Termites, Kookaburras and Old Friends

Welcome to Australia.

Date: 6th November 2023

Australia - We're there!

After 18,000 miles we finally arrived in Australia last Thursday.

Bundaberg, in Central Queensland, appeared as a low smudge on the horizon. Just another land mass rising out of the haze. Oh no it's not. Amazing, that's actually Australia! How did that happen? 16,000 miles at 4.2 knots, that's how.

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Many days later...

It seems so long ago that I can't remember much of the passage from New Caledonia. Quite a bit of motoring and some good sailing I think made up that last 8 day passage. We arrived in the evening after a cracking sail towards Bundaberg and finally motoring up the narrow channel for five current filled miles.

Buddy boating to Australia with Meraki 2.

Champagne and a crazy night at anchor with the four of us singing Aussie songs to a background of rum and cokes for the others. Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Waltzing Matilda etc. Next morning we were summoned to the quarantine dock. Bill the biosecurity entomologist had flown up from Brisbane excited to see "the termite boat". Three hours later with much of our food confiscated as expected we were in Australia and could lower the yellow quarantine flag. But Mehalah was not. Yes, we had termites, yes we must get rid of them, yes we could go to Scarborough Marina just outside Brisbane but no, we couldn't go the easy and scenic way inside Fraser Island. Instead Mehalah was under quarantine so must make her way there outside Fraser Island. No stopping, no anchoring and direct to the work dock at Scarborough. We were allowed to attend Pacific Crossers welcome week first though. So followed a bizarre few days as we got to know Australia - Aboriginal cleansing welcome evening, barbies, kangaroo spotting (none for us yet) and much merriment with friends made over the past months interspersed with seminars on cruising the various sections of the East Coast. But also sorting out our passage to Scarborough; numerous WhatsApps, emails and phone calls from the free phone outside the marina until our SIM card was sorted, to biosecurity, Gladstone Ports and Scarborough Marina themselves. Their marina manager happened to be Bundaberg on a recruitment drive so we chatted to him and learned that we would be on their Works Dock when we arrived.

Aboriginal smoke cleansing welcome.

Anyway we finally set off against the wind and against the tide north east when we really wanted to be going south. A very hard day of swell and engine noise left Kris seasick again and everyone starting to get on each others nerves a bit. Finally, finally we were round the top of Frazer Island and after another 15 miles we were storming along with wind and current assisting us.

Next day we met up with Salty Ginger and Meraki 2 who had both come down inside Fraser Island. As it got light we followed the AIS beacons into the Moreton Bay approach channel in a brisk breeze. We dodged cruise ships and bulk tankers and made our way to the 40 mile approach to Scarborough and Brisbane via the north channel. It's a narrow channel with shallows either side so we wove our way around the massive Moreton Bay seemingly meeting a large ship at every turn. We arrived at the entrance to the marina as the tide started to flood and after waiting awhile we all gingerly approached the marina. It was Sunday so there was no one to assist us but we tied up without ado as did the other two.

We now moved into rapid termite eradication mode. Order a "taxibox" to temporarily put all our belongings in, contact biosecurity again, contact RA Dibbs the fumigators to let them know we had arrived, arrange things with Richard the marina manager. Dibbs turned up to assess the job and after a quick look said they would fumigate on Wednesday. By then we had to remove all soft furnishings, food, clothing, cooking utensils etc etc. 

Fumigation preparations!

Kris and Maree, Kevin and Shawna and Julie and Graham helped us move everything up from the boat to the deck, off the deck to the dock, up the tidal slope to the car park, across the car park to the boat dry stack and finally to the taxibox. How many trips in total? Maybe sixty. That was a hard day.

Methyl bromide is a nasty ozone depleting gas.

Inside Mehalah. Ready for gassing.

Wednesday arrived and so did Dibbs. They erected big barriers with "Deadly Poison" notices around the boat, opened every hatch, cupboard and box to ensure the methyl bromide under pressure could escape when the gas was released the following day. Of course there was then a national phone outage so Dibbs were unable to contact biosecurity for permission to release the gas. Finally at 1.30 permission came and in went the gas. We meanwhile, having said goodbye to Kris and Maree, moved into Mareki 2 for a few nights.

Dibbs were back next day to open Mehalah up and we could start to move everything back on again. With our departure imminent we tried to divide things into home, boat and pack away on boat in big suctions bags courtesy of Amazon Australia. A big job made more tricky by the fact we were also trying to put the boat to bed at the same time. Oil changes, sail work, battery recharging etc. A busy time indeed. And to top it all, after yet another visit from biosecurity we started to remove all the termite damaged wood.

