Year 2 – 27 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.
It was anther pleasant morning but the planes and workman were at it again! Trevor cooked a good, cooked breakfast for Mark’s last morning which we all enjoyed this in the cockpit. Mark packed and did his washing etc. I had booked the courtesy car from the marina which we got about 10.30am. I had been to see the marina office and asked them about our berth and they said we could stay until the 7th March at least. They said at the moment it is unclear whether Cyclone Afred will hit the coast yet. Apparently the last time a cyclone hit Brisbane was in 1978!!
We got the car at 10.30am and drove to the airport to drop Mark off which meant going over those huge bridges which are so close to the marina. I did not realise but there are 6 lanes in each direction on those bridges. Mark has been on Stormbird sine 31 December 2024 and he has almost become part of the furniture. I was sorry to see him go as he has been very helpful as a crew member and got to know Stormbird well. He says he will be back in September which
Trevor and I headed over to Cannon Hill which was a large out of town shopping area where we got some food and wine etc. We are now only two of us and that makes life a bit easier. We had also taken the two empty gas cylinders and we went to at least 3 shops to try to get them filled. It was the same old story that if they are not their own country’s fittings then they will not fill them. After these 3 places I gave in and bought an Oz tank which I know will work. One man gave me a specialist who may fill my spare tanks so I will contact him and see, otherwise it seems daft that I may have to throw them away as I cannot keep carrying different cylinders. It seems so crazy there is not a common system.
We returned to the marina gave the car back and packed everything away. We had a light lunch and a siesta for a change. We then started to look at what we need to do to prepare Stormbird if the cyclone Alfred comes ashore at Brisbane. It is too early at this stage to determine this but there is a strong likelihood that it may by Monday/Tuesday next week. There are three cyclones in the South Pacific and the picture of the day is of these three cyclones and you can see the Austrlain coast outline on the left. The first two are moving east and Alfred on the left is moving South.
Our preparation so far is to double up all lines on the bow, midships and stern. We have also put double lines on our port rear. We then furled in the sheets over the genoa and staysail so that they are wrapped around many times and therefore will not come undone. We have also taken a number of other lines in and taken the ensign in. There are a number of other things we can do but let’s see how things develop over the next couple of days before we take more off and make further preparations.
As we are likely to be here longer we have decided to hire a car and will visit outside Brisbane and probably the Australian Zoo – which used to be run by Steve Irwin – who was killed by a Stingray and other places over the next few days.
Trevor cooked a chicken schnitzel supper which was good. We will see what tomorrow brings and further information about the direction of Alfred.
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