Brisbane - March’26

We’ve been landlubbers for just nearly two months now, but it feels (for me) that we’ve been off Lazuli for much longer than that :(

Quite a bit has changed in the last two months.

1. We’ve moved back home
2. The girls are back at school
3. I’m back working full time
4. Kristie is settling in to relief teaching
5. Lazuli has been sold and is now has a new owner (Dan and his family).
6. My “Midlife crisis” is officially over

It’s hard to put into words what the year was like, and it was different for each of us.

Before we take a trip down memory lane and look back on what we achieved, we’ll get into some facts and a quick trip summary.

The Vessel

Lazuli is a 2002 Beneteau First 47.7. Technically only 14.5m long, but with tender and fixings on the front we were 16.2m LOA.

Everything with boating is a tradeoff. There’s no “perfect” yacht (though I have few contenders in mind).
What works for one family in one area may not work for another. We visited plenty of other yachts over our time away and had plenty of opportunity to check out different layouts.

Lazuli has a 2.3m draft, which is great for sailing performance, but not so great for getting in close to anchorages (we were usually one of the furtherest out at anchor!).

You can opt for a shallower keel, and less stability; or go swing keel and short rudders: generally less performance and one more moving part that could malfunction.

Or go for a catamaran: great outdoor space, easier to dive off, and nice shallow draft plus lots of room, but then more expensive to buy/own and stay in marinas (if they have space).

In the end I think we did pretty well. We had:

• 4 cabins, so we got a room each.
• plenty of room for provisions
• room for 2 sets of dive gear, 5 tanks, a dive compressor, and a SUP.
• great/fun sailing performance - I, and all the sailors we had visit, really loved sailing her.
• a tender that was stable and not too heavy.

Doing it again there are two main things I/we would look to change:

1. A bigger and more protected upstairs area that Kristie could hang out in all weather and be less uncomfortable.
2. A bigger and faster tender! But again this is a tradeoff - small and light you can carry/pull it up the beach - heavy and fast you’re swimming out to it when the tide is in (so maybe 2 tenders is the answer ;)

Kristie has suggested that the biggest change for my next boat will be that I need to find a new wife!
So maybe I’ll just sail on other peoples boats :)

The Voyage

We cast off from Scarborough Marina on the 14th December 2024, and arrived back to Scarborough on the 17th Jan 2026, 400 days later!

We had a Garmin inReach device running the entire time. It would send our position every 10 minutes while we were moving.

You may have seen our track map.

I have a processed GPX file you can download here if you want.

According to the track our total distance was 8280km, or ~4470nm.

Take that with a grain of salt; however a direct course between Brisbane, Sydney, Lizard, Brisbane (with no exploring/tacking/detours) would be ~2500nm.

We had intended to get to Sydney to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart race, but got stuck in Yamba for Christmas.
We had a great time there with lots of swimming.

Our next major stop was Sydney for New Years Eve 2024.

On the way north we stopped in Port Stephens / Nelson Bay for a few weeks.

We met our boat friends Bella Amalfi, Exhale, and Nauti Kitty on Fraser Island on the way north. We hung out with them quite a bit in this area.

We did quite a few laps around the Whitsundays. We loved having guests join us there:

• The Meades
• Craig & Tal
• Jess & Chris
• Scott & partner

Amongst all of that we had few trips out and about with just us (and our boat friends that were still in the area).

Further north we had a great time exploring the reefs out from Cairns.

Lizard Island was the furthest north we got.

The Marinas

We did a reasonable job of staying out of marinas when we were in NSW: it was easy to find somewhere sheltered to anchor and get ashore every few days for supplies.

Once we got north our sailing pattern changed: we’d do bigger shops and stay out for longer. This meant we ended up heading into a marina more often.
We also chose to stay longer in Airlie and Mooloolaba for a bit of a “holiday”.

Here’s a list of where we stayed and for how long.

Breakdown by visit:

Coral Sea Marina, Airlie Beach (32 nights)

• Jun 28 (1) - pre-Meades trip
• Jul 3 (1) - between guest rotations
• Jul 8 (1) - between guest rotations
• Jul 13-14 (2) - jobs/shopping
• Jul 17 (1) - outboard replacement
• Jul 23 (1) - between guest rotations
• Aug 1 (1) - before heading north
• Nov 11 to Dec 4 (24) - month-long stay on the way south

Cairns Marlin Marina (17 nights)

• Sep 6-17 (12) - first visit, extended for dodger replacement
• Sep 23-25 (3) - between reef trips
• Nov 1-3 (2) - returning from Ribbon Reefs

Gladstone Marina (15 nights)

• May 9-16 (8) - fridge replacement, big provisioning
• May 29 - Jun 1 (4) - provisioning before heading north
• Dec 21, 30-31 (3) - via the Narrows, Christmas at home in between (boat berthed ~11 days total)

Mooloolaba Marina (12 nights)

• Apr 22-23 (2) - on the way north
• Jan 6-15, 2026 (10) - on the way south, catching up with friends/family

Yamba Marina (10 nights)

• Mar 3-12 (10) - sheltering from TC Alfred

Fuel/day visits only (not counted):

• Yamba Marina (Dec 2024) - fuel & water stop
• Spit Bridge marina (Sydney) - fuel stop
• Nelson Bay marina - fuel & water
• Hamilton Island Marina - 2hr berth to pick up guests

108 nights does seem a bit excessive and not very “Cruiser like”.

However, if you take off the 10 days we had to stay in Yamba for Alfred, the 24 days in Airlie that we stopped for a holiday and prepared Lazuli for sale, and our 10-day beach holiday in Mooloolaba that brings it down to 64 nights.

Cost probably averaged out at about $100/night for the marina stops. Sydney was the most expensive: $220/night! Yamba the cheapest (maybe $80/night).

Mooloolaba cost us ~$500 for a week. Considering the location, you’d be hardpressed to stay there that time of year for anywhere close to that price!

The Lost, the Found, and the Broken

Lost on/from Lazuli:

• I lost a beanie the very first night sail before I learnt how to turn on night mode.
• I had a polo shirt get blown off the boat and into the Broadwater.
• One of our Frisbees sunk into the Boardwater never to be seen again.
• Tennis Ball - I hit it for a 6! Couldn’t find it afterwards.
• Trent lost an ear pod in Coffs Harbour while climbing on/off the boat.
• The head of my electric razor sunk to the bottom after tapping it over the back of the boat to clean it
• Tender strap came off the davits and sunk very quickly
• My cap
• Special red lure
• 2x paddles that we had found
• Justin lost a hat sailing across to Stonehaven in the Whitsundays
• Another deep diver lure
• Had a hose nozzle shoot off the hose in the marina and sunk quickly

Things we found along the way:

• Cap
• Kayak Paddle - then lost
• Plastic baseball
• Straw hat
• Kids goggles
• Stubbie cooler
• Tender paddle - then lost
• Camo cap
• Snorkle
• Mask

As with any long trip, there were bound to be breakages or damaged equipment along the way.

• Navigation devices lost power the morning we went to leave Southport - fixed
• Kristina’s sunnies - binned
• Kristie’s earrings
• Freezer compressor not cooling - replaced
• Skylight seal leaking - sealed
• Boat hook tip broke off - fixed
• Wizzy washer (got maybe 5 small loads out of it) - binned
• Stern external hose fitting cup - replaced
• Horse shoe float - replaced
• Water maker - replaced parts
• Generator stopped working - bought a portable one
• Boom Vang - replaced the dyneema
• Broken torch - binned
• Paddle board - patched
• Kristie’s dive mask - glued
• Kristie’s reg hose - replaced
• Water hose kept bursting and had to keep trimming
• Jeremy’s dive computer - replaced
• Tender depth sounder needed some WD40
• Plate & cups - had a few break along the way (one got dropped and bounced down a rock face from quite a height!)
• 240 volt inverter fuse had corrosion so no Starlink for a day!
• Radiator hose leak - broken hose clamp
• Hot water system hose leak x2
• Chain plate for staysail needed replacing
• Tender winch rope snapped
• Tender engine padlock rusted shut

All things considered we got off lightly!

The Costs

B.O.A.T - Bring on another thousand! That doesn’t come close to what actually ends up happening.

The majority of the costs were more or less expected, however a few of the larger ticket items weren’t:

• extra time/work during haul out in the Gold Coast
• new fridge/freezer compressors
• new dodger and infill
• new outboard engine for the tender

Spending 108 nights in the various marinas adds up, but also the additional (ice cream) costs that go hand in hand with visiting a new place ;)

We also did a lot of tourist things along the way which added up:

• Sydney sightseeing (Bridge, Luna Park, Zoo, Underwater world, etc)
• Cairns (Kuranda, Crocodile Farm, Underwater world, etc)
• Gold Coast (theme parks)
• Hire cars

The Crew

^* Excludes alcohol related vomits off the back of Bella Amalfi!

By the time we’d finished our year we were a pretty well oiled machine.

We had got quite efficient at managing daily boat life, and heading out exploring.

Reflections on our time away

The following is a bit of a trip down memory lane, and some reflections from all of us on:

• Our favourite spots
• What we liked doing the most
• What we missed most from our land life while we were afloat
• And now we’re back on land what we miss from the life afloat

Jeremy

Doing this trip had been a dream of mine for many, many years.
I grew up sailing with my dad and family, then continued while at high school, and all through University with the sailing club there.

