Flying east into tomorrow

Dawn breaks as we fly east towards tomorrow and Australia.

Date: 20th April 2024

Location: Scarborough Marina, Queensland

Yes, were back. Here's what happened while we were in the UK.....

1. We buried my mum's ashes which was a nice occasion because we missed her funeral last September - we were in Fiji then.

2. We celebrated my 70th birthday in our friends Dave and MC's house in Eskdale, the English Lake District. This is where lived for 30 years and is still our spiritual home. Many friends arrived. I chose stew and dumplings for my birthday meal. Yumsters. The weather was excellent. Thank you all.

Sorry Dave and MC - I don't think we took pictures of you but thanks for the loan of Kirkbank.

3. We spent time in Zaragoza, Spain with first daughter Jenny and in Folkestone, England with second daughter, Emma. Gill's sisters and my brother were all in fine form too.

With Emma in Folkestone.

With Jenny and Marcus in Zaragoza.

4. I discovered just how inefficient and non communicative British lawyers are whilst attempting, so far magnificently unsuccessfully, to complete mum's probate process.

5. Canal restoration continued and we raised £200 for them from a talk about our travels.

6. I've decided that before I die I would like to plant a wood to leave something behind for future generations. (Word is out now so it has to happen!)

7. We purchased many items for Mehalah and packed them in our cases ready for installation back here in Brisbane.

8. As usual the last three weeks pre-departure were manic. Everyone seemed to want to see us before we left, I was fighting with mum's probate solicitor and we had a talk about our travels to give to the canal volunteers and other good friends from in and around Stroud.

Ten days before we were due to fly I had another PSA test. Down a bit again to 2.6. Dr Duncan pleased but still wary of a future rise. "Make hay while the sun shines" is his opt repeated mantra. In November he had asked for photos of Fiji and Tonga, some of his favourite islands. I also gave him a thank you photo showing me in 2017 (very chemo faced) compared with 2023 (very healthy). I think he liked it.

And then even closer to departure day I received a letter from the Crown Courts calling me for jury service the following month. As by then I was over 70 I was able to apply to be excused. Apply yes, but turned out that didn't mean it would be granted. It wasn't. What to do? Seems I can defer for up to a year. So I will definitely be back in the UK for 14th April 2025. Keep that date.

As the flight from the UK to Perth is shorter and we'll probably never get to go to Perth again we decided to fly there instead of direct to Brisbane. As usual we had too much luggage but by smiling nicely we were let through without additional payment. The flight was a flight, with Doha a new first for stopover. In Perth we did what you do in Perth. Ferry trip to Freemantle (Freo to us now) where we met up with Keith and Glynis. Keith was a geologist with us back in the 1980s. 42 years since we last met and conversation flowed freely both in Freemantle and on our last day in Perth when they picked us up and showed us the never ending beaches to the north of Perth. We also made the ferry trip out to Rottnest Island (Rotto to us now) to see the Quokkas, large ratlike marsupials. Unfortunately we were cycling in the heat of the day, I probably hadn't drunk enough again and we were still jet lagged. Yup, another fainting episode. Luckily we flagged down a passing tourist bus which took us back to the little port and their nursing station. ECG, urine, blood pressure, the full works. Conclusion? Dehydration. A bit concerning as we were being mindful of the possibility of another collapse. Anyway I'm all good again now. [Cue more concerned messages from medic friends. Thanks guys!]. Perth was clean and friendly with an excellent free local bus service. The other excitement of the week was the surprise appearance of DJ Fred Again who announced he would play an open air show in the park we overlooked. 30,000 tickets sold out in 4 minutes for a DJ we had never heard of. Jenny and Emma had paid for a superb seafood meal in the park that evening (thanks girls) and we watched Fred 'performing' as we made our way home. It's not often I feel old but I really have no idea what the attraction was, though he was very good at waving his arms around and 'wizzing his decks'.

The red eye flight took us the five hour journey back to Brisbane. This time instead of a nice 25kg baggage allowance we only had 23kg each. So now instead of being two kilos over we were more like six over. Heavy books in handbags, bedecked in jumpers and foul weather gear we made it through again ("I told you not to stress John"). And there we were, back in Scarborough Marina. Not daring to venture into the aft cabin we nonchalantly looked around. A few leaks, batteries nicely charged, a bit of bilge water. And then it had to be done. Gill looked in the termite infested area at the back of the boat. "Take a look", she said. "See what you think". I looked. I looked again. I looked more carefully. Yeah!!! NO TERMITE EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER!!! What a relief. We can start to plan the next year. Lots of work to take out the old wood and rebuild but once that is done we should have Mehalah back almost as good as new.

Back here everyone is preparing for the new sailing season. Lots and lots of boat work that I won't bore you with but take up day after often frustrating day. Fix the toilet, find the leaks, fix the leaks, order a new windlass motor, try to sort the reefing line stuck in the boom, fit the new AIS and wind displays. Why does everything take so long? Our little group of remaining Pacific crossers help each other, provide advice and duplicate spare parts. Salty Ginger has a car for a couple of weeks so there are trips to Costco, to IGA, and Dan Murphy the excellent off licence.

As we've been in the tropics for more than a dozen years we decided to visit the local Redcliffe Skin Cancer clinic for a checkup. What a neat service. For £70 each we had a complete body inspection. Every tiny mole or blemish considered. We each had a mark that we were mildly concerned about but luckily they are both just the result of advancing years and nothing to worry about. Gilly has also had a slowly growing benign lump on her head. In the UK an initial assessment cost £150 and the actual procedure would have been another £850. Paul, our skin cancer man, took it off for about £160. Result.

Rose and Ian who we stayed with before our return to the UK came to see us one morning and yesterday we heard out of the blue from David and Charlie of SV Audacia. David (New Zealand), in his 60s and Charlie (English, her mother lives in Bardsea) in her 40s had just become parents and wanted us to go to dinner and to meet Maggie their new baby. Caught in the middle of visa expiry Maggie ended up with a New Zealand emergency passport just before Charlie's Australian visa expired. That's going to be one much loved, well travelled young lady.

Cluck, cluck, cluck.

So we've still got a lot of work to do before we are ready to leave, probably for the Whitsundays, hopefully sometime in May. We lift out for bottom scrubbing, through hull inspection, anode replacement and possibly replacing our waterline white stripe. With a bit of luck that's all it will be. We'll see. 

Preparing for more goodbyes. Here you see from left to right some of our fellow Pacific crossers.

Shelley - Canadian - SV Carina - selling and returning to care for parents.

Shawna - Canadian - SV Meraki II - returning to Fiji, Sydney for New Year.

Julie - Canadian - SV Salty Ginger - sailing to Indonesia and on to South Africa.

Gill - English - SV Mehalah - coastal Australian sailing, Sydney for New Year.

Sealing leaks in the deck.