A brief resume here.... The pandemic kept Jeanne in Australia from mid-February 2020 until March 2022 a total of 25 months!
From the end of August 2020, Jeanne stayed in Cairns, Far North Queensland, with the benefit of virtually no Covid in the region and able to live a 'normal' life unlike most of the rest of the world. She felt very blessed to have happened to have arrived there when she had, in a lovely tropical setting and within reach of spectacular scenery and among friendly people.
The only downside was being unable to take care of her boat Nereida awaiting her return to Victoria Harbour, British Columbia, Canada, where she had been docked since the completion, in September 2019, of her second sail around the world solo, nonstop and unassisted.
Jeanne was able to travel Queensland extensively during her stay there, despite the pandemic, with several visits to the region west and north of Brisbane as well as to the city itself and travel along the coast both south to NSW and north to Cairns, as well as up to Cape York from Thursday and Horn Islands in the Torres Strait.
When eventually it became possible for her to fly out of Australia back to Canada early in 2022, she took the opportunity to explore Queensland and NSW further inland on her way, by camper van, from Cairns to Sydney, but made sure to travel the coast as well as she neared Sydney the furthest East Cape of Australia and its lighthouse, at Byron Bay, and coastal points south of there were not to be missed by this sailor!
Jeanne finally landed back in British Columbia to arrive back on board her beloved Nereida mid-March in 2022. She then started on the long task of seeing to all the many repairs and upgrades needed as a result of Nereida, since her launch in April 2009, having circumnavigated the world three-and-a-half times (nonstop around twice), having sailed around Cape Horn three times, with a lot of damage resulting from the frequent rough conditions and lengthy times at sea, often in the Southern Ocean.
Since then, for over a year, Jeanne has been solidly working hard at repairing Nereida, devoting a lot of time, care and effort to restore her boat to tip-top shape. She wanted to make Nereida thoroughly seaworthy again, in the expectation of her next long ocean voyage , in 2023 across the Pacific from Mexico and eventually to New Zealand and then Australia, exploring everywhere on her way.