I got into some bigger boat sailing with Evan, when we did a few RYA courses with Southern Cross Yachting, culminating in a passage from Brisbane to Airlie Beach and back.
As it was a training trip, we mostly sailed non-stop, with only one night in a marina. We sailed past many of the island groups we visited on Lazlui, but never stopping and taking the time to explore.

Prior to that, I’d did a trip on MV Esperance Star (as a Dive Master) out to the Bunker Group in 2005.
I distinctly remember us anchored in the lagoon at Lady Musgrave Island and thinking to myself: “One day I will come back in my own boat”.
It might have taken 20 years, but it did happen, and I got to have my family along with me!

We saw so many amazing islands, beaches, reefs, harbours, and rivers, that trying to limit to just a “Top 5” favourite places is quite challenging!

Here goes:

1. Lizard Island
2. Sydney for NYE
3. Lady Musgrave Island
4. The Whitsundays
5. Middle Percy Island

#1 - Lizard Island

Right from the very start of planning, Lizard was going to be our final destination on the way north.
It’s a spot that many cruisers aspire to get to and for most its as far north as they usually go.
(and many that aspire to get there never end up doing so!)

And for good reason:

• It’s a long way north - 700km from Airlie
• It’s always windy - we had 20kts+ SE for all but 2 or 3 days we were there which makes heading south challenging
• There’s nothing really north until you get to Thursday Island

It was somewhere I knew we wanted/had to go to, but in all honesty I never actually looked into what was on the island or what it looked like (I did know where it was!).

Once you get there it is very easy to understand why so many want to end up here.
The anchorage is stunning: plenty of room, stunning scenery, and good holding. We ended up in the 2nd row of boats and even in 20-25kts it wasn’t unpleasant being on the boat.
In at the beach it was white sand, blue water, and warm. We could spend all day snorkelling a reef in the middle of the bay and be amazed by giant clams.
We had 17 nights here and could easily have stayed longer. The walks, swims, the afternoon drinks on the beach, and time at the Marlin Bar make it quite a hard place to leave!

#2 - Sydney for NYE

Watching the Sydney NYE fireworks from our own boat was always bucket list material.
We had planned to get to Sydney in time to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart, but got stuck in Yamba due to bad weather.
As it was we only just made it to Sydney in time, arriving in the very early hours of the 30th (thanks to Trent for helping on that one!).
We got a good spot that morning and didn’t move.

My brother-in-law Trent had helped sail down from Coffs and was still onboard. Justin, Jo, Scarlett and Alex drove down to Sydney (after spending the night with us in Coffs on the way!) and had two nights on board with us.

We enjoyed the afternoon getting ready, and then the entertainment of watching all the boats coming in to try and get a spot.

The fireworks display was something else altogether. The entire harbour lit up, boats everywhere, and the punch from the fireworks that close was impressive.

#3 - Lady Musgrave Island

As mentioned, getting to LMI was pretty special. We had fantastic weather, and good company. We didn’t spend too much time on the island, but we did do a lap walking around it.
We enjoyed plenty of snorkelling, swimming with turtles, and got to scuba dive with Manta Rays!

This was also our first taste of fresh Spanish Mackerel curtsey of some spearfishing pros there were anchored next to our friends on Exhale.
We’d never go on to catch anything as big as they got, but we gave it a good try!

Musgrave is also where our girls had their first experience on scuba. The safety of the lagoon was a perfect place to start.

#4 - The Whitsundays

You could claim it’s not just one place, but it is the destination for many yachties. There is so much to see here, you could spend months and not see everything.

We loved having guests to share this with. My favourite spots in the Whitsundays:

1. Chalkies - beach time, swimming, and turtle feeding
2. Hill Inlet - tourist trips - drinks on the sandflats
3. Whitehaven Beach - stunning white sand, swimming, catching up with boat friends
4. Stonehaven - sunset drinks
5. Manta Bay - watching the girls swim down to 6m to touch the statues

We were there for quite some time, but as we had mostly SE winds there were many spots we couldn’t/didn’t get to.
Next time!

#5 - Middle Percy Island

Middle Percy is unique. The anchorage is pretty small, and not that well protected, but a stunning location.
On the way north it was pretty busy. We met up with our friends Nauti Kitty there, and it’s also where we first met Vanetta.
We had a fantastic time on the island. Fresh coconut with pineapple + honey. Shared BBQ dinner, and delicious Cinnamon Snails from Sanne.

On the way south we had it mostly to ourselves. More fresh coconuts and marshmallows on the fire.
It’s hard to beat smashing open coconuts and then enjoying the flesh and water from inside.

There are so many other places that could easily make it on my top 5.

It wasn’t just the destinations that stood out, but our overall lifestyle and activities we did along the way.

The memories that standout the most are:

1. Spending time with my family
2. Sailing
3. Catching up with boat friends
4. Fishing
5. Social afternoons on the beach

Family Time

Whilst Lazuli is a decent size for a yacht, it’s still quite a bit smaller than a house.
As I was still working, I spent a lot of time downstairs. The girls were also down there most of the time as well so we spent a fair bit of time together.
Whilst not interacting (me working, them on iPads) it was good to be close to them.

When we weren’t down below in the boat, we tried to spend as much time off the boat as we could. Much of our family time was at the beach, on or in the water.
When on land (the mainland) we played the tourist quite proficiently and had lots of fun (and ice cream!).

In some respects it was much like a year long extended family holiday.

It’s not until you’re back on land and life gets busy that you realise how much you cherish moments like these:

Sailing

We did way more motoring than desired. But the sailing days were magical.
Lazuli is a fun boat to sail, in some regards like a big dingy: very responsive and fast.

As a sailor, it was a joy to sail whenever we could.

It looks big, the rig is large, but it was still easy to manage with just Kristie and I (the girls pushed the button for the electric halyard at the start of the trip).

One quote I’ve often said / lived by: “A bad day on a boat is better than a good day in the office”.

We did get some bad days, but we tried to make sure we were in the best place to manage it (often in a marina!).

Catching up with boat friends

We were lucky to meet some great people along the way. They made our trip memorable and added greatly to the enjoyment we had.
We would often go out of our way to meet up. And then sometimes not seeing them for weeks at a time.

It was great for the girls to meet the other boats that had kids. Their ability to just be friends and hangout with random kids was great to see.
They are still in touch with some of the kids they met along the way.

• We hung out with Guy, Cassie, and Rona at the start of the trip. Meeting them in Yamba, and travelling around Pittwater and Sydney together.
• Waymaker (Nat & Neil) we saw on the way north, and then had some drinks together while sheltering from TC Alfred in Yamba. Last drinks with them was in Mooloolaba.
• We met Bella Amalfi (Viv & Russ), Exhale (Kenny & Nic & Charlee), and Nauti Kitty (Pete & Jess & the Sniffy’s) at Arch Cliffs on Fraser Island. We said goodbye to Exhale when they left the Whitsundays, and had (too many!) drinks with Viv and Russ was at Mooloolaba just before we got home!
• Vanetta (Stuart & Sanne) we met at the BBQ we had with Nauti Kitty on Middle Percy. We caught up again with them at the Whitsundays and at Cairns. Those Cinnamon Snails are to die for! We just missed out on sharing their crays!
• Hoot (Bride & Andrew) we met when they finally got up to Lizard! Hung out with them there and on the reefs on the way back to Cairns and then south. Last boat catchup with them was in Gladstone, then recently back at their home in Brisbane.

We met plenty of others along the way. I loved how social (just about all) the cruisers were.
The only “downside” was the amount of drinks you’d end up having.
We tried to limit our sips ‘n dips to just Sunday. But then anytime you caught up with another boat that rule would get broken.

Fishing

All the gear, and no idea. That’s how I fish.

If we were moving, and it wasn’t a green zone we’d try and have our trusty red and white diver trolling along behind us.

We thought we were doing well with a few Mac Tuna to start with, but by the end of the trip they went back in.

I didn’t do that much reef or bait fishing. I carried a large bag of frozen squid around for a few months before we finally fed it to the friendly turtle at Chalkies!

I landed at least 4 Spanish Mackerel, one nice tuna, and a few sharks.

The biggest was 130cm, and that was fun to get onboard but challenging to fillet when your bait board is only 55cm!

Lazuli was not a fishing platform. But we made do.

The Spanish Mackerel was delicious, however we also enjoyed tuna whenever we could. Freshly made tuna sushi (thanks Kristie and Emma!) and sashimi is tough to beat!

Thanks also to other boat friends we met along the way that supplied us with fish :)

Social afternoons on the beach

It sort of goes hand-in-hand with catching up with boat friends, but enjoying afternoon drinks on the beach, whilst waiting for sunsets over the water was most memorable!
We enjoyed many a drink and a laugh while watching the sun go down.

Sharing the sunsets as a family, or with friends, was rather special.

The locations that stand out the most are:

• our first sunset drinks on Fraser Island with Bella + Exhale + Nauti Kitty
• drinks on Chalkies Beach with our Whitsunday visitors
• BBQ/fire at Great Keppel Island with Exhale + Bella + others
• fire/dinner at Percy with Nauti Kitty + Vanetta
• fire/dinner at Digby with Nauti Kitty
• evening drinks on Whitehaven with Nauti Kitty, Viv & Russ, and Craig/Tal.
• every afternoon on Lizard island with anyone that turned up!
• afternoon drinks on Sudburry Cay with Hoot

Despite writing all the above, it still doesn’t feel like it conveys just how awesome it was to be travelling to these incredible places and meeting amazing people!

All of the above was great, but was there anything I missed from our land life while we were afloat?

