Day 13 Port Douglas-Bali

What a lovely day this has been. Mostly 5-10kts of wind on the nose and very little sea swell.   We have been trucking along at around 9.5kts most of the day.  

We got buzzed again by one of the ABF patrol planes who flew towards and past us then make a slow turn in the distance before coming down to a pretty low level and fly past us from astern so they could see the name on our transom.  I managed to grab my phone a snap a few pics as it went by.  A minute or 2 later and our VHF crackles into life - “MY Moonlao this is Border Force aircraft” then into asking us to confirm the usual, last port of call, next port of call and where is the boat registered?  Obviously they know the answers as this is the 7th or 8th time of asking. 

A very civilised diner tonight.  Roast pork (pre cooked from the supermarket), roast potatoes, peas, sweetcorn, garlic bread all washed down with the last small glass of the red wine that was opened in Port Douglas when the owners where with us.  Yum!

Now on my 22:00-02:00 watch and I’m being entertained by a sheet lightning storm off to our starboard side.  Amazing display but hope it doesn’t come too close to our aluminium boat. 

Talking of weather!  What about cyclone Narelle that is just hitting the northern Queensland coast exactly where we What a lovely day this has been. Mostly 5-10kts of wind on the nose and very little sea swell.   We have been trucking along at around 9.5kts most of the day.  

We got buzzed again by one of the ABF patrol planes who flew past us from ahead and I could see him do a slow turn in the distance before coming down to a pretty low level and fly past us from astern so the can read the name on the transom.  I managed to grab my phone a snap a few pics as it went by.  A minute or 2 later and our VHF crackles into life - “MY Moonlao this is Border Force aircraft” then into asking us to confirm the usual, last port of call, next port of call and where is the boat registered?  Obviously they know the answers as this is the 7th or 8th time of asking. 

A very civilised diner tonight.  Roast pork (pre cooked from the supermarket), roast potatoes, peas, sweetcorn, garlic bread all washed down with the last small glass of the red wine that was opened in Port Douglas when the owners where with us.  Yum!

Now on my 22:00-02:00 watch and I’m being entertained by a sheet lightning storm off to our starboard side.  Amazing but hope it doesn’t come too close to our aluminium boat. 

Talking of weather!  What about cyclone Narelle that is just hitting the northern Queensland coast exactly where we were a few days ago.  It’s apparently going to be the biggest system to hit in living memory with winds of 220-300kph, OMG. 

Originally it was to make landfall 3 times and cut a track across the top end and cut back through the middle to to Southern ocean but now the latest forecast is showing it to make landfall twice and then go off into the Indian Ocean and fizzle out. 

Thankfully it’s not going to get anywhere near us and fingers crossed for all those people in it’s path. 

 a few days ago.  It’s apparently going to be the biggest system to hit in living memory with winds of 220-300kph, OMG. 

Originally it was to make landfall 3 times and cut a track across the top end and cut back through the middle to to Southern ocean but now the latest forecast is showing it to make landfall twice and then go off into the Indian Ocean and fizzle out. 

Thankfully it’s not going to get anywhere near us and fingers crossed for all those people in it’s path.