*** 2016 The Year in Pictures ***

2016
THE YEAR IN PICTURES

OMG – What an incredible year of travelling 2016 was for us!!!
It was our 5th full year of travelling on this adventure and it’s been the most diverse so far despite only visiting Australia and Indonesia (unlike 2015 where we visited 7 countries).
From New Years Eve on the NSW Central Coast of Australia, then back to Bali and Lorelei, sailing onto Komodo, Sumba and Kupang before leaving Indonesia and sailing to Darwin in Australia.
Exploring Darwin before flying to Sydney.
An 8000km road trip with Paul’s parents covering 3 states of Australia starting in Sydney, through to the South Australian coastline and finishing in Darwin in the Northern Territory.
A 2000 mile winter sailing season in The Kimberley, then onto Broome (in the remote NW) before sailing back to Darwin.
Incredible Fishing in the Cobourg Peninsula, crossing Arnhem Land & the Gulf of Carpentaria, rounding the tip of Australia and cruising, spearing & diving our way down the East Coast.
Finally enjoying Christmas and New Year’s Eve in the
Port Douglas/Cairns region.
WHAT A YEAR!!!!!!
365 photos in dated order representing one for each day we travelled this year.
It’s just a snippet of the 75 000+ photos that we took this year.
ENJOY….

New Years Eve 2015/16 on the NSW Central Coast – The Entrance Fireworks from Paul’s parents boat.

Pelicans on a sand spit, The Entrance Lakes – New Years Day.

The Central Coast Beaches were packed for the first week after New Years Eve.

Taking a boat trip up Chittaway Creek all the way to the weir for our last day in Australia.

Arriving back in Bali, our friend Wayan was there to greet us and help us get back on-board Lorelei.

Indonesian Fisherman trying to catch a dinner in Serangan Harbour near Lorelei’s mooring.

Getting dressed up for a traditional Barong Dance on the Full Moon.
It was not a performance for tourists and we were the only Westerners.

Barong Dance Musicians.

Our favourite Balinese Café – Pima and Debbie’s. Debbie showing Paul how she makes his favourite dish – Tempe. We ate there every day whilst getting Lorelei prepped for sail.

Lisa at Pima and Debbie’s Garden Café.

Finally we were sailing again. A busy Harbour anchorage in Lombok.

There are no cars on The Gili Islands so we took a Horse Ride instead.

An awesome view over the bay and Lorelei within The Komodo National Park.
It was out of tourist season and we had the place all to ourselves.

Lisa swimming in The Komodo National Park.

A local Lady taking fish to the markets.
Labuan Bajo, Flores Island.

Sunset from the Harbour, Labuan Bajo.

Transiting a narrow passage to Rinca Island, Komodo National Park.

Stunning hillsides of Flores, Komodo National Park.

A large 5m wide Manta Ray doing barrel rolls whilst feeding, Rinca Island.

Some local kids catching a free kayak ride, Rinca Island.

A very foggy and eerie morning with large Komodo Dragons on the beach, Rinca Island.

Large Male Komodo Dragons on the beach.

A very large 3m/10ft long Male Komodo Dragon that stalked Paul when he went ashore.

A stunning sunset on our last night at Rinca Island.

Leaving in a glass out for an overnight run to the bottom of Sumba Island.

A nice Mahi Mahi caught whilst trolling along the Sumba coastline

Surfing the epic Millers Rights for a whole week with no crowds, southern Sumba coastline.

The amazing coastline behind the surf break.

We did some day tours into the central and highlands of Sumba
This family had a house surrounded by cornfields.

House in the cornfields.

Planting time in the rice paddies. They used a stringline to keep straight.

 A Water Buffalo trying to keep cool on a very hot day.

A traditional roofed house in a Sumba village.

Many ladies were weaving using a back-strap loom in Sumba.
Unlike the Pacific Countries, the designs were very intricate.

Lots of traditional weaving on display and for sale.

Unusual megalithic style Tombs in a Sumba village.

