This may sound a bit over the top, but we're over the top. This morning we sailed round Cape York, the most northerly point on the Oz mainland, and then went north-west to Thursday Island, one of the Torres Islands. It has meant crossing both a physical and a psychological barrier. Physical because we have left the Pacific and are heading for the Arafura Sea and the Indian Ocean, and psychological because everyone is anxious about the Torres Straits - an area of persistently strong winds, and fast and unpredictable tides and currents. And this is exactly what we found...

To reach Thursday Island we passed Tuesday and Wednesday Islands, and Friday Island is ahead, so presumably the early explorers rested on Saturday, Sunday and Monday!

The Torres Islands are geographically part of Oz, but culturally and ethnically part of New Guinea - the locals are Melanesian. New Guinea is only 78 miles north of here, and the Solomon Islands only about 300 miles away. What frustration that we didn't make it there.

Since Lizard Island a week ago we have been blessed with wonderful weather, and I doubt whether you could better the sailing. The winds have been absolutely consistent in strength and direction - 20-25 knots from the south-east, but a relatively flat sea as the Barrier Reef 20 miles away filters out the swell. We've been able to day sail the whole way from Cairns, with wonderful anchorages every night. Apart from the heavy weather between Cairns and Lizard Island we have had an idyllic time.

So we have a couple of days here fuelling up and revictualling, and then set off for Darwin, a mere 700 miles away. Then it's home for a few weeks.