11th May - Mothers Day - crabpot - Indonesian Rally preparations

Sunday 11^th May

Mothers’ Day!

And happy Mothers’ Day to all of the mothers…wherever they/we may be…

My mother, Gina

My stepmother of many years, Fleur

Pete’s mother, Pam

My daughters – Nicky, Claire, Katy

My sisters, Monique and Jacqui

My sisters-in-law, Andrea, Karen, Lindy, Twyla

My friends – also all beautiful mothers, even those who “forgot” to have children, and who are beautiful mother-ish friends to their stepchildren and stepgrandchildren

Yesterday we scampered around Cairns on public transport for many MANY hours.  I am just writing this to prove that life on 2XS is not total leisure-and-pleasure…we do have to rush around, vacuum, wash, anti-mould as well as having fun fun fun!

We have bought a crab pot, collapsible so it stows away easily although it is quite a big thing.  Our Cairns friend Bill told us to put a tin of pilchards catfood in it, pierced invitingly in several places, and we would be guaranteed a lovely big crab every single time we put the pot out.  We shall see… An oldcodger on the marina said that the best possible bait is a nice fat catfish.  Can’t go wrong!  I was a bit alarmed by this; the catfish living under our boat, fat and juicy and inviting to a crab though they my be, are my friends… We will have to go to a fishing spot where I haven’t built up a relationship with the fish.

And we are still here, up the creek north of Cairns.  We are waiting for a spare part which was – or so they say – express posted from Hobart on Wednesday.  Remember this??  

Well we are not leaving until the new one is nicely in place.

We have to get a whole lot of documents scanned so that we can legally join the Indonesian Rally as well.  I have been reading a few accounts on the internet, written by people who have done it over the past few years.  They are all wildly enthusiastic.  But it seems that people on the Indonesian islands are just as desperately poor and needy as the people in Papua New Guinea… I might find we have to give away some of our t-shirts and balls, so kindly donated, and which are stowed away under the seats and are destined for the Louisiades.  So when we come home for a visit in between exotic islands, we might have to stock up a bit…