We spied these very old cannons under a house. They are believed to be from a Dutch ship that invaded Indonesia.

Traditional houses and tombs in a larger Sumba village.

A time exposure shot of a creek in the Sumba highlands. Lisa on a rock in the b/g.

Waingapu, Sumba’s main city with its commercial harbour.
Lorelei is anchored on the far left.

Paul’s Harem! A group of teenage schoolgirls who all wanted to talk to us in English and compete to hold Paul’s hands……Waingapu.

We couldn’t take our Indonesian fireworks back to Australia with us so instead we let them off one night on a remote beach in eastern Sumba.

One of Paul’s many 15 second long fireworks photos.

Refuelling Lorelei Indo style....
L-R: Max Lisa’s motorcycle guide, Napa our agent, Bobby the fuel store owner and his staff member. All fantastic people that we’ve dealt with many times.

Tropical downwind sailing from Indonesia to Australia.
Lisa trying to find some shade.

When the wind angles changed we went to the asymmetrical spinnaker.

Paul hoisting the Aussie and quarantine flag on approach to Darwin.

Commercial divers checking Lorelei’s hull for any nasty marine growth as we had been out of Australian waters for many years.

A 40 knot storm that hit us in Darwin Harbour whist waiting to get into a Marina.

Friends Chris, Grace and Clint came and visited us in Darwin Harbour.

A crazy lightning storm over the Stokes Hill Wharf, Darwin Harbour.

Finally we were able to get into a Marina.
The lock was 20m/66ft long and we had only 30cm/1ft to spare at each end
when the gates were closed.

Sunrise over Tipperary Waters Marina.

A meal with friends at Chris and Cynthia’s house in Darwin.

Our new tender which is an alloy tinny. Going to the workshop in Darwin for a series of modifications.

Annual maintenance. It took 16 days in near 40 degree heat to remove the rust, restore and repaint the topsides.

On the weekend we had fun with friends.
Paul did a photography workshop for friends Cyn and Lindy.

Curry night with friends on a Saturday Night along the Darwin Harbour foreshore.

A crazy storm on sunset along the Foreshore at Darwin.

A stormy post sunset time exposure photo of the Nightcliff Jetty.

Cyn and Lindy shouted us a Helicopter flight over Litchfield National Park with their friend Paul who owns Outback Helicopters. Having a rest in a paddock.

Water Buffalo running through a small water course from the Helicopter.

Magnificent Waterfalls in the Litchfield National Park

That night we went to the Rodeo which Outback Helicopters sponsored.
They didn’t have a pro photographer so Paul got the job along with a VIP pass to go behind the scenes.

Bull riding antics at its best….

Paul went into the stalls to photograph the riders gearing up and getting on the Bulls.

Having a VIP pass had its advantages…..

We were invited for Easter to Marrakai Station owned by our friends the Walker Family. A 550 00 acre property with the largest private wetland in the NT.
One of the best weekends ever in some awesome off-road machines.

A cornered Water Buffalo smashing through a barbed-wire fence and destroying it.

Wild Geese on the wetlands.

Wild Horses on the grassy plains above the wetlands.

Late arvo antics at the station.
Lisa, Clint and Jackson playing the Buffalo.

Cynthia’s amazing Polaris Off-Road Buggy at sunset. Marrakai Station.

Hauling out Lorelei at the only slipway in Darwin.
By far our worst slipping experience ever by a bunch of drunken idiots.

Hiding in the corner trying to get the work done ASAP so we could get outta there!!!

With Lorelei back in the Marina, we flew to Sydney to start our 8 week / 3 state / 8000km road trip with Paul’s parents George and Chez.
Rod, George and Chez having our last meal together with us before we left.

The rig that was to be our home for the next 2+ months.
Having a morning tea break in Central NSW.

One of Lisa’s “must do’s” of the trip – Western plains Zoo, Dubbo.

A stalking tiger at the Zoo.

A very chilly 8 degree morning at Cobar with frost all around the campsite.