Small area of termite damage.

We were slowly forming an impression of Australia too. Lots of space, friendly locals, everything works, prices are reasonable, priority for walkers and cyclists, very clean but also quite a lot of rules and regulations. An easy country in which to live.

After hard days it was time for some socialising too. The highlight was a teppenyaki meal. A great show that included catching egg rice balls in our mouths and piles of rice bowls in our hangs, all thrown at us by the extrovert chef!

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21st November 2023

Finally though it was time to leave Scarborough. Our friends Ian and Rose who we had worked with in the 1980s in South Africa picked us up early one morning and took us to their lovely home nestled in the hills near Noosa. Time at last to chill, relax, walk the dogs in the nearby forest reserve and catch up with nearly 40 years of news. That's where we are now preparing for our 25 hour flights back to chilly UK. Tonight they will drive us back to Brisbane Airport for our 00:40 flight home via Hong Kong. Thanks so much guys. A perfect short break. Just what we needed.

Rose and Ian. Long time friends in Noosa.

So there we are. The end of a major chapter in our lives. We have sailed halfway round the world and it's only when we see the kookaburras and kangaroos that we can really believe it. Next year we won't be doing very long west bound passages. We have agreed to spend time in Australia, New Zealand and maybe back to New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Anyone fancy New Year 2025 in Sydney Harbour ? After that? Who knows. Thanks for reading.

John and Gill (SV Mehalah)

Scarborough Marina, Australia.

We're Bound for a Land Down Under

Location: Just over halfway from New Caledonia to Australia.

Date: 24th October 2023

Just 340 miles to go now. It's 03.34 and my night watch is 34 minutes in. Yesterday we put our clocks back one hour for the last time this year. We are now on UTC +10, Australian (east) time. Consequently dawn comes early so in an hour or so it will be properly light.

It's been a good passage so far. We've got on really well with our crew Kris and Maree and the sailing has been generally smooth and increasingly downwind. No fish but two or three pilot whales were right alongside much to everyone's, especially Maree's, excitement. We have though bent two stantions (sp?) on the starboard side with a slightly uncontrolled gybe. The preventer shackle must have worked loose unnoticed over time. Luckily no real harm done.

Yesterday we shared the customarily rum with Neptune as we passed the passage halfway point with delicious quesadillas de Sally for lunch.

However, we have an issue. We are caught between two nasty weather systems. East of us Cyclone Lola is developing over Vanuatu but more of an issue is a large area of very strong winds expected off the coast of Australia. Today is Tuesday, the winds are due to start building on Friday morning.

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Continued on Wednesday morning.

Well, we have been motor sailing for almost a day as the winds drop and we aim to beat the 35+ knot winds due on Friday at Bundaberg. So all is good there. We should arrive tomorrow around lunchtime.

However back in Vanuatu the cyclone has developed into the biggest hurricane ever recorded there in October with winds of up to 320 kph. We pray for the boats we have met that are still there. Insurers will not insure for "named storms" after November 1st but will they cover one before that date.

So, it's time to start thinking of our arrival. Water to make, fresh produce to be disposed of (or eaten), yellow arrival flag to be hoisted and boat to tidy from the usual long passage chaos. We're nearly there!

[Sent to you via our new Starlink system].

Rough Passage to New Caledonia

Date: 16th October 2033

Location: Baie Maa, New Caledonia

Crash, bang, clatter. The bow rises up and slams down. Again and again. We are into a consistent 25 knot wind with 3-4m swells brought up from a wicked depression down south, east of New Zealand. Cups fly around, various leaks develop and moving around the boat is hard. I bash my collar bone as I'm thrown across our cabin luckily without breaking it. Kris and Maree our Kiwi crew found the motion uncomfortable at first but soon recovered and proved admirable for the rest of the passage.

Here's Mareki 2 viewed from Mehalah.

This after a moving send off from Vuda marina in Fiji. The marina staff gathered, placed a garland of flowers on the bow and proceeded to serenade us with their "have a safe passage" song. What a lovely way to remember the country.

We were travelling alongside Mareki 2 for this leg, buddy boating as it is called. Our boats proved pretty compatible and there is an element of comfort in knowing there is another boat close by. Especially as we later learned that Astra who we met in Suwarrow had lost their mast (broken chainplate) and Windsong had broken their rudder and had to limp 80 miles back upwind to Fiji.

