On Saturday Bert and Ingi popped by to say Hello / Goodbye. Just like when we’re out cruising we often say goodbye to people many times and sometimes never get to say goodbye. The former [...]]]>
On Saturday Bert and Ingi popped by to say Hello / Goodbye. Just like when we’re out cruising we often say goodbye to people many times and sometimes never get to say goodbye. The former is always better. But as the French say, it’s always Au Revoir as we really hope to see our friends again in some future time and place.
We had another viewing in the afternoon. Seemed to go pretty well but there are so many factors for each party to consider we will have to let this play itself out as far as it goes, if indeed, it goes any further. One thing both Helen and I agreed on was the professionalism of our new broker was orders of magnitude better than the last.
In the evening we had drinks, nibbles and conversations with Jack & Jan from Anthem and Don and Marie from Freezing Rain. A lot of very interesting discussions were had including some about the devastating news unfolding surrounding the tragedy in Connecticut.
Sam visited us on Sunday. It was great to spend most of the day with him, chewing the cud, giving parental advice (hard to avoid), etc. With his work with Greenpeace getting more and more interesting and involved (he is now coaching the next batch of workers) and our random movements between here and Melbourne, we always wonder if each visit we have together may be our last in Australia. We had a nice walk together along the Esplanade to Wynnum and back treating ourselves to ice cream in the park on the way back. I have to be honest, I still find the 30c ice creams at MacDonalds the best.
This was a really good weekend. And there is still some excitement to share. Ben let me know that he has received notification that the Nexus 4 I ordered has been delivered to his office. Assuming he confirms physical delivery I can cancel my order here in Australia. Then all I have to do is wait two and a half months (argggghhhhh) until we meet up with Ben and his partner, Amy, in South Africa i. But getting to see Ben and Amy and giving them big hugs is what I’m really excited about.
Healthwise I still feel like I’m on an upward bounce from the last chemo. I have had a few bouts of extreme tiredness over the last few days. I think the sail we went on knocked a bit more out of me than I imagined but I look at this only in a positive light. Today we’re heading back to Melbourne where tomorrow we have an appointment with Michael MacManus at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Lot’s to talk about and hopefully we can take a few more steps towards building a bridge to the UK health services.
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something to do with the port receiver here which is either not receiving and/or communicating positions of all the vessels out here. Oh well – no geeky fun to be had. At least I know the transponder works.
In the afternoon we had a visit from Peter Cronk who bought Lagoon 420 hull #26 around the same time we bought Dignity. We’ve been in touch with him over the last 7 years and met him for the first time yesterday. He was one of the folks giving Helen tremendous support while I was seriously ill. He’d even offered to sail the boat over from Fiji but was understandably glad he hadn’t. It was great to finally meet him and thank 
him in person for everything he’s done.
Shortly after Peter left, Ed and Cornelia from A Cappella arrived to take us out to dinner. We went back the nearby Chinese restaurant and had a very pleasant evening together.
Back to my rant from yesterday. Have I calmed down? Yes. Am I more sympathetic? No. Calling out faults that simply don’t exist is deceitful. Completely misidentifying parts of the boat is simply incompetent. Just one error like this implies the surveyor had, at best, a broken/faulty process which exposes everyone involved to harm. Bad, bad, bad.
What’s done is done. Moving forward we can learn some lessons. For our next trial we will have someone aboard who will make sure the surveyor points out all the faults they are going to list in their report and to make notes of each issue. If the surveyor later adds anything we simply won’t accept it. I’ve wasted too much time on this. If I were the previous potential buyers I would want my money back. If I were the surveyor I would be ashamed and either improving the way I work or looking for a different profession.
]]>The wind was in the high teens to low 20s and ahead of us so we were on [...]]]>
We had another lazy morning in before readying to depart the anchorage just before midday. The Jacksters did stop by as we had a bit more dive gear for them so another round of goodbyes were had.
The wind was in the high teens to low 20s and ahead of us so we were on a close haul all the way back. We put two reefs in the main and headsail as we knew we would be close to and indeed the apparent wind was occasionally as high as 30 knots though mainly in the low 20s. Again we were against the current as we left earlier than before and low tide was now nearly 3 hours later than before. Despite this we easily averaged over 7 knots over ground (over 8 through the water) and later were doing 8-9 knots over ground around low tide.
We passed west of Mud Island and then had to tack 12 times to sail into port. I loved it. Helen did too, sort of. After a while she wanted to motor in rather than keep tacking so she could clean the boat. I did not give in to this as this could well be our last sail and I was where I wanted to be.
