4/11/12 -7/11/12 New Caledonia 

New Caledonia, is another French island, that has been extensively damaged by successful mining. This South Pacific island, unlike the others we have visited is very rich. 

We have to sail to the capital, Noumea to check in. It has a large affluent town feel to it. We spend our time provisioning and preparing for our final leg, to Australia. Unfortunately as we are running out of time with the South Pacific cyclone season beginning, we do not have time to visit the surrounding numerous islands. 

8/11/12-13/11/12 Final leg to Australia 

Everyone is talking about it, the weather window has arrived and it’s time to go. On the way, we finally manage to download the weather using our satellite mobile phone – no idea why it never worked before. Unfortunately for us, it shows a deep low coming up the east coast of Australia. You don’t want to stay in the South Pacific longer than you have to, in fear of tropical cyclones, and so there is not much we can do, but ride in to it. We start to prepare for our first bad weather. The worst is not knowing how bad it will be when it hits. Strong SE change and bang 35-45Kn wind. We our comfortably sailing only with our 2nd reefed main. Thankfully we do not need to guard the helm as the autopilot is coping quite nicely. Not much for us to do, except watch a movie and get a good night sleep. Weather settles over 24 hours and we are nearly becalmed as we head into home waters.   812 Nm, Av speed 6.2Kn.