Cruising Notes – Cairns Australia June 2003 

Australia is such a big country that we can only deal with what we have seen and done.

 Weather –

The weather follows a pattern of Highs and Lows traveling from west to east across the southern part of Australia. As a High leaves the east coast, it brings strong southeast trade winds north of 30 degrees latitude. This is really the time to move from New Cal to Australia.

In between Highs, the Lows or troughs bring weaker winds but now much weaker. The east coast north of about 20 degrees latitude is mostly dominated by the southeast trade winds which blow 15-25 and often more, day and night. So traveling up north inside the Barrier Reef, you are on a lee shore but at least the reef is supposed to break up the swell. We will see.

 Charts & Guides – We have paper copies of Australian charts for inside the Reef, and for our approach through Grafton Passage into Cairns we totally used electronic charts because we had no detail harbour chart on paper. The electronic charts were bang on accurate. Even got us in between the red and green channel markers absolutely accurate within 10 feet! Pretty good.

Cruising the Coral Coast by Alan Lucas is the best guide for the Queensland coast.

Customs & Immigration –

We had heard all kinds of nightmarish tales of how bad customs is here in Australia. Actually, they were a friendly bunch, helped us land our boat in 2 knots of current by catching and holding our lines in the pouring rain, and were really very nice and polite. New Caledonia gave us an information booklet with everything you need to know. You do, for sure, need to get a visa before arriving. This can be done in any country near Australia and is not difficult as long as you don’t want to spend more than 3 months in Australia. If you want longer, be prepared to get a chest x-ray, produce bank statements, proof of health insurance and maybe even a little essay on why you won’t be trying to permanently stay in Australia. We got our visa in New Caledonia – just a 3-month one, no problem, no fee.

Similar to New Zealand, Quarantine was looking for fresh fruits and veggies, eggs & dairy and fresh meat, which were taken off the boat. We had little fresh stuff for them to take. They looked at all our food, checking for little varmints that could get off the boat and harm the ecosystem here. They also looked at all our tapa, basketry, wood carvings for insects. Nothing was taken except the fresh stuff – they even took away our trash!

Thy very politely and delicately asked about firearms, saying “I know you yachties have hiding places on your boat that we would never find unless we tore the boat apart. So we are just asking if you have any firearms, and letting you know if you say no, and they are ever found, it could be serious, as Australia has strict gun laws.” We told them about our rubber-bullet pistol and showed it to them – no problem as it is also a flare gun and the only one we have. They did not confiscate it. The worst they would do if you have guns is to either seal it up in a locked compartment in the boat, or if you can’t do that they would hold them for you.

Quarantine charged 132.00 Aus (I think around 75 US) Customs & Immigration was free and even gave us a complimentary pen, floating key ring and town map of Cairns.

Don't plan on leaving the port you arrive at anytime right away. You have to get a Cruising Permit. And you have to wait to get this while they run you through the CIA or something I guess. You have to phone and make an appointment with Customs, then they fill out all kinds of paperwork and interview you as to where exactly you are going. All paperwork is duly sealed with official seals and stamped all over the place - by far the weirdest system we have seen so far. So, cool your heels, get the laundry done and provisioned up, make your appointment and go with the flow. 

Services & Boat Stuff –

Internet Cafes are a deal everywhere here. Lisa & Rob Harley at right own a small business Cairns Accommodation Network Services and offer internet use for $3 Australian per hour..  Great people.. If you need help give them a ring...

Laundry is very reasonable but a bit of a walk from the dock. Wash is $3 AU and a dry for $1.00 in a blast furnace of an industrial dryer.

There are several huge shopping malls all competing for your retail dollar, so prices are good if you find stuff on sale.

Provisioning is at Woolworth's (easy walking distance) or Coles which we never found.  Queensland is the only state where you cannot buy wine and beer at the grocery stores, so you go to Bottle Shops - not as convenient and not all that cheap.

Chandeleries are around, we are told, but a long walk from the waterfront - best to rent a car and go.

Cruising Notes – Cairns to Darwin July 2003   

Weather – When a High comes off the east coast of Australia, expect high winds for  a few days (25-35) depending how intense the high is. Otherwise expect regular trade winds. We even had a few days of calms.  

Books & Charts  – Cruising the Coral Coast by Alan Lucas and NT Coast by John Knight are the only 2 you need. The electronic charts were absolutely accurate and the few times we had to, we navigated in the dark with confidence. 