In the end we made it back with time to spare. At the dock we were met by Niel from Attitude, Jan from Anthem, Cornelia from A Cappella and Don from Freezing rain who all stood by to help with lines. With 20 knot winds squeezing into the dock next to Attitude was a little challenging. I aborted early the first attempt and nailed it the second time. Piece of cake.
View 2012-12-12 Moreton Bay in a larger map
In the evening Sam came over. We went out for a buffet curry in Manly and were later joined by Rob from Bristol Rose who happened by by chance. We ended the evening walking with Sam to the railway station then returning to the boat when his train arrived.
Now we’re back in the marina and back connected is back to our admin. We have one or two viewings coming up this weekend so want to be ready for those.
For your entertainment here is a video taken by one of the brokers and some pics of our time in the bay.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp_y1BAmEt0&feature=g-crec-u[/youtube]
]]>So a quick recap of what’s happened since last time.
Every day on the boat was filled with more work. Minor fixes, cleaning the boat/cupboards/surfaces/anything, head in bilges cleaning pump valves (to prevent water backfilling bilges), packing the last of our stuff to take to the UK, etc. Helen did far more than I as the Queensland heat and RT side effects would knock me out and I’d have to rest for a while. While not active I was often still busy setting up new brokers and the endless follow up on all the stuff going on in our lives right now. One of the things now behind us is the sale of the NJ rental property that all started just before we set sail in 2008. The whole thing has been a bit of a disaster financially but we’ve had some astounding help. If anyone is looking for a first class property manager in the Cranford area, contact us.
We did have some fun times too.
On Saturday we met up with Steve and Vickie from True Companions and Bert and Ingi from Boree. Steve and Vickie were interested in our lessons learned selling a boat here in Australia. Bert and Ingi have graciously agreed to keep an eye on Dignity while we’re out of Brisbane as they’re staying in the bay for some time. We all ended up going out for a Chinese meal together in the evening.
On Sunday Sam came over to pick up some of his stuff. We took him to his digs in Brisbane and then went out to watch the latest Bond movie. Afterwards we ate dinner together then sat chatting in the park by the South Bank. It all seemed familiar in a way to us and we wondered if it was the site of Expo ’88 which we visited when we were last in Australia nearly 25 years ago. Later research showed it was.
Monday was a bit frantic as we mistook our flight departure time for our leave the boat time. We realized this when waking up but had to cram a lot into the morning with 2-3 hours less than we’d planned for. In amongst all this we had the gas inspector round to certify our appliances. We are now fully certified – Yay.
Jack and Jan came over from Anthem to say goodbye. We were all quite sweaty as we were all working in the heat but it didn’t stop the hugs goodbye.
We returned our hire car and made it to the airport in good time arriving in Melbourne without delay. With good traffic we were back around 7pm local time in time to celebrate Russ’s birthday with their first BBQ of the summer.
Dignity, in a lot of ways, is now no longer our home. We still have a couple of options to return to her and take her out for a final sail. We haven’t done so, so far, due to lack of time mostly, but it would be nice to take the old girl out for a final spin sometime. We’ll see.
Back here in Melbourne life goes on. Yesterday I had a blood test to make sure I’m ok for the next chemo beating which starts midday today. The next two (and final two) sessions should be chemo lite. I imagine the treatment as rubbing down the gelcoat. We’re now on the final fine grained sandpaper hopefully leaving a nice smooth finish. Final MRI is now booked as our our final meetings with consultants from Monash and Peter Mac. The end, no sorry, the beginning of the rest of our lives is in sight.
]]>Friday evening we were joined [...]]]>
Friday evening we were joined by Sam. Helen had cleaned and packed the rest of his stuff as he has found a cheap and secure place in town. It was nice to spend time with him.
On Saturday we drove down to Trish and Rob’s home in Tumbulgum to join the crowd from Anthem, Inspiration Lady and A Cappella for a slightly delayed Thanksgiving Dinner complete with turkey, ham and all sorts of veg.
Trish and Rob are now CLODs (Cruisers Living On the Dirt). And what a fine piece of dirt they have. Set on 60 acres of land their home is idyllic. Much of the land is woodland with plenty of flower gardens. Their 11 year old home was built in a rustic style sitting on the hill with fine views across the valley.
We had our Thanksgiving dinner early afternoon and spent the evening chatting and playing cards. My swelling in my trachea and esophagus had become painful again so in the morning I tried half a dexamethasone tablet. I think it helped my symptoms but it certainly got me a bit euphoric. I chatted far too much. But at least I maxed every card hand I played. My side effects from the RT should peak soon and after then I can expect things to improve naturally.
