Up the creek in Darwin

Yes-we made it to Darwin,but it's been too hot to type out the blog!
Even Bodi has had a radical trim.

    We have a Darwin Port Authority mooring in Sadgrove's Creek
 close to Dinah Beach Yacht Club and Nautical Supplies,a large shipschandlery,where Bill now has a job for 6 months.

    After The Wet we will continue our travels down the West Coast with a new autopilot.
    Our trip from Gove to Darwin,which took 11 days,was interesting,beautiful and isolated -

we were out of phone and internet range for most of it,and met or sighted only several other people.

       







   The most exciting moment was forcing our way through the "Hole in the wall"Gugari Rip,a 65m wide channel between Guluwuru and Raragala Is. in the Wessel group.
   Against the incoming tide we were gaining only 2knots at 3000rpm.,zigzagging to avoid shallow patches and rocky outcrops.Just after we emerged shakily at the western end we were hailed by radio from a Customs vessel,lurking around the next bay, checking our id. and movements.

  Further west we overnighted at Refuge Bay,Elcho Is,then decide to head straight across towards the Goulburn Is. Passing close to the picturesque Crocodile Islands,
 we thought we'd stop off for a beach walk and swim,but just after anchoring we were greeted by a 4m."lizard",and then we noticed many slide marks and tracks into the water from the sandy beach!
    Other stopovers were in a sheltered bay near Braithwaite Point where all the water drained away during the night,returning with the morning tide;Sims Is.in a bay full of coral heads,but we did manage to swim in the sandy shore.
Heading north in Bowen Straits we were accompanied for miles by a school of mini-dolphins,playing and diving underneath,ignoring Bodi's excited barking.
   At Port Essington-no port just a large body of water-we met Peter,the ranger at Black Point,viewed the info and cultural display,and decided to visit the ruins of the Victoria Settlement(1836-1849) further down the bay,another futile and tragic British settlement disaster.
  At Cape Don we were hoping to visit the historic lighthouse,but after trudging for miles along the red dirt road,we were picked up by a Cape Don Experience 4wd troupie,told that we were trespassing as it was now all private property,an exclusive fishing lodge,and dumped back at the jetty.

    Tidal flow determined our next few early mornings(3 or4 am.)to enable us to get the right currents through the Vernon Is.in darkness,anchoring at reef-fringed Cape Hotham,then through the Beagle Gulf and Timor Sea,reaching Fannie Bay,Darwin, about 11am. 23rdSept.We moved around and up the creek a couple of days later as it is very shallow,wind-prone and bumpy at Fannie Bay.
   Ben and Bianca drove up from Barunga,400kms south in Arnhem land,where Bianca is a remote area nurse,to welcome us.It was a great reunion as we hadn't seen them since Townsville ,12 months previously.
   Next post will be about our visit to Barunga!

Tide's out in Sadgrove's Creek