Friends and Family

We had Starlink, so online communication was never and issue, and we never felt out of touch with friends and family.
We had many a FaceTime to our friends and family back home.

But, that isn’t quite the same as hanging out and spending time with family and friends.
We did miss out on a few big birthday parties and celebrations.

Aircon

There were a few times later in the year while up north that I missed all our Aircon units!
It was hot and sweaty on the boat with no escape.

Exercise

Whilst we were generally pretty active swimming and exploring, you could go days without leaving the boat.

Sailing life still kept us in some sort of shape, but I lost a good 15min off my 5km Parkrun time over the year (slowly getting that back now!).

Also, see above sections about afternoon drinks :)

Working Full time

Yeah no, I didn’t miss that!

But I do want to thank the team at Intelligent Pathways for supporting my remote/part-time work - I wouldn’t have been able to do this trip without working!

Additional thanks to my other ‘sponsors’: A Wood Shed, Dressed Timber Products, and Lindsay Meyers!

Now that we’ve been back home for just over a month, it’s a good time to look back and see what part of that life do I miss now?

The Pace of Life

We’re back in the Rat Race now. Everything feels rushed with lots jobs to do, people to see, and places to be, and the days of the week are flying by at an alarming rate.

Life (for me) on the boat was much simpler. We moved when we could, and when the weather said otherwise we didn’t.
And when we did move, we might be sailing for 5-10hrs. There wasn’t much that had to be done other than keeping Lazuli going and not running into islands, reefs, or other boats!
Plenty of time to think, and just take in the ocean and scenery (and wait for a fish to hook itself onto our lure!).

Also being on the boat by ourselves, there wasn’t that obligation (nor opportunity) to go out and catch up with others.
It felt like we had more time to ourselves and didn’t have to share it.

Not dealing with traffic

Once or twice over the year we had to wait for another boat to manoeuvre out of where we needed to get to.

Being back home and driving, sitting in traffic - yep I could happily do without that.

The number of idiot drivers seems to have increased, so many trying to undertake you just to get a car length ahead, like that will make their day go better!

Wine & Cheese

We never needed much of an excuse to have a drink and crack open some cheese! Back on land I’m trying to cut back (haven’t had a drink in over a month so far!).
So yes, I did enjoy the drinks, but probably for the best in the long run that I cut down!

The constant change of scenery

We are home. Days are spent at home, or at school, or somewhere in-between (maybe Cubs or Woolies!).

I’ve been into the city once for work yet, but that is only be a minor change in scenery and nothing new.

Back on Lazuli we were usually changing locations every day or so.
Some places we’d have more than a few days, but we were always off exploring that location, and then on to somewhere new.

Yes we can go out exploring on weekends, but we still don’t get the varied change of view.

Waking up to a different bay, island, cay, reef every few days was something we took for granted being on the boat and cruising, but I definitely miss that now.

I’ll be cruising vicariously through our friends that are still out cruising the coast!

That’s my recollections done, time to move on to the rest of the crew.

Kristie

Top 5 locations.

1. Mackay Cay
2. Chalkies Beach
3. Watsons Bay (Lizard Island)
4. Radical Bay (Magnetic Island)
5. Athol Bay (Sydney)

#1 - Mackay Cay

We visited so many amazing places on our sailing adventure, but my most favourite would have to be Mackay Cay.
The tiny, secluded sand island was surrounded by colourful corals, brilliant white sand and crystal clear waters.
We enjoyed the day diving, snorkelling & swimming. There were a couple of tourist boats during the day, but by 3pm they had left and we had the place to ourselves.
It really was magical enjoying sunset sips & dips on our own private sand cay.

#2 - Chalkies Beach

We spent 5 weeks sailing in circles around the Whitsunday Islands.
There are so many amazing anchorages in the Whitsundays but my favourite was Chalkies Beach on Haslewood Island.
It shares the same white sand & turquoise waters that you find at Whitehaven Beach, without the crowds.
We enjoyed many sunset sips & dips on the beach with amazing views back towards Whitehaven.
We also loved the visits from the resident green turtle.
He would turn up as soon as you arrived and make his way straight to the back of the boat for a feed.
We made sure that we had the squid prepared for his arrival, and we all enjoyed hand feeding it to him.

#3 - Lizard Island

Lizard Island was the furthest north we sailed.
It’s a very sheltered anchorage and is the perfect place to wait for the right weather window to head out to the Ribbon Reefs.
We anchored in Watson Bay with 20+ other boats.
We were close enough to the reef that I could jump off the back of Lazuli and enjoy a snorkel every day.
The coral is still recovering from cyclone damage a few years back, but there was a surprising range of marine life to find each snorkel.

#4 - Radical Bay

Radical Bay on Magnetic Island is a postcard perfect beach hugged by gorgeous granite headlands, turquoise waters and soft sand.
I walked across from Horseshoe Bay a couple of times.
It was a steep but rewarding track through eucalyptus forest with great views.
On one of my walks, I was lucky enough to have the whole beach to myself apart from a shy echidna.
Another time we arrived by tender, and we all enjoyed a swim and climbing the rocks.

#5 - Athol Bay

We anchored in Athol Bay, Sydney Harbour for New Years Eve.
The frequent ferries and their wakes, meant that I didn’t enjoy the anchorage during daytime hours and was keen to spend as much time on land as I could.
But as the evening settled in, and the ferries stopped, it turned into the perfect place to be.
We welcomed in the New Years, surrounded by fireworks and had perfect views of the Opera House & Sydney Harbour Bridge.
It was a spectacular, once in a lifetime show!

Kristie’s Top 5 Dives

1. Bait Reef
2. Lady Musgrave Island
3. MOUA
4. Heron Island
5. Cod Hole

#1 - Bait Reef

Bait Reef was a quick sail out from the Whitsundays and a great spot to spend a few days of good weather.
My favourite dive would have to be when I was solo diving the Stepping Stones and 2 humpback whales swam past!
It all happened so quickly and I wasn’t prepared with my camera.
But one whale turned around for another look, and checked me out as he slowly swam past! So awesome!
I also loved my drift dives at Manta Ray Drop Off.
There was a stunning coral wall down to 30m.
The best coral wall that I saw on our trip.
It was full of life with huge schools of fish, turtles, eels, rays & nudibranchs.

#2 - Musgrave Island

It was pretty special to take Kristina and Emma for their very first scuba dive while at Musgrave Island.
We dived at the turtle cleaning station in Musgrave Lagoon, and we had plenty of turtles to hang out with.
It was perfect dive conditions for the girls with warm water, no current and glass conditions on the surface.
I also had a couple of fantastic drift dives at Manta Bommie.
The mantas were hanging out in their usual spot, getting cleaned by the wrasse.
I would have stayed forever if I could have.

#3 - MOUA

MOUA (Museum of Underwater Art) was absolutely amazing! I did a solo dive with perfect conditions both above and below water.
I loved hanging out in the Cathedral with all the statues down at 18m.
I spent a good 45min having a close look at all the details on each statue and filling my memory card up with photos.

#4 - Heron Island

Heron Island was the first dive sites we visited in QLD, and it definitely spoilt us.
It was lovely diving in a 3mm wetsuit and not getting cold.
We dived Heron Bommie & Pam’s Point.
We saw close to a dozen turtles on each dive (they were everywhere!) and plenty of reef sharks.
We also saw a manta ray (swam past briefly), eagle rays, giant moray eels, nudibranchs, octopus, and pipefish.

#5 - Cod Hole

They are no longer feeding the cod at the Cod Hole, which meant there wasn’t as many friendly cod hanging around.
But it was still a fantastic couple of dives.
With viz 30-40m we explored the stunning coral and huge schools of fish.
On one of the dives we saw a cod emerge from the blue, slowly making its way towards us.
The closer it got, the bigger it got! It was very friendly and came right in close to check us out.
It didn’t mind getting its photo taken and even posed for a selfie.

When we were on Lazuli, what did you miss from home?

My independence. Decisions were made based on wind, waves, tides & rain.
And the weather didn’t really care what or when I wanted to do something.

What didn’t you like about being on Lazuli?

Feeling seasick! No, it didn’t get better. Yes, I did feel seasick right up to the end.

Now that we’re back on land, what do you miss about Lazuli?

I miss our social life and the sunset sips and dips. We made so many amazing friends along the way.

Kristina

The following is Kristina’s Top 10 places she visited, as recounted by her.

#1 - Zoe Falls

Zoe Falls was my most favourite place we visited.
There was a waterfall with a creek and a pond at the bottom that was full of jungle perch fish.
I enjoyed swinging on the Tarzan swing and seeing how deep I could get when I landed in the water.
I also liked exploring and kinda Parkouring on the rocks down the creek until mum told me to stop because there could be crocodiles.
Another thing I liked doing at Zoe Falls was swimming to the edge of the pond and finding a ledge to sit on so that my head could be under the waterfall.
The water in the waterfall was warmer than the water in the pond.

#2 - Arthur Bay

Arthur Bay on Magnetic Island is my second favourite spot that we visited.
It was good for exploring with giant rocky headlands.
I found an overgrown path which started us in the right direction, then we needed to make our own path up the rocks to the top of the headland.
It was a great view from up there!

#3 - Yellow Patch

Yellow Patch is a big, steep orange sand hill. We tendered over from Lazuli with some of our friends from Exhale.
We climbed up the top, leaving footprints in the sand.
Then we played a long game of tag with Charlee and her pet dog Augie.
After we finished the game of tag, we then had fun rolling down the sand dune, getting covered in orange sand, making us look like orange Doritos.