The next day the other visitors left leaving Helen and I with Trish and Rob. I spent a few hours fixing our camera flash which had got jammed as a result of a recent accident. Their home felt like our home. We needed the escape.
Later, Rob and Trish took us around their property showing us many things not at first obvious. It was all very interesting and amazingly tranquil. It felt like walking around walking around private gardens / a private estate, which is unsurprising as that is what they’ve got.
After this we headed to the coast to where Rob spent time in his youth. A place called Fingle. We bought fish and chips and ate the at a small park by the ocean in the company of some of Australia’s amazing birds. We then walked along the beach and then along a path behind to where there was a rock formation aptly name the Giant’s Causeway.
Helen retired early in the evening leaving Trish, Rob and I chatting til late.
Despite intending to leave early in the morning, we eventually ended up heading back to Brisbane just before midday. We took a long way back to see the sights.
Back on the boat we finally got back in contact with the gas man who will be round tomorrow to bring our galley up to Ozzy standards. Communications with the broker resumed with mixed results.
This evening we had a left over turkey curry followed by a TV show. Great.
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Shortly before 6pm our friends, who’d beat the weather window down here, all arrived to join us aboard. Suddenly it was just like the old times. We blasted through cruisers’ midnight with ease with most folks heading home around 10:30pm. It was nice to have the usual boating chat (sea stories and whatnot) and of course share our experiences with my health, the dismasting and with selling the boat. A great had by all. With us were Jack and Jan from Anthem, Gary and Jackie from Inspiration Lady, Ed and Cornelia from A Cappella, Steve & Vickie from True Companions and Rob from Bristol Rose. Take a look at the category links to see some, but probably not all, of our interactions with these good friends of ours.
This morning we both got down to work. We’ve now rescheduled our trip up to the Sunshine Coast to spend Tuesday and Wednesday night with Ella and Granddaughter Bau. And the whole of Wednesday. We’re really looking forward to their company.
Helen did her detailed cleaning of the boat. I pulled apart all the gas fittings and took a load of photos so I could be better positioned to understand the ragged bunch of gas fitters, inspectors and government officials that circle around us. The admin continues. We’ve sold off a few more items from the boat which will allow us to buy a few more packets of crisps.
This afternoon I suddenly came over immensely fatigued. I’ve been running so high on anticipation, excitement, challenge and drugs for the last few days I think I basically got run over by the truck of tiredness. A couple of hours of interrupted rest and I was back going again. Sam’s arriving soon and we’ll be having quality time together this evening. In the morning it’s off to see most of the same friends again for a delayed turkey dinner at Trish and Rob’s home.
We’ve had time to reflect on the first offer good enough for us to accept on the boat and what subsequently transpired. Our thoughts haven’t changed much since yesterday. Although we have our opinions I don’t think it fair to comment on the other parties as, if nothing else, we still like them. For our part we now feel we got too wrapped up in the ‘story’ of our finishing our life aboard Dignity and handing her over to a couple starting their own. We became too emotionally attached which brought a few tears to Helen’s eyes when it was clear the deal was off. Not for the loss of the sale, but for the failure of the story to emerge. When we sold our home in New Jersey back in 2008 to start our adventure we took the emotion off the table. It worked very well. We’ve taken the lesson.
]]>Had some more Skype calls. Got a chance to chat with son John who’d getting on without Ella and Bao. He’s using Skype to stay [...]]]>
Had some more Skype calls. Got a chance to chat with son John who’d getting on without Ella and Bao. He’s using Skype to stay in daily (if not more) contact with them. He seems well.
We also had great chats with the David and Marian on Kilkea, Stuart and Sheila on Imagine and again with John from Sea Mist who’s now recovering from a hip replacement in Singapore. He’s doing well and for once seems to know not to push himself too hard.
It seems they’ll all be up in Langkawa, Malaysia soon. The opportunity to swing by there on our way out of Australia (by plane) and see our friends again is irresistible, particularly with many offers to stay aboard with our friends. Many factors could influence our being able to do this but it’s very high on our list.
We’ve also accepted an invite and made plans to have a Thanksgiving dinner with the Bristol Roses. Sam will come with us and their sons Elliot and Owen will be there. We last saw them in the middle of the Pacific. Also there will be Jack and Jan from Anthem. The song of the sea is truly playing loudly this side of the shore.
We continue to dance a dance of courtship with Dignity’s buyers. We all need to be cautious but we’re making positive steps. Contracts are now signed, deposits deposited and inspections booked.
This morning Helen found one of the buyers’ website – Helene Young. She’s an author as well as a commercial pilot. She has mentioned us in her blog so I must return the compliment. We’ll continue our dance of courtship and hopefully all get together soon.
