Gove to Darwin

A part from the eventfull crossing of Cumberland Straight (see here below), we have a nice but steady navigation to Darwin.

We adopted a new pattern of sailing, changing our 2days sailing/1 day rest against a day sail only, morring every evening.

This makes a very confortable sail : no watch, nice diner and drinks at night…

We do not go to shore thought, first because we arrive late afternoon and leave early morning, in order to keep up with tides and our dead line in Darwin, but also because we are anchoring near the shore of the huge aboriginal reserve of the northern territory, and we are not sure if we are welcome and where (there is a lot of sacred ground, but they are not very well detailed in our guide).

Therefore we only admire the dunes and endless white sand beaches from the boat.

We get the smells of the land : fire wood, eucaliptus, earth exhilarating the heat of the day, smell of the outgoing tide…

Goulburn Island wonderful beach…unfortunately, swimming impossible because of the crocs

The wind is totally inexistant for the last 3 days before Darwin…so we have to motor or motor sail most of the way, in an incredibly flat sea…hopefully we’ll get some wind to go across to Indonesia…we are hoping this is not the doldrums!!!

Beaches, water temperature, heat of the sun…everything is perfect for swimming and each time we can we ask around…but NO, the crocs are still around (althought we haven’t seen or heard one since we are in OZ) awaiting to eat us alive…so we will wait for our swim!

We are planning to go croc spotting as well as discover the Outback, in Kakadu National Park. In Darwin, we will switch from our usual Tequila to a good old 4WD which will take us thru the dusty road of the outback…Watch out Crocs!

Watch this space…there will be more next week, telling you about our Outbqck Experience, before we head to Indonesia!!!

02:45 - 2/11/2006 - Ajouter un commentaire

Hi from NZ

Hi Heidi,
You guys seem to be having fun and some great experiences! Keep the writing going, I really enjoy reading about your trip and especailly how long it is taking the french brain to fully master british engineering technology ! :)
Love and happy travels,
Paul (flute a bec)

Anonymous - 08:49 - 5/11/2006