Bundaberg

All good here, we arrived this morning and couldn't have been better, Customs ect were excellent and it all went smoothly and we are now out in the anchorage for 2 days to finish quarantine and then we are free😊
Will update how it all goes once we finish the process 👍

Nearly There

Sunday 17/5
What a day, been really squally since the early hours of this morning but all from behind and not getting over 30kts so it's been pushing us along nicely. So many little rain systems all around, wind up and down like we yoyó and just all over the place, just about had enough. Trying to get to the channel at the top of Fraser Island just before dark and then we have 50nm more miles into Bundaberg and should be a little less rolly so we will just take it slow overnight for a 8am arrival.
Sunflower is loving it with a bit of headsail let out, much happier even though still got 3 reefs in made 135nm today.
25nm to Fraser, 75nm to Bundaberg, we are getting there

A Bloody Mess!!

Ahh the wind died of yesterday evening and left us rolling for a while but then calmed off nicely and we plodded along at a terrifying 2knts making Sunflowers record lowest days run of 90nm!! We did set up the pole this morning though and are going along now doing 4-5 with a little bit of Genoa and it's looking good for arrival first thing Monday morning without having to heave to and wait, lets see.
Being such a nice day we decided to fire up the watermaker as it had not been used for 6 months, we then flushed and pickled it once again with sodium metabisulphite. (A tip for anyone interested you can buy this at your home brew shop or sometimes supermarket anywhere that sells home brew beer supplies, costs about $5 and enough for 5 times, just make sure it's 100% Sodium Metabisulphite, same as baby bottle steriliser and a lot cheaper than from Spectra!)
Now we will fire up the BBQ and have homemade burgers, all we need to top of this day now is to catch a fish!!
Saturday 16th Pos 24*59s 156*09e 215nm to Sunny Bundaberg

Update-asked for a fish and got one, never seen such a mess, even 2m up the mainsail is covered with blood!!!

Rolling

Nothing to report, pure torture here, absolutely perfect wind and we can't use it, Sunflower is not happy, this could be an all time sail.
Emailing Customs Australia today to see if our sea time still counts for quarantine and all else is the same, fingers crossed.
Winds sse around 20kts, small swell but rolly.
Clear sky's, warming up, no fish as of yet
POS 25*33s 157*48e
111nm day, 310nm to Bundaberg

Waddling

Not much excitement to report from here, yesterday and today Sunflower would have been in her perfect element, nicest possible sailing with 2 reefs, staysail and just a wrap or 2 on the Genoa with the wind behind at 120 degrees. But no, poor Sunflower is left waddling like a duck with 3 reefs in the main and nothing else trying to go as slow as possible to make Bundaberg Monday morning, so far we are on time and won't have to heave to and wait.
The freezer also started working again in the early hours of this morning which is great news although it is still not really tropical rum and coke weather as today it is all grey sky's and drizzle rain, hopefully today is the day though we will catch a fish.
Hasn't really been fishing weather so far but we have landed a couple of really big flying fish but I let them go alive. A fishing boat went astern of us yesterday "Esbjorn" I tried to call them up thinking they might be Aussie and want a chat but they didn't respond, must be French
POS 26*32S 159*30E
416nm to Bundaberg 112nm days run

Happy Days

Well thank fuck that's over!! Ha what a day we had yesterday.....
After downloading a new forecast after lunch it confirmed what was already happening and it was going to keep picking up so we decided to heave too, and 'try' and relax a little, wind was steady 25-30 with squalls on top. Heaving too proved quite nice, sitting well with the 3rd reef in the main, traveller let out and main sheeted in and a preventer holding it tight. We sat really well only making about 1kt, was nice to watch and then a couple of hours later we had a big squall gusting to 45kts and it was amazing we just sat there sweet hardly moving and the waves parting around us. The squall being that windy it actually flattened out the seas was quite full on thinking our solar panels were going to get blown off any minute!! Luckily it didn't last long, probably only 5 minutes at full force then went back to the 30-35 mark but this is when the seas started picking right up and it was like a washing machine, Sunflower started going all over the place and twice nearly tacked into the wind with the main luffing. I think this was also because we were coming up to a contour and the seas were all over the place and really building, if we did tack we would be in a world of hurt with the preventer and the wheel lashed so while it was still light we decided to leave and just run with it heading north. This felt a lot better but soon after another squall and the seas really were big, this is when I am really happy to have a double ender, we surfed a few but if we ended up side on to one of these is not worth thinking about, luckily this squall just before sunset was the last one and slowly the seas died as the wind went back to a nice 20-25 and by midnight 20, then it was good enough to put out a little bit of Genoa and start heading a little more west again, happy days.
From midnight the seas dropped really fast, amazing and today we have just 18-20 and it feels like its flat calm, nice big lunch of chicken/salad and a beer to celebrate and now with a nice forecast for the next 5 days we can kick back and relax once again, and all of this will be forgotten soon enough
POS 27*24s 161*15e.
525nm to Bundaberg

How nice is the Pacific??

What a shitty night.... yesterday we motored until 1630 and then the wind filled in from the south and we sailed along nice. Looking at the new forecast it didn't look so bad saying we would have around the 20kt mark for the night. It slowly built at dark and by 2130 we had squalls gusting to 30 with lightning and the seas had built. Problem was also the wind angle SSW which meant to keep our reasonable course we have it right on the beam. With 3 reefs in and the tiniest triangle of Genoa we carry on WNW with very little sleep and a lot of creaking. It's a fine line as we don't want to go to fast and when we bare away we are doing 7+kts flying down the faces of waves so we then try and point up a bit but if to much we cop a few crackers slapping the side of the hull with a mighty crash.
Then just after daybreak the mother squall she came through bringing 40kts, she was really cranking. We started to go with it but then thought better and hove too for the last bit of it with just the main and waited for it to pass, it only lasted an hour and we were back sailing again. Looking west on the grib it shows we should have clearer sky's by this afternoon so the further west we get the better the conditions hopefully are, even though it says stronger winds at least there hopefully won't be the squalls, by tomorrow hopefully it's a lot better, it's definitely not a fishing trip!!
Our freezer has also given up, doesn't like the weather either but hopefully it comes good when it calms down, its like it gets a bubble in the gas or something with all the movement, so no opening it up today to get ice for the rum and coke that's for sure.
There was also a Chinese fishing vessel on AIS typically as everything is going on so no doubt there are more around will have to keep a closer eye out, first boat seen since NZ 6 days ago.
So all is well and hopefully the next forecast brings some good news
Midday update POS 29*00s 163*04e.
648nm to Bundaberg