Two days later the storm had subsided and the ocean is more benign when Kris' rod screamed. Half a kilometre of line flies off his reel. With the drag set to max he's still taking line. Eventually he stops and Kris, who is a strong man, starts the slow process of reeling him back in. An hour later we finally get a glimpse of him. A beautiful yellow fin tuna. He was too large to eat and too big to easily get aboard. So we let him shake the hook out and live to fight another day. [Note: we are now in New Caledonia and see yellow fin tuna is £12 per kilo in the market. That's a lot of tuna dollars we put back in the ocean!]. 

Large yellow fin tuna.

As we approached "New Cal" we slowed the boat right down with Meraki 2 next to us. The reason? It's another nasty entrance through the fringing reef only to be attempted after low water when the waves are coming into the lagoon behind. Of course the first low water was at midnight and there was no moon. So we opted for the lunchtime tide instead. It was blowing 20+ knots again as we started through. Standing waves and we surfed through to the relative calm behind. It was still 40 miles to the capital and the only check in location here. We covered that pretty quickly by sail and engine on the inflowing tide. I made a potentially serious screw up crossing in front of a bulk carrier in one of the narrow channels but luckily all was well and we continued on our way to Nouméa. It was dark and 7pm by the time we anchored. Kris talked Gill through the anchorage and we dropped the hook in a bay close to the town. It stuck reasonably but again the windlass didn't work properly.  [Temporarily fixed again the following day but needs a new motor when we get to Australia].

Next day we dinghied to the marina to start the check in process. Dinghy contract to sign, boat insurance to email (I sent it twice but it didn't arrive - it turned up in marina's spam folder), 20 minute walk to immigration, SIM card shop too busy, back to boat, called by marina to go to the biosecurity dock, tricky approach, all good. It was Friday afternoon and biosecurity wanted to go home. When we told them about the termites we still have in the aft lazarrete they thought we said marmites which they told us was not a problem. In the end they said to just keep the hatch shut and get it sorted in Australia. We have been in contact with biosecurity in Oz at Bundaberg where we intend to make landfall, sent them photos of the infected area, filled in forms and answered questions. It seems though as if the boat will be impounded and not free to enter Australia for at least two weeks while they decide what species the little chaps are and what the eradication steps must be. Then we sail down to Scarborough and put M to bed before flying home for a few months. All this uncertainty though means we haven't been able to book flights, and prices are rising all the time as we approach Christmas. Hey ho!

So here we are in a sheltered bay just a few miles from Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia. Nouméa is a thoroughly modern city, very French with boulangeries, fromageries, good supermarkets and an excellent fresh food and fish market. But there is an under current of unease too. The supermarkets have guards on the door and when we purchased our SIM card we were told to 'be careful'. We discovered too that the flag we were flying was not actually the official French flag but the flag of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front which is no longer an official flag of the country. We took it down!

Wrecked ship, Baie Maa.

This is the last departure point for both Australia and New Zealand so the regular parties have now taken on an additional frenzy as we say goodbye to friends we have made over the past year. One such event hosted by Bob and Bev on Icarus was particularly memorable. The food (we each provided 'something French') was amazing - cheeses, salads, builabaise and fresh bread. Amongst the guests was Lyn Pardy. Sailors amongst you will recognise the name of this well travelled 70 something sailor and author. She and her husband Larry were amongst the first 'liveaboards' decades ago and she has since been a great supporter of young sailors too.

Gill with Lyn Pardy and her new partner, David.

It's Monday today. The nearest land to the west now is Australia, just over 800 miles away. If all goes to plan we will depart New Caledonia on Saturday and within a fortnight from today we will be arriving in Bundaberg, Australia. Before then it's the usual, engine checks, rig checks, reprovision, clean the hull and prepare for this year's last big push.

And just to finish here's a video made by our Cornish friends Zoe and Angus and their two 10 year old sons Barnaby and Zennor. Pacific Crossing. What an experience.

Fiji

 Date: 30th September 2023

Location: Vuda Marina, Fiji

Of course we arrived in Fiji at 2am. New, country, new island and another reef to negotiate. Gill was disoriented but by trusting the chart we rounded the point in 25 knots hoping for some shelter after a lively last 40 miles. It was still blowing hard in the marked anchorage and we almost gave up, but by moving only a few hundred metres we were protected from the wind and in the dark at the third attempt the anchor held and we fell into bed for a great sleep. Next morning I was up the mast where we fixed the broken lazy jack and we motored the few miles to Savusavu, the main town on the more northerly of Fiji's two big islands.

