The Forth Season Begins

Current Location: Great Keppel Island, Australia
Current Position: 23.159º S 150.955º E
Next Destination: Brampton Island / Whitsunday Coast

No, we didn't sail off the edge of the world. We have just been extremely lame in regards to keeping up with the BLOG. It all started with our land travels – we just couldn't be bothered with finding an Internet cafe while trekking along the east coast from Brisbane to Melbourne and exploring Tasmania. (Sorry I won't be covering that journey in this BLOG – you'll have to visit our website) After we finished up our land travels we just seemed to have too much 'work' to do. Now, I know you are thinking what 'work' could two unemployed people on permanent 'vacation' possibly have – but really there is much to do after leaving the boat for six weeks. On top of that we both got new (really used but new to us) computers, and so there was tons of file transfers and OS setups, etc etc. Sure, I could've written a BLOG during that period, but really, did you come to a travel BLOG to read about the best way to optimize your XP environment? I think not.

For those loyal fans (ha ha) out there, you are in luck – we are cruising again. Which in theory means that our BLOGs will become more consistent, and hopefully a bit more entertaining too. After ten weeks of living the land life (to which we owe extreme thanks to Mark, Anne, Georgia & Jack, who gave Billabong a safe home during this period), we are back on the 'road' again. We are attempting to high-tail it to the Whitsundays, but so far we aren't moving too fast thanks to some crappy weather we are waiting out. It's blowing 30 knots and we have 15 foot tides to deal with so the wind against tide can make things very uncomfortable if we don't get it right. In the week since we left we did manage to get as far as Great Keppel Island. It's a terrific island but the anchorage is extremely rolly. We'd move, but there is nowhere nearby to move to (huge bummer). So instead we are holed up here waiting for better weather so that we can get on with it. Luckily there are worst places we could be stuck. Keppel Islands has quite a few hikes and terrific beaches, so when we get fed up with the rolling, there are at least some things to entertain us ashore. Yesterday we enjoyed a terrific four-hour hike around half the island, with some great look out points and a visit to the

nearby resort. Our departure from Mooloolaba on April 30th marked the beginning of our fourth year cruising. Seems crazy to think it's been that long since we left the States – for us it has gone by like the blink of an eye. This will be an exciting year for us as we make our way North to Darwin (Australia), and then on through Indonesia to Thailand. We will miss the South Pacific, but are excited for what lies ahead.