Harmonica is just south of the tropic of Capricorn, but on Saturday & Sunday the little storm petrels were dashing too & fro bat-like and bashing their feet or breasts from wave to wave in the lumpy, cool seas. By Monday, the chop had abated to a large, long swell that was the ideal playground for the shearwaters and great-winged-petrel which swoop with locked wings from wave trough to 50 ft up and back again as they use the up drafts to move up or downwind at will seemingly contrary to the laws of physics. By Tuesday the wind died to a light breeze and boobies and a tropic bird circled round Harmonica watching our movements in the cockpit.

The cruising guide says that Queensland is in the latitudes of the SE Trade Winds, and in order to sail E to the S Pacific Islands, you must wait for a low to arrive in the Tasman Sea and leave with the westerlies in its cold front. The rider is that although this gives you tail winds, the weather is generally inclement. They were right. We have largely followed the northern side of a low pressure as it moved into the Tasman Sea, but as we approach New Caledonia, the low is dropping SE to remind the New Zealanders that it is winter for them.

In the mean time, however, we had broken the telescoping whisker pole for the second time in 3 years and had to lash down 7 metres of broken alloy tubing on a bouncing foredeck in the middle of the night.

Having flown back to in Bundaberg in early May, we put new antifouling paint on Harmonica, launched & cleaned her, and did many boat-jobs inside. The outboard engine was still not working well so it seemed time to treat ourselves to a new one, and we waited in the Bundaberg Mid-Town marinas for this to arrive, cycled a lot, bought enough non-perishable foods to last a few months, did more useful jobs and sampled the Old Bundy Tavern a few times to buy the overflowing plate of roast and veg for A$6.99.

We also made arrangements with Australian Customs to cruise south along the coast to Brisbane and leave from there when the right weather arrived. Customs have been exceptionally friendly & helpful throughout our stay. However, 2 days after the outboard arrived, a low was showing on the weather maps so we missed the Australian Coast of Fraser Island and Wide Bay. Our friends Chris & Karyn have been house-sitting beside the Burnett River while their boat is in the yard for repairs and we anchored Harmonica in front of their temporary digs and had a couple of lovely suppers before heading offshore 10am on Friday 13th June - "Black Friday"!

Many cruisers are superstitious folk and would never leave port on a Friday and even worse the 13th. There were various mutterings of disapproval from other sailors around us. Our friendly customs official was quick to write Saturday, 14th as our departure day. By the time we left Australian waters it probably was the 14th. She noticed that we have some yellow bananas swinging in our fruit hammock in the galley, & points out it is said to be alright to leave with green bananas but not yellow according to the superstitious folk law. Dave and Jan are unperturbed by all this and ready to leave.

Our first morning at sea and before Jan can take the first spoonful of mango yoghurt a wave bangs Harmonica and the bowl goes flying and lands upside down on the binoculars. Jan goes on deck to take down the Australian courtesy flag. Before it is lowered another wave comes flying in and douses her from head to foot. Time to go below; be sick; go to bed. Maybe things would have been different if we had not left on the 13th....no one will ever know.

Hump-Back whales normally arrive in Hervey Bay at this time each year for breeding & it would have been fun to see them. As we sailed out, we saw a few large unidentifiable sea-creatures but no whales there. 4 days later, we have found our sea-legs, got the sleep rhythm used to 24 hour watches, and managed to cook & eat breakfast together in the cockpit. The last 36 hours have been a smooth close reach on flat seas at 6 knots.

We completed the passage with a lovely 200 mile close reach on flat seas in 10 to 15 knots of wind. We watched a lone whale about 1/2 mile away that blew several times for us and then lobtailed (raised it tail & slapped it on the water repeatedly). This produced some concerted reading of books on marine mammals and a possible identification of a southern right whale. Now the wind has dropped 30 miles from Noumea, and we are hearing lots of radio traffic in French as we motor in.

The new AIS system did a great job showing the position, speed, call signs, vessel name etc. of ships off the Australian Coast and plotting them on the chart plotter, but we are not sure whether any of them have seen our information. The "maximum power point" solar regulator is functioning as it is supposed to. The radios are working well. However our new Iridium sattelite phone still does not like receiving text messages (something has to give a little grief).

Please do not hit reply. Our email address is . Our contact info & position reports should be on the web page www.techco.ab.ca/harmonica

Love and best wishes from Jan, Dave, & Harmonica