WEEKS 11 & 12 : 4 July –17 July –Darwin

Day 72 – Day 85: Saturday 4 July – Friday 17 July – Darwin
Happy Birthday to Jessie on the 13th (2) and to Stuart on the 17th

Apologies to all for my tardiness in updating this website! Suffice it to say that we have been fully occupied with preparing for our trip and socialising with other yachties – its been all go! We have dined at the Darwin Trailer Boat Club, the Darwin Sailing Club, Dinah Bay Sailing Club and the all you can eat seafood (and every other food you could think of) buffet at the casino , the Mindil markets, the Parap markets and a barbeque in the park. The markets are very multicultural with heaps of different foods. We have attended the sunset opera at the casino but it proved to be a little too much culture for us and we left at half time to utilise the free $5 pokies chip and free cup of coffee.

We had the pleasure of the company of our dear friends Andy and Robyn (Jack and Rosie’s foster parents) as Robyn was attending a conference in Darwin. We had a great time with them and we were really sorry to see them go. Andy had a hire car so we managed to get quite a few jobs done and we think Andy enjoyed coming out to the boat in the mornings (he did learn to bring a spare pair of trousers after getting a wet butt the first couple of times!). We have done the tour of Darwin city. Darwin is a great place – a big country town really and lots of bike paths. We have ridden our bikes a few times – the last time for me to take the laundry to Parap as there is only one washing machine at the Darwin Sailing Club to service all the yachts in the bay.

The foreshore is always crowded in the evenings as people bring their tables, chairs, alcohol, meals etc and sit to watch the sun go down. I must admit it is a very impressive sight as the sun is a big red ball.



We had our first official function on Saturday which was a barbeque at the Sailing Club with all food and alcohol provided – a very nice night and the first time the fleet has come together. Tuesday the 14th was our briefing day and it seems that we are going to be escorted all the way to Bunekin and back down again. Feel a bit like being herded but it should be fun. The escort ships arrived in Darwin on Wednesday 15th. It is finally starting to hit home that we are actually doing this! We have American dollars and Indonesian rupees, have all the charts we need and have 40 casks of wine on board (the water line went way down! - you cant get wine up there) and collected our duty free on Thursday (St Remy 1.25 litre bottles of French brandy for $12 a bottle). We did our customs clearance this morning. Customs came out to the Sailing Club to do our outward bound clearance. Saturday morning is supposed to be a champagne breakfast but am not sure that is such a good idea!!

Our first port of call is Saumlaki (Yandema Island) where we do inbound customs, immigration, quarantine and port clearance. There will also be a welcoming ceremony. Saumlaki is only 290 nautical miles from Darwin. I had no idea Indonesia was so close to us! The fleet is madly rushing around trying to get everything done in time. We leave at 11am on tomorrow, Saturday 18th – crossing the start line with about 120 yachts.

It became apparent on Monday that our chart plotter was beyond repair so Raymarine sent up a replacement which thankfully arrived this morning!! Peter has installed it and it is working so that is a huge relief. Our tender has been repaired and is staying up so that also helps. Peter is currently putting in new speakers in the cockpit. I wrecked the old ones when I overbalanced when we were crossing the gulf and landed rather heavily against one! That can sure do it. We are currently preparing the boat – trying to find a place for everything and Peter hasn’t even started on the shed and our bikes are still ashore.

We have really enjoyed our time in Fannie Bay. Although it was quite a way to the beach in the tender and when the tide was out it was quite a way to drag the tender up the beach but it is a lovely sandy beach (not mud as we had been led to believe) and it has been great.
Anyway tomorrow sees us on our way and the adventure begins! We will probably be out of internet range for quite some time but I will endeavour to continue to update this via the HF radio and sailmail which means there wont be any photos till I find an internet cafe or something.
We hope you are all well and miss you. Take care. Cant believe we are doing this!

Fair winds
Dell and Peter