From Cairns we set off for Darwin just a mere 1200 nm away. After one week of long days, and several overnight passages we are still about 200 nautical miles from Darwin. We now have come to realize the enormity of Australia the country/continent. We've passed a thousand miles of lowland shores with small trees, brush, mixed with amazing white sand beaches and rolling sand dunes. Interesting rock islands north of Cairns We've meandered through the great barrier reef -- but saw very little...

After a brief trip back to the US for me, and an epic final pacific leg for Dan, we were ready to take on everything 'down under'. We were both remarking at how cold it was in Queensland Australia at this time of year. I was bringing out my long puffy jackets and amazingly Dan was wearing jeans and sweatshirt. It was only getting as warm as 75 F during the day and quite chilly in the evening. Hundreds of lounging Kangaroos at the Lone Pine Koala Refuge, just soaking up the sun. I had a 24...

The three day passage from Fiji was easy and mostly pleasant. We arrived in at Tanna Island, Vanuatu on a dark night about midnight. We had been advised to keep an eye out for signs of the volcano, but we think there might have been some cloud cover and... we didn't really know where to look--nothing seemed out of the ordinary. We did however, occasionally, get the whiff of sulphur in the air but it didn't seem bothersome. In the morning we woke up to a lovely bay. The head of the bay was...