In January 2017 my husband Eric Sponberg and I departed St. Augustine, FL, on our 35-foot sailboat Corroboree with the goal of sailing around the world. I have no idea whether we will make it. As with any journey, the path is never as straight as you optimistically plan. But you go anyway, in hopes of a great adventure and because you can’t ignore the tug in your heart that beckons you on.
This blog will be the story of our voyage…and much more.
In December 1871, three prospectors—Hugh Mosman, George Clark, John Fraser—and their horse boy, a young Aboriginal named Jupiter, were searching for gold when their horses got spooked in a thunderstorm and bolted. Jupiter, so named for his luminous eyes, was sent to retrieve them, and when he found the horses beside a stream, his eyes […]
The first thing you learn when you’re diagnosed with a melanoma in Australia is that virtually every Aussie has either had one themselves or can claim a friend or family member who has. That’s not surprising in a country that is: 1) populated largely by people of white-skinned European descent, and 2) exposed to intense […]
What a difference a year makes! In January 2020, bushfires were ravaging Australia, and my blog post was titled “Australia is Burning.” In January 2021, rain is the order of the day. Not to mention two cyclones within two weeks. On 3 January, Cyclone Imogen struck the York Peninsula, the pointy tip of northeast Australia, […]
Back in October, Eric and I were about to cross a busy intersection in Townsville when a white SUV rounded the corner on which we stood. In the three seconds before it vanished into the traffic, I glimpsed a large, colorful decal and the words “Birdwatchers’ Cabin, Atherton Tablelands.” Well, I know a sign when […]
First, you have to remember that Australia is BIG, roughly 2,400 miles wide. Flying from the east to west coast is like flying from New York to LA. Then you have to wrap your mind around the emptiness, because within 10 minutes of our flight taking off from Townsville, virtually every sign of civilization disappeared. […]
When Capt. James Cook was murdered by the natives of Hawaii on 14 February 1779, the Hawaiians didn’t just club and stab him to death and leave his body in the surf where the attack occurred. They dragged his corpse ashore, and, rumor has it, butchered and ate the great explorer. “Wonder how he tasted,” […]
Me: “Wait, wait, give me the camera!”Eric: You’re not taking another picture of a tree, are you? (He doesn’t say this out loud, but I know he’s thinking it.)Me: “Now go stand next to the trunk for scale.”Eric: Sigh.Me: “Okay, more to the left, back up…that’s it.”Eric: Smiles for the camera.Me: “Got it! Just look […]
Forty years ago, cruising from England to California, Eric and I met in the Canary Islands a gentlemanly English sailor by the name of Tom Blackwell. Tom was in his 70s and on his third solo circumnavigation aboard a 50’ wood yawl. It was a big, heavy boat with a full-sized, claw-footed bathtub—in which he […]
Actually, here in Australia it was 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 28 July, when we met our first grandchild, Anderson Gray Sponberg, born in Atlanta on Monday, 27 July. But as we saw the photos pop up on our phone, you can bet that for an instant our hearts stood still. Then we clapped and whooped […]
First off, despite the sensationalist headline, we have not had a disaster aboard Corroboree. Quite the contrary: Since 30 June, she has been comfortably berthed at the yacht club in Townsville, North Queensland, and with our circumnavigation still on hold due to Covid-19, we expect to be here a while. Though we no longer have […]