New Caledonia to Australia

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFCC80" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03f8e8e3.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="04095810.png" border=0 width="149" height="129" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Voyage of SV Sea Star</div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FF9900" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04500c82dwnjbj.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Adventure on the high seas</B></FONT> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#3366FF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>   |     <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Adventure on the high seas"><U>home</U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Niagara 35 Mark 1 for sale"><U>Niagara 35 Mark 1 for sale</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Latest news"><U>Latest news</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id72.htm" 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TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wallis Island"><U>Wallis Island</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Samoa"><U>Samoa</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Canton Island"><U>Canton Island</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hawaii"><U>Hawaii</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Leaving Canada"><U>Leaving Canada</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U>About Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The boat"><U>The boat</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A></div> <div> New Caledonia to Australia</div> <div> After spending a week in expensive Noumea recovering from a rough passage from Vanuatu</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0f72ceb0.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="235" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> Port Moselle in downtown Noumea</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0f32cfe0.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="254" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> Lion fish at the Noumea aquarium</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  we departed for Australia on November 19. SE trades at 20kts as we passed through the reef made for a boisterous ride. On the fifth day Ian took over at 0700 and the sky got darker and darker. After Dorothy and Toto flew by the heavens opened.We were shaken around but survived. Later that evening there was a clunk and the saildrive packed it in. We had only forty miles to go and were lucky the wind was steady until we sailed into the river and anchored off Bundaberg Port Marina.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0fb2ce10.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="225" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> Engine bits in the cockpit</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="1022cb60.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="182" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  To get at the saildrive we had to remove the engine</div> <bR> <div> The good news is we have arrived in Oz in one piece. The bad news is the engine is sitting on the cabin sole and <I>Sea Star</I> is temporarily intertidal.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>