Arrived in Cairns and berthed at the Marlin Marina Complex at 0800 on Monday morning, slightly battered and bruised. We took 8 days and 20 hours for the 1,257 mile passage from Vanuatu, a very quick passage indeed for Hygeia, averaging 6.2 knots (even Cuddigan might be impressed!). On one night watch of 4 hours we logged 28 miles.

It's been a tough trip, one of the hardest we've had, with consistently strong winds and heavy seas. For virtually the whole passage the wind was in the twenties, sometimes in the thirties, and in the 25,000 miles we've now sailed in Hygeia, we've never had 8 consecutive days of heavy weather like this. At best the seas were rough, and at worst, very rough indeed, with massive waves slamming the sides of the ship. Our friend Dick Allan in Greylag rolled and inverted only a few miles south of where we were, and looking out at the seas we could well understand why it happened.

We had hoped that after a week the weather might have moderated for our slightly anxious-making approach to the Barrier Reef, but in the event conditions steadily deteriorated, and in the end we were careering towards the reef on a dark night, in gale-force winds with a bruising sea - and a lee-shore at that! What would Eric Hiscock have thought? ( In fact the Grafton Passage is 5 miles wide, and with GPS, easy reefing sails and a reliable engine, there was little danger in our approach)

It sounds from the above as though we had a nightmare trip, and this would not be correct - we had some unbelievable sailing, and in particular some magical nights, as the moon was nearly full, and when the clouds cleared the whole area was lit up in the most fantastic way. So don't feel sorry for us!.

It's been raining since we arrived in Cairns, but first impressions are of a bustling, down-to-earth city with plenty of things to do. Yesterday we took a 4WD trip up to Daintree, Cape Tribulation, and Mossman, most enjoyable, particularly the trek through the rain-forest.

We've had one or two health problems over the last few weeks. Poor Mie had that severe acute episode of what I assume was an atypical lumbo-sacral strain though it presented as loin and abdominal pain, and was laid low for two or three days. She also suffered a fairly major over-dose of lariam: In Vanuatu she developed photo-sensitivity due to the doxycycline anti-malaria prophylaxis she was taking, and was advised by a doctor in Vanuatu to stop it, and convert to Lariam. She was given 16 tablets of the drug to last her to Oz, and told to take one every day. It was only after a week that I wondered about the dose (which should be one a week) and although she immediately stopped it I have no doubt she suffered significant side-effects. As for me, I got a badly-bruised hip, when a big sea knocked the boat sideways and I fell from the chart-table onto the crash bar in front of the cooker in the galley - I was lucky not to do more damage (to me not the cooker!). I've also had a mysterious, painful effusion on my left knee, and needless to say, both of us are still having problems with our left hands. But of course, none of these problems are serious, and for a couple of pensioners, we're in good fettle.

Our crew, Bill and Bridget Anderson, leave us tomorrow, and we'll be sad to see them go: they've been excellent crew, sharing all duties, and great company. Mia and Jofric on Mazy are also saying farewell to Genevieve and Rolf, their crew for the last 6 weeks, so both boats will be down to couples only.

We're going to spend a few days getting Hygeia ready for the trip up the reef to Darwin, and will probably leave in five days or so. From Darwin we're going to look round Oz (by plane)and then return to the UK for a month.

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