Are you a fan of Dave Sedaris? Always a favorite, his zany travel adventures and poignantly punchy family antics have kept me laughing out loud during many sleepless nights. I've been reminded of his story Laugh, Kookaburra a few times in the last few weeks, not only because it contains my favorite description of Australia ever—"Canada in a thong"—but also for its description of the kookaburra.

We had our first glimpse of the Glass House Mountains sailing south from Mooloolaba to Scarborough. Ancient lava plugs that rise up to 556 meters above the surrounding landscape, the Glass House Mountains stand like sentries guarding dry land when seen from the water. Up close, the 11 peeks revealed their distinct shapes and landscapes, some home orchards or conifer farms, others wild with eucalyptus and spring flowers in bloom.

After five weeks of non-stop waxing and polishing, Dominic left Helios on the dock in Australia and flew home to California last week.

Our other favorite part of Lone Pine Sanctuary was the raptor show. They brought out a beautiful, snowy white barn owl that flew silently over the crowd and a wedge tailed eagle that dwarfed his human handler. We also saw a peregrine falcon touring the grounds while he enjoyed his raw chicken lunch. All of the birds at Lone Pine had been rescued and rehabilitated but weren't fit to be released into the wild. 

If you're in the mood for a snuggle, let me recommend Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary just outside of Brisbane. We spent a morning there on our first day in the area with a car and were blown away by the variety of animals being rehabilitated and the furry, grey, bowling ball sized main attraction.

On December 5—a month ago, if you can forgive me for how behind the blog has become—we sailed 33 nautical miles south from Mooloolaba to Scarborough. Making an early morning start as there were forecasts for 25 knots of wind offshore in the afternoon, we left Mooloolaba's narrow channel under partly cloudy skies with winds from the northeasterly quadrant.

Sailing south from Fraser Island was a smokey affair—a bolt from the previous night's lightning storm had struck ground setting the island on fire. We upped anchor with the sun at 0430 to cross over a sand bar stretching between the southern tip of Fraser Island and Australia's eastern coast before the winds picked up.