We thought we could get the engine fixed here in Airlie but realised how expensive the marina was so decided against it. Townsville it is then.
Alice had her 9th birthday so we invited Max, who we met last year in Southport to come to the park, few games, cake and dinner that night in a lovely Italian restaurant.
Other chores got done like fixed the sail, fixed the refrigerator, cleaned and refuelled.
The anchorage was great and the town a walking distance from the dinghy dock. They had a huge pool to use, for free but the water was cold.
When we left again we moved on very quickly, day hopping towards Townsville.
First stop was Magnetic Island, a beautiful place and great anchorage. We got couple of days of fun before we ended in a 3 day lockdown. Typical!
We skidded into Townsville marina at the end of the lockdown and was lucky enough to get the last mooring spot.
Life raft in for service, pump out again to get sorted, then we realised the alternator wasn’t working so ordered a new one to be sent to Darwin. Yes, we decided that we are going to leave as Indonesia had opened its borders again.
Townsville had a great water park for kids for free and a beautiful waterfront to walk by.
Queensland tropical museum was another hit, stayed there all day….
Soon enough our time here was up. All sorted so back to Magnetic for a night and then off to Fantome island. There, we saw an old leprosy colony…
Chris being towed to the beach…..
We then headed for Lizard island.
As we motor sailed, we realised we weren’t charging the batteries so in to Port Douglas. Honestly, I was starting to think somebody didn’t want us to leave with all the problems we were having.
The nice thing was that we got to meet the family we met in Panama about 4 years ago. Quick catch up and of course not a single photo.
Off we went after 2 nights on the dock only to have our auto helm chain snap. Now I was getting pretty pissed off. We stopped at a bay for Chris to do a quick fix and carried on. Chris also ordered a new chain to be flown to Lizard….
We rocked up the following morning in rather windy conditions and only few boats so happy indeed….
moodyfinn 
Hi ya’ll. You seem to be getting through Oz ok, and escaping the dreaded C word. Are you all fully vaxed? Shame about all the breakdowns you are having. We are in lockdown again in NZ, have been for three weeks now. But the governments elimination strategy seems to be working, so we will hopefully be back to normal soon. So you’re off to Indy next? That will be a culture shock. Safe travels. Peter and Jackie
Hey,
We got to sail straight to Thailand as Indonesia won’t open its borders….
We are fully vaccinated, just waiting for james second one next week…