An open cut Gold Mine at Cobar.

Old mining equipment in the town’s centre. Cobar.

A couple of Emu walking around as we had lunch in the park. Wilcannia.

Recent rain had left large pools of water on the remote roadside.
The glassy reflection and red earth made for some great photo ops.

An oversized seat. On top of the Mullock Heap, Broken Hill.

A retro 1960’s Milk Bar that served awesome Milk Shakes. Broken Hill.

We took the best photos just after sunset when all the other tourists had left.
The Sunset Sculpture Park, Broken Hill.

Time exposure and Light Painted photo. Sculpture Park, Broken Hill.

Some very friendly Donkeys that loved being hand-fed. Silverton, NSW.

Just one of Paul’s time exposure/light painting shots around
the abandoned Silverton mining houses.
One of Paul’s favourite photo places of the trip.

The Famous Silverton Pub.
The location for the filming of the original Mad Max Movie.

Crossing the border and Quarantine stop between NSW and SA.
They took all our fruit and veg we brought at Woolworths the day before and at the next town brought exactly the same ones again at the next Woolworths.  STUPID!!

A very cold morning in outback South Australia.

The old open-cut Copper Mine in Burra which is now filled with green water.

Some of the old mining equipment on display around the old mine site.

Paul’s first ever Star Trail photo which took 2 hours.
Taken of an old Stone Chimney at the Burra mine site at 10pm.

Exploring Coober Pedy – An historic Opal mining town where most of the people live underground.

Post sunset time exposure photo of old mining equipment in the town centre.

An underground gallery and museum in Coober Pedy.

North of Coober Pedy is the incredible Breakaways.
An isolated and remote but incredible landscape.
Note Lisa standing on the edge to the far left.

Paul and George with some of the Breakaway’s ranges in the background.

We drove down into the lower section of the amazing landscape.
There were a lot of Kangaroos.

The Woomera Rocket Range and Museum was very interesting.

The very sparse Woomera Caravan Park.
We had a very, very windy and cold night there.
So much so that we couldn’t put the tent up and the caravan was violently moving about, so we hired an onsite cabin and stayed in that.

Dinner inside the basic, but warm and not-moving-about cabin in Woomera.

An Emu running at full speed along the roadside fence. Central Australia.

Crossing the border from South Australia into the Northern Territory.

Uluru (Ayers Rock) at Sunset. Note George, Chez and Lisa having drinks and nibbles in the foreground.
Taken by Paul from a tripod set-up on the luggage rack on the roof of the car.

Dressed up at the Festival of Light exhibition overlooking Uluru.

The Festival of Light just becoming illuminated at dusk.

Walking through the 100’s of Kilometers of fibre optic cables at
the Field of Light.

An awesome 1 hour helicopter flight over Uluru, Katajuta and Lake Amadeus.

Uluru from the Helicopter.

Kata Juta (The Olgas) from the Helicopter.

Lake Amadeus which was unusually filled with water from the Helicopter.

With all the water, the Sturt’s Desert Pea plants had started flowering out of season.

Arriving at Kata Juta (The Olgas)

A small steam on the walk around Kata Juta.

Walking around Kata Juta.

A cute Lizard near the Kata Juta lookout.

On our last day at Uluru, Paul climbed to the top of the rock.
Looking back down to the car park and the chain assisted climbing path.

Paul sitting on top of Ayers Rock.

An amazing Sunrise at Kings Canyon.

Dingos around our campsite at Kings Canyon.

Without a doubt the best walk we have ever done – The Kings Canyon Rim Walk.

We hiked down to the pool in the centre of the canyon.

The surrounding walks that we did the following days were also stunning.

A very friendly young Camel that liked Paul’s cuddles.

Overlooking Alice Springs from the Anzac Hill Lookout.

Simpsons Gap, The Macdonald Ranges.

Rock Wallaby, Simpsons Gap.

Standley Chasm at midday, The Macdonald Ranges.

Some off-road fun at Palm Valley, The Finke National Park.

