...we arrived in Brisbane in our 34ft sailboat 'Eikon'.

A beautiful sunrise found us looking at the long flat misty land in the distance, while playing "Great Southern Land" on the stereo and slurping a can of Fosters each! A large and beautiful bottlenose dolphin was swimming at our bow and rubbing his stomach on Eikon's hull. The heavy base notes of the song was making the hull vibrate and he was lovin' it! As he turned on his side to rub his belly on the hull he made eye contact with us. I'll never forget the spark of amusement in his eye...

We didn't know then that we would sell Eikon to buy a bit of rainforest to live in, in this country. This was a place to get work for money to top up the cruising kitty, and shelter during the coming cyclone season.

Sounds magical and perfect, and that bit was. Many bits of our brief life as cruising sailors were filled with breathtaking beauty. Just as often it was scarey and bloody uncomfortable as well, lol.

In fact on plotting the course to approach Brisbane Australia ( we were coming from Noumea New Caledonia ) my husband had allowed for leeway caused by the East Australian Current running south down the continent, ( it's the one Neemo and his fishy mates were using as a highway ) by setting our heading well north of our destination.

The current runs more swiftly at certain times of year, and is wider in some places than others. Seems we found the the widest fastest bit to try and cross!! At one point we were doing 11 knots sideways with the current! ( 6 knots FORWARDS was a comfortable ocean passage speed for us on Eikon, though she liked to go quicker if not reined in!)

Brisbane was now waaaay north of our heading. So, we had to turn and beat northward back out to sea for 24 hrs, then turn and make our approach again, pointing even farther north of our target in order to make it. It was rough, grey, cold and miserable and it was my husband's 39th birthday. We would have arrived on his birthday if all had gone to plan......but that's ocean sailing in a little boat for ya, lol.