Year 2 – 26 February 2025 -Brisbane

If anyone reading this and is free in all or some of April to mid July 2025 to come to Australia then do contact me as I am short of crew during this period at present.

We were woken again by the planes and workmen working on the pontoons. We had a leisurely breakfast and cleaned up the boat. Malcolm was getting a taxi to the airport around lunchtime and Mark, Trevor and I decided to head into town for which was Mark’s last day, as he would be flying home the following day. The day before I had dropped a credit card on a ferry which we have been using to get around town. I had sent an email the night before to their lost property department and this morning I got an email that it had been found and could be collected from their office which was only 190 yards from where we are moored. I felt so lucky and collected it.

I had to talk to the marina office as we were due to leave on the 27th but a Tropical Depression -in fact 3 have formed further North near Cairns off the Queensland coast and one of them which has been called “Alfred” is threatening to come down the coast and could land around Brisbane.  A tropical depression forms when a low pressure area is accompanied by thunderstorms that produce a circular wind flow with maximum sustained winds below 39 mph (about 33 kts -so we could cope) However, an upgrade to a tropical storm/cyclone occurs when cyclonic circulation becomes more organized and maximum sustained winds gusts between 39 mph and 73 mph. Alfred has now been upgraded to a cyclone- category 2 at present (hurricane) and is threatening to be upgraded to a 3. Tropical cyclones are also called hurricanes or typhoons, depending on the region. A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm that begins over tropical oceans, and they can vary in speed, size, and intensity. Tropical cyclones are the second-most dangerous natural hazards, after earthquakes. A hurricane is a type of cyclone, but the terms are used regionally. The term "cyclone" is used in the Indian and South Oceans, while "hurricane" is used in the Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans. The direction of rotation of a cyclone depends on its location. In the Northern Hemisphere, cyclones rotate counterclockwise, while in the Southern Hemisphere they rotate clockwise. Tropical cyclones form when a pre-existing weather disturbance, warm tropical waters, moisture, and relatively light winds combine. They can produce violent winds, torrential rains, large waves, and floods. 

We therefore do not want to get caught out in that. They will not know for a number of days what it is going to do but there is a strong risk that it may come South and we need to be somewhere safe. I was therefore talking to the marina about staying. They are looking into how they can help accommodate us. We said goodbye to Malcolm with regret (he had been with us for over a month and we were a good 4) and headed into Brisbane by ferry again and got off at South Bank. We then walked to the town beach which has been created with a number of pools and Mark and I had a swim and the water was a very pleasant temperature. It is a very good facility to have in town -but I suppose they have the weather for it. We had a sandwich at the Plough Inn after where whilst eating we were watched by Ibis birds who seem to wander the streets and restaurants in Australia.

We then went to the Maritime Museum which although small was surprisingly good. They had a River Class Frigate called HMAS Diamantina which was commissioned in April 1945 in the dry dock there. It is the last remaining one on display and it saw action in the last months of WW2. It was an anti-submarine frigate and named after a river in Queensland. She was engaged in the South Pacific against Japanese forces. In 1959 she became an ocean research vessel and then in the 1980’s became a museum piece. She was a steam vessel with two four piston triple-expansion engines. We looked round her and it was very interesting and older technology than the frigate we saw in Auckland and you could imagine as you went up and down the decks through little holes and up and down the ladders the ship being alive and living for those aboard and in those days. Her guns stay silent now but she must have been quite potent in her day.

The museum had all sorts of other exhibits including a load of steam engines when they used to run anchor windlasses, steering, winches etc with steam- all of them made in England – how we have lost our way in the world as we do not produce a lot now. They also had a number of old cannons given by the English (made in Scotland) in the 19th century when they did not have any to defend themselves against the Russians.

They had Jessica Watson’s boat called Ella’s “Pink Lady”. Jessica Watson, aged 16, sailed solo, non-stop, unassisted round the world, the youngest women to do so. The yacht was Sparkman and Stephens 34 foot (10.23m) and built in Australia. She left Sydney on 15 October 2009 and returned 210 days later on 15 May 2010 after sailing 19,631nm. She had headed Northeast from Sydney, crossed the equator and proceeded to Cape Horn, Cape Hope, Cape Leeuwin and Southeast Cape (Tasmania) before returning to Sydney.  

The same dry dock in the museum was used to repair US submarines in WW2 and there were some torpedoes on display and I was quite surprised how big and long they were. In all it was a good little museum right on the river. After this cultural and historical exercise, we walked over the bridge and got a ferry to Felons and tried their beer. Then home to Stormbird from where we walked to BrewDog and had a meal which was fun. The picture of the day is the 3 of us on Mark’s last night.

We will wait to see how Storm Alfred develops.

Need/Opportunity Year Two

I am in need of more crew from late April to Mid-July so if of interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com