Year 2 – 5 March 2025 -Brisbane – The long wait before Cyclone Alfred

If anyone reading this and is free from now and 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 a bit of a grey day when we woke and we had a bit of rain in the night. We cheered ourselves up with some banana pancakes and we did some extra preparation work in advance of the storm. We filled the water tanks, put waterproof protection around the electricity pillar. We put some extra bungee cord around the cockpit tent at the edges. We made a short shopping list in case we are boat bound for a few days of what we need to get. We booked the truck in the marina we could borrow for the afternoon. Trevor looked at the hinges on the cockpit table.

Once done I got on with a lot of admin namely crewing stuff, making a typed recipe list of our bread, banana pancake and smoothie recipes which I printed off rather than having old manuscript pages.  Trevor did some washing and then we read etc.

We had a light lunch and then headed out to the shops. We checked whether Brewdog was open and they were thinking of shutting early and so we made a note to go early for supper. We drove to Bulimba to get some provisions and all the bread and water etc had gone. People -the thick ones had been panic buying. Shops are only likely to be shut for about 2 days.  We got as much as we could of what we needed and returned to Stormbird.

We rested a bit more and then went early to Brewdog and had supper as it may be a few days before we can eat out. This was enjoyable and we managed to walk there and back between rain showers which are becoming more frequent.  We are as prepared as we can be.

We have been checking the weather and Bureau of Meteorology (of Australia) all day and they are providing regular updates. Alfred is about 350-400km offshore and moving about 300km in 24 hours. It is forecast to hit the coast somewhere about Brisbane in the late Thursday evening but more likely Friday early hours. Winds could be up to 150km (81kst) in gusts with the strongest wind and rain in its Southwest to South corner. No one can predict where exactly it will hit but I hope we will not be in that quadrant. The town has closed down, buses and all transport has stopped and it seems most businesses are closing. It will be an interesting 48 hours.

We hope it will not be as bad as forecast; the marina will stand up to the storm and it will pass quickly. Wave heights out at sea are up to 12 meters. I would not want to be out in that and I think we are in the best place we could be.   The picture of the day is one of the models forecast before it hits us – we are the white dot.

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