Super Chango Ya Llego

We are in Brisbane. I am sitting at the Queensland State Library exploiting the free WiFi. So we survived the Tasman Sea crossing. I don't know where to begin, in part because there is a lot to relate, but mostly I think because I have not yet processed the experience. When we departed Tauranga, I thought I had a 2 week contemplative meditation ahead of me, but in fact I achieved very little focused introspection. Most of my energy went into suffering the motion. I never got sick, but my body never really adapted to the motion.

It was about as perfect a trip possible. We were downwind almost every day and the winds were very reasonable. We got plenty of sleep and saw practically no traffic. I don't recall being scared once on the trip. We broke a rudder, but it was almost inconsequential.

We cleared Australian customs yesterday and quarantine this morning. Today is our first day back on land. The first restaurant we encountered was a Turkish restaurant that advertised vegetarian Imam Bayildi, which I took as an omen, so we just had a delicious eggplant and baklava.

Tomorrow we head for the Great Barrier Reef for a week of snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, surfing, paddle-boarding and easy jaunts from mooring buoy to buoy. No more distance sailing. We should be anchored every night from here on out.

Dwight won the beard contest.