Fiji consists of several hundred islands many of which are protected by fringing reefs. Tricky to enter but once inside the water is flat and even strong winds don't kick up nasty seas.

We called ahead to the new Nawi Marina where we were due to stay for a few days. We were put on a mooring ball to wait for customs etc to tell us we could move in for arrival formalities. Turned out they hadn't received our pre arrival documents sent to the address provided by the marina. "Can we email a copy?" "No, we do not have a Fijian SIM card so no data." "Can we print a copy and they will collect?" "No, we do not have a printer." Eventually they sent a dinghy over with a data stick. We copied our pre arrival documents to the stick and it was whisked away to customs. After a visit from Health we were escorted to the arrival dock. The wind was blowing us onto the dock that we were forced to approach at right angles but Gilly made a neat approach and we were tied up. I was told off in no uncertain terms as I jumped off to make our lines fast. "You are not allowed off the boat until all formalities are completed". Customs, immigration and bio security arrived and we were allowed to leave and were escorted into the posh new marina, barely finished and open for only a few weeks. The bathrooms and toilets are amazing here, they all have their own little gardens!

A typical shower room at Nawi Marina.

We spent a few days in lovely Savusavu. Internet is so cheap and fast here. 150Gb for a month costs around £7. And to top it all the ladies in the little Digicel kiosk in the bus station managed to get my phone working again. And boy is it fast. The town is a bit poor but everything works and the curries are great. There's a big Indian population in the towns brought in years ago to work the sugar plantations. Trucks and little trains trundle around laden with sugar cane - sugar is still a big deal here.

The new marina is on a small island with regular free ferries that take you into town.

The hourly ferry from Nawi Marina.

We hired a car with Johnny and Tina to tour the island. It's big, some 50 or so miles across. First stop was a Fijian village. We were welcomed by the chief and given a history of the village, how it is very communal. Then we had a tour. More happy children keen to tell us their names and high five us. Our small donations and handicrafts purchased go into a fund to help build a new village hall or surface the track to the main road.

Fijian village.

Village children.

From there we made our way to yet another waterfall. All the ones we've seen in the Pacific have been "portrait". High and tall. This one was "landscape". Wide and less high. Refreshing as always.

The "Landscape" Waterfall.

Despite the excellent and very cheap Indian shack in Savusavu we'd been told the best Indian food was to be found on the far side of the island so we drove over "Cross Island Road" to the north where after considerably hunting we finally found the restaurant hidden away on a building site. It was indeed excellent. As we drove back to Savusavu the air was filled with smoke as the sugar cane stubble was burned off.

A nice weather window appeared and we set off for the other large Fijian island, Viti Levi. 140 miles and two days and one night picking our way through the reefs. We planned a route of 50 reef miles in the day, 50 clear miles in the night and 40 very reefy miles next day. It worked perfectly though we had to slow down in the night to avoid arriving at the reefs too early. The seas were flat, the wind just enough and the day sunny. Another very pleasant passage.

We arrived at Vuda Marina early in the afternoon and made our way up the narrow passage to the east basin. It's round and the boats all tie up on a circle squished together with lines to the shore and mooring lines into the middle of the circle. On hurricane season (cyclone season they call it here in the southern hemisphere) the boats are all pulled into the centre of the basin. Attached to the shore by long chains the other end of the boats are chained to a large submerged steel circle. Then you just hope and pray. If you lift out here the boats are sunk into the famous Vuda marina pits and chocked up on piles of rubber tyres. Even so most insurance companies refuse to insure you if you leave your boat over cyclone season.

The circular East Basin at Vuda Marina.

Boat in Cyclone Pit.

One reason for coming to Vuda was to meet our new crew off the plane. We met Kris and Maree, a New Zealand couple, when we took them from Pape'ete to Moorea. They had just helped deliver a catamaran with a less than experienced owner from New Zealand to Pape'ete. That's a long hard sail, much of it in the Southern Ocean. If all goes to plan they will be with us to Australia. They arrived late at night in a pouring rainstorm. With them came a Starlink WiFi and a simple replacement autopilot, a Tillerpilot, to hopefully last us to Australia.

