored in the Burnett river right in the middle of town and there were free powerpoints by the bbq's, we we packed up the grinder and glassing gear and let loose on Topsy. As can be seen the transom was reinforced with racing carbon fiber!!! Success we can now use the outboard on Topsy (all be it very carefully)!!!

Jake's Wake

Mud Crab!

Rubber Tramps in Turby at Coochimuddlo

Sailing on Leap Frog

Prop In Sydney before the slipping

All the growth on the prop caused the engine to overheat and blow LOTS of black smoke, luckly with a good scrape followed by a few coats of paint while on the slip and we were back in business over 1000nm later and the paint is still good, also the play in the stern bearing does not seem to have worsened at all(great success!!!)

Fuel System Sydney

Sailing on Leap Frog
We have been out of range for a while and have saftly landed in Airlie Beach!!! The photos are of all parts of the journy!

That black stuff explains why the engine would not run...