We hauled the anchor at 10.30am on Monday the 29th of May, and motored out of Noumea towards the Dumbea Pass. Three of us on board, Angus and I, and our friend Paul. We met Paul and his wife, Mona more than 30 years ago when we were cruising in Tonga. They had sailed their boat to the South Pacific from Germany. Paul having just retired as a merchant seaman. He’s now 82 years young, and has done a number of passages with us over the years, including our first off-shore passage with the children. He’s going to have some stories to tell when he arrives back at the retirement village in Kerikeri.

I admit to being slightly apprehensive about setting off. It has been some years since I’ve done a passage, and I do suffer from mal de mer. I think we prepared well, by pre-cooking meals and making sure we took sea-sickness medication (in my case a Scopolomine patch which is a sticker that sits behind my ear. The medication lasts about 72 hours). We spent time stowing things away, setting up beds in the main saloon area and the navigator’s bunk (it’s too rough to sleep in the bow), strapping things down, and of course looking at weather reports.

The first 12 hours were uneventful, just getting used to being at sea, and getting organised with our watch-keeping schedule. The wind was light, and the motion was easy. Fast forward to the next 24 hours…this was just blur of sea-sickness and a terrible violent motion. I tried my hardest to turn myself inside out! The wind increased to between 18 and 28 knots with a short steep sea and I spent hours clinging on to the side of the bunk, cussing and swearing and asking myself what the hell am I thinking, to put myself through this? Day 3 dawned, the wind dropped and the sea settled down, and thank God that the sea-sickness had passed.

Mostly, the days have been pleasant, with fast, downwind sailing conditions. I imagined that when we navigated inside the Great Barrier Reef, that the sea would settle down…but no! We were about 50nm out of Mackay and the motion is the most violent we’ve had so far. I took to my bunk in disgust! I really hoped to be able to make bread today. I was first to see Australia this morning on my watch.

Food becomes a highlight when you’re at sea (and when the sea-sickness has passed.) We started the little ritual of tea and cake at about 2pm (thanks Granny for the fruit cake!) The pre-cooked meals were a life-saver! Beef goulash with rice, veal and potato casserole, chicken curry, beef curry, chicken with eggplant. Scrambled eggs for breakfast or french Cruesli. My aim is to have nothing to pass to border clearance officials when we arrive. Now we’ve started dreaming of what we’re going to eat when we set foot on Australian soil. I want a burger and chips…and a cold beer! It’s 10.30pm and we’re 7nm from the entrance to the marina at Mackay. 1100nm sailed from Noumea with following winds all the way.