Cruising with SV Aeolus: Wrap Up of a Pacific Passage

As a pistol used by the Kelly gang at the siege at Glenrowan, Victoria, in 1880, came under the hammer at a Melbourne auction we got out of jail! Getting ourselves and the boat through customs and quarantine in Bundaberg was not as bad as expected. The official Bundaberg team was a nice bunch of people and as soon as we understood the process, it was just a matter of patience. Meeting the Port to Port people was also a nice experience and catching up with other cruisers from the Pacific passage quickly filled the day. It was only after some time on Australian soil reality caught up with us - or was it reality, hard to say! Marquesas and Tahiti seems a distant memory and this was only half the passage! Then followed Suvarow Reef in the Northern Cook Islands, Pago Pago in American Samoa, then beautiful Fiji where we were cruising the Yasawa Islands with Ib and spend a whole cyclone season in Vuda Point Marina. Then we were off to Vanuatu and Port Vila, cruising between the islands north to Peterson Bay with Heather. Then off to Huon and Chesterfield Reefs joining the Port to Port Rally straight into Bundaberg. Just before that our legs got shaky! Where do we want to go? Maybe a year in New Zealand or what about turning around and stay another season in Fiji – why the rush?

Memories of people, fellow cruisers and events along the way were many, some may say too many. Somewhere the tale has to end, because a new one will begin. This happened at the Tahiti – Moorea Rendezvous, this happen in Fiji, this happened in Port Vila, this happened in Bundaberg and many other places. Suddenly, it is time to say goodbye – it is all over! What is left in our memories is not the hardship at sea, not the frustration over broken gear, not the time and money spent along the way. It is the adventure, the people and the friendship we shared along the way, it made us humble.