Friends, Garth & Janine Ganley on Catala arrived in at Cairns last Saturday afternoon (14th) and we had them for dinner that night as they had been sailing straight through from Port Clinton which is a few hundred miles. They had had some rough nights so really enjoyed my roast pork dinner. We actually had dinners together on both Sunday & Monday nights as well. Sunday the four of us went to the markets and in the afternoon Dave & Garth went into town to do a few things.

On finding that Catala had bought second hand bikes in Brisbane, Dave decided that we had to have them too. For four years he has wanted to put on our bikes from home and I have always said no, as they would take up too much room. However, I had agreed that at some stage if we could find some folding bikes I might agree. Well as luck would have it when Dave & Garth paid a visit to the yacht club, there was an advert for two folding bikes for sale!! That put Dave on a mission so he made the call and we went and inspected them on Monday morning and ended up buying them. We did get one helmet with them so went off to town in the afternoon and bought me a helmet from Target and also two spare tyres and tubes and two locks. They also have bags so we have to pick them up in Gove as they were sold on behalf off a couple who are living on their yacht in Gove. They haven't got gears so I might have some trouble if we do any hills!!

Tuesday morning we up anchored at 7am and had a very pleasant sail up to the Low Isles where we caught up with Kassoumay and had drinks on board their boat. Steve Irwin was stung by the stingray at a reef just out from the Low Isles and it was when they got to there that they pronounced him dead. Chris, on Kassoumay is a doctor and he was on standby to be helicopted over from Mossman as he was working at the hospital there at the time. In 1928, the Great Barrier Reef Research Expedition, comprised of British scientists, was established on Low Islets. Their findings were considerable and represented some of the earliest serious study of coral reefs and associated marine life.

Next morning was another early start and we headed for Cooktown which was a distance of 60 odd miles but soon realized that we were not going to get there before dark so joined Kassoumay at Hope Island, arriving there at 2.30pm in the afternoon. Went ashore and although a lovely spot there were signs warning not to swim as there are crocodiles there. While ashore we also met some American yachties (Marcy) and an Aussi crew member and later the other two boat crews came to us for drinks and we had an enjoyable time.

Thursday morning we headed to Cooktown, Kassoumay to Cape Flattery and Marcy followed us a bit later to Cooktown. Cooktown is the last town on the coast before the top of Australia is reached at Cape York. It is on the mouth of the Endeavour River and has a lot of history associated with it with, as you can guess, Captain Cook. As we were going in at low tide it was rather tricky as there is only a very narrow part where deep keeled boats can anchor. We had to get permission from the Harbour Board and we ended up anchoring off the wharf. After we had lunch, we went and had a look at the town which proved to be a very interesting place with lots of signs etc. stating its history with Cook and the aborigines. They even had a musical ship! Paid a visit to the supermarket to get one or two forgotten things, and found its prices weren't too bad.

Marcy caught a 14kg spanish mackerel on the way up so they gave us some and also asked us over for dinner as their Aussi crew member was cooking and leaving them yesterday.

We left Cooktown at 7am yesterday morning headed for Lizard Island, a 52 mile trip. We arrived at Lizard at 2pm after probably the fastest average speed we have ever achieved in Pied A Mer - close to 7.5 knots average and we only had the Genoa up!! We were on a mission to get here as the weather forecast was not good for the next few days. Kassoumay had arrived a few hours before us as they had a short hop. There are 20 boats in here and last night there was a pot luck dinner ashore so met a few more people, plus some we know, and there are quite a few in here that are on the rally also. Just as well we got here yesterday as the weather has really turned nasty and we are repeatedly getting 40+ knots of wind at anchor so most of us have not left our boats today in case of dragging, although none have and we seem well dug in but is not that pleasant. Am glad we are not going across the Gulf of Carpentaria at the moment. Some of the rally boats are going across at the moment and not having a nice time. Lizard Island has a research station on it which has organized tours, the next one being on Monday so will go and do that. Lizard Island was named by Cook but he did not actually bring the Endeavour in.

Catala and Gitano were hoping to meet up with us here but with the weather like it is they certainly won't be here for a several more days.