OUR CRUISING MATES FOR THE LONG HAUL BACK TO AUSTRALIA

This is "Hanalike", a 43ft monohull from New Zealand with Linda & Mike on board. They had been in Asia for the past 3 years & were at the stage where they wanted to get the boat back to their home country in time for Xmas this year. Although we'd met them on the 2010 East Malaysian Rally, we didn't really have much to do with them until we heard through the grapevine that they'd intended sailing from Sandakan, North Borneo, across to Indonesia, through PNG & then on toward the Louisiades. This was our intended journey back to Australia too, so we soon got together to plan our long trip back together.

"Hanalike" at anchor in Rabaul where we all stayed for a few days to clear into PNG & to restock our boats for the time ahead. After the eruption of the volcano in 1993, half of Rabaul was demolished & covered in volcanic ash which is still a problem to this day. The active volcano smoulders every day, hissing & spitting ash in all directions so we were fortunate that the winds were favourable while we were there, blowing the ash away from us instead of toward us. It certainly was a sight to behold.

After spending nearly 3 months sailing together on a daily basis, Linda & Mike became great friends so whenever the opportunity presented itself, we'd socialize of an afternoon, drinking a gin & tonic or two, or maybe even three, depending on just how stressful our days had been! Having their constant chatter on the radio throughout the long days & nights at sea was a real comfort to all of us, especially with Mike's droll sense of humour when things went wrong.

John & Ayse, who were also our sailing buddies back to Australia, shared the good times as well as the bad, & like Linda & Mike, became very good friends during our voyage from Terrenganu, on the East Coast of Malaysia, all the way back to Townsville, Australia. John, who is normally a lone sailor & who did most of the trip by himself, was joined by his girlfriend, Ayse, for a couple of stints throughout the rally. We first met Ayse when she flew into Terrenganu to do the crossing of the South China Sea, into Kuching, but once she'd departed from Kuching, we didn't see her again until her arrival in Rabaul, PNG, due to work commitments. Anyway, after thousands of miles of John being the lone sailor, you can imagine the excitement the day Ayse flew into Rabaul to complete the rest of the journey with him!