#4 - Arch Cliffs

At Arch Cliffs on Frazer Island we met some new people who have turned out to be best friends.
Argie & Kyan from Nauti Kitty and Charlee from Exhale.
We enjoyed playing together on the Tarzan swing, chiseling coffee rock and making different pies /pancakes (Argie brought an actual pick axe) and playing on the swim mat behind the boats.

#5 - Digby Island

At Digby Island we had a sleep-over with the Sniffy’s on the beach which we very much enjoyed.
The Sniffy’s brought in a swag and we squished four kids into that for the night, while mum slept on a tarp.
Before we went to bed, we gathered sticks and rocks and made a big fire for everyone.
When we got bored, we got more sticks and made an even bigger fire for us kids.

#6 - Percy Island

We caught up to Nauti Kitty and the Sniffys at Percy Island.
There was an A Frame full of hundreds of names, made from all sorts of things, from boats that had visited Percy Island.
We put our name Lazuli on a plank of wood, using finger knitted blue strings.
We then decorated the border with shells and hung it up for everyone to see.
The Sniffys and I worked hard, using some shovels we found on the beach, to dig a massive hole in the sand.
It was so big that it was still there when we visited 6 months later.

#7 - Cairns

When we were in Cairns, we were getting a new Bimini made for Lazuli.
They took the old one away so we had a giant tarp over the boom so that we still had shade.
Emma and I got a bit bored, so we made a cubby up on the deck.
We used the beach mats, and put the couch cushions on top of them, so we could still be comfortable.
We also took up our iPads, battery packs & water bottles.

#8 - Manta Ray Bay

We visited Manta Ray Bay at the Whitsundays.
Manta Ray Bay is full of fish, not Manta Rays.
There was no real Manta Rays, but it was named after the giant Manta Ray underwater statues.
It was lots of fun to dive down to them.
Every time we went there we got bombarded by all types of fish.
One time when we were there with Scarlett and Alex, we took our swim mat along.
We spent about half an hour luring a fish onto the mat with chunks of bread.
Alex and I were on the mat and freaked out!
We then scooped it up into a bucket but we were made to set it free.

#9 - Low Isles

Low Isles had so many reef sharks in the water. They swam in circles around Lazuli.
We stood on the side of Lazuli and threw chunks of stale bread for the sharks to eat.
They snapped it up a bit at first, but they soon gave up on thinking it was food.
Instead, all the bread got eaten by the bat fish.

#10 - Chalkies Beach

We had fun at Chalkies Beach in the Whitsundays.
Every time we went there, a turtle would come to the back of our boat and we could hand feed it squid.
It was a bit yucky holding the squid but the turtle loved it and we made some good memories.
The beach was hard to get too at low tide because there was this mini coral reef that was sticking out of the water.

When we were on Lazuli, what did you miss from home?

I missed seeing my friends and family.

What didn’t you like about being on Lazuli?

I didn’t like the rocking and the over nighters because they made me feel sea sick.

Now that we’re back on land, what do you miss about Lazuli?

I miss all the beaches and the swimming we got to do.

Emma

The following is Emma’s Top 10 places she visited, as recounted by her.

#1 - Yellow patch

Yellow patch was my favourite place we visited.
It is a giant sand hill made of orange sand.
We climbed up the steep, orange sand dune to the top to play a game of tag.
After a short game of tag, we bunny hopped back down the steep slope.
Us kids had fun rolling down the sand dune getting covered in sand. At the end, we all looked like Doritos.

#2 - Manta Ray Bay

My second favourite place was Manta Ray Bay in the Whitsundays.
It was pretty fun to throw bread at our visitors while they were snorkelling.
The fish raced towards the bread crumbs to be the first to get the snack.
The fish got pretty close to our visitors.
There was a manta Ray statue six meters down from the surface.
Me being me, I needed to dive down to touch it.
I managed to dive down, touch the statue then hold my breath for a quick photo.

#3 - Lizard Island Research Station

At the Lizard Island Research Station we met Kiya.
Kiya’s parents manage the research station so they live there.
We made some Kapok balloons by shoving fluff from the kapok seeds into a balloon colour of our choice.
Kristina, Kiya and I took the kapok balloons swimming and discovered that they were really buoyant.

#4 - Ribbon Reefs

I loved scuba diving on the Ribbon Reefs at the Cod Hole and Steve’s Bommie.
We saw a huge cod hiding in the shallows of a dark crack.
Mum let me swim really close to it. It was only 2 meters away.
At Steve’s Bommie, about 6 meters down, we saw a lion fish amongst the coral.
There was also little nemos hiding in anemones. They were so cute.

#5 - Arch Cliffs

At Arch Cliffs we met Charlee and the Sniffy’s.
We had fun doing fancy jumps off the tiny sand cliffs into the fresh water creek.
It was also fun digging up the coffee rock to make mixtures with the sand.
The coffee rock sand was brownish black but was just like normal sand.
We used the Sniffy’s pickaxe to help dig up the coffee rock.

#6 - Kingfisher Resort

Grandma and Grandpa Ford came to visit us while we were at Kingfisher.
They stayed in the resort. We swam in the swimming pool and rested in the heated spa.
At nigh-time we went on the guided night walk. We found some glow in the dark scorpions.
The ranger had a UV light to help us see them.
They glowed bright aqua under the light. They looked really cool.

#7 - Zoe Falls

One of the places I liked visiting was Zoe Falls on Hinchinbrook Island.
We anchored in Zoe Bay, then took the tender into the shore (watching out for crocodiles) and did the walk to Zoe Falls.
The water was freezing (mum thinks it was warm) and the Jungle Perch kept nibbling at my feet.
But there was a rope swing on the other side that was really fun.
Although I had to swim across the tiny lake to get to it.

#8 - MOUA

Snorkelling MOUA (Museum of Underwater Art) was really cool.
There was lots of underwater statues that loomed over the coral and/or rubble.
The water was warm but a bit murky.

#9 - Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven is a very white beach that used to be a volcanic area.
The sand is made up from 98% silica. Mummy wrote Lazuli in the sand (our boat name) and Justin flew his drone and we all jumped for a photo.
Our friend Charlee brought her paddle board from her boat to the beach so we could all have a go.
I had to wait on the swimming mat while Kristina & Charlee were paddle boarding together because there wasn’t any room for me.

#10 - Camden Haven RSL

We went out to dinner at the RSL club in Camden Haven.
After dinner, Kristina and I made a monstrosity with the leftover food & drinks.
It looked disgusting and I felt like vomiting when I sniffed it.

When we were on Lazuli, what did you miss from home?

Probably school and seeing all my friends.

What didn’t you like about being on Lazuli?

I didn’t like all the travelling, and I hated the overnighters because they were scary and unpleasant.

Now that we’re back on land, what do you miss about Lazuli?

I miss all the different places we got to go and all the souvenirs we got.

Favourite quotes from the year

Kristina:

1
2

I am going to miss Lazuli. We’ve had a lot of great adventures on it. 
Just not going to say that to dad cause otherwise he’ll make us go on another boat

Jeremy & Emma:

1
2

Daddy: I am so lucky to have 3 beautiful girls.
Emma: So I’m confused. Is it me, Kristina and Lazuli, or me Kristina and mummy? 

One massive thanks to Kristie

I could not have, and nor would I want to do this trip without Kristie and the girls.

Other than the wives/partners we met while out sailing, not one of the wives/partners of my friends has expressed any interest in doing (or going through) what Kristie did; most of their responses would not be suitable for publishing online!

They all expressed admiration for what Kristie did, what she went through (the constant seasickness), and stated many a time how lucky I am that she did what she did.

And I couldn’t agree more; my midlife crisis, my dream sailing trip, they year away with our family, could not have happened without her, and I’m blessed beyond belief that we could do the trip together, and that we finished it together.

Final transmission

This is Lazuli, Over and Out.

Tuesday 30th December - Gladstone Marina

Earlyish start so we could finish packing.

We loaded up dad’s ute, and he dropped us at the domestic Airport terminal so we could collect our hire car.

We’d left it too late to book a train back up. But having the hire car (a bonus that we got upgraded to a nice Forester) meant we could take more stuff back.

Hadn’t made it too far from the airport before we ran into traffic… and it was then slow all the way to the 110 zone.

Stopped for lunch at the Traveston services (where we stopped on the way south!).

Uneventful drive. Girls watched movies on their iPads, I had music. Kristie did some napping.

We collected a small Woolies order on the way through Gladstone on the way to the marina; we had stocked up on meat before we’d made the decision to head south for Christmas so we still had a lot of food onboard.

Ended up using two full trolleys to get all our stuff from the car down to Lazuli.

Back onboard, and the girls weren’t impressed with finding a gecko in their bathroom!
I tried to throw it overboard but didn’t have a good enough grip, and it landed on the deck and scurried inside the cover for the spinnaker pole :(

Wednesday 31st

I had to drop the hire car back to Gladstone airport. Made the most of the car and went to Coles and Woolies on the way to get some bread.

The girls and Kristie all made the most of the aircon in the lounge (it’s also midge free!).

Back to Lazuli for lunch.

I took some jerrycans up to go top up our fuel.

We both had a nap before the afternoon/night celebrations commenced.

We walked up at 4pm to meet up with Tandanya at the tables up at the Marina, and enjoyed sips and dips with them.

The three girls (Kristina, Emma, and Mia) put on a “band performance” in the lounge.

There was a NYE festival in the marina parklands which we planned to head to.

There were two rides (a spinny tea cup ride, and a bungee trampoline), mini golf, Dagwood dogs, and fireworks at 8pm.

