Three Salty Dogs

Ahoy Matees,

I have a tale for ye of the high seas that be sure to impress any a landlubber. It started after hitching a ride with two German blokes from Townsville to Airlie Beach, when John and I could not resist the call of the seas any longer. So we set out down to the Marina to find volunteer work on any sea vessel that would take us on. Unfortunately, there be no ship needing a crew, so slightly dismayed we headed back to town to continue our search with some of the local sailing companies and to check all the posting boards we could find. After only a short while we found a posting of a scallywag looking for two crewmates to help him sail the 32-foot “Southport Mentor” from Hamilton Island to Southport, an 700 mile voyage down the coast, and leaving as soon as possible. We tore down the posting and gave Heikki a ring. Two hours later we were on a ferry to Hamilton Island to set sail in the morrow. Heikki, a Finlander who moved to Australia 40 years ago, has been sailing and transporting boats around the Oz and the rest of the world most of his life. We had set sail the following morning by 4:00 am and were heading down to Mackay Harbor, the trip there was relatively uneventful other than the occasional humpback breaching and a review of how to work the sails and man the boat. We arrived in Mackay, refueled the tank, and check the weather prediction for the next day. Accu-weather called for 5-10 kn SSE winds so all was fine for smooth sailing. We left the Marina around 3:30 am but it didn’t take long for us to realize the prediction was seriously inaccurate, winds had picked up to 23 kn with swells over 1 meter high, Heikki was reluctant to say that we had better turn back and try again later. Around 9:30 am we tried at it again but after 3 hours we decided the seas were still to high for the “Mentor” so we turned back rather than continuing the 36+ hour trip to the next port in Hervy Bay. From then on the weather had not cooperated with us for about a week so we stayed in Mackay taking it easy and relaxing by the beach. Finally, the winds turned for our favor and we headed out down the coast. Along the way we spotted many whales performing some impressive breaches, but not nearly as impressive as the delicious Spotted Mackerel that we caught on a tow line off the back of the boat. We arrived in Hervy Bay around noon the next day when we noticed there was some gas in the oil; we had to stay over for two days when we waited for a new valve to be mailed in and installed in the motor. We set out again around 3:00 pm the next day and after about 15 minutes or so we got caught in a sandbar that Heikki said had “moved” since the last time he had been in that Marina. So we flagged down a dingy that was coming into port to tie onto the Main Halyard and pull the boat sideways so we could motor out into deeper water. After less then a minute we were free and on our way sailing down the Fraser Island through the Sandy Straight and Cooloola Colored Sands passing Sea Turltes, a Dugong, and a very close encounter of two Humpbacks. We had Finally made birth at the Southport Marina in Gold Coast around 7 am the following morning, then made breakfast and washed down the Mentor. Heikki offered to let us stay on his boat “Daily Rate” for the night so we could plan out our next leg of the trip. We’re thinking about hitching up to Brisbane for a week then heading down the coast again to find more HelpX hosts. All in all it was an incredible experience getting to sail around Australia and I could only help but think how proud my Grandpa, Jack Mellor would have been to know what I had been up to. I am having an incredible time here and I am so fortunate to be able to take on this adventure. I hope everyone is doing well back home and know that I despite all the fun I am having I think of you all often and am looking forward to seeing everyone when I return home.

- John

Another interesting fact about the “Southport Mentor” is that it is the very same boat that Jessica Watson learned to sail on before she set out on her around the world sailing trip. She did it when she was only 16 years old and currently holds the record for the youngest person ever to do it.

Brush Fire

For the past week or so we have been staying with a host Michael Davies. Mike lives and works on a palm tree farm where he grows a wide variety of indoor and outdoor trees. He plans to transform some of his property into a campground and paintball field but for now the palms keep him busy enough. Most of the work we have been doing is collecting and transporting large rocks for garden beds and digging up trees to sell. One afternoon as we were working around the farm Mike drove over to us said “hop in, were gonna go help with a brush fire”. On one of his neighbors plots of land a brushfire had started, when this happens it is in everyone’s best interest to lend a hand to make sure the fire doesn’t get too out of control. The local fire brigade started burning fires along the road downwind from where the wild fire had ignited. When we drove up to the blaze the brigade asked us to help out as spotters to make sure no embers jumped across the firewall. After a while, once the firewall had surrounded most of the plot we went back to Mike’s to go for a swim at some water holes in the Palumba National Park. While there, I made an attempt to do some dive spear fishing, and even though I was not successful it was still fun creating my tool and trying it out. We came back to the fires later that night to see some incredible scenes of glowing red bush with plumes of smoke billowing in the backdrop. We drove around the plot checking out the different burns and throughout the drive I couldn’t help but think that my cousin David Soffa would have a field day photographing it. It was truly a beautiful experience.

