We left the marina with various problems unresolved. Michael inspected the rigging and discovered that we had broken part of the furling gear. This cannot be repaired until we get a spare, take the sail off and feed the various parts up the front stay. Our wind vane broke down so we have no wind direction or strength meter for our instruments, and various reefing lines are looking tired. Still with 2 weeks to go we decided to go for it. Parts ordered, we set off and determined to use our gennaker as a fore sail and our eyes as the wind meter. Parts by the way are expensive here - the replacement wind vane is £360 here but only £220 in England.

Our first stop was Brampton Island. The wind was from the North so we anchored in a delightful bay to the South. The next morning we headed ashore promptly to walk round the island. The circular walk is delightful, through clouds of butterflies, mostly blue ??? but also other varieties. The bird life was outstanding. We saw an amazing white cockatoo, a massive resplendent bird, along with many other varieties. The sound of the birds was quite a contrast with the all too often silence of the NZ woods. At one end of the island the national park ends and there is a resort. The resort looks rather dull and lacks people. Originally it was a coconut nursery and all the Queensland palms were grown here. A small tram line has been restored to bring guests and supplies from a jetty. Most however arrive on aeroplanes.

As we returned to the boat the wind piped up from the opposite direction. We hurried back to find ourselves in the classic bad situation. The big tides in this area meant that we had to drag the dinghy back across a long coral platform. The boat meanwhile was tossing and turning perilously close to the reef. The water around here is very shallow so blows up sharp waves very easily. We leapt on to the boat, started the engines and hauled the anchor up. This seemed to bring us even closer to the reef but eventually we pulled away and headed off to the other side of the island where calmer waters prevailed.