This is the BIG but ROUGH plan....

Time is truly flying. We have just arrived back from a busy three day Australian Volunteers International (AVI) pre-departure briefing in Melbourne. It was great to meet the other North Pacific volunteers and find we all have similar hopes and a few concerns.  Thanks to AVI changing the assignment start date I am now able to sail all the way with Ants. This will be my biggest/longest sailing voyage ever. Ants, in thirty five years sailing, has never done a leg as long as 1500 nautical miles (2700 km) either.  By the end of the conference we officially knew we had the assignment....phew.

Melbourne was really enjoyable, nice motel, Lygon Streets amazin' selection of Italian restaurants and good weather! When we walked along Lygon Street we were offered from a free glass of wine to a bottle of wine, bruschetta and coffee if we would dine in that particular establishment. We opted for a bottle of wine with a spectacular seafood special, yum. It was fun each morning to walk along the Fitzroy/ Carlton streets and admire the incredible Street Art and the mix of old and new buildings. We had a lovely evening catching up with friends Julie and Royce where we got a great recipe for an alternative choc dessert made with creamed avocado and coco. It may help Ants to survive the two years choc free in the Marshalls.

Lots of farewell dinners with family and friends makes leaving for the Marshall Islands seem more real. Ants's daughter, Kimberley, has been over visiting this week. Also Adelaide friends Kerry and Jenni were over for the weekend and helped scrub and partially anti-foul Breakfrees' bottom....gosh the water was a tad chilly!! (Oz translation: Bloody freezing). Its true that tide and time waits for no man.

Avocados for lunch?

Sailing in the Whitsundays October 2011

So our plan is ROUGHLY to leave Kangaroo Island for Sydney. About 1000 nautical miles

September 10th: KI; possible stops: Robe; Portland; Port Fairy; Lakes Entrance; Eden; Sydney

Crew: Ants; Jane; Greg Roberts

Arriving Sydney September 26th (Greg goes home to Trudy & the twins)
Leaving around 29th:
Sydney; Lord Howe/Elizabeth Reef; New Caledonia possible 8 day leg, about 1100nm

Crew: Ants; Jane; Kerry Hall; Brian McArthur

Arriving New Caledonia/ Noumea October 10th/17th 
onto Vanuatu (about 300nm) where Kerry will abandon ship
Leaving around October 17th for  Majuro, Marshall Islands, the longest leg, about 1500nm non stop!!
Crew: Ants; Jane; Brian Mc.
We will crack open a bottle of bubbly as we cross the equator....or spend weeks stuck in the doldrums!

Proposed arrival date 28th October.......As is apparent this is all very approximate and weather dependent. Also, as is obvious to the mathematically minded, the days don't quite add up....that's sailing for you.

When we leave  home next Monday we will still have both mobile phones and internet so communication through text and email is probably the best. Also excuse the occasional grammatical/spelling errors cuz this is a very casual blog. Chat soon. Jane & Ants XX

P.S. Ants helped to edit this post