Seasons Greetings to all our friends,

Harmonica's crew has just been skiing round some trails near Lake Louise. So we must be back in Calgary ready for Christmas with our one remaining son Neil. This year Mark will spend Christmas with his fiance's family in Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. Enjoy it Mark & Heidi! We are looking forward to your wedding in April.

It has been an interrupted season. A wet start with a rough passage from New Zealand to Fiji. We really enjoyed sailing round some of the quieter islands of Fiji. Then Dave flew back to England for 3 weeks, and Jan did some stoic work stripping and oiling our exposed woodwork in the hot sun at Vuda Point. An engineering firm in Lautoka made an excellent replacement rudder for Harmonica's wind vane while we cruised around the popular tourist areas in the Eastern Fiji. After that it was off to Vanuatu – a wonderful, unwesternized country, although our stay was somewhat spoiled by rain and health issues. Chesterfield Reef in the middle of the Coral Sea was then a lovely stopping point on our passage to Australia – sunny and empty except for thousands of sea-birds.

After our last newsletter from Chesterfield Reef, we sailed to Bundaberg Queensland in about 4 days of very light winds. Almost like the Tuamotus of French Polynesia, we found strong and unpredictable currents in this reef-strewn bit if sea. Being obstinate sailing types, we used the engine as little as possible. We came in at the same time as the annual Port-to-Port rally and got checked into the country along with the rally boats. Customs, health, immigration, pest control ... We cannot remember the names of all the organizations that came on board. They were all cordial and ensured that we were properly welcomed to the country. Australia has had some bad publicity within the cruising community following some unfortunate incidents last year, but we felt that they must be bending over backwards to clear that reputation.

We have never joined in a rally, but the Port-to-Port would have been worthwhile! There was a full week of celebrations at the Port Marina organized by local businesses & volunteers. We sold a kayak, one of our 4 anchors, and a few small items at the “bilge sale”, but failed to empty our bilges because we bought another air tank and some hooker diving gear too! We joined in a pot-luck supper with the rally crews. Then Harmonica spent most of November tied to the dock at the Bundaberg Midtown Marina. It was an ideal spot up the Burnett River in the very middle of town with shops and services within walking and cycling distance. Bundaberg is a small friendly town – a supply centre for the many sugarcane farms in the region, which provide the material for the famous Bundaberg Ginger Beer and Rum. Our rusted exhaust pipe that had leaked dirty water onto a few clean cloths was quickly replaced with welded stainless steel, and the antenna cables were rerun up the mast, and the cockpit floor was lifted and re-sealed to stop the drips of salt water which have always plagued our engine.

Harmonica was surrounded by catamarans. So having started our 2007 sailing season in “The Land Of The Long White Cloud”, we finished it in the the land of the catamaran. There were many shapes and sizes, but interesting designs, and all well planned, spacious, probably fast, and very weight-conscious. We know at least two mono-hull sailors who arrived at similar times to us and are now looking for catamarans to buy. Maybe it is the economic boom, the long distances of the Australian coastline, or the shallow seas around the Great Barrier Reef. Catamarans are popular boats.

Australia and New Zealand must also be noted as the lands of birds. We were serenaded with quite unfamiliar bird song, and they keep singing throughout the night, which is lovely. Canadians will know magpies as the most annoying creatures since nails first scratched glass, but the Australian magpies have sweet, tuneful song. However, there are rogues, and one took a dislike, for no obvious reason, to Dave's red cycle helmet and knocked him out of dreamy contemplation by charging full speed and hitting him from behind. It then swooped into the air, attacked again from the front and flew off to focus a glower of rage at the same head-ware from a near by tree. This process was then repeat 10 or 15 times while Dave cautiously walked his bike up he road. Meanwhile many other magpies flitted about and sang as normal birds do. We are told this is a known aberration in certain magpies.

Bundaberg is just outside the Tropic of Capricorn. It has been hit by cyclones, but not for a long time, and little damage has been done. The boatyard at the Port seemed clean and well-organized so that is where we have left Harmonica. On 6th December, she motored back down the Burnett River, and at 7.30 next morning she was lifted out of the water and into the yard. There she will stay having a well-deserved dry-out until we return in May.

Janet & David

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PS We arrived back to some tragic news: We greatly enjoyed the company of the young couple Chris Malchow and Courtenay Steele while Chris helped to take our mast down in New Zealand. They bought a solid wooden boat (30 ft Tahitian ketch – Takaroa II) and in June they started the long & difficult sail across the Pacific to Vancouver Island. They are now missing somewhere between Hawaii & Victoria.