They followed up with a ride on this with Mia.

Then they pressured me into going with them so I could spin them really fast.

The last time I felt this sick was on the rides at Coffs on the way south!
I may not get sea sick… but these rides do me in.

Time for some food and to sit down ready for the fireworks.

I missed out on one.

Fireworks were pretty good.

After the fireworks, the three girls spent quite a while running around with glow sticks and other glowy things they’d bought there.

Got the girls back to Lazuli and into bed.

There were going to be midnight fireworks that the girls both wanted to watch.

Kristie watched a movie while I napped!

Woke up Emma (couldn’t rouse Kristina) for midnight fireworks.
We got off the boat to sit on the marina next to us and watch them.

Thursday 1st January 2026

We leave Gladstone today as we have a shortish weather window to get south. Tandanya would be heading the same way at the same time as us.

Aiming to head to Pancake Creek tonight.

We were waiting for tide to start heading out as we didn’t need to fight that all the way there, and we had to wait until the tide was up a bit to get into Pancake Creek.

Took the rubbish up to the bins and did the usual boat prepping.

Kristie went to lounge and waited in the aircon there until we were ready to depart.

We finally took off at 10am.

Lure in, but didn’t catch anything.

Kristie napped along the way.

We had some light rain, and Easterly winds so we motored the whole way.

The mozzie spray came out early in anticipation of our time in the creek.
We were all prepped before we started heading in.

Anchored in more or less the same spot as last time, dropping anchor at 3:30pm.

Mozzie coils deployed as soon as we were done with anchoring!

Time for Sip’s ‘n dips.

We watched Tandanya come in not long after us. They hadn’t prepped with mozzie spray and they were doing the “mozzie dance” while trying to drop anchor!

As we were in Pancake Creek, we had to have Pancakes for dinner :)

Friday 2nd

Anchor up at 6:15am and followed Tandayna out the creek.

We both had our wet weather gear on/ready to put on.

Motored around the headland and kept motoring until we could get the sails up.

Sail up at 7:30am.

Rain! We had 9-12kts ESE most of the way. Apart from the rain it was good sailing conditions (apparently I was the only one that thought that!)

No autopilot as there was no sun and the voltage drop meant it kept dropping out. I turned off Starlink to help with power but still didn’t do much.

We had to drop the sails and motor around the shallow bit just before the main channel into the river.

Anchored in the middle of the river just past the tug boats.

Nice and calm!

Saturday 3rd

Again we followed Tandanya out of the river, leaving at 6:30am.

Lure out when we could (there’s a few green zones) but no luck :(

Not much wind, but managed to get the sails up at 8:30. We could only sail for 2 hours then the wind dropped, and we had to motor again :(

Saw some dolphins on the way.

Got all the way to Tangalooma and dropped anchor just north of the jetty in what we later found out was apparently Tandanya’s spot :)

Haven’t been off the boat since we left Gladstone.

Sunday 4th

Tender into beach for a swim in the resort pool and hot spa.

Tandanya joined us there as well.

I ordered some hot chips and drinks as soon as the kitchen opened at 11am.

An hour later we still hadn’t got our chips, so Kristie went up to check; they’d given them to someone else.

One of the staff brought out our chips and did the “Sorry it happened can I offer you a drink?” which Kristie promptly said “Yes please, I’ll have a cider!”.
I think she was a bit taken aback assuming we just say “no it’s ok don’t worry about it”.

Went to the shops for ice cream and bread, but lost Emma on the way.
She’d run off to catch up with Mia, but went the wrong way. Then we left and by the time Emma got back to the pool to look for us (she knew she was lost) we weren’t there.
She found one of the staff, who walked her to the boss, who then took her over to the shop to find us.
She was quite relieved to find us (and us to find her!).

I took the girls back to Lazuli for what was left of the afternoon, while Kristie stayed behind on land.
She found a hot shower!

The girls and I came back in for sunset drinks at about 5:30pm, but had a bit of a delay as a dingo came past.
(we then noticed the “no food here due to dingos” sign at the tables!)

Tandanya joined us on the beach, and we helped pull their tender up the beach a bit.

No sunset as it was too cloudy.

We all walked over to go and have dinner at the Sand Bar and Bistro with Tandayna.

Ran into old Unidive friends Tam and Dav, who were also parked out the front of Kingfisher in their yacht.

With dinner done, we went for a night walk.
We had purchased UV lights after our time at Kingfisher on the way north (back in April!) and we hadn’t yet used them.
The same tree trunks still had the scorpion hives in them, so we spent quite a bit of time looking at them (they glow under UV light!).
Ended up chatting to quite a few other random people that Kristina told to come and have a look at the scorpions.

Went looking for the sugar glider, and then the eel under the bridge by the resort pool.

Kristie found a sugar glider, but the girls and I were too far ahead and it was gone by the time we got back to Kristie.

Monday 5th

Left Kingfisher at 8am to head south.
Sheridan Flats is very shallow and we need to do it on high tide.
We had timed it perfectly for the high, and the shallowest we saw was 3.1m depth.
Two other yachts were heading through at the same time (a large cat, and “Tequila Mockingbird” - Tam and Dav’s yacht).

Had the lure out but brought it in for the shallows.

I worked once we were through the shallow sections and left Kristie at the helm.

Dropped anchor down off Tin Can Bay (near were we stopped on the way north).

As soon as we had the anchor down the girls packed their bags and I dropped them into the shallows so they could walk to their motel.

They were abandoning ship and taking the easy way to Mooloolaba!

Kristie walked to IGA, then they all got a courtesy bus to the local bowels club for Chinese dinner.

Sometime in the afternoon, all the navigation instruments shutdown and wouldn’t turn back on.
(coincidentally the same thing had happened just before we started sailing south with Justin!).

I had purchased a busbar to replace the setup that was there, but had never installed it. Now was the time to do it!
Sweaty work, but when all done the instruments came back on, and much less voltage drop than before!

Justin turned up about 8:30pm, and I picked him up from the boat ramp and we went back to Lazuli for Zooper Doopers!

Tuesday 6th

Up early as we’ve got a big day today. We had the anchor up at 6am and started motoring towards Inskip.

With high tide not for another few hours, we were pushing hard against the incoming tide the whole way.

I had called the CoastGuard the day before to get updated navigation points, and they were still more or less inline with what our Boating app had and used on the way north.
They had also mentioned the conditions were about as good as it ever gets!

Logged onto CoastGuard for the crossing.

We were the first boat heading out, but two others started following not long after we got past the barge landing areas.

A very easy bar crossing; maybe 0.5m swell max, and no wind. Still pushing against the tide.

Wind was maybe 8knts or so, but SE, so we motored out across the top of the Wolf Rock conservation area (we were trolling).

The large cat had overtaken us and was heading out on a SE heading past the cape, we followed.
They turned and set sails to sail south (maybe just west of south).

We did the same, and our heading would put us halfway between Noosa and Double Island (the wind was supposed to be more East!!).

We followed, maybe sailing higher into the wind than them, but slower (they would have been motor sailing for sure!).

The closer we got to Noosa, the more the wind swung around to the East. It eventually let us sail around Noosa headland without having to tack.

Justin and I took turns sailing, but it was mostly J at the helm.

At one point we hooked something massive, it took our line and ran; with J not letting more line out it busted off :(

The wind dropped a bit when we were down towards Old Woman Island.
Once it dropped below 8kts we started motor sailing.

Dropped the sails and set fenders and lines before we got into the river.

We had come in just after low tide. The river entrance was fine, but coming past the park on the left (and trawlers on the right) it got down to 2.6m.

I logged off at 6:30pm.

Berthing was easy (but still nerve wracking) - I reversed down the arm, and could then drive forwards into the berth.
Our allocated berth was nice and wide, and with Kristie and Russ on the dock to catch lines it went very smoothly.

That was my day!

Kristie and the girls

While J and I were sailing, the girls hung our in their hotel until the 10am checkout time!

Kristie drove Justin’s car down to Mooloolaba and checked into the Marina to get the keys.

With that done, they walked into town for lunch.
Then off to the beach for swim; they got there and realised they didn’t have any of the googles.
Back to the car to check, but they weren’t there.

They ended up just swimming across from marina, and borrowed a pair of goggles from lifeguard.
They were too big for Emma.

With the swim done, it was back to the marina for a hot shower, then across to the park for “Sonic Boom Beach Mission” that had free face painting, Jenga, and ball games.

Back to the marina to charge the phone and some iPad time while waiting for Lazuli to come in.

The girls were on lookout at the end of the marina arm as Lazuli came in, and Kristie caught lines with Russ (thanks Russ!).

With Lazuli tied up and secure, the four of us and Justin walked down to get fish and chips, however they had closed at 7pm (it was 7:01) :(

Justin drove the girls to Savvy Squire while I walked.

Enjoyed the dinner there, then J drove home.

Wednesday 7th

I had quite a bit of work to catch up on today (after not getting any done the day before).

Kristie filled up the water, hosed the boat down, and did a trip to the laundry.

I flushed tender engine then got stuck into some work.

Lunch on board, then the girls got ready to have a swim with Rach.

They also enjoyed an ice cream, and another round of face paint from the Mission.

Many moons ago, Viv and Russ (and Nic & Kenny) had mentioned that Wednesday night at the marina was “Steak Night”.
We had been looking forward to that.

I cooked up sausages for the girls, while we went out to dinner.

Turns out that “Steak Night” is now “Rice Boi Night”. Viv and Russ, and some other cruisers were already there.
Delicious food.

