Nanna's House

Heya again. I'm at my Nanna's house in Mallacoota now, I spent a great week in Torquay with my Grandma and, after sailing on a mono for the first time, caught up with dad and Baden for the long drive down to Mallacoota. I lived here 'till I was about 6, haha, so it's good to be back. After 10 years not much has changed, but it's great to catch up with everyone again. Dad's got a 50+ year old Morris Minor, it's in great condition and I'm trying to convince mum to let us bring it up to Cairns on Easter, 'cos I'll have my Learners by then and Dad can drive up with me. Anyway I love that car, it's so cool. Dad hotted up the inside (haha, I mean the dashboard, not the engine) about 20 years ago, and it's just been sitting in storage since we left Mallacoota. But it still runs.
Anyway, at the moment it's wet and windy down here but it's a bit warmer than Torquay. I'll write again later!

It seems like we've only been back a few days, but really we've been back 3 weeks... It's so different from being out on the boat because when I'm out sailing, exploring and discovering each day counts. Each day something new happens so you remember each day. I feel like being back here the days all mold into one. They have no real importance to me I guess... haha, then again I haven't started school again yet. Anyway on a more positive note Dad, Baden and I are flying down for a week to Victoria, I'll spend a week with my Grandma while Dad and Baden do this course. Then we'll all drive down to spend the rest of the time with my Nanna and Poppy. I'm trying to convince dad to bring his Morris Minor up, so I can learn to drive it! Haha, Mum doesn't like it though because dad hotted it up when he was younger (it's about 20 years old but in really good condion). We probably won't end up bring it up this trip though.... Oh well, there's allways next time!

Land life

We're living on the boat at the moment because our house is still being rented out. But it's fun, because our house is way out in the beaches we don't usually go into town all that much, but now because the boat is right in town I can just walk to the shops, haha, it's great! Also there is a great bike track along the Esplanade, I took Baden on his new RipStik along behind my (well mum's 'cos mine is more Baden's now!) bike, he is so heavy!!

Massive Plate coral

This is my dad who is around 2m tall spread out over a giant Plate Coral, the water was a bit murky but you get the picture!

Tricot Ray

This is the french 'tricot ray' or 'sea snake'. We saw tones of these cute things on just about every island in New Cal. Fletcher accidentally stepped on 3 at once! They are very cute and provided lots of unexpected adventures for us all!

How cute is this stray dog from Ovea in New Caledonia?

This is a dog from Ovea Island in New Cal, we called him 'Sooty' because he looks like he stuck his nose in sot! We played with him when ever we went ashore, but mum and dad wouldn't let us take him on the boat... :(

We're back home

We arrived in Cairns a few days ago after the longest crossing of my life! Seriously! 9 days at sea 7 of those days with no wind and hardly moving. We swam into Australian waters off the back of the boat it was so calm! So now I can say that I have swum from New Caledonia waters to Australian waters!!! We arrived with our hands on our hearts singing the National Anthem - I've forgotten halve!! Once we had arrived and had done Customs and Quarantine (who by the way were great, any yacthies out there who read this, just to let you know they let us keep our turtle skull and honey- well they would have if we'd had any honey, she didn't ask though) The first things that we did were fill the boat with fruit!! Now we're in the Mariner in Cairns harbour, we'll be here for about a month 'cos our house is still being rented out. My biggest priority for our time here is school. I'm here to finish high school with marks high enough to get me into Vet Science, or at least something in the animal industry. I reckon that being the person who looks after the cats in Quarantine would be a pretty cool job... hm.....