A long water crossing at Palm Valley

Glassy conditions at Palm Valley. Note our car on the far left.

Lisa on the rim, Thephena Gorge

Unusual rock formations and Paul’s shadow, Trephena Gorge.

Emily Gorge, The Macdonald Ranges.

A private Wedge Tail Eagle experience the 4 of us did together.
Alice Springs Wildlife Park.

The amazing bird show at the Wildlife Park.

Historical buildings at the heritage listed Barrow Creek Telegraph Station.

The most unusual post box we have seen. Whycliffe Wells,
The UFO capital of Australia.

George and Chez looking out over the amazing Devils Marbles.

Just a small part of the Devils Marbles terrain.

One of Paul’s Devils Marbles night shots on a super clear night.

The Devils Marbles at 5am with the full moon in the background.

A huge and very good looking Road Train at the Threeways intersection.

Camping alongside the Longreach Waterhole which is on private property and not known about by the international tourists and backpackers.

A kite feeding over the waterhole.

Dusk over the Longreach Waterhole.

The Bar inside the iconic Daly Waters Pub.

The Berry Springs thermal pools. A popular spot to drift from the start (pictured) to the bridge 800m down before walking back up and doing it again…

Lisa playing with the local Aboriginal kids on a weekend at the Berry Springs.

At night we would take Lisa’s blow up “Cassie the Caterpillar” and drift down the Springs on it. We got a lot of funny looks as most of the oldies had pool noodles.

There were heaps of dark red Termite Mounds around Berry Springs and Mataranka.

The far too popular, overcrowded and too well manicured Mataranka Springs.

We went for a swim anyway, Mataranka Springs.

Lisa hand feeding the Barramundi at Bitter Springs.

Amazing limestone formations at the Cutta Cutta Caves.

A huge Python that climbed a tree, grabbed a Flying Fox,
fell to the ground with it and ate it whole in front of all the tourists.
 Katherine Gorge.

Walking between tour boats and gorges at Katherine Gorge.
We did a 4 Gorge tour which was excellent.

Gorge number 3 on the Katherine Gorge boat tour.

Paul sitting on top of the famous Jedda Rock after a long 6 hour walk,
Katherine Gorge.

A very curious Wallaby sitting in our campsite watching Paul editing photos on his laptop.

A family hike to the top pools at Edith Falls.

The view looking down from the walking track to the Edith Falls top pools and waterfalls.

Hanging under the waterfall, Edith Falls top pools.

Arriving at the entrance to the Kakadu National Park.

A rough 40km track into Gunlom Falls. It took 2 hours and we broke a few
glasses in the caravan. Kakadu.

Panoramic photo of the large lower Gumlom swimming hole.

Lisa with a huge Termite Mound. Gumlom Falls.

The stunning infinity pool system at the upper Gunlom Falls. Kakadu.

More of the upper pool system at Gunlom.

Paul went up on his own one night to photograph the pool at dusk.
A 10 second selfie over the infinity pool.

Our campsite on a very clear and starry night. Gunlom Falls, Kakadu.

The Nourlangie Aboriginal Rock Art site, Kakadu.

Looking out over the plains at Ubirr, Kakadu.

Ubirr Sunset, Kakadu.

A crazy bunch of Abo’s crossing Cahill’s Crossing in a 2wd Car.
NOT Recommended!!!
Note the Crocodile’s head at the left above the rock.

A large Crocodile in the turbulent water, Cahill’s Crossing which is the border of Kakadu and Arnhem Land.

A perfect day at the Yellow Waters Billabong.

Wildlife whilst on a cruise at the Yellow Waters Billabong, Kakadu.

Sunset over the Yellow Waters Billabong.

More wildlife the next day at the Corroboree Billabong cruise.

Sunset on the Corroboree Billabong.

Dropping into the iconic Bark Hut Inn.

We bumped into Jackson and Clint at the Corroboree Pub just by chance and they offered to take us along with George & Chez for a day at Marrakai Station.
Lisa on the Quad Bike.