When Russ had caught our lines yesterday, he had mentioned how they’d given up drinking and were on to day 7 of no booze (Kristie and I were equal parts surprised and disappointed!).

Viv, Russ, and I all shared a bottle of red :)

It started bucketing down while we were at dinner; I called girls to ask them to shut the hatches that we’d left open.

They did a pretty good job, however I had opened Kristie’s window (above her bed) and the girls didn’t know it was open so it didn’t get shut :(

The top of her bed and pillows were saturated :(

I took both of the pillows up to the laundry and put them through the dryer; one still a bit damp afterwards.

Thursday 8th

More rain.

Headed up at 8am (in the rain) to get our Woolies delivery.

Peter and Teagan took Kristie and the girls up to Coolum to have some fun at the Aqua park.

Exhausting work, and then stopped off at a pub for lunch on the way home.

Kristie had an afternoon nap, while Emma and I did banana muffins.

The girls had been trying their best to convince me to get my face painted for the last two afternoons.
We finally went out and got a family face paint!

Girls then played beach ball games with the Mission crew.

On the way back to Lazuli, Kristie and I had been contemplating what we’d have for dinner.

We ran into Viv and Russ at the marina gates, and they were on the way out to dinner (Indian).

They invited us to come along and were happy to wait while I sorted out a quick dinner for the girls: sausages and pasta!

Kristie and I didn’t have time to change/shower, so we went out to dinner with face paint still on!

Rain again, so another call to ask the girls to shut the hatches.

Walked home and discovered that the marina hot water system broken: cold showers only (unless you want to walk way across to the other side of the marina).
To be honest, it’s so hot that cold showers aren’t a problem!

Friday 9th

My brother Simon and his family are also up in Mooloolaba on their yearly beach sojourn.
They had set up at the beach just across the road from the marina, so it was easy to go meet up with them.

One of my sisters (Suz) and her daughter Abby were coming up to stay the night on Lazuli.
They turned up after 11am (would have been sooner except my sister is navigationally challenged while driving!) and didn’t swim.

Back to Lazuli to get out of the sun for a bit: lunch and Minecraft for the girls.

We walked up to Simon’s apartment for swim and dinner. Kristie and Emma went via Coles to get some supplies.

My parents had also driven up to see us. We enjoyed a swim, spa, and takeaway pizza for dinner.

The pizza delivery was quite late due to them being very busy.

Before we could head down for ice cream, we were treated to a 15min dance performance from the five girls.

Walked down for ice cream, then walked home.

Saturday 10th

Suz and I went for a Parkrun at Brightwater, which is only about 10m drive away. Good flat course, although half of it was in the sun and really quite hot.

We had left some towels and ham at Simon’s place the night before, so we dropped in there on the way back to the boat.

The three girls did some more Minecraft :)

Eventually we got going and tried to go to the Aqua park, but we’d left it too late so came back for a swim.

Kristie had booked a massage on the assumption we were going to the Aqua park and there wasn’t room in the car for her; she enjoyed her time there.

Swim at the beach, Simon and family were there again.

Kristie stopped at Coles on the way back to get a hot chook.

Said goodbye to Suz and Abby and we spent a few hours inside hiding from the extreme UV!

Kristie did some laundry, and then walked up to Sunreef to get a wetsuit (girl there had ‘confirmed’ they had the one Kristie wanted in stock) but turns out they had a different one in stock.

I got the washing from the dryer.

My boss Gary and family came to check out Lazuli, and brought some fish and chips (lots of!).

Sunday 11th

Kristie and I are diving the HMAS Brisbane this afternoon, so Rod and Chris are coming up to look after the girls.

They arrived at 9am and enjoyed a cuppa onboard.

It was getting quite hot under the canvas so Kristie took them up to the grass area and nice shade under the trees.

Early lunch, then Scott picked up Kristie and I to go to over to Scubaworld to dive HMAS Brisbane.

The viz wasn’t that great, and surface conditions were pretty rough.
It was interesting to check out the changed structure since Alfred smashed past.
We saw rays, a leopard shark, octopus, lots of fish.

While we were diving the girls did some rock painting, and enjoyed lots of baked delights, and decimated the lolly box Grandpa takes everywhere.

They finally managed to get the girls off the boat and walked to the beach, but the water was green and stinky and full of algae, so no swimming.
Walked and got an ice cream instead :)

We all (family + a few of the divers) went to the fish and chip shop for dinner.

Back to Lazuli to hang up dive gear, then it started raining.

Monday 12th

Rained all day.

I worked.

The girls all had lots of screen time.

French toast with Bacon for lunch. Yum.

I needed a quick power nap after lunch, then managed to do some more work.

We were going to have Nelly and Pete over for dinner, but it was too wet, so we went out to Rice Boi instead.

Got a lift home with them (it was raining).

Tuesday 13th

Viv and Russ dropped by to say hi as we were originally going to be leaving this morning, but with the given forecast we’ve been pushing it out and this stage we’ll leave on Friday.

Rain.

Work.

Screen time.

Dirty Boat Bottoms turned up late afternoon to give Lazuli’s bottom a clean.
All was good down below.

Our first home cooked dinner here in the marina!

I did a load of washing/drying.

Wednesday 14th

Work.

Kristie went for a walk to the spit.

Kristie, Kristina and I went for a late swim at 3pm. Waves were good, but the sea lice smashed us so we got out earlier than planned.

Rice Boi with just us and Viv & Russ (the girls were on board with sausages and pasta again :)

Thursday 15th

I went up the mast on Bella to check the Radar connection.

Work.

Dinner out with just us and the girls at the Savvy Squire.

We walked to get ice cream from the same shop we went to last week; Kristie pointed out that we walked past 7 to get to the one we I wanted!

Saw Viv and Russ at the laundry (they were waiting for us) - they had a lovely departure/thankyou gift for us.

Friday 16th

Left at 9am. Viv and Russ came to help with lines, but not before another round of goodbye hugs.

No wind, so motored.

Had the cover on as there was light rain.

Once the rain cleared, the wind died off altogether.

Lure out the entire way but no luck.

With low tide in the afternoon, we wouldn’t be able to get into our berth in Scarborough until tomorrow mornings high tide.

Arrived at Bribie and dropped anchor just before 3pm.

Sip’s ‘n dips, our last on Lazuli!

With the others in bed, I enjoyed a quiet whisky up top, reflecting on the trip of a lifetime that was almost done.

Saturday 17th

Up at 6:30 and motoring at 7am (no wind) so we could get there before high tide.

Uneventful trip. Shame our last passage had to be motoring :(

They’d given us the berth right at the bottom of the ramp, so we had to go around all the boats.

Thankfully we had enough depth so no issues getting stuck.

Two of the lads at the marina came to catch lines, but it was one of our easier landings: light blow on and no boat next to us!

My mum and dad had driven our Landcruiser up for us and arrive not long after we got there.

It was all systems go to get our first load of stuff off Lazuli.

We loaded up my parents car, and then went around to a local cafe for a late brunch.
Great food!

Mum and dad then took the girls back to their place while Kristie and I continued filling up the Landcruiser with gear.

We were back at Graceville late afternoon.

Enjoyed hot showers :)

It has been 400 days since we left Brisbane to head south.

The trip is officially over.

We’ve had an amazing time, but it’s now time to focus on land based activities: schooling, waterskiing, scuba diving, camping, and catching up with friends and family (and going back to work full time).

I’ll do one more follow-up blog with stats and all the trip details, but that will be a month or so away.

Friday 5th December - Coral Sea Marina

Our friends on Tandanya are heading off today, so farewell to them. The girls gave Mia a big hug!
They are heading straight down towards Gladstone, where as we will have a few days around the Whitsundays before we head south.

Did the usual pre-departure boat jobs - filling the water and dropping off the rubbish.

I dropped our car keys up to office as my parents are flying up to come and drive our LandCruiser back to Brisbane for us!

Discovered we were nearly out of sunscreen, so Kristie walked off to go and purchase some more.

We finally got going just after 10:30am.

Got out clear of the moored boats and we quickly had our sails up and sailing at 9kts towards Blue Pearl Bay.

There were a few available moorings so we choose one close to where the sculpture was supposed to be

I was 5min late for my Friday afternoon meeting, joining the call as Kristie was still trying off the mooring lines.

As soon as the meeting was done, Kristie and I geared up to go for a snorkel and find the Maori Wrasse sculpture that we hadn’t found last time we were here.

Note: Kristie wasn’t leaving the Whitsundays until we had found ALL the sculptures ;)

The viz wasn’t the best so it made finding it difficult.

We both had a few jump-scares from a real Maori Wrasse that came out of the gloom to check us out.

We swam around in circles for ages, before I got into the tender to make a call to get directions.
Russ gave me the right directions/instructions; we needed to look for an “X”, not a “+” (cross).

I lined up the tender and Kristie swam over and found it straight away.

We went back to collect the girls and brought them to see it as well.

We never really planned to spend the night here, the swell wraps in quite a bit so unless conditions are great it’s not the nicest bay to stay in overnight.

Motored across to Stonehaven, which compared to our last visit was rather quiet and we had the pick of moorings.

Sunset drinks, followed by a light rain shower

Saturday 6th

I caught up on some work.

Got going early and motored across to Langford to get a mooring.

We started lowering the tender when the rear winch rope snapped and the tender fell to the water (with the front still up high)!
No damage, I cut the broken rope off and tied it back up.