Supplies & Services – There really are none. Although, north of Cairns, you can get into Port Douglas or or Thursday Island if you need supplies. It is better to stock up in Cairns, because of price and availability. If you go to Thursday Island, they may quarantine you again and take your fresh veggies and fruit again unless you can assure them it is all from Australia. There is a big concern about critters coming over from Papua New Guinea via the Torres Strait, which explains their paranoia. 

Gove 

Gove harbour, on the northwest corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria, is ext to the town called Nhulunbuy. It has about 4000 people, all who work for Alcan in the bauxite mine or in industries & services supporting it. The entire town is owned by Alcan and consists of a small downtown (a 15 km hitchhike away) with all the necessary supplies & services and the very friendly Gove Yacht Club right in the harbour. We loved it, the people were so friendly, we wished we could have spent more than the couple of days or so that we were there. 

Weather – The Gulf of Carpentaria is very shallow (50 meters to 200 meters) and so can get very twisty and choppy in a developed trade wind. We had no wind on our crossing and motored a lot, though this is very unusual.

Books & Charts – NT Coast by John Knight is excellent and detailed for the whole way to Darwin and is all you need for a cruising guide. Our electronic charts were bang on accurate again and we also had our usual paper back ups. 

Supplies & Services – There is a chandlery, sail repairs and canvas place but we did not go there so can’t comment. You can haul out there. There is no road access from Gove to the rest of Australia, so you would have to get parts shipped or flown in.

There is a really great Public Library with free Internet access, a Woolworth’s grocery store (prices are high), but you have to wait till 2PM to buy grog, or you can buy ‘carry out’ beer by the case from the Yacht Club bar.

Water is free and available by a long hose that leads right out to the beach so you don’t have to drag jerries around.

Propane – is expensive to fill. About twice as much as in Cairns. Best to wait till Darwin where it is reasonable.

Laundry and showers are available, but you have to pay 15.00 deposit on the key, and a wash costs 3.00. The problem is you only get 10.00 back on your deposit, so it depends on how much laundry you need to do to make it worth it. 

Fuel is also available although they are not really set up for yachts – you have to dinghy over with your jerries, after  making an appointment by radio. The fuel area exists for the Alcan refinery and the big ships that move the ore. They are however very accommodating for us yachties. 

Darwin – Like Cairns, a nice tourist town, with around 90,000 friendly people.  

Weather – July/August is in the middle of the dry season expecting 1mm of rain per month. Don’t expect Mother Nature to wash all the salt off your decks. The nights are pretty calm, with the wind coming up in the afternoons to keep your wind generator happy. The bay can get choppy at these times, making for a long, wet dinghy ride to shore. 

Books & Charts – NT Coast by John Knight. 

Supplies & Services – Everything you want or need is here.

Boat parts - There are lots of chandleries and marine services so if you need it done, you can make it happen.

Marinas - There are three of good marinas – Cullen Bay, Bayview and Tipperary but you have to be ‘cleansed’ to get in. They are afraid if Zebra mussels so they have to treat your water systems and thruhulls before entering – maybe even have to haul you out (its all free of charge) if you haven’t antifouled within the last year. We dispensed with the hassle and anchored which is what we normally do anyway.

Provisions – from the anchorage in Fannie Bay, there are 2 little grocery stores within walking distance, bakeries, butchers and produce market on Saturday mornings. In Darwin, a short bus ride away, there is a big Woolworth’s  and Cole’s supermarket. All will freeze & vacuum pack your meats if you give them a day or 2 notice.

Fuel – you need to clear out to get duty free diesel, gasoline and grog. Within 2 days of arriving, you need to present yourself to Darwin customs downtown, and they give you the paperwork to fill out. When you are ready to leave, go back in and they will stamp your paper, entitling you to your duty free discount.

Water – at Fannie Bay, there is lots of free fresh water but you need to jerry jug it. That means you need to pay attention to the tides to limit the carrying distance.

Tides – speaking of tides, they are very large here. Your dinghy will get high and dry and it’s a long drag back to the water. Especially for our big dinghy. Luckily, the Darwin Sailing Club provides a couple of aluminum trolleys so you can haul easier.

Shopping – there is a nice artsy downtown walking mall, and a great big suburban shopping mall accessible by bus.