It was an awesome day out with millions of birds on the wetlands.

Lisa and Clint doing a bit of impromptu Buffalo rustling.

George having a ball along the wetlands.

After 8 weeks we had made it back to Lorelei in Darwin safe and sound after an amazing road trip. Now it was an intense week to provision her for a 6 week cruise with George and Chez from Darwin to Broome through The Kimberley.

Off we go!!! George handling the bow line in the lock as we dropped 2.5m/8ft water height.

George and Chez’s first overnight passage in a yacht.
Lorelei sailing under an awesome sunset, The Joseph Boneparte Gulf.

We arrived at the entrance to the iconic King Geroge River at daybreak after a 2 day and 2 night crossing of the JB Gulf.

Motoring up the amazing King George River.

Our first trial with the new Tinny and 4 of us on-board.
Exploring the west arm of the river.

Paul and George decided to tackle the very dodgy rope and ladder assisted climb up the waterfall to the top swimming holes.
The girls declined. It was harder to get back down.

Taking the Tinny up to the twin waterfalls at the end of the river.

Sticking the bow of the Tinny under the waterfalls was a blast.
Cool and very refreshing.

A big cave system of to the side of the waterfalls. King George River.

In the flat calm conditions, Paul taught Chez how to make Sushi rolls.

In Koolama Bay we found some great rock formations and waterholes with small Crocodiles in them.

Amazing rock formations, Koolama Bay.

A lively sail around the notoriously rough Cape Londonderry.
The only place George and Chez got seasick.

The wreck of a crashed DC-3 plane in The Kimberley.

Chez and Paul with our first Kimberley Spanish Mackerel, Jar Island.

George under a ledge looking at the magnificent Aboriginal Rock Art.
Jar Island West.

Having a swim while Paul stays on Crocodile watch. Jar Island West.

Lisa looking at some faded Gwion (Bradshaw) Rock Art. Jar Island East.

Late afternoon at Jar Island’s east coast.

Scrambling ashore only to find a dry watercourse and swimming hole.
Freshwater Bay.

We had 5 large Tawny Nurse Sharks swimming around Lorelei both during the day and evenings. Freshwater Bay.

Looking down from the island’s summit to Lorelei on anchor.
Prudhoe Island.

Paul with a solid and tasty Coral Trout taken on a soft plastic.
Prudhoe Island.

The famous Mermaid Boab Tree with carvings dated at nearly 200 years old.
The tree is estimated to be around 1000 years old. Careening Bay.

Transiting up Purulba Creek which was the small inlet where Lorelei was anchored. Prince Regent River.

A great day out at the King’s Cascades. Prince Regent River.

The Black Pool at the top of the King’s Cascades.
We had to swim across the pool to access the waterfalls and rock races on
the other side.

Exploring Camp Creek in the Tinny.

Lunch on the side of Camp Creek. Prince Regent River.

Small but powerful waterfalls at the end of Camp Creek.

Our view of Camp Creek on Sunset.

George and Lisa fishing a rock bar at sunset.
Hanover Bay.

Exploring the stunning Hanover Bay.

A typical headland separating the different inlets and creeks at
Hanover Bay. Note how high up the high tide mark is.

Having a whale of a time. Deception Bay.

Small Boab Tree on the rocky creek edge. Sampson Inlet.

The low tide sand flats at Langgi.

Langgi is famous for its incredible rock formations which are exposed at low tide.
You need a bit of imagination but the rocks conjure up lots of amazing images.

We enjoyed a magnificent arvo and sunset at Langgi with drinks and nibbles as we waited for the tide to come in and re-float the Tinny.

Looking out to Lorelei from Langgi at Sunset.

The cascading overfalls at Montgomery Reef.
We were there at spring tides and had water heights of up to 4m/13ft difference.

Paul managed to walk ashore after the initial super strong water flow and get some photos of the cascading water into the inner channel where Lorelei was anchored.

The incredible and huge rock formations at Raft Point.

