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Elburg - 52° 27' 17"N 05° 49' 33" E

By Kate and Sean -
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The moat, and a bar.  What a lovely place to pass some time! We were welcomed back to Elburg by blue skies, budding trees and a very long list of tasks. We opted to stay at the beautiful Hotel Elburg for the first couple of nights while we organised the boat to become habitable once again. As it turned out, this was a very wise decision. Staying our initial two nights in town at the Elburg Boutique Hotel was a good idea.  A soft, made-and-ready bed was the best way to deal with jet lag. After a good night's sleep, we walked the kilometre and a half to the boatyard to see how our girl was doing. Tucked safely at the back was Chinook! And just like that, we are back aboard! We both agreed that as much as we love the Mornington Peninsula and Canmore, we were excited to be back aboard Chinook ... even if she was in a cradle on the boatyard.  It isn't her natural environment, but it does allow access to her hull and bits below the waterline that need att...
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Canmore - 51° 05' 21"N 115° 21' 06"W

By Kate and Sean -
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Our brief stopover in Canmore has made us homesick, both for our friends and this remarkable part of the world in which we live.  It's a little odd being 'home' but not in our house.  Fortunately, our friends have the most wonderful guest rooms and have been very generous in offering them up.  We appreciate you all!  To the groans of the locals, winter returned with a blast and a big dump of the fluffy white stuff.  We frolicked in the novelty of the winter wonderland before the sky was filled with the telltale arch of a chinook, the wind picked up and the snow melted away.   As usual, our time was a whirlwind of life administration and catching up with friends - brunches, coffees, dinners, walks and bike rides. Sean and Pat (yes, our favourite autohelm - Auto Pat) out for a pre-snowfall bike ride In keeping with the tradition of 'Story Night' we delivered the presentation we did to Mum's Probus group on our trip through the Northwest Passage.  Or...
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Not everything in Australia will kill you - 38° 26' 42" N 144° 57' 30" E

By Kate and Sean -
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 ... but some things look like they will! Meet the Huntsman Spider!  These creepy critters are ubiquitous in the houses around Australia and are guaranteed to cause squeals from even the most hardened arachnophile when they appear in unexpected places. Most are about the size of your palm but they can get as large as 20cm - about the size of my outstretched hand. Yikes! Fortunately, these fellows are generally harmless and, unless threatened, will rarely bite.  They do not build a web but hunt for insects and such, which actually make them quite a handy thing to have in your home if you can bear the shock of them popping up unexpectedly.  And they are fast!  Often, they are just an interesting wall ornament but when they choose, they skitter as fast as a screaming arachnophobe can leave the room. A huntsman in the kitchen. Didn't really want a coffee afterall. And we certainly had our fair share in Mum's house.  Most in manageable places but the odd one cau...
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What's the plan for 2026? - 38° 28' 23" S 145° 00' 46" E

By Kate and Sean -
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  Wow, 2026!  That came around quickly.  So what are our plans for the year?  As you know, plans continually evolve but this is our thinking for now... March:                                Back to the boat, organise, splash and head to Cherbourg via Amsterdam April:                                   Cherbourg for some warranty work and north through Kiel Canal to Sweden May/first half June:         West coast Sweden June/July:                           Åland/Finland/Estonia/Latvia/Sweden/Norway August:                               Scotland (Caledonian Canal), Irish Sea  to Scil...
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The Beach on a Certain Bank Holiday - 38°28'13"S 145°01'37" E

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Celebrations are afoot here, although there is a bit of controversy around it. One of the many things that makes Australia great Two hundred and thirty-eight years ago, the First Fleet came ashore at Sydney Cove, Port Jackson and ended up establishing Australia as a country.  As there was already a native people here, it was an invasion and a fair bit of violence ensued. The fact that the invaders decided to rename the land Australia and took to celebrating the new culture that arose from the initial clash on THE ANNIVERSARY of the first landing does ruffle the feathers of the descendants of those involved. It might be more sensitive to move the date of the celebration to another date, but I'll leave that to the resident population to work out.  There seems to be lots of flags and other symbols of happiness and gratitude about being connected to this sunburnt country , so I'm just going to run with "standard operating procedure until notified otherwise" and ...
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Flinders - 38° 26' 41" S 144° 57' 38" E

By Kate and Sean -
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The smoke and sunset contributing to this stunning, but scary scene. And January rolled on, the days became hotter and drier, the paddocks dried off to summer brown and bushfires became the leading news.  Towns that had once been just a sign on the highway became headlines - Harcourt, Longwood, Ruffy, Gobur, Natimuk - as the fires roared through destroying homes, farm buildings, livestock and fences.  Surrounded by tinder-dry paddocks, we had our fire plans in place and kept a close eye on the emergency updates.  And we were fortunate and we did not have fires close enough to be of concern. Our hearts go out to those who lost their homes, their livestock, their livelihoods.  And especially to the family and friends of the gentleman who lost his life. 
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Delivering Vámonos from Sydney to Melbourne - 35° 04' 27" S 150° 52' 02" E

By Kate and Sean -
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Ross, a childhood friend of Kate's, bought a new yacht in Pittwater (just north of Sydney) and wanted to bring her back to Melbourne.  Due to the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, it seemed all the professional skippers in the country were committed to racing or delivering Hobart yachts.   So, who do you think he called? The good ship Vámonos After a couple of conversations with Ross discussing logistics and the like, we found ourselves winging our way to Sydney. We met him and Vámonos at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club so we were able to say a g'day to Popeye! Vámonos is a 2004 Sayer 44, an Australian-built, aluminium, lifting-keel, blue water cruiser-racer - with a tiller!  We had a great deal of fun crawling around, opening lockers and generally poking about.  She was extremely clean and tidy, well maintained by her fastidious previous owner.  As Ross had only spent a couple of days aboard, we checked all the safety gear, radios, bilge pumps and e...
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