The seasons are changing.
So I'm soaking up these calm sunrises while we can.
Well good morning from Bowen.
John's still fast asleep but I thought I'd quickly just wrap a towel around me
and take you outside so I could film the Beautiful sunrise for you.
You wouldn't know it now but Cyclone season is knocking on our door.
Storms are brewing in the distance.
I've been here once before but in another life.
The rain feels like pins on your skin.
My previous life, when life was a little more chaotic.
A few years ago before I resigned as a TV journalist, I was here in Bowen
reporting on Cyclone Debbie which killed 14 people and caused 3.5 billion dollarsm in damage.
So being here now and living on a boat, vulnerable, as Cyclone season
approaches has me feeling somewhat nervous.
What was happening last time you were here? Well, my cameraman and I were up just on the ledge
there recording a piece to camera and...
Right now Cyclone Debbie is 85 kilometers off the shore.
Yeah it was pretty windy and wild.
Is my cameraman for real?
It was yeah it was pretty insane actually. The category 4 Cyclone was just off the coast
and bearing down on us and it was pretty intense.
So as you can see, that's probably not, that's not a good idea.
After it swept through and wreaked havoc here on Bowen we came back and yeah there were just
so many boats like impacted and decimated and...
Power was quickly cut as the Cyclones eye crossed over the coast.
As the storm was passing we had to continue live crosses from our hotel because it was too dangerous to venture out
and with no power we lived off non-perishable food for days.
A lot of people's homes were devastated. Planes were turned upside down. Even the Prime Minister of Australia
arrived on a helicopter and and um..
You met him hey? Yeah, yeah.
Resilience of the community is backed up by the whole nation.
Witnessing 215 kilometer an hour winds I know I never want to experience that on our boat Tucana,
but we are now approaching Cyclone season holy crap.
I don't want to spill the beans either but we are in for some epic storms in episodes to come
so make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss these upcoming episodes.
But today we have blue skies so we're going to lock up our tender
and walk to the main strip. It's a little sleepy here with just 17,000
residents but I'm keen to show you what this true blue Aussie Town looks like.
Bowen is a seaside town with plenty of fair Dinkum Aussie pubs. Last time I was
here people were taking shelter in them and sleeping on the floor and I kid you
not, they were cheering ahead of the chaos. Thank you very much. Some blankets and a fridge full of beer
there also. You see this is a mining and agriculture town and it's home to the Big Mango.
It's also home to millions of these guys.
I spotted something interesting from the from the coast.
There's thousands of them.
these guys are native to Australia they're called Soldier crabs because they form like armies.
You can see them trying to bury themselves. There are literally thousands of them.
I've never seen anything quite like it. You can hear them scuttling if you listen really carefully.
Anyway back to the storms that are heading our way. So tropical Cyclone season starts now in November,
and runs for the next six months. I know six whole months. And this year authorities are estimating 11
Cyclones to impact Australia in that time. Now I took this video of Bowen today but this is when
it was being smashed by Cyclone Debbie.
Winds got up to 116 knots and the system dumped half a foot of rain
so with the season creeping up on us we have some urgent repairs we have to make on our boat
Tucana. So we're going to head back to the marina, jump on our tender
Oh my gosh.
But on the way John spotted something near the dumpster of all places.
Ready for the primer.
So we're just doing some boat work on anchor here.
It's a nice little anchorage with some nice smooth water.
We've had some strife at this window ever since we bought the boat.
As part of the deal it was supposed to be resealed and they had to go at it in Melbourne.
I think it wasn't the first time having a go at it and unfortunately the sealant just didn't bond well
to the fiberglass or the polycarbonate window so this time we're going to try it again
but using some primer.
This is $90 dollars a bottle.
I figure it's a good time to get this window fixed once and for all.
Got some friends joining us next week
and there's some rain forecast which is the first rain we've had in months really isn't it?
Good luck.
So together John and I worked as a team or at least we tried to as he squeezed in the sealant
and I had to shape it and clean up the edges.
Thank goodness time lapses don't capture audio because this task tests relationships.
Terrible.
Not too bad.
Now our next goal is to sail further south because our boat Tucana isn't completely insured in these waters
if a cyclone forms.
You see according to the fine print on our insurance there's this imaginary line
round about here and if you're south of it by the start of the Cyclone season we can relax
knowing we're covered. So we're going to get going tomorrow. We're expecting decent winds to put out our
gennika and we haven't had the guts to use it yet so we're going to need to do some repairs on it
and then we're going to try it out for the very first time.
