19:06.65S 146:51.4E

Before we went back to UK from Australia in October last year we spent time in Sydney and Adelaide with our great friend Darren.  We took part in a sailing race in their yacht with his son Justin skippering their yacht.  Darren has sailed with us before in the Med and the Bahamas, but this time he had wanted Justin to sail with us from Hamilton Island to Townsville 220 miles further north. The original plan had been for them to stay with us all the way to Cairns but Darren’s busy life as a major COO for KFC meant he had to cut his stay short for a conference in New Zealand.  However, he made their shortened stay especially memorable by cooking some supeb meals and bringing with him some exceptional wines from his considerable cellar.  We had a couple of nights in the Whitsundays before going to Airlie Beach to get the water maker repair completed.  Unfortunately the spare part had not arrived so we had to arrange for it to be sent on to Cairns. Aargh!

We had a wonderful days sailing 28 miles from Airlie Beach to Gloucester Island, followed by a motor sail 51 miles to Cape Upstart. As Justin had never sailed at night we left the next day, Friday, after lunch and in glorious weather to sail the 79 miles overnight to Magnetic Island just off Townsville.  It was a perfect night sail with wind all the way, clear skies and lots of ships and lights to keep us busy.  Despite Justin’s racing skipper’s frustration we had to slow the yacht down to arrive in Horseshoe Bay in daylight, just after dawn on Saturday.   Darren and Justin left us to cross to Townsville via the short ferry ride and to spend the night with Darren’s brother who lives in Townsville.  But, not before Darren (generous as ever) treated us all to a celebration “landfall” lunch of seafood and wine in a beachside restaurant.