Replacement tracker up and running.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0JjGkAuJccKqHSmgMYJDEJsNvg14VW58O​

Hello everyone after such a high profile fail of our tracking device we have managed to obtain a replacement and have it up and running. Please test the link above for me and let me know if it works. You should see a couple of spots in the Bell Park Caravan Park at Emu Heads just south of Yeppoon. The old unit has been turned off and deactivated so the old link will not work anymore.

We have had great support and help from the Emu Park, Yeppon and Rockhampton community. Jon Mitchel (Rhino Trees) a good friend and best tree climber I know lent us his Landcruiser to get into Yeppon and Rockhampton. Nixon Communications gave up their time to help us locate a device from one of their competitors Capricorn Communications, thanks Karen the unit works!. Matt Kerr and Jason from the Livinstone Shire Council helped us with a lift and made us feel very welcome, it was great to meet up with Matt and his hard working team again. Lorna here at the Caravan Park is a generous soul and has bent over backwards to help us. Grant from the Water Police came and spent a couple of hours with us yesterday going over our planned itinerary and gave us outstanding advise on where to camp, areas to avoid, and those spots that we must see in the coming days paddling – he was an absolute champion. There is something very special about these coastal communities, the people are content in their skin, they are happy. I really like this part of the world.

It was my birthday yesterday – yep another year older and ten kilos lighter😀. Fellow campers Harold and Gieslla invited us to dinner and over a couple of bottles of red wine I capped off my day as a unique, fun and excellent day. I missed my beautiful family but thanks to FaceTime we all shared a laugh at the state of my beard.

Today we are planning for the next ten days of paddling – we are about to enter a communications black spot and may be out of contact for 7-10 days. Yep places without cell phone coverage do exist, excellent!.  We are very excited to be heading into the 220kms of uninhabited coastline and have been prepping, repacking, discarding surplus equipment so we can add a lot of water for the next stage of our trip. Thanks to our faulty tracker we have met some expert Mariners who have given freely their knowledge and advise, so we are well prepared. 

This afternoon we will try and give you an anticipated date when we will be back in communication range. Much of today will be spent planning our next seven to ten days considering tides, currents and winds. This we will have written on all of our charts before we go, you may have noticed my scribblings on the maps on the deck of my kayak in previous photos. The only thing we expect will delay us in any way will be Northerly winds, at last check we have some coming for one day next Saturday so that will likely end up being a rest day in a south facing beautiful bay, what a shame – more fishing.

Thanks to all of you who have been following and sending your kind wishes. Talk soon. DT