Mehalah Crew: John, Gill, Kris and Maree.

Next morning Kris put his not insignificant mechanical skills to good use as we installed Starlink. Running new cables in an old boat is always a challenge but in a few hours we had an excellent installation completed with "Sailorsam" providing us with a fast connection wherever we are, even far out at sea. Thank you Mr Musk!

The Starlink link.

Replacement autopilot.

Repairing the broken windlass motor. Crazy design exposed to the sea water.

In a couple more days we had the Tillerpilot installed too. Usually used to drive a tiller we are trying to run it to the wheel instead. We'll use it when we are motoring or when the wind is light from behind when Paul, the wind steering struggled to keep us on course. We shall see.

With no foreseeable weather window for a longer passage we decided to go with Meraki 2 to some of the offshore islands. We left Vuda and sailed slowly to Musket Cove, a large anchorage with a resort ashore which we could make use of once we had joined the Musket Cove Yacht Club, apparently the only yacht club in the world with no yachts(?). We paid our dues, 10 Fijian dollars (£4) for Gill as skipper and 20 for each of us crew and returned a few minutes later to collect our life time laminated membership cards. Now we could use the pool, bar and restaurants. Excellent.

Next island hop was to the island where the film Cast Away was made. The chief on the adjacent island owns Cast Away island so we had to anchor there behind the reef and get his permission to visit. All very haphazard but we handed over our kava root to Aku who stuck it up his T-shirt and disappeared never to be seen again. The chief's son (maybe?), Joe, met us and we had a very brief sevusevu ceremony before a tour of his village. It was sports day so we watched some running races and generally chatted to people before heading back to our dinghies for the 1 1/2 mile to Cast Away island. There we found Albert's Rock and climbed to Lookout Point before returning to the big boats and the light faded. The 9.8 Tohatsu engine had had the Kris treatment and was purring. So good to have our own transport again.

Idyllic Cast Away Island.

Cast Away island.

Looking back to the "mainland" from Lookout Viewpoint.

It was odd to be making short day hops after so many long passages but before long we were off to Mana Island where many of the American series of Survivor have been filmed. A tricky winding and shallow entrance led to yet another reef enclosed anchorage and another resort, this time rather more run down than Musket Cove. None of the resorts here seem to have properly recovered from the tourism hit that COVID brought. 

What did we see here? VERY large fruit bats - so large that initially we thought they were birds of prey, the abandoned Survivor sets, a wedding chapel (Gill said she would marry me) and the Survivor meeting place.

Honestly that was a VERY large bat.

The Wedding Chapel.

Then the weather turned shit. 20 knot winds and rain for several days meant that finally we decided to sail back here to Vuda marina where we are now preparing for an elusive weather window to continue westwards. We need four days if we go to Port Resolution on Tanna in Vanuatu or 6 to New Caledonia or a fortnight direct to Australia. But at present we are struggling to see even a couple of days without 25 knot winds and big waves from our port side. Not pleasant. So like many others we sit here frustrated rerunning the PredictWind forecast models hoping for a time to set off.

We intend to buddy boat much of the rest of the way with Meraki 2 who have now split from their daughter's boat, Meraki 1 and are keen to travel with us. It's always tricky trying to keep together but we'll see if we can manage it. I think we will be faster than them on most points of sail. We shall see.

So today Gill, Kris and Maree have gone into Lautoka by bus to buy provisions and I'm left home alone on Mehalah. This morning I climbed the mast to do a pre departure rigging check. All looks good. So we are ready to leave. We just need that weather window, please. Meanwhile time to chill out...

Seawater pool at Vuda.

A Perfect Day

Location: Somewhere between Tonga and Fiji
Date: 4th September 2033

It's Day 3 of the four day passage from The Kingdom of Tonga to the scattered island domain of Fiji. Up to today it's been a slowish but steady journey. We've caught a nice wahoo and broken a lazyjack.

And early this morning right on cue the wind veered 30° and strengthened to 15 knots. We gybed and headed due west for Fiji. And now the world is perfect. We are barrelling along at 5.5 to 6.0 knots in a warm breeze and a flat sea under single reefed main. You know the sails are well set when Paul the wind steering barely has to tweak the wheel for mile after mile. The sea is a deep, deep blue with a swell of less than a metre and the threatening clouds of earlier are clearing to leave a settled sky. We have 90 miles to go before we start the tricky navigation through the eastern Fijian reefs. But for now there's no place I'd rather be than sailing the Pacific - just Gill and me. These are the days I will always remember. Bring it on!

