I hated leaving Cairns. In most ports I can't wait to get to sea after just two or three days, but not Cairns. We dwelled for two weeks, during which time we made some new friends, met some old ones, began the repairs and discovered what a wonderful prospect Australia is.
I knew that the charges for weekend arrival would be higher than weekday rates, but I just couldn't wait. We were not disappointed; the town is beautifully designed, public barbecues and a modern open air swimming pool were set in gardens on the beachfront, the shops were full of tourists, and the atmosphere had a holiday feel to it.
We enjoyed drinks and snacks on three or four yachts that we had seen before and some of them joined us on our yacht for similar fare, a group of us dined at the nearest public barbecue, all we had to do was press a button and the heat came on. We ate ashore a few times, Greek, Indian and Italian meals, all good tucker. One day a Surrey friend of Charley's appeared on the pontoon. She and her partner, John, live in Palm Cove just up the coast from Cairns. One night they invited us dinner; as John is a professional chef, this turned out to be a feast.
There were plenty of live aboard dive boats taking people out to the Barrier Reef, I hoped to do some diving but I picked up a chest infection on the first day in Cairns, it stubbornly refused to clear up so I decided to wait until further down the coast.
The weather in Cairns was spring like, windy and showery, but generally cooler than PNG.
The list of repairs was again daunting, I sought advice about the location of chandlers, they were all outside the shopping area, in a semi industrial area, a fair walk. The first time I visited them I walked but after that I hired or borrowed a car. I ordered a Muir windlass and bought six new stanchions, we also replaced the lifeline netting around the foredeck. It looked very smart. I found a new blower to replace the worn out one that ventilates the engine space. I also found a fishing tackle shop and spent an obscene amount of money on new gear.
While waiting for the windlass to arrive I made a start on the wiring. I ran two 35 square millimetre cables through the trunking to the bow. I also prepared a cable from the cockpit as I wanted to be able to raise or lower the anchor from there. Most of the other jobs had parts suppliers near Brisbane so I decided to wait until we arrived there. The windlass arrived and the installation went well, it leaked a bit to begin with but this was soon solved.
Brisbane was about 800 miles south. The cyclone season was fast approaching so we decided to make a start, but not before we hired a car and drove inland to see some of the scenery. Tropical rainforest once covered the table lands, but much of it was cleared for farming, there are a few remaining areas and the policy the government is adopting is to return some areas to its former condition. Away from the coast the lack of rainfall becomes evident, the trees have adapted to drought conditions and the farmers have well developed irrigation to allow them to grow all manner of crops. The scenery was wonderful, good roads, almost no litter; the towns seemed prosperous bordering on idyllic.
We motored out of the Marlin Marina; the wind was above twenty five knots, three reefs and a small piece of the new Quantum Genoa, stored away since Durban carried us along nicely. The tide was helpful to begin with, our route was north for about five miles then east for a about the same. Fitzroy Island was only eleven miles from Cairns yet we had to sail twenty five miles to get there. It was good to be out sailing, but as always, a prolonged period in port makes it feel strange. Once clear of the main our course was south, there weren't many islands with shelter within a day sail so we stopped at Fitzroy.
The first anchoring left us just a bit too close to the rocky shore, but it didn't matter; we simply did it again. The new windlass was an unbelievable improvement. Press a button and in came the chain. We moved out a bit and re- anchored. The island was tree covered, about a kilometre long with the two tallest peaks at either end. A resort with a pier sat on the beach was in the middle. Even though we were in the lee of the island the wind gusted strongly all night, neither of us slept particularly well but the anchor and about fifty metres of chain were quite secure in sand.
Next morning we moved off, the wind came from our intended direction and with the tide against progress was poor. I decided to return and wait for a change in the weather.
Charley couldn't resist the idea of exploring another island so I took her ashore in the rib. We spent the day resting, and left again just after midnight.