Over the Top

I am always writing blogs in my head.  It's finding the time to get them down on "paper" that is the problem.  There is also my compulsion to do things in chronological order. I try and and organize all the photos as we travel and write about them accordingly.  Today I am turning over a new leaf and writing about what is happening today.  It is Thursday night in Cairns, Australia.  Outside it's raining lightly as it has for the last two weeks.  Inside, Dylan is asleep in her bunk (scratch that, she is up and continues to be even after fourteen times through "These Are a Few of My Favorite Things) and Mark is in the kitchen making crustinis for our trip.  Well he was , he is  actually finished now and is trying to calm little DC back to dreamland.  You can see why getting these blogs written has got more complicated. We have been in the Marlin Marina for almost two weeks.  The marina is located in the heart of the city and we only need step off the boat to be right in the middle of everything.  The gorgeous Woolies supermarket is just two blocks away and the truck comes in the morning to collect wayward shopping carts so no worries about bringing our trolley right to boat.  We have ticked many things off our too do list, met lots of cruisers who are also heading north and gotten lots of walks in.  I can't imagine having waited through two weeks of rain without a marina berth.  It is very hard to get motivated to get in the dinghy in the pouring rain with a wiggly eight-month-old. 
From here we will sail to Darwin which is 1000 miles or so from here.  After we leave Cairns we will not see another town until we round Cape York.  We will be sailing near the Great Barrier Reef which closes with shore as we head north making navigation a bit more tenuous.  We will make stops at various capes and islets and the famed Lizard Island but we will be out there hanging off the edge of the world as we make our way to the top of Australia.  It will take us about three weeks to reach Darwin.  See you in the Northern Terri-tree (as they pronounce it) mate.  Below, a few pictures from our trip since Hamilton Island. 

Picnic Bay, Magnetic Island

Our first Mother's Day, Magnetic Island

Dylan on her way to town for some groceries

Preening rock wallabies, these guys live in the rocks at the marina breakwater

Hamilton Island

We stayed a week in the marina at Hamilton Island.  Hamilton is part of the Whitsunday Islands, a section of the Australian coast that is known for sailing and especially chartered yachts.  Hammo as the locals call it has private homes but is dominated by one very large resort with all types of accommodation.  The mode of transportation on Hammo is golf carts or the island buses which circle the island on a regular basis.  The little "downtown" has several restaurants, a bakery, a post office, a dive shop and a general store.  They have everything you could want to make you holiday complete.  We enjoyed being on land for a week with plenty of time to stretch our legs.  We also got in some pool time and re provisioned for our next trip out.  The video above is Dylan and Daddy on an early morning trip to the look out.