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Maybe it's just that I'm far from home and you, and you, and you, been on my mind.

Not Till Tomorrow (Ralph McTell)

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Sent via SailMail, http://www.sailmail.com

A Rough Passage, The Kingdom of Tonga and my mum

Location: Nieafu Anchorage, The Kingdom of Tonga.

Date: 1st September 2023

With great reluctance we said farewell to Samoa and headed out towards Tonga. The forecast was for 18-20 knots on the beam for most of the four day passage southwest. The first couple of days were fine. Indeed on Day 2 we commented on what nice trade wind sailing it was. But then the wind strengthened and veered so that it was almost head on to us. The waves grew bigger and for once we were beating into big seas and winds steady on 25 knots. Not very nice! Then Sally came up and said "my bunk is wet and there's water coming in through the anchor chain hause hole". After a quick inspection this was indeed proved correct. Every wave that swept over the deck, and there were a lot of them, half a cup full of sea water was sluicing into the boat. More water was coming through the hatch above Sally's bed in the forward cabin. Hmm. Not ideal. Unlike most boats water getting into the anchor locker doesn't just drain out again, it finds it way into the deepest bilge where my recently installed extra bilge pump was working pretty hard. Nothing for it though but to crack on. There followed an uncomfortable 24 hours. Both Gill and I felt a little queasy which is extremely rare.

We sailed on and eventually, in the middle of the night, saw the loom of lights from the island of Vava'u off to port. By then we were at a slightly better angle to the wind but turning to port would mean motoring right into the seas again for ten miles or so. Also we wanted to time things so we arrived as it got light so we had to time out turn correctly. It had to be done though so engine on, wind steering off and I volunteered to do most of the next two hours of hand steering (no autopilot remember). It was hard work steering by compass in big seas with no moon but I got better as time went on and as dawn approached we stumbled into the channel leading to Neiafu, one of the best protected anchorages in the South Pacific.

Checking in was done at the old fisherman's wharf, occupied no less by several fishing boats. They came and went, Gill got annoyed with me for not being more assertive and eventually we tied up alongside a big catamaran waiting for the fuel bowser. Customs arrived and because we were so low down compared with the cat's guardrails they were unable to climb aboard Mehalah and all the documention was completed in the cat's well appointed deck area. Good news because it meant they didn't come aboard checking for illegal  dogs, chickens, eggs, money, honey, dairy products or whatever else was on today's banned list.   Formalities complete we motored to the mooring field, tied up on a solid looking mooring and crashed out. That was a hard passage (and hence no pictures).

Next ay Sally left us by plane for New Zealand. Keen to see her daughters again after more than six months our time with her had run its course. A great crew and a very full on personality we will remember her fondly.

We arrived in The Kingdom of Tonga with a long list of 'jobs to do before we leave'. Like this...

- Come up with a first reef solution. It's frayed and the slide is stuck.

- Address the leaking anchor locker and forward cabin.

- Find an autopilot solution.

- Repair the forward head (toilet). We have two new crew joining us in Fiji. It would be nice if they had their own bathroom and toilet.

- Fix the blue light in the galley. It got wet and stopped working.

- Repair the backup bilge pump in the deep bilge. The old one stopped working at the height of the water ingress.

- Take another look at the area where the termites were.

- Try to get at least one dinghy engine working.

- Determine why the charging station and light in our cabin have mysteriously stopped working.

But really we needed this couple of weeks to draw breath, catch up with friends, visit some of the 42 anchorages in this part of Tonga and generally chill out.

The 42 anchorages of Vava'u

And that's what we've done. Neiafu is a small town in the Vava'u island group in the north of Tonga. Just a couple of shopping streets. Mainly Chinese supermarkets, a few bars and restaurants, a bank, schools, a fire station, a little harbour and a bigger wharf where the ferries dock, a cathedral(!), laundry, a veggie market and some government buildings. It's pretty poor but pretty self sufficient with thea dded bonus for a few months a year of the yachties provideing a bit of additional income. It's nice. The people are large, friendly and colourfully dressed. Pigs roam everywhere and the pork is famous for its salty taste where the pigs have grubbed around on the muddy beach.

Cathedral. By far the most impressive building.

Tarot roots in banana leaf baskets.

Laundry day on the High Street.