Kristie and I jumped in to go and find the turtle statue. This one is marked on the navionics maps.
However, when we got there, the position was right under the back of SV Summer Jo.

Depending on which way they swung we could get down and check out the turtle.

Went to get the girls but by the time we got back to the spot, SV Summer Jo was hanging right on top of statue, and they suggested we come back later. They weren’t happy we were close to them.

We weren’t happy they were anchored in a no-anchoring zone and were sitting on top of both public tender moorings!

They claimed they were doing nothing wrong, and had anchored outside the “No anchoring zone”, and they had 100m of chain out.

Fun fact: in a “No anchoring zone”, no part of your anchor or chain can be inside that zone!

On the way back to Lazuli Kristie jumped in for a swim and to take a photo of a real turtle.

Tender up, and we motored towards Manta Ray Bay, but both moorings were occupied so we picked one up in Luncheon Bay.

We all got into the tender and went over to the tender moorings in Manta Ray Bay.

The usual enormous schools of fish that we had last time weren’t there; it was mostly just the GT’s and George (the local Maori Wrasse) eating our bread.

We swam over to the Manta Ray statues, and we all took turns swimming down to touch them. Only I had seen Emma swim down last time so she wanted Kristie and Kristina to see her do it again.

We had a big high tide, so possibly a bit deeper than last time; about 6m to the statues and they both got down ok.

Motored back to Stonehaven as the ENE swell made most of these bays on the top of Hook Island pretty unpleasant!

Sunset drinks.

Sunday 7th

Woke up and motored back across to Langford Island to try and snorkel the turtle statue without SV Summer Jo.

Half a dozen turtles were swimming within a short distance from the mooring; they were feeding on all the jellyfish in the water.

Family snorkel on the Turtle statue. Lots of little jellyfish in the water so we didn’t spend too long in the water.
With the turtle found we then had a go at finding the coral polyp statue. It also was marked on the maps so easy to find.

Motored around the top of Hook Island to head around the corner to Mackerel Bay.

We grabbed one of the two moorings there.

The Marine Parks guys came to say “Hi” and just check we knew what zone we were in.

Kristie and I had a snorkel. We had the spear gun in the tender in case we found any lobsters but we didn’t spot any at all.

Great coral; a few fish and we saw a stingray.

Sailed out towards Chalkies. A bit of a slow sail, and we eventually had to drop the sails so we made it there before sunset!

The resident turtle turned up when we got there, but we weren’t quick enough to feed it so it didn’t stick around.

Sips and dips on the beach for our last night in the Whitsundays.

We went for a walk down the beach to get some photos.

We climbed the sandhill to get a bit of a view and some better sunset photos.

I had a bit of an emotional moment on the beach; we have a lot of good memories from our time around the Whitsundays, and many of those good times were on the beach here.
It is bittersweet leaving it all behind: we have to go south, but we could easily spend more time here.

I put our green squid light out. Last time we were here with Jess and Chris there was a school of tiny squid (maybe about 6 inches long).
Tonight we had (maybe the same?) similar sized school turn up, but they were now about 3 times that size. Kristie and I both put lures in but still couldn’t catch any of them :(

The turtle turned up to check out the green light and gave us a second chance; we fed it some of the squid we had.
But with the tender already up for the night, all we could do was throw the squid over the side.
The turtle kept swimming round to the back of Lazuli as obviously, that is where he is meant to be fed.

Quite a few big GT’s hunting in the green light.

Monday 8th

The turtle came back, and this time we were ready (Kristie had asked me put the tender down as soon as I got out of bed so that we were ready if it did turn up!).

We all had a turn hand feeding the turtle; we got through an entire large bag of squid bait.

With the turtle fed, and all the sculptures found, it was now time to leave the Whitsundays and sail south :(

We were planing on having the night at Thomas Island, but with the wind more ESE we were going to have to sail around the western side of the Lindermans and then turn south.

We had an upwind journey ahead of us, having to tack our way across to Thomas.

We had the lure out as usual, but no luck.

We dropped sails and motored into the bay at Thomas Island. There was too much swell was still coming in, so we turned around and continued on to Goldsmith Island.

Kristie enjoyed a nap while I enjoyed overtaking another yacht heading the same way.

The horseflies turned up as soon as we got into the bay before we had even stopped moving :(

There are two moorings there so we grabbed one of those.

Kristie and I went in for a walk on beach and enjoyed a swim.

Met “Moonshine” (who we overtook on the way here) in at the beach and had a chat with them.

Back on the boat Emma and I baked some banana bread.

Tuesday 9th

I wanted to get the tender outboard up onto the pushpit ready for when we did the bigger sails over the next few days.

I tried to remove the padlock, but it was rusted closed; I applied lots of WD40 in the hopes it would loosen it. But no luck.

Dropped mooring and tacked all the way down to St Bees.

The only mooring available was a yellow (10m mono max, and there was Marine Parks boat was on anther mooring next to it). It was also a bit rolly at the end so we motored back out and sailed across to Scawfell Island.

There are four moorings there, and all were empty. We did a bit of back and forth trying to work out which one would be best.

Ended up settling on the one with more wind but seemingly less swell.

Kristie and I went for a walk on the beach. We saw quite a few turtle tracks, at least two of them very fresh.

Had a swim.

Back to Lazuli for dinner.

At night we were surrounded by glow in the dark jelly fish. You couldn’t spot them with a torch, but you’d see the flashes/lights all around when it was dark.

At 8pm I dropped Kristie back into the beach to be on turtle watch. She was hoping that some would come up the beach to lay eggs.
We would wake the girls and bring them in to the beach if it happened. It never did, and I went back in at 10:30pm to collect Kristie.

It was low tide, and she had to walk quite a long way out to get to the tender!

Wednesday 10th

I needed to work all day, so we’d have another night here.

Kristie and Emma baked GF apple scrolls.

Lunch.

We all went in for a family swim and play on the mat.

We took the GPS positions for the 14 turtle nests that we could see on the beach.

I managed to get the outboard engine off and we hoisted up to the back of the boat.

More glow in the dark jelly fish at night.

Thursday 11th

Early start, up before 6am to head towards Curlew.

We sailed for a bit, then wind dropped so we motored. Wind came up so sails up again.

Tried the main beach/anchorage at Curlew, but it was not good, so went back around to the western side to a little bay there that was a bit more protected.

Anchor down close to 5pm.

Our anchor alarm had a busy night as we kept moving around.

Friday 12th

We had a rolly night :(

Kristie was up before 4am.

Had our anchor up before 7am.

Light rain shower while sailing towards Percy.

Caught a Spotty (Sharky? School?) Mackerel 3nm out from Middle Percy Island.

There weren’t any other yachts in West Bay so we had the pick of where to anchor.

The cruise ship “True North” was there with the 6 run-abouts and helicopter on top: the cheapest birth was $21K for the 13-day tour from Cairns to Brisbane!

We all went to the A-Frame and looked for the signs our boat friends had left (those who came north after us and south before us).

Had a lovely swim.

Both girls went to up see if there were any passion fruit, but no luck.

Kristina found a coconut and I opened it up on the spike out the back.

We had our drinks and a chat with the very friendly crew and some of the guests on True North.

Kristina borrowed one of their SUP’s to go for a paddle.

Back on the boat we were having Bacon and Eggs for dinner. Emma was helping me with the eggs, when one of the ones she cracked in there was green/rotten.
She and I both nearly threw up from the smell.

Had to start again and use up the rest of our eggs :(
(We’ve since learnt to be more consistent with cracking eggs into a smaller container one at a time.)

Put the green light out again, but only saw a tiny baby cuttlefish.

Kristina did some star-gazing. We are a long way offshore, so the night sky is quite amazing.

Saturday 13th

Woke up to find we had the bay to ourselves (True North travels during the night).

I caught up on the last blog.

Kristie did some hand-washing.

I dropped Kristie in to the A-Frame, and she met Don (82 years old) who’s the caretaker at the Homestead.

Picked up Kristie to bring her back for Lunch, then dropped her back in.

Kristie radioed from the beach to tell us there was a dugong swimming around Lazuli. Kristina came up to check it out with me.

I came in for a swim with Kristie, leaving the girls onboard.

As the tide was up we could go and explore the lagoon in the tender. Not too much to see but interesting nonetheless.

On the way back to Lazuli we stopped by to say hi to “Esconder”, a nice aluminum “Coral Coast” power cat with Pat, Courtney, Riley, and their toddler.

Back on the boat we had to up anchor and move further out as the wind had swung, and we were now sitting too close to the beach and would just be touching at low tide.

Sip’s and dips on the beach with the girls, as well as Pat and Riley. The girls and Riley had a great time running around.

Met some campers who’d turned up in a small fishing boat.

Also met the new volunteer helping out on the island.

Opened another coconut.

Late dinner back onboard - we enjoyed some of the mackerel I caught the other afternoon.

Moonshine came in sometime during the night.

Sunday 14th

Woke up to see new turtle tracks on the beach.

Pat dropped off a bag of Yellow Fin Tuna, and then took Kristina for a fast ride in their tinny (they have a 25HP on the back!).

Family tender around the corner to the sand hills. We were on a mission to find some glass tubes in the sand made by lighnting strikes.

It was a steep climb to the top. While up the top we watched Esconder powering towards Yeppoon on the flat seas; Kristie was wishing she could travel that quickly!

Didn’t find any glass tubes (Nauti Kitty had found some on the way up), but did find an interesting rock and some coral at the top of the sand hills.

We stopped by the other sand cliffs on the way back to get some more photos.

