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I’m Kayleigh, this is James — and this is our sailboat Mon Ami, a 41-foot Jeanneau Sun Legende from 1987. But how exactly did we end up here? Well, we met back in 2020 — just weeks before the world went crazy during the pandemic. So, instead of being locked down, we jumped in our four-wheel drives and drove across the country. First stop: the infamous Telegraph Track on the Cape York peninsula. From there, we continued west through sand, dirt, and endless corrugations — camping under the stars in the Northern Territory, dreaming about what big adventure we could go on next. And that’s where we first spoke about buying a sailboat. As we drove on, we had mud spas, surfed with new friends, and eventually crossed into Western Australia — ending up in Exmouth, the place that became our home for nearly three years. We settled in, found jobs and the dream of owning a boat finally started to become real. So with this goal in mind, we worked as much as we could and even spent a whole year living in a swag, which we called rent-free 2023. James — or Gibbo — was working as a deckhand on the whale shark boats, later moving to the tugs, while I worked as a sea kayak guide. We were both pulling 12-hour days for weeks at a time, saving every dollar we could. In between our work, we even managed to afford a budget holiday to new Zealand where we cycled our bikes across the entire country and lived in our tent - but that’s a story for another day. We started to look at yachts online and noticed there wasn’t a huge variety in WA. So we packed up once again (minus the Suzuki) and drove 6,000 kilometres back to Queensland — across the vast Nullarbor Plain, where we broke down, ate many jaffles, and even picked up a joey along the way - another reminder to always check the pouch! After looking at a few fixer-uppers, we finally saw a listing for Mon Ami.. and well, the rest is history.. We spent our first few months sailing around Moreton Bay, learning the ropes — literally — and getting to know our new boat. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing: we found diesel bug cappuccino, leaking hatches, and a badly corroded rudder post that forced a haul-out. As new boat owners, this wasn’t exactly how we wanted to spend our time. We fixed, polished and anti fouled the boat before, quitting our jobs and moving aboard full time in April. It’s now the end of September — and we’ve sailed nearly 2,000 nautical miles along the Queensland coast. Along the way, we’ve welcomed friends aboard, explored remote reefs, and sailed alongside giants. It’s been a pretty wild ride — with some of the best moments, and some of the toughest. But the journey’s not over yet - and we’d love to take you along for the rest of this adventure… and every one after that.

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¡Hola Barcelona! What an epic trip we have completed. And how awesome to finish it with a fly by from these guys on American Magic. We started our journey back to Europe from the Caribbean 6 weeks ago. Our route across the Atlantic Ocean took us from Saint Martin to the Azores in 14 days. We then took another 2 weeks from the Azores through the light and shifty winds of the Mediterranean Sea to Barcelona. We have sailed approximately 4000nm so we could play with these guys 😁 This will be our new home for the next 12 months. Can you guess what the youngbarnacles are up to ?!

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#newyear #newyear2025 #fireworks

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