The most vivid Rock Art we experienced was at Raft Point.

Lots of whales (particularly cows with calves) on the way to Kingfisher Island.

Glass out whilst motoring into Talbot Bay.

George ready for our Helicopter flight over Talbot Bay and the Horizontal Waterfalls.

The view from the Helicopter over the two Horizontal Waterfalls.

Lorelei from the Helicopter, Talbot Bay.

We were lucky enough to be at the floating Hotel on our return from the flight to be just in time for the daily Tawny Nurse Shark Feed.
The staff let us in free of charge which was super nice.
Ironically the company saw Paul’s photos on our blog and they are now using them as their promo pictures. 
It was the least we could do for the free experience.

After watching the 900hp tourist boat flying through the Horizontal Waterfalls, we decided to do it in our 30hp Tinny with all 4 of us onboard.
We made it down easily enough but only just made it back after not nearly enough HP, nearly colliding with the cliff face and nearly tipping over in the whirlpools.     Never again……

George with a good sized Hammerhead Shark that swam around and around Lorelei for about 45 minutes. Talbot Bay.

Exploring the end of Silver Gull Creek.

George with 2 Trevally on just one lure.
We’ve never seen that before….. Silver Gull Creek.

After 8 weeks and nearly 1000 miles, we made it to Broome.
Lisa with a Pearl Diver statue in the town’s centre.

Exploring Cable Beach in Broome. It’s rated as one of the world’s best beaches.

Cable Beach comes alive at sunset with its famous Camel Tours.

Camels silhouetted at sunset.

Lisa and Chez with Cocktails overlooking the beach for our last night together.
George and Chez flew to Darwin after more than 3 months together.
We set sail back through The Kimberley.

Lisa landed this 16.2kg Tuna on a 4-7kg outfit in Copper Mine Creek after an 80 minute fight.

Lorelei at sunset, Coppermine Creek.

Tying the Tinny off to handle 10m/33ft tides that day.
Ruby Falls, Red Cone Creek, The Kimberley.

The tranquil top pools at Ruby Falls.

Pauls panoramic of the lower Ruby Falls.

A Crocodile sunning himself on a rock ledge.
Sapphire Falls. Red Cone Creek.

Some great days were had sport fishing with light tackle.
Red Cone Creek.

Sunset over the Kingfisher Islands.

Exploring Sheep Island and its amazing Boab Trees.

A clump of Boab Trees overlooking the water. Sheep Island.

The mangroves around Sheep Island were clean and full of sea life.
Note the Turtle in the shallows near the shadow.

A mother and calf gave us a fantastic breaching display as we sailed silently past towards the Hunter River.

A fantastic Boab standing alone on a rocky heading. Ivy Cove.

Glass out in the Hunter River.

Sight casting for Barra at its absolute best. The Hunter River.

Exploring the Hunter River’s creeks at low tide for Barra structure.

Paul with his first Kimberley Barramundi.

A dirty Kingfisher that wasn’t too scared of us in the Tinny. Red Cone Creek.

Glassy conditions up in the protected Mangrove lined creeks.

There were a lot of Crocodiles in Red Cone Creek.

Sunset whilst still fishing for Barra. Red Cone Creek.

Some untouched beaches and headlands near Rainforest Ravine.

We had read about a complex sea cave system near Rainforest Ravine.
After a bit of searching, we found them.

Just one of the many pristine swimming holes on the walk up through Rainforest Ravine.

A great tree root system in the Rainforest Ravine.

A crazy series of rock formations along the inlet. We called it The Lost City.

Wandjina Rock Art at Bigge Island.

A huge cave we found by accident at Bigge Island.

A small, pristine inlet with a stand-alone rock formation on the beach.
Bigge Island.

Croc Cam! Playing with a Cranky Croc at Bigge Island until it jumped up high, hit the Tinny and nearly got the camera…..

One of the few sails we actually had whilst heading north in The Kimberley.
Sailing to Dog Ear Bay from Rainforest Ravine.

