Alex

Hello everyone!

Amazing or what?!

I’ve now been aboard Three Ships for around a week – and I’m settling into the sailing life nicely; especially as it so far seems to consist of a few short, bouncy sails, followed by much drinking and socialising! ‘tis excellent!

After leaving the Auberge hostel, I wandered down into the city – which is an odd place. Noumea is obviously very affluent, yet occasionally outside a shop selling designer clothes and handbags, the pavement will be cracked and a water pipe will be leaking into the street – a strange contrast. I found my way to the marina, only to find that there were two, and Fi and Chris were anchored off the other one! Luckily two nice ladies called me a taxi to the other one, as my French

Me!

stretches only to ‘Parley vou Anglais?’.

I had just bought myself a beer and was getting my book out for a 3 hour long read in a bar overlooking the marina when Fi and Chris came motoring past right in front of me in their dingy!

After settling in nicely aboard, we went for a shopping trip and found out how expensive New Caledonia really is – e.g. a medium box of cereal = £5, a medium bar of chocolate £5 – £8! Crazy prices!

We were invited aboard Cheshire Cat that evening for a drink with Mike and Diedrie, which turned into a very good evening with dinner and lots of drinks… but there were a few sore heads the next morning! We hung around in Noumea for another day, and visited a fantastic aquarium, where I saw many of the creatures I’ve now seen in the wild.

Chilling out in Cae Mae

We finally left the port for a small bay 7 miles up the coast, where we cleaned the entire underside of the boat by hand using a ‘hooker’, a kind of compressor with pipes so we could breathe. The bay and scenery were nice, although the weather was grey and overcast for the most part so we left fairly soon for a picturesque island 5 miles away. The snorkelling here was fantastic! It was my first time snorkelling on a reef – and it was like swimming the dream! After a few outings I saw so much – giant clams, (5x) reef sharks, turtles, stingrays, parrot fish, murray eels, puffer fish, shoals of tiny fish, shoals of huge fish, big bright red fish, mini bright blue fish, multicoloured angelfish etc etc. It really was amazing! We didnt get many really good photos this time, but Ill see what I can do for next time )

One of many Sea snakes

Seeing a 6ft shark for the first time was scary as you can imagine, but after circling a couple of times they soon wandered away. Seeing a turtle flying through the water first-hand was awesome too, I’d recommend reef snorkelling to everyone!

It was Chris’ birthday while we were on the island too, and 4 boats came over for a barbecue on the beach. The French had kindly built huts with picnic tables, and even collected wood for the barbecues etc! There were shearwaters nesting everywhere and crooning to us all night – such an odd noise, a sort of faint moaning interspersed with crying babies! Also, I must have seen around 10 sea snakes all over the island – which I found out afterwards are one of the most lethal in the world! (although their mouths are usually too small to get you)

Anyway, we had a great party, and I made my first solo-dingy trip which was ridiculously fast with only me in it – great fun!

Naval excercise right behined us!

We’re now sat back in Noumea, where we’re off for a meal with 32 other people as part of a rally to Bundaberg (Aus.), which should be good. Unfortunately my camera has broken (the lens is stuck open), but I have managed to get the pictures off, and as it is under warranty still it should be ok…

Well, all the best for now everyone, I hope your all well and have enjoyed the above novel.

Wish me luck with the ocean crossing… ) Al x

Hello again!

View over Noumea

Well I have arrived in New Caledonia! Its quite bizzare as everyone speaks french and this keyboard is mental! Firstly though Ill go back to where I left off.

After a great time at the farm I said my goodbyes and went back to Noosa to chill out at the beach again, which was lovely. Dave (my host) has also offered me some paid work if I fancy it after sailing – which I may well do, as its a nice place with nice people and I could do a little extra work for my food and accom… )

I was treated to Ice Age 2 on the coach down to Brisbane, and then wandered around the city and airport aimlessly for hoouurs. It rained for the first time since Ive been here too, much to the relief of all the farmers.

Three Ships when I eventually found her!

When I eventually tried to check in for my flight though, I was told that I needed proof that I was leaving the country, which I didnt have as Im sailing! I had to buy a refundable ticket back to Aus for over $1,200! (£550) Ill lose abot £60 in fees too! (   Oh well. I arrived very late at night and caught an expensive shuttle into the city to the hostel, where I wandered around for half an hour in the dark peering into windows, climbing through gates and ringing bells trying to find my key and room! Got there in the end though – and the above photo is taken from my balcony, which makes up for it!

As ever thanks for keeping in touch guys and gals, its so nice to jump on a computer and hear from you! All the best for now, and Ill be sure to post soon when Ive met Fi and Chris and done some sailing and snorkelling! )

Al xx

Hello,    thanks for the comments guys, its nice to hear from you!

One of my breakfast companions (wild)

The day after I last posted while I was still in Noosa I shared my breakfast with some parrots, which was a good start to the day, then went out on a 2 hour surfing lesson! We were all marked as noobies by red t-shirts and my group was taught by a french guy, who nicknamed me Caerphili. By the end I was standing and catching my own waves and riding them all the way to the beach! The guy said I had natural talent and should take it up, which I may well do – although the irish sea isn’t very tempting! I missed out on the sea kyaking as my bus left too early, but I’ll try and do that later. I did go out on the piss though, with around 5 british and canadian people I had met at the hostel, and my 5 american room mates to a place called Koala Bar!

The view from behind a service station...!

Was great fun, although Im suprised I didnt have a headache the next morning! I was so paranoid I would miss my bus at 9 the next day, I woke myself up at 6.10! Australia has a strange light about it that forces you awake at normally ungodly hours – Ive been up and about naturally by 6 or seven every day! (Wouldn’t get that at home…)  Unfortunatly I broke my watch at Gagaju, and have no way to keep time or an alarm. Leaving Noosa, after stopping at a pictureque service station, I arrived at Gympie and was driven by Alex (my hosts daughter) back to the farm – which is pretty big. So far Ive helped sort courgettes (called Zouchinees over here), beans and today I’ve been digging up and

One section of the farm

sorting ginger – which has been sweltering work. Its been around 25C by 8 in the morning, and high 30s during the day, but Dave and Sandi have a pool to compenate for it! Yesterday they took me sailing on their Catamaran, over to Fraser Island, which was really good fun, we saw dolphins twice and the boat was rediculously fast! )

All in all having a good time, although I am over budget! I didn’t realise Australia was such an affluant country! e.g. minimum wage is about 8 pounds an hour for low-key jobs, and so prices are very often more than in the UK! Especially beer!

All the best for now, I’ve a hundred kilos of ginger to dig, wash and box before heading to Noosa and Brisbane to fly to meet with Fi and Chris in Noumea! Cheers,

Al x