]]>In the afternoon we went shopping. We picked up some stationary for Sam for his drawing and note taking. We also visited the Chinese store to pick up fresh vegetables which are much better priced there than the supermarket.
In the evening we were joined by Jack and Jan from Anthem and Jackie and Gary from Inspiration Lady as well as crewman Paul for a typical get together. Unfortunately the Jacksters had had a bit of bad boat day and were out for the count so they couldn’t come. Everyone is on the verge of being ready to go to the islands so the excitement is rising.
Dignity and her crew are ready to go so I’m analysing weather morning and evening.
Yesterday morning saw a possible departure on Saturday morning but there were a lot of uncertainties and hopes that things would improve to make that happen. By the evening the new forecast had quashed all thoughts of a Saturday departure but a Sunday evening departure was beginning to look possible. This morning that possibility has improved. Some of the niggly weather patterns later in the trip have smoothed out. It’s still too far out to be sure on this one as it’s not a classic pattern like the one that appeared a week ago.
We do have a few more purchases to sort out and things to do today so we may try and see if we can stay an extra day here in the marina. If the Sunday weather window remains favourable we’ll leave the country from Auckland.
]]>On the bus to Nadi we bumped into the Ivory Keys. We’d heard that some of the busses go on a really roundabout route and this turned out to be one of them so the journey was 2-3 times longer than normal. It was good to have someone to chat to along the way.
Having bought gifts we went to pick up provisions at the supermarket. There we bumped into Jack and Jan from Anthem. We all had the same intention of stopping off at the butchers on the way back so we decided to share a taxi.
The afternoon turned out really hot and sweaty. Here in the marina there is little breeze so we just vegged out through the hot period.
At 5pm I went ashore to meet Rico. I met Arnold and Coby from Drifter. They reported seeing mail for us at the marina office. Hopefully it is the item we’ve been looking for which should have arrived four weeks ago.
In the end Rico didn’t show. Not unusual for a Fijian. I eventually managed to exchange texts and it turned out he’d forgotten. While waiting I again met Jack and Jen from Anthem. We had a couple of beers together while I continued to wait. In the end we agreed to have dinner together. I fetched Helen and we ended up having a curry at Indigos.
Today our crew member Lissa arrives. The weather is looking crisp and clear so she’ll hopefully have a nice first day here. We don’t intend staying any longer in Denaru so we’ll move off this afternoon.
No surprise but the long term weather forecast is beginning to look a little more complicated. A second high is now forecast to follow the first off of Australia although further south. The general plan is to leave on ESE winds with moderate seas hoping for the wind to turn more to the ESE on the way down so we can curve our way into NZ. This second high may delay that turn and hence our departure from Fiji by a few days. The good news, at present, is that this combination presents a long period of trades so a good start is looking quite likely. But each day brings a new forecast and a new decision to make. We’re back in familiar territory.
]]>I managed to talk to UPS about one of our lost packages and [...]]]>
I managed to talk to UPS about one of our lost packages and it turns out to be held at the airport. It’s highly likely I can pick it up today. Another phone call should resolve this today.
The weather turned very hot. We had the music playing and as we worked we moved to the rhythms and both of us got quite hot. For the last few days I’ve been building up to do some proper exercise so around 10am I went for a run. I couldn’t find my running shoes so I went barefoot. In the heat I managed just over a mile before I had to rest in the shade of a tree. There I did some floor exercises before returning. I was utterly exhausted by the time I was back on the boat and my calves were already cramping up.
We were both done for the rest of the day so we read and relaxed and even watched a few TV shows which we don’t normally do during the day. During the afternoon, despite the pain in my legs, I visited True Companions who we’d noticed were here in the harbour. Soon we’d agreed to meet up for dinner and then to watch the Rugby ashore.
For dinner we all ate fish and chips at Bonefish. When leaving there for Lulu’s to watch the Rugby we ran into Jack and Jen from Anthem. We were delighted to meet them for the first time in ages. We soon agreed to all meet up for the match.
And what a match it was. We had high expectations for the quality of the game and that we got. Both sides played so well but NZ were in terrific form and got the result they deserved. From what we’ve seen, France will be demolished in the final next weekend.
We invited Jack and Jen back to the boat to polish of the evening. We managed a lot of polishing as we said our goodbye well after real midnight.
As ever I continue to eye the weather. The forecast high leaving Australia is still out there and now looks more and more to be our first real opportunity to leave south. As it stands it’s still over a week before we’ll have the right conditions to leave. Of course, that far out, any forecast is like reading tea leaves so it really is just a waiting game.
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