Still in Cairns

The Low in the Solomon Sea has developed into a tropical cyclone today. It has been named “Yani”.The Australian Bureau of Meteorology stated today “At noon, Wednesday 22/11/2006, the Fiji Met service named tropical cyclone Yani in the Solomon Sea near 12.3S 162.5E [995hPa] some 1800 km east of Cairns. All of our computer guidance in the long term shows that Tropical Cyclone Yani is no direct threat to Queensland owing to the lack of any strong steering current and the static pattern in our hemisphere.”

Our chosen skipper with over 35 years experience in shipping around the world has informed us he sees little chance of us departing Cairns until Friday next week! This is not good news. The cost of staying here in Cairns is very expensive. Additionally, Puia and Nixon’s Solomons Australian visas expire this Friday. It is likely the route to Solomon Islands will no longer be direct. We’ll have to travel further along the coast of Australia and then head east across the Southern border of PNG. The delays and extra fuel that will be required to get the vessel to Solomon Islands via this circuitous route is likely going to be A$8,000 to A$9,000 in addition to the hiring costs for the skipper.

If you are able to assist, we would be very grateful. Our bank details are below. We are not a charity and any funds would not allow you a tax deduction. We will do our best to repay any donations, but we cannot guarantee this. Should you wish to donate, please include your surname and postcode (eg. Smith 2453) as a reference and please send Peter Lynch an email so we can confirm receipt of funds, peterlynch@pelena.com.au.

Best wishes and many thanks for all your support and well wishes. Bank Details for Pelena Energy in Australia: These funds will be used by this project - Pelena Express.

Account Name: Pelena Pty Limited

Account No: 64455

Name of Financial Institution: Elcom Credit Union Ltd.

BSB: 802-196

Address of Elcom: PO Box 370, Toukley, NSW, 2263, Australia