Coming to the end of this blog

Well, I am sorry it took so long time to publish the last photos. I have spent the last few days just winding down. This has been a great trip for me, and I couldn't have made it without my fellow crewmembers, and since I only had two, you all know who they are. Thanks Håkan and Jenny! Maiken proved to be a great boat, and I hope to take good care of her in the future. Thanks for reading this blog and follow our way across the Pacific, and if you need to contact me you can always reach me on my email; fredrikfransson@yahoo.com

Take care,

Fredrik

The last set of pictures

Checking out of Fiji in Lautoka

Jenny speeding toward the Malolola pass before the sun set

Leaving the mainland of Fiji behind us

It was rock and roll during our first couple of days aboard




Sunsets means a lot when you are doing a passage




Fresh fish makes good sashimi


Whales! - it is almost impossible to get good photos of them



Flying the Q flag together with the Australian (and the mainsail still looks good)


The last bottle of champagne to celebrate the birth of Dorian and Sally's daughter

It was a windy morning when we made landfall


Staying at the quarantine dock in Manly to clear into the country

Our friend Simon came with bubbly and seafood to welcome us to Scarborough

Well, Jenny's friends brought up the "a tomato for dinner" incident, so I had to make her a proper meal for her last night

Getting situated in Brisbane

The coffee is brewing and a new day is slowly beginning in Brisbane. It feels a bit strange not have to look ahead anymore, this is where I will stay for a while. The trip over from Fiji was a mixed bag filled with sailing conditions from every part of the spectrum. After a hard night with no sleep we navigated the entrance to Moreton Bay in heavy headwinds with some big waves. The conditions changed to the better when we got close to Manly where we checked in. I really liked the Manly area, so maybe I will keep my boat there in the future. The marinas here are very nice and they make it easy to be liveaboard. Scarborough Marina, where Maiken is situated right now is also very nice, so I will be here at least until I know more about my future here. They have great shellfish here and the shrimp trawlers are coming back into the docks close to Maiken every morning with the good stuff. I had to learn to drive on the wrong (left) side of the road yesterday, with Jenny looking a bit tense at times. I will write some more soon when I have sorted out an address and phone number for me, so you will have a chance to get in contact with me in the future. I have got a lot of positive feedback from having this blog, so I am considering starting another one about my new life here in Australia. If you have been a regular reader on this blog please let me know if you are interested in the new blog, write to yacht-maiken@hotmail.com or fredrikfransson@yahoo.com. I will post pictures later today or tomorrow, so please check back.


Take care,

Fredrik

We've made it!

It is eerily quiet, it is strangely still. Maiken is moored at a marina in Brisbane. The last few days have been quite a study in contrasts. Saturday was the day of the whales. Humpback whales everywhere (well we saw 5 of them in a very short space of time). Freddie jumped up the ratlines with his camera and started pointing where we should go (the winds were non existent so we were motoring). It was the opposite of normal cruising - where you only very occasionally swap direction - I was "doing doughnuts" round whales - cool. After the 4th sighting when I saw another Freddie didn't even bother to come on deck he just told me not to hit it. So whales had become just one more hard thing to avoid.

That afternoon we drank the bottle of champagne we'd been saving for the birth of our friends baby. We've since found out that little Maya was born around this time - congratulations Sally and D - she's gorgeous.

So the idea was that we'd just slowly head towards the Brisbane channel - arrive there at dawn and then spend the day motoring up. Great plan but it didn't account for the early arrival of a quite UNNECESSARY "weather event", with lightning, howling winds, choppy seas and fishing trawlers. Freddie said it's the first time he's had all sails down and we were still making 5 knots. So after 9 days of beautiful weather it was a little reminder about how lucky we'd been. It took us from 8am to 4pm to reach the Manly marina. 4pm on a lovely Sunday afternoon - everybody in Brisbane who owned a boat was out and heading home to Manly marina. There were kids in little dinghys, motorboats, a zillion yachts. Go away silly people, we're sleep deprived gnarly sea dogs and we don't want to bother with the likes of you. Happily we made it without hitting any of them. Another boat had just cleared in (customs and quarantine) so we didn't have to wait for the officials to arrive. We could have waited half a day and checked in without paying a fee (because we arrived on a Sunday) but the lure of a cold beer and steak was too strong. We were still operating on Maiken time though - and were asleep by about 8pm.

Yesterday we moved up to Scarborough marina and caught up with our good friend Simon. Freddie was a little taken aback when Simon's wife Jane called to say that there was a snake in their caravan and she didn't want to go to sleep there. Welcome to Australia Freddie - now the real adventures start!

Jen