Lunch on Lazuli.

Kristie made some sour cream (long life cream + vinegar) ready for the baked potatoes tonight.

I dropped Kristie into the beach.

I cooked banana bread, and prepped for dinner at the fire pit at the A-Frame.

Picked up Kristie to get ready, then we all went back into the beach.

Two little fishing boats stopped in for a bit, but they didn’t stay the night. One of them left a sign in the A-Frame with a lure attached to it on the back of one of the seats next to the walkway.
It was perfect height for a toddler to grab or to snag your leg on the way past.
We relocated the lure after they left!

Kristie and Kristina went off to collect wood while Emma and I got the fire going.

I had prepared roast jacket potatoes in alfoil back on the boat, so put them in the camp oven on the fire.

With that all done and on the go it was time for a swim.

Sips, kabana, nibbles, coconut (soft flesh!) with pineapple and honey and soy sauce (another thing we learnt from Nauti Kitty)! Yum.

Kristie and Kristina made a barrier around one of the turtle nests using some coconuts.

We had our dinner at the A-Frame by ourselves.

Marshmallows on the fire after dinner.

Had a walk down the beach looking for turtles (there were fresh baby turtle tracks from the night before).

Lots of bioluminescence on the tender on the way back.

Just us here in West Bay tonight.

Monday 15th

Dropped Kristie into the beach.

I spent the morning working.

Kristie came back on board for lunch, then dropped back to the beach.

Goats were introduced in 1874 by the British Admiralty to provide meat, milk, and skins for shipwrecked or passing mariners.

I had more work to do.

I went into bring Kristie back to boat to get ready for an afternoon swim.

Kristie and I enjoyed a swim/float with drinks and popcorn.

I then spent some time prepping Lazuli to be ready for a BIG sail to Keppels tomorrow - it’s going to be over 100nm!

Had the bay to ourselves again.

Tuesday 16th

Alarm at 5am. Motoring soon after with breakfast when underway.

I worked while Kristie helmed.

Kristie had a nap, but was rudely woken up when we hooked a fish.

Got this one in easily enough - turned out to be a 108cm Spanish Mackerel.

Quickly processed, bagged, and into the fridge.

The wind turned up, and we could start sailing at 10am.

We saw quite a few rain clouds ahead and behind us, but we managed to avoid all the heavy rain.

Up wind all the way. Had to motor around a few rocks/headlands.

Lots of slow bits as we were trying to point and couldn’t make good speed.

Once we got around the last headland we could bear away and get a bit of speed sailing directly to Great Keppel Island.

Sometime after dark the wind hit 20kts; we dropped sails and motored the rest of the way.

Motored around to the Pub side thinking it might be ok, but it was terrible.

Motored back around to Svendsen’s Beach. Had a few good lightning strikes to light up the beach for us so we could see where we were going.

There were half a dozen other boats already over there, so we couldn’t get in too close.

Dropped anchor there and in bed by 11pm… a LONG day. Too long.

Wednesday 17th

Very rolly, possibly the most rolly we’ve had on the entire trip!

Moved in close to get out of the swell. Dropped anchor in a spot that was probably 0.5m LAT (it was currently high tide so we had nearly 5m depth).

We waited there until we could call the marina to confirm we could come in early.

As soon as they confirmed we could come in early we left to head straight to the marina.

Motored all the way there (about an hour).

We had just a bit of rain as soon as we got there.

Kristie and I went up to the marina office to pay. Dropped off some rubbish and booked the courtesy car while up there.

Kristie did two loads of washing. It took longer than usual as she broke one washing machine and only one dryer was working.

I did some work.

Strong winds today (which is why we are here!), it got up to 20kts in the afternoon.

Heavy rain, but thankfully we had a break just as our Woolies delivery turned up.

Wind got to just over 30kts in the evening; we were very, very glad that we weren’t stuck out at the Keppels on anchor.

Thursday 18th

Work.

Courtesy car into Yeppoon Central for Santa Photos.

Big W so Emma could spend some of her birthday money, and I needed some headphones as my Airpods don’t even last a full hour meeting now.

Back to the marina.

I cooked up the rice, and then Kristie and Emma put together Sushi from the Yellow Fin Tuna. Yum.

I did more work.

Kristie had a nap.

We all got an afternoon bus into Yeppoon to go for a swim. Bus was free as their EFT wasn’t working.

Windy, and cold. We didn’t last long in the pool.

Kristina had a quick climb in the playground, but it was too cold for Emma.

Takeaway dinner - nuggets for the girls, Thai for us.

Free bus home as EFT was still broken.

Friday 19th

Kriste and I walked up to “Fan Rock” after breakfast

I had meetings and spent the morning working.

Kristie and girls bussed to Town Hall for Christmas activities.

They walked to cinemas to watch Zootopia 2 which they all enjoyed.

Then onto Yeppoon Central to collect their winnings from entering the receipts at the shopping centre yesterday.
~$360 worth of ‘Christmas Fashion’ prizes.

Bus back to Marina.

Kristie and Emma walked over to Exhale to leave Charlee a pressie.

Kristie filled the water (two of the three tanks were empty).

Saturday 20th

Easy morning, no rush. We are planning to get to Gladstone via the Narrows so we don’t have too far to go today.

Kristie did a rubbish run.

I bought a Yeti Esky (an extravagant purchase, but we plan to take two bags of frozen mackerel down to Brisbane and I don’t want it thawing out!).

We stopped at the fuel dock on the way out of the marina.

Easy sail down to the entrance of the channel.

A bit slower when we had to go dead down wind and against ~2kts current flowing out of the river system!

Dropped sails and motored to within a few miles of the start of the narrows.

There’s one other boat (Whoosh - we first saw them on a mooring at St Bees) we can see who will also be going through tomorrow morning.

Emma and I baked some chocolate brownies.

Enjoyed a relaxing afternoon.

Mozzies came and found us as soon as the sun dropped. There wasn’t any wind to keep them away :(

We had dinner up top, and while we were all eating Emma spotted something weird in the sky.

It was a whole row of lights, one after another going across the sky in a line.

After a bit of googling we worked out it was a recent (14th Dec) launch of 27 new Starlink satellites.
As the launch was still so recent they were all still in a train. Very cool to see.

Tomorrow we motor down through the Narrows and into Gladstone.

Sunday 21st

The Narrows has a few sections that actually dry out at low tide. LAT is about -1.4m (i.e. at the lowest possible tide the land is 1.4m above the sea level!).

The official guidance is “1.5m + your draft” (ours is 2.3m) as the minimum height of tide required.

We have a high of 4.1m this morning, so we will hopefully have at least 30cm clearance going through!

Gladstone high tide was 9:46am, and we were advised to start heading through at 9:15am.

We had a bit of tide flowing in with us, but still we didn’t get to the first section until 9:20am.

The Beacon-to-Beacon has a dedicated section for The Narrows with good detail, and our navigation app has the purple line to follow!

There are three main sections that are shallow.

The first we only got down to 3.3m depth, but coming through the next two we saw 2.6m (i.e. 30cm under the keel) on two occasions.

The water floods in from the north through this part of the Narrows, and also flooding north up from Gladstone, meeting just on the other side of these shallow sections.

With quite a bit of water flowing, you need to be on the line (and on the ball!) the entire time lest you get washed into the shallow sections.

Once out the other side we could start riding the ebbing tide south towards Gladstone marina.

We had a bit of rain after we got through.

From the end of the Narrows there is still a two-hour trip to the marina.

By the time we got down to inline with the marina we would have had 2-2.5kts of tide going with us.

Fun fact: this is the first time we’d managed to get the tide in our favour here - every other time we’d come into port against it and gone out against it :(

We had an easy time getting into our berth. We had been allocated a blow-on berth, and also there was no other boat on the other side.
Two guys from the marina (Graham, who is great!) were also down to help catch lines.

With the forecasted weather for Christmas not looking that great, we were going to pick up a hire car tomorrow and drive back home for Christmas.

As such, we had a few boat jobs to do:

• cleaned the decks.
• washed the dodger/infill
• cleaned out the bathrooms
• emptied the compost toilet
• flushed the tender outboard
• removed and cleaned the boat logs

We did more packing.

Shaan from Tandanya offered to take the girls for a play at the park with Mia while we got jobs done.

Kristie did some laundry.

Once boat jobs were done (and the girls back onboard) Kristie and I went over to have a drink with Bride and Andrew on Hoot, who were back up for the night to get stuff of their boat that they’ll leave up here for a while.

Kristie had booked for us all to have dinner out at the Yacht Club. Hoot and Tandanya joined us there.

It was a lovely end to this part of our journey south.

Monday 22nd

Had breakfast then we finished packing and emptying out the fridge of any perishables.

Filled up the current water tank as it was down to maybe 1/3.

We needed two trolley runs to get all our gear up to the lounge.

Seeing all this, I was a little dubious how it would all fit in the little hatch we’d booked!

The girls and Kristie waited up in the lounge with luggage (and the aircon) while I got a taxi to the airport to collect our car.

Heavy rain started just as the taxi turned up!

Quick drive back to the marina and did some Tetris style packing to get everything in!

Drove home. Just one stop for a late lunch (pie and chips!) at the Traveston services.

Home to my mum and dads to unpack and then go pick up some delicious GF Chinese takeaway!

And relax.

We’ll be spending Christmas with family.

Not sure when we’ll be back up. That’ll depend a bit on the weather.

We still have over 250nm of sailing to get back from Gladstone to Brisbane, but that’s something we’ll deal with after Christmas!