Aloha, and G'Day, Mates
We are back at the Mooloolaba Yacht Club and very busy (so what else is new?) with the never ending boat to-do lists and preparing for the holidays and the birth of our grandson due March 6! We enjoyed a much-too-short visit with our daughter Julie and her husband Chris earlier this month. We loved showing them a small portion of this huge beautiful country! We visited the Australia Zoo to see the Crocodile Man, koalas, kangaroos, and salt water crocodiles. They were lucky to see the beautiful birds: lorikeets, black cockatoos, and galahs, which are always flying overhead as we take our afternoon walk. They delighted in swimming (NO surfing or windsurfing for Julie this time!)in the beautiful Pacific Ocean, as we enjoyed almost perfect weather for their visit. We were sad to see them leave; however, we have our plane reservations to fly to Maui on February 21, 2004, then on to Colorado on March 6. Now, we just need a little cooperation from "Grandson" for his timely grand appearance! We want as much time to be with him and to be as much help to the new parents as possible before we fly back to Australia on March 30, arriving April 1, 2004. David will also be traveling to Rochester, NY to visit with his Mother who has had many health problems since her heart attack last April. Unfortunately, he will not be able to see his father, who is being well cared for in an Alzheimer's care facility in Florida.
We enjoyed the beauty of Australia sailing down the coast from Cairns, especially the Whitsunday Islands. Unfortunately, we never seem to have as much time as we would like to spend in these different anchorages. We only sailed about 2,700 nautical miles between June 5 and October 22, traveling from Mooloolaba to Bundaberg, to the Louisiades Islands of Papua New Guinea, to Cairns, Australia, and returning to Mooloolaba. This is comparable to our first travels in 1999 from Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada to Key West/Fort Lauderdale, Florida. What a short distance compared with almost 9000 nautical miles in 2001, when we sailed across the Pacific! Our present plans (always caste in jello!)are to remain in Mooloolaba making S/V PEACE AND ALOHA and her crew ready to sail to Thailand after cyclone season. After our return on April 1, we will provision, sell our car, etc. etc. here in Mooloolaba. We will start heading north to Darwin about May 1 after having our bottom work completed in Bundaberg.
We love hearing your news and promise to answer all your emails soon. Please continue to stay in touch! We are more behind than usual, since we were making day sails down the coast, leaving an anchorage at 5am and anchoring about 5:30pm! Not much time to spend on the computer! We were more interested in watching the dolphins swimming and jumping in our bow wave or seeing the shocked expression on Eric's face, when a whale surfaced and blew about 10 feet from our stern while he was steering! We are even more behind after Julie and Chris's visit, our trip planning, Thanksgiving, and the myriad of preparations for Christmas. (We are working on a picture Christmas card/letter for this year!)
We will also be updating the website at www.peaceandaloha.com in the next few months. We LOVE to receive Christmas cards especially with pictures! Our address until April will be:
David J. Ernisse and CREW
S/V PEACE AND ALOHA
Mooloolaba Yacht Club
P.O. BOX 846 ********PLEASE NOTE****** CHANGED FROM LAST YEAR!
33-45 Parkyn Parade
Mooloolaba, Queensland 4557 Australia
Our cell phone: from USA 61-405-761-819 in Australia: 0405 761 819
Our permanent address is:
27138 Sunridge Drive Phone: 1-303-527-0423
Evergreen, CO 80439
USA
We wish everyone a blessed belated Thanksgiving, A Joyous Christmas and A Happy New Year! We are eternally thankful for all our many blessings and continued abundance which we enjoy on this beautiful planet as we sail the oceans of the world! We are so thankful for our family and friends and we wish that we could be with you all at this very special time of the year. Please stay in touch! Be safe. Take care of each other. Be well. God Bless!
with Love, Peace and Aloha,
Ellen, David, Jason and Eric
November 29, 2003
S/V PEACE AND ALOHA
Mooloolaba Yacht Club, Queensland, Australia
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