Hope all is well,

John

Walkabout

Walkabout is a way of life for the aboriginal. Walkabout refers to a rite of passage during which male Australian Aborigines would undergo a journey during adolescence and live in the wilderness for a period as long as six months. Coming to Australia I knew that I will want to make m own attempt at a walkabout; and although I am not prepared to spend six months in the bush I kind of consider my whole trip to Australia a form of walkabout. A couple of days ago after finishing work around one-o’clock I wanted to go out on an adventure, John was not up for it so I figured this was a great opportunity to venture out on my own and brave into the Australian bush. I set out to find an Aboriginal cave which Mike had described its whereabouts a day prior. So off I went with my water bottle and walking stick in hand out into the bush. The path I took started out along a fire-burn but eventually I had to leave the cleared area and head into the sticks. Walking deeper and deeper into the underbrush my viewpoint of the mountain face (where I set my bearing) was becoming more and more difficult to see. The dense brush prevented me from seeing anything off in the distance so I occasionally would climb upon the trailer-sized boulders to keep my heading. As I traveled further I noticed the tall grasses were coming up to my armpits and I could only help but think about the two 6-foot Tiapans and other venomous snakes I had spotted just two days prior. But never the less I pushed through keeping confident in my awareness and abilities, climbing over yet larger and larger boulders. And finally as I cleared over the top of one of the boulders the entrance of the cave came miraculously into view. Looking back towards the way I came I was overcome with a sense of pride thinking that I had done an excellent job at finding an efficient route and sticking the course through the brush. After exploring around the caves I notice a couple of aboriginal cave drawings, I could make out one to be a Crayfish (Lobster) but was at a loss for the other two. I then climbed above the cave to look for the palm farm that I had waked from (if you look in the last picture your may be able to spot a couple of palm fronds and white structures off in the distance towards the middle/right of the picture). All in all the experience was something I thoroughly enjoyed and am looking forward to taking on longer and more self-reliant trips into the wild.

Magnetic Island

Hey all,

I hope everyone is doing fine back home. Here in Oz, I have recently headed down south from Cairns to Townsville and then took a ferry over to Magnetic Island, just a 20 minutes off the coast. Magnetic Island is approximately 5184,Half of which is National Park. Twenty-four kilometers of tracks guide visitors through thickly wooded bushland, ranging from dry wattles and stunted eucalypts to moist forested valleys. While there we stayed at a backpackers hostel where we met a number of interesting people. During our days we ventured out on a number of trips to check out some of the cool features of the island, one day we even rented scooters for a fun way to get around quickly to the different hikes we took on. The island is inhabited by some pretty interesting wildlife including Koalas, Rock Wallabies, Brush-tailed Possums, and an abundance of different bird species. Although the Island was pretty fun after a couple of days we figured we had seen most of which it had to offer, after that we took a ferry back to Townsville and are heading about 80 kilometers north to Mutarnee to stay for a week. I’ll let you know how it goes.

John

THE REEF

Ahoy Mateys,


I have just returned from a 3-day live-aboard on the Great Barrier Reef, and it was so beautiful. Prior to setting of I took a two-day pool course where I learned a lot of theory then got into the water to master the basics. This was a great experience in itself, I really enjoyed learning about the dangers involved and how to properly prepare for and avoid them. In the pool I practiced with two Swedes, 2 Spaniards, a German, and a Kiwi from New Zealand. Nick, our instructor did a great job making everyone know their stuff and feel comfortable in the underwater environment. And when it came time for the final exam everyone in the class passes, I myself got a perfect score! After that it was off to the boat…

The first of my 10 dives we all just had some fun swimming around 10 meters and getting acquainted with the Reef and the new depth. After that we had two more dives that day where we practices some important skills along with doing some fun explorations. The Reef was so beautiful! That day the sun was shining, and since we weren’t so deep the colors were all really bright. That night we stayed on an incredible 33-meter, 4 story diving boat. The accommodations were great and the food was an all-you-can eat buffet of delicious food. The next day we took our last training dive and earned our open water certification. Later that day we also did two adventure dives that count towards are Advanced Certification; Peak Performance Buoyancy and a Night Dive. During the night dive we saw heaps of Reef and White Tipped sharks, which we spotted by the reflection of their green eyes from our torches. The next morning we did our 30 meter Adventure Dive where we saw a giant lobster, Great Barracuda, and a couple of the venomous Lion Fish. Our Instructor also showed us the Cleaner Shrimp, and as he held perfectly still with his mouth held open the shrimp actually went into his mouth and went to work. That day we did two more dives then headed back to port in Cairns. All in all it was a great experience and a hobby that I want to continue to pursue. We have already booked some volunteer work on the day boats where we would get to dive and eat for free. Soon we are heading down to Townsville and may do a dive at the Yongala wreck.

Let you know how it goes,


John