Some fantastic Rock Art was to seen at Swifts Bay south.

Overlooking the Aboriginal Rock Art Sites on the water’s edge of Swifts Bay south.

We crawled into a cave to view a series of great Wandjina artworks.
Paul had to lie in Wallaby poo and shell middens with a 10mm lens to get the photos. Swifts Bay south.

Our first rain storm in over 3 months!! We were sooo happy. Swifts Bay.

A great overhang in a hill that was full of Rock Art with some of it being huge.
Swifts Bay north.

Paul wanted to do a series of dusk/night shot with Boab Trees.
We found the right spot with only a few days to go before the end of The Kimberley trip.  Very happy with the results.

A star trail / Boab Tree photo that took 2 hours of exposures.
At 10:30pm we were finished but got stalked by a Crocodile each time we tried to cross the beach to get to the tinny.

After a slow 3 day gulf crossing we made it back to Darwin and the marina safe and sound after our fantastic 4 month Kimberley Adventure.

We splurged and went to the Parap Markets on Saturday morning for Paul to have Mary’s famous Laksa for breakfast.

In Darwin we visited the Aviation Heritage Centre.
It has the only B-52 Bomber on display outside of the USA.

We did lots of bike rides around the city.
The foreshore has lots of excellent bike/walking paths and a lot of history.

We did a 3 day camping trip to the Litchfield National Park.
First stop was the Magnetic Termite Mounds.

Having a relaxing and uncrowded swim above the waterfalls at Florence Falls.

The Buley Rockholes were packed with kids in the popular centre section, so we hiked further up the watercourse and found our own quiet location for a swim.

Our first night’s campsite near Florence Falls.

The Cascades are a 4km round trip walk which discourages most people.
It was uncrowded and beautiful and we spent most of one day there.

A Termite Mound with Attitude, Litchfield National Park.

The Wangi Falls was packed with tourists so we didn’t stay too long.

On our last night we went back to the Magnetic Termite Mounds to get some dusk/night photos.

For our last weekend in Darwin we went out to Dinner with our Darwin Besties – Chris, Cynthia, Grace, Clint, Jackson and Lachlan.

We left the Marina and sat on anchor in Darwin Harbour waiting for the right weather window to transit the 150nm run to the Cobourg Peninsula.
The harbour sunsets over the Stokes Hill Wharf were varied and stunning.

Lisa with a trophy sized Barramundi in the Cobourg Peninsula.
We caught over 30 Barramundi in a week.

The bays and rock bars of the Cobourg also produced excellent sport fishing.

Victoria Settlement – a British established colony that failed
after 11 fateful years in Port Essington.

Lisa fly fishing for Barramundi.

Lisa with a meter-long Giant Threadfin Salmon.

Lisa with a 70cm Barramundi caught right on Sunset.

Sailing into Gove past the Bauxite loading terminal

Melbourne Cup luncheon at The Arnhem Club – Gove/Nhulunbuy

The Gove local Spearos coming to dinner on Lorelei.
Chris & Phoebe, Jade & Aaron – super nice people….

Spearfishing from Chris’s boat at the Bromby Islands out from Gove.
Spanish Mackerel all round for Lisa, Jade, Levi and Chris.

Arrived home from spearfishing to find 2 huge Mud Crabs in our
cockpit thanks to Aaron.

Gove’s harbour foreshore is a boaties boulevard of broken dreams thanks to the cyclones.  Paul’s time exposure photo at dusk.

Having the Gove crew out for Sunday lunch and an arvo sail.
8 Adults and 5 kids under 7 – fun times….

Aboriginal artists doing traditional painting – Yirrkala Aboriginal Community.

Chris took us off road for a day filled with fun and adventures.
Little Bondi Beach – Nhulunbuy.

Sailing across the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Daybreak on day 2 sailing east.

Sunset on day 3 – no wind so motoring.

We picked up a hitchhiker… A Booby Bird that stayed on-board for 16 hours.

Standing on the tip of mainland Australia – Cape York.

