Thursday 5th January 2017:
Lord Howe Island is 425 nautical miles = 765 km from Mooloolaba.
New Caledonia is 600nm to our north east and
New Zealand is 789 nm to Bay of islands. (Lord Howe is 1/3 of the way to New Zealand from Mooloolaba)

Lord Howe Island is such a tiny island many nautical miles from anywhere surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. We are one third of the way to New Zealand. It seems like a wild place out on the boat. When 'in town' surrounded by cafes and tourists riding bicycles it feels like a relaxed holiday resort. Which it is. Very low key. No mobile phone coverage but there is roaming wifi you pay with your credit card but only works near the cafes and post office. Not on the boat. Everyone communicates by vhf channel 12 then reminded to go to 14 ( by the POM) if the chatting goes more than 2 exchanges. There is also a public phone next to the post office. We introduced ourselves to cheerful Simon the POM and one and only policeman stationed on the island. The island board is on holiday so Simon is managing everything particularly the coming and going of all vessels. I know we radioed at 5am when we arrived and were well guided into the lagoon at 10 am by Simon by radio.

The wind is howling through the rigging on the boat and will continue to do so until Saturday probably. It's mostly overcast and I expect another wet dinghy ride to shore today. When the winds really pick up (20 knots I'm guessing), the big dinghy bumps and splashes through the waves. Then it's bumpy next to the boat where Bill holds on so I can climb up the 'granny ladder' with some trepidation. The mobile phones are kept dry in a sealed waterproof bag. A southeasterly has turned easterly now. This is better for sleeping as the previous night at high tide (midnight) Valiam rolled so much I was sea sick and had to take a stugeron. We are on the first mooring near the entrance next to the reef.

I am not keen to go out at night with the wind up and would rather avoid a wet bumpy trip by torchlight. The wind in the rigging always makes me feel a bit on edge and reminds me of South Africa.

Yesterday we enjoyed looking through the museum and had a tasty cheap lunch on their deck cafe. The display is very well done showing the history as well as the impact of rubbish such as plastic to the wildlife. When we took the hire bikes back, a baby tern sat huddled on a box. It had fallen out of a nest and was orphaned. The bike hire man tried to get a nearby female to adopt the poor little thing as it sat on its nesting branch. She wasn't keen and pecked at it. She hadn't laid her own egg yet so I don't think she adopted it. We were told once the terns had young of their own they would adopt an extra orphaned one.

North beach isn't far from us by dinghy. I am keen to retrace our steps of 1999 where we saw the birds nesting next to the pathways. It should be a beautiful walk with not much obscuring our view out to sea and looking back towards the island.

The good thing about their being no mobile phone coverage on the boat is that we are reading more books. I've just finished reading '438 Days' by Jonathon Franklin, a very well written account of the fisherman Salvador Alvarenga who drifted from Mexico after his motor broke in a storm. In an open boat he survived on rain water, birds and sea life until he ended up in the Marshall Islands. His crew mate died after 3 months. Alvarenga's 6000 mile drift shows an amazing feat of survival at sea for 15 months. Traumatised and barely able to walk he looked like a wild man when he was rescued. When the media got hold of the story they were very cruel and wouldn't leave him alone. His strength of character shone through the tale.

As to our own tale 'Salvage in my Sarong' of rescuing the eBay boat Lati in the Caribbean and sailing across the Atlantic to the Med, you can order your signed copy from the pay button below. Thank you for continuing to follow and support our adventures. Linda and Captain Underpants