John found Spinnaker in our sail locker. We are really really excited to try it out.
And there's only one problem. There is a hole in the sock.
So we have a sailing repair kit I'm going to try and repair the hole.
I've re-hemmed dresses and clothes and my late grandma taught me how to sew
but this is obviously completely, different completely new the needle's a lot larger and the thread is a lot thicker and waxed.
yeah it's really heavy but before we get going
we're going to enjoy one last local meal fresh from the sea
salt don't we what do you got there fresh Australian wild caught prawns I wonder if
people watching this from the US wonder why we call them prawns shrimps it's weird how that
ad said put another shrimp on the barbie I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie food on an
Australia says sure no but one of our most famous movies Australia you know the one starring Nicole
Kidman and Hugh Jackman well part of that was filmed right here on the beachfront in
Bowen only recreated Darwin it was directed by a baslerman who recently directed Elvis
this was where they did it over here this was the set first Australia we grew off the area
meanwhile back on takana John was kicking back on his Newfound Throne
like an A-list celebrity so I'm sitting in my jocks having a Sunset Beer on the bear
life of luxury you of all people won't wear clothes from an OP shop but you're happy to take
a bean bag from the side of a dumpster and sit on it all the bean bags not like your balls is it
and on that note foreign to get going and to find out if those sewing skills of mine are up to the
test when we put out our newest sale we're hoping our Jennica will sail us all the way to the wet
Sundays where we're going to meet some friends we want to take them to some islands we haven't
been to before including the widely popular Hamilton island is 2.5 it's going to go up 300.
to do this since we coached us to Connor we just had to wait for the right conditions and being
the first time that we put it up I wanted it to be just right how are you feeling pretty good
are you hoping it's going to work yeah I do hope it works you just lost down just a tiny bit yep
foreign
oh my gosh I think I can't even get it all in shock that is so spectacular so organica
is perfect for downwind sailing as you can see on our instruments the apparent wind is
coming from our Port quarter it's feeling the enormous sail and helping to propel us forward
ah just slow down but we're doing uh five knots in 5.2 knots of true wind so now we're going to talk
about how we're going to get it down we've just turned the engine off but if the wind picks up
quickly you know we don't want the same confusing yeah oh yeah it was a little confusing the attack
line sheet clue all these new commands and names that come with learning a new sale and then yes
the wind picked up so we're right on the edge of the limit of what we want it's always wins
them too light the wind's a little too strong the angle's too deep it's a little rainy but
today everything lined up but we've had it out for about four hours and we've been doing about
over eight Knots boat speed most of the time so we've covered a lot of ground it's been good and
the wind's been pretty steady it is backing a little bit and it's now sort of up to the point
where we're thinking about putting it away shortly but yeah it's been good hasn't it yeah but what
goes up must come down right that's right except for house prices apparently all right so we know
what we're doing yeah so I'm taking that off we're gonna ease that meter and a half and is the sales
going to flog like this yeah careful because it might go loose all of a sudden and then it
might pull tight again so just be careful careful yeah okay is it filming yeah I'll tell you when
okay so this is the very first time we have ever used this Jennica and if you have any tips would
love to hear them leave your comments below keep going at the time we just had to figure it out
ourselves yeah we tried to turn the boat and blanket the Jennica with the Mainsail to help
collapse it but it didn't really work essentially we're trying to get it into a position where John
can put the sock over the side can you let the attack out more but the more we ease the
lines the further the sound moved forward continuing to pull us forward let it ride
out but we just couldn't get it to come down it was stuck let the clue out more the other one
I think it's stuck but we kept trying we were determined to Snuff this sale let out more
and then relief With the Wind picking up the anxiety of not getting this sailed down was
making me so nervous to the point where you can hear your heart beat and thumping in your ears huh
thanks well done wow that was a bit scary yeah I'm not sure how to avoid that yeah
yeah but it made me realize that we can fly that quite a long way out yeah you
know what I mean coming up next week we have company I cannot believe we're leaving our
friends jump on board we spot a vessel on the Rocks crazy in the wet Sundays
we experience our first storm of the season the white cats out here really the season has
definitely changed and take on Hamilton Island the Hawaii of Australia hiking included so hit
subscribe and join us for some cold ones on the bean bag I found my new special spot
just rigged out this little tarp it's getting hot that's good Sundays