We climbed to the summit of York Island and could look back down over the tip of Australia.

On our way down the East Coast we passed our
friends John and Kat off Katfish.

We sailed to the Escape River to seek protection from a strong wind warning that lasted a week.
So we went fishing up the river and lost more lures than we caught fish thanks to some hard-fighting GT’s and Mangrove Jacks.

Mid-week we were invited to the Torres Pearl Farm for lunch and a tour.
There were 3 yachtie couples and Rusty & Bronwyn – the farm’s owners.

Sunset from the pearl farm’s main wharf – just seconds before the rain hit….

For Lisa’s birthday we put the crab traps in and were rewarded with 2 large
Mud Crabs which made excellent fresh Chilli Mub Crab.

Sailing south we had to dodge and weave around a lot of reef systems.

Anchored up at the tiny sand island of Morris Island overnight.

A large 4.5m/14ft Crocodile sunning itself on Morris Island at daybreak.

An awesome sunset from Ingram Island.

We arrived at the Flinders Group after a solid week of travelling south.
We stayed for 5 days and explored the area.

The Yithuwarra Aboriginal Rock Art sites on Stanley Island.

We found the rock inscribed from the crew of the English survey vessel
HMS Dart in 1899, Flinders Island.

A great sunrise as we transited through the channel between Stanley and Flinders Island.

After 5+ years we were back at our favourite place, Lizard Island and the gateway to the Ribbon Reefs. Finally we could swim without fear of Crocodiles.

Back diving with new camera housings after over a year of no diving.
A large school of Big Eye Trevally (Jacks) at The Cobia Hole, Lizard Island.

Lisa found a rare Solar Powered Nudibranch – our first one in Australia.
We emailed Lisa’s photo to the research station.


Paul scored 2 “hard to photograph fish” in the one frame.
A Red Emperor and a Snub Nosed Dart.

Climbing to the peak of Lizard Island known as Cooks Look.
The view from the top is stunning.

Catching up. 
Paul and Captain Tony together again on the bridge
of the dive live aboard “Spirit of Freedom”.

The Chinaman’s Ridge walk has excellent views over Watsons Bay.

Catching up with Anthony and his friends on his charter cat Liquid Desire.

Paul hiked up the Cook’s Look trail at sunset to photograph
Watsons Bay at dusk.

With strong winds, Paul kited for a week at Lizard Island.
Kiting in Paradise!!!

Kiting over the reef.

Kiting with Sharks…..

When the wind subsided we went out to the Ribbon Reefs to dive.
Lisa up close with a large Olive Sea Snake.

We saw many schooling of Barracuda and Jacks overhead.


Lisa modelling for Paul on a pinnacle.

Paul filling tanks at 6pm when it was low tide and calm conditions.

Lisa finding some great Emperor Shrimp.
This one was 4mm long and the white splotches are grains of sand.

Lisa modelling with some large Giant Clams that are decades old.

Racing south to get to Port Douglas before dark.

With fees up 200% at the marina and hundreds of boats now anchored in the inlet,
we had no choice but to anchor in the channel within touching distance of the mangroves.


Pete our favourite rigger, inspecting and tweaking Lorelei’s rig.

Not wanting another night in the mangroves, we got out to the Low Isles just before an awesome sunset and in time for Christmas day..

Christmas lunch at The Low Isles – Caesar Salad and Seafood Vol-a-vents.

Kayaking with large Nurse Sharks at Woody Island, The Low Isles.

Nurse Sharks feeding in the mangroves in only 40cm of water.

After Christmas we went back out to the reef and spent a few days Kayak Spearfishing at St Crispin Reef.

We returned south and did an overnight stop at the Low Isles and had a terrific
late arvo kayak on sunset before sailing onto Cairns.

We arrived in Cairns just before New Year’s Eve.
Lisa with the coloured trees on the Cairns foreshore.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016/17 from the Cairns foreshore……

WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED OUR “2016 YEAR IN PICTURES” !!!