Socially this is the last place we will meet many of the friends we have made since leaving Panama many months ago. Nearly everyone ends up here and spends time in the sheltered bay. But from here on in many people are looking to work south to New Zealand for the cyclone season whilst others like us have a longer but easier trip to Australia planned. Almost every evening has been spent socialising. On boats, in restaurants (it's finally cheap to eat out at last) or at a Tongan feast held by a family at one of the more remote anchorages. Everyone has a story to tell. Like New Zealanders Johnny and Tina on Paikea who travelled down the inhospitable Argentinian coast, through the Beagle Channel by Cape Horn and thence to Polynesia. Or Cayo a Japanese single handed lady who with hardly any experience decided she would sail round the world alone  Or Lars and Susanne, two adoring 60 something Swedes on Windsong who met at a party, were married three months later and set sail for Iceland and Greenland before heading south to Chile and then the Antarctic. Amazing people doing amazing things.

Anchorage 16 by anchor light. Mehalah in centre.

Setting up for the Tongan feat. Delicious.

As well as pigs Tonga is famous for its whales. Big whales. Humpback whales. Lots of them and now is the time to see them. Every morning the whale boats leave each with half a dozen passengers. Almost every one returns full of stories of how they swam with the whales and how majestic they are. Some of the photos they take are truly phenomenal. Many of our friends have been along but for us it didn't seem quite right to be disturbing the whales. Instead we have seen them blowing across the bay and as we were sailing back from anchorage 16 one came within 40m or so of us. They are huge.

Whales. They are everywhere.

One of many whale watching boats. Most people got to swim with them.

And then whilst at anchor we had some more sad news when we got word a few days ago that my 94 year old mum, back in the UK, had taken a turn for the worse. She had been ready to die for some time and the following day she finally passed away with my brother Philip at her side. I'm sad, yes, because the end of any life is always sad. I spoke to her every night via Skype so part of my day is missing now. But I'm also relieved. She is where she wanted to be and I hope that wherever that is she is at peace with herself.

But life goes on and soon it was Gilly's birthday. We had been out anchoring in the more remote islands for a week or so and then the weekend had come. Gill realised I probably hadn't bought her a present and it was Sunday (nothing except church happens here on a Sunday) so I wasn't in the best of books shall we say! But I managed to pull things round. I made her a necklace from electrical and fishing bits and sent her an lovely e-card. Then on her birthday (actually she had two because we are a day ahead of the UK here) we had a lovely day. T-shirt shopping and we watched the pattern being applied while we waited and a super meal with friends at The Kraken overlooking the bay.

Prepping the frame.

Stencil application.

The finished product.

Birthday with friends.

But what of those outstanding jobs?

- 1st Reef: Jury rigged.

- Leaking cabin: Cover made for anchor windlass.

- Autopilot: Temporary Tillerpilot ordered.

- Forward head: Macerator cleaned and fuse replaced.

- Blue light: Replaced.

- Manual bilge: Fixed, service kit applied.

- Termites: Still some of the buggers around. Another purge completed.

- Dinghy engines: Tohatsu fixed. Yay!Yamaha not fixed.

- Charging and light in cabin: Dismantled and fixed.

Part of the temporary reefing solution.

Bastard termites!

The offending autopilot ram.

So really good progress there.

I leave you this time with report of one of the most bizarre evenings we've ever had. Throughout the Pacific there are people who identify themselves as "third gender". It is a recognised gender here. They are known as fa'afafine and assigned male at birth but embody both masculine and feminine traits. Some behave as typically masculine and some are extravagantly feminine. And it was those feminine fa'afafine that put on the other evening's show, known as fakaleiti! Held at one of the local bars a lot of drinking and loud music was involved before the main event. The audience was a broad cross section of locals and visitors. At around 9pm introductions began and the show started. A series of immaculately and rather provacatively dressed drag artists strutted their stuff each to a different raunchy song. The atmosphere was akin to a strip club with the audience being fully involved and encouraged to stuff Tongan dollar bills down cleavages and anywhere else available. There were few inhibitions at the bar that night where everyone was encouraged to forsake their normal partners and join in with the fun. What a night!

Today we reluctantly checked out of Tonga. Tomorrow, after attending cousin Pete's funeral virtually, we will set sail for Fiji. Fiji feels like a bit of a landmark. Not only do we cross the 180W/180E line getting there but Fiji is the first country on the right hand side of our world map as we fall off the edge of the left hand side. Let's hope for a smoother passage this time.