Fast track to Oz
MALARKEY
Jo & Trevor Bush
Mon 12 Nov 2012 05:23
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24:45S 152:23E (Bundaberg Port Marina)
We had two great cruising destinations ahead of us
before getting to Oz, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. But we had left it too late to give either of these great spots
justice.
Vanuatu is a largish chain of islands roughly
running South to North and we chose Aneityum, the most southerly of
the group.
  Another shell to the
collection
Mystery.....what happened to all the people?
This place was gorgeous. It had everything you
would expect from a Pacific Island. Deserted white sandy beaches, palm trees,
azure blue waters, a calm and protected anchorage and a huge cannibal cooking
pot for visitors......gulp. Cannibalism was common place amongst these primitive
people up to the mid 1960's. It was regarded as good manners to offer a human
arm or leg to the chief of the next village. We regard ourselves as quite
fortunate to leave with all parts accounted for.
  Mystery solved. Enough to feed the whole
village
And a little fishy for the pot....wahoo!
The diving and snorkeling was also excellent
here.
   Our favourite...the frog
fish Not
a Melbourne Cup
entry
Leopard & blacktip shark
We wished we could have checked out
the active volcano on Tanna and the wacky 'Cargo Cult' who
worship John Frum & Prince Phillip. Can you imagine worshiping Prince
Philip....not even the queen does that. Or maybe get to meet the shy pigmy race
in the jungle of the Torres & Banks Islands in the north.......next
time maybe. But time was marching on so off to
the French colony of New Caledonia.
It was important to arrive at the dreaded Havana
Pass at the eastern end of New Cal at slack water and with preferably fair
conditions. We have heard of boats coming to grief here and indeed the wreck of
a Japanese trawler on the reef serves as a perfect reminder to all yachtsmen who
dare to enter. Well, thanks to our Aussie cruising pal Cheryl (S/Y Stolen Kiss),
who has a good eye for the weather, and gave us the nod for a good time to
leave Aneityum. With good fortune or by design, we arrived in perfect
conditions. But luck or no, we did discover on arriving in Noumea the capital,
that a well found Kiwi boat was knocked down & broached twice coming through
the same pass only the day before. So I say, 'ta very much Cheryl, and may the
force stay with you'.
The lagoon off of Noumea is huge. There is loads of
cruising speckled with perfectly sheltered anchorages. With some of the hills
covered with fir trees, it was like cruising Scotland in the sunshine with
French culture. Doesn't sound too bad.....and it wasn't, in fact it was great.
The town offered most things including cinemas, museums, aquariums and of
course, fully stocked supermarkets, restaurants and bars.
 'Woody'. Impressive local culture.
And if you wanted to get away from it all,
then there were hundreds of nice anchorages to chill out in only a short
sail away.
 Nice spot
We sampled a few nice spots but as with Vanuatu, we
were hot to trot and left after only 2 weeks and headed out for our last leg to
Oz.
 Jo checking spinnaker trim
What a trip. A nice breeze in lovely wall to wall
sunshine on long Pacific swells. At last, the sailing we were hoping for and we
arrived in Bundaberg, Queensland in good time. Typical that it should come
at the end but it was nice to end on a high.
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