Hi Everyone,

So the storms have started, and  the  first cyclone is here - two months earlier than we have  been  used to  in the recent years!

I've also been busy updating  the  Pocket Guide and creating  Christmas  Gift Cards, as well as been on my annual field trips as  always  during the Spring months of the year.

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In This Issue:

• Storms and Early Cyclone

• The Trips of This Year

• Updates on Website and Inbox

• Christmas Gift Cards Available

• Free Pocket Guide Updated

• Feedback Always Welcome

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STORMS  AND EARLY CYCLONE

So, last year we had a very dry  December and when the rains started on 6. January they  were  the  monsoonal rains and they stayed for the rest of the Wet Season.

Sorry that some  wrong-doers have made this needing a mention: These newsletters  are  subject to the Law of Copyright - the only way to legally spread  them  is a link to this page or a proper Facebook share (cropping text  and  photos out of it to use them to build one's own Facebook post is  ILLEGAL).

This year, the big rains started  on  6.  December and they were storms, some very heavy ones, and  they  have also stayed around. While it is very normal time for  the  storm season - it did start raining one month earlier than last  year.



What's less normal is the  cyclone  -  way too early when you compare to the last ten-or-so years.  Our  recent years' cyclones have usually started in late January or  early  February - two months later than Cyclone Owen first started.


THE  TRIPS OF THIS YEAR

If you have been subscribed to these newsletters for a year or  more,  you know  that each year in roughly  September  -  November I am out in the field  doing research for updates for the following year's Destination Guide,  and also to improve and add new places each  year.

While last year I was mostly in southern and  south  western Cape, this year was  time  to  re-visit a lot of northern tracks. There were not so many  places  that I haven't been to in the northern Cape, so what could I do  for  the  new  additions I thought?

Torres Strait is included in the Guide but the northernmost I had  been  was Hammond Island. So the decision was made, that this  year  I  would spend four weeks  discovering 12 outer Torres Strait Islands, and put  them, too into the Destination Guide in first hand  -  just like  everything else is. And what a trip it was :-)



Badu is the most  populated  one  after Thursday Island, and it  was  a  very friendly one :-) 



Moa Island next to it, has two  communities - the south western Kubin, and the  eastern  St  Pauls (where I got to stay in a family :-).



Further north are Saibai and Boigu  - you can see the Papua New Guinea coast only kilometres away.



Saibai is the island of the  people  who  first started Bamaga and Seisia - the two Torres Strait  islander  communities on the mainland.



Furthest east, are the  volcanic  islands Erub and Mer.



On both I got very well looked after  - taken around and staying in a family.



In the centre are the small islands that have  very  friendly  communities.



From north to south they are Masig,  Yam, Poruma and Warraber, and all but Yam are coral cays (meaning the whole  island is surrounded by a beach that you can walk around).



All are beautiful and make you  feel  so  welcome :-)



What more can you say when  they  even come to you in the street - and want to be on the photo :-)



All the islands (as well  as  this  year's tracks) will be  updated  with first hand information in  the Destination Guide 2019 (which comes out in early  January), with all the detail about what there is  and  how you can  visit.


UPDATES  ON THE WEBSITE AND THE INBOX

With the work on the  islands  and the northern Cape, I  haven't  got  as far as I would have liked to be with the website upgrade.  During the coming months, as soon as the updated Destination Guide  is  out, I will continue with upgrading the photos with better  quality  ones, updating website information and finally giving it a little  more  modern look. Meanwhile - of course the website is  fully  secure and functional :-)

There has only been one thing  playing  up, and it's the inbox. If you try to reply to my email  (including this, newsletter one), and you get the incorrect  message  that my inbox is full - please go to the contact form (link in the end of this page),  and that submission comes through (in fact it comes to the same  inbox,  which is not full at all!). There is obviously a fault and I am  confident that I will get it fixed before January. 


UPDATES  ON THE DESTINATION GUIDE

The Destination Guide is getting  all  the updates now and is coming out as soon as I can but likely not  before the first week of January 2019 (because it's the  year's  busiest time for me, I ask for your patience please with email replies  and  thank you for your understanding).

To be fair to myself as I have not put the price up in all these  years,  the new price will be $29  (and  because some people have told me about the new price of the  Kimberley  Guide - the answer is that my price is not related to it. My  smaller  price does not mean  that my guides offer less or are not as good (I run it locally  and  do  constant first hand research) - it's just that we have made  different  pricing decisions).

The 2018 version will still be $27 until the new guide is out,  and  guess what - you can now buy it  as  a  present for Christmas :-)


DESTINATION  GUIDE CHRISTMAS GIFT CARDS

Yes - because I have had many people asking over the years - I  have now made it easy to buy the  Guide  as a  Christmas present.

The process is explained on the sales page of the Destination Guide, please read and  follow the steps  there  :-)



All purchases include the  updated  guide and so do the Christmas presents (for the present  receiver  there is a choice of redeeming their present once the 2019  version  is  out, or redeeming it now and upgrading for free once the 2019  version  is out in early January).


FREE  POCKET GUIDE UPDATED

And last but not least - the Free  Pocket Guide has been updated :-)

If you don't have one yet, now  is  a  good time to get it, and you can do it by subscribing to  the  newsletter on any page of this website.

If you already have one I am  sorry  but  I cannot replace it with the latest version like I do with the paid  Guide, but what you can do is  to  subscribe again with a different  email  address (it could also be another member of your family), and  grab  the  Guide :-)