31st July - second day in Kupang

Wednesday 31^st July

A bit of a contrast - beautiful Mount Wellington in my lovely Hobart, Tasmania...

Our little city-on-the-sea is re-forming here in the bay in Kupang, West Timor.  I spent a very pleasant morning isolated on 2XS, while Pete and John went off to fill in yet more forms in triplicate and quadruplicate.  I sat on the back deck, rocking away at our little camp table, trying to get the photos up onto my blog.  I think I succeeded although a few of them, mysteriously, would only allow me to put them there in duplicate.  When I gently tried to delete a second copy, the whole thing took on the dimensions of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice and there were suddenly many exponentially-multiplying photos!

AAGGHH!!

All morning more yachts appeared on the horizon, and then right alongside the yachts already at anchor.  Up with the yellow Q flags, and then the long wait for Customs and Quarantine.  I do hope they didn’t send any seasick-prone boys this time…

When we were in India in 2006, we were often accosted by school and uni aged students, all wanting to be photographed with us..  We never did find out why – maybe teachers set the students a task: capture as many gringos as you can find, as proof that you are studying hard/learning English/learning to be very assertive/whatever??  It is the same here.  Yesterday I think I had to pose with about a dozen schoolgirls, and one very shy ten year old boy who nearly died of nerves when he came up to ask me.  They all seemed triumphant to have captured my image on film, being hugged by each and every one of them.  I do hope they all get an A+ for effort and that they do NOT put what are sure to be very unflattering photos up on the net!!

Yesterday I forgot to put in a photo of the dancers who performed for our welcoming ceremony.  Pete, John and I didn’t see so much as a glimpse of them, but later they posed, somewhat glumly, in their costumes, so we got a bit of an idea:

And here is the Kupang street which I also omitted yesterday…

We spent most of the afternoon in the yacht club, trying to get our phone and internet connections sorted.  This wasn’t as dreary as it sounds.  We had nice people to chat to:

Tanya and Don arrived early this morning, and were first cab off the rank with Customs and Quarantine.  They bypassed other equally deserving boats; possibly because Tanya was wearing this bright yellow top, to draw their attention, along with the yellow Q flag…

Every morning we listen in to a rally radio broadcast.  There is a sort of roll-call, to check if everyone is OK.  And oh dear not everybody is OK… As we know, there is often something wrong, with a boat… Some are limping in, radioing, plaintively, for referrals to diesel mechanics, sail repairers…

We haven’t seen much of the local arts and crafts yet, although a few hopeful men lurk around the sailing club, with beautiful weavings draped temptingly over their arms:

This evening we are going to a local market, to look around. And maybe eat some yummy food…

30th July - Darwin to Kupang

Tuesday 30^th July

Sunset at sea – SO pretty!

John fished relentlessly all the way from Darwin to Indonesia.

First catch

Not so impressive although John has it tucked into the fridge and swears he is going to eat it.  And, to tell the actual truth he didn’t even catch it – it flung itself onto the deck and died a solitary death.

Next he caught a very nice little bonito, which I have been enjoying, lightly dusted with Cajun spices and stir fried in olive oil, in cubes.

And then

Spanish Mackerel – whacko!!

We are so tired, the three of us, that we can barely speak.  I have no idea what time it is; my DarwinTime is 7.30…and the sun is setting here so it must be evening!

And yes we are in Kupang!  Until very recently I had never heard of this vibrant little city on the edge of West Timor, but – here it is, full of cheery, smiling people SO happy to welcome the fleet.  We arrived this morning, about 10.30,but whether this is Darwin time or West Timor time I have no idea and neither do I care…

There are about thirty boats in from the rally by now.  We were among the first to arrive and therefore among the very first too be boarded by a veritable swarm of officials.  Thirteen of them!!  I took a photo of five of them; they were all very nice but oh goodness they took up a lot of room on the boat! 

And I kept having to take them, one at a time, to peer into our cupboards and hidey-holes  “Now I want to see your bedroom, Madam,” said one of the youngest and softest of them.  “And the medicine cabinet.”  Up and down the stairs, pushing through the swarm, into the galley where he proceeded to count our cans of XXXX.  “Any other alcohol, Madam?” he asked, peering into a cupboard near the sink which is suspiciously laden with bottles, at least two of which were very obviously sauvignon blanc.  “Oh yes,” I trilled, merrily.  “That one is a sort of wine but this!  Oh look at this – it is so delicious, Bickfords Lime Cordial!!  Would you like a glass?”  I mixed up a lovely concoction, with lots of ice, and he had a sip or two then…he turned green and said, “I have motion sickness!”

I rushed him upstairs and told him he needed fresh air, and very soon all thirteen of them left, having obtained duplicate and quadruplicate copies of all of our documents, all of them efficiently imprinted with our 2XS self-inking stamp.

There is a sequel to this story…the Customs boat took off for Footloose, a very nice monohul inhabited by John and Irina.  When we met up with them at the welcoming ceremony John was looking very crabby.  Apparently TWO of the officials had been very sick on his lovely boat, and one of them had also had…diarrhea…oh dear, oh no…Poor dear John and Irina had had to spend quite a lot of time, energy and water sluicing out their hitherto pristine little toilet area…

After we had finished, or so we thought, with our official proceedings, we went in to shore in the dinghy, where we were greeted with great enthusiasm by a horde of strong young men very willing and able to lug our dinghy out of reach of the waves.  It costs about $5 for this service, and they fiercely guard the dinghies with their very lives.

The jetty is lined with festive flags with snap like artillery in the brisk breeze.  It is all GO in Kupang!  Every street has huge banners welcoming the fleet:

All we had to do, they had told us, was stroll into the sailing club building office and see Immigration.

And Customs.  And Quarantine.

Again.

More forms in quadruplicate, more rubber stamping.  (Actually the same forms as earlier…why oh why??)  It all went at glacial speed. And it was very VERY hot in the room… One of the officials had his little by sitting up at the desk with him.  The little boy did LOTS of happy stamping with our stamp, and then built a tower with it.  We all wilted just a bit…

I have lost the plot a bit…BEFORE we queued for our ordeal by photocopy, there was a welcome speech by the Mayor of Kupang.  And a ceremony involving dancing and singing.  This is what I saw:

Some of us were given traditional hats, others got woven scarves…

No I am not being snooty; I had to hold my head high to keep the sharp spiky hat from slipping down onto my nose…

FINALLY we had finished with our proceedings.  John had to hang around to get a visa; Pete and I went for a walk down the street to buy local phones, and to get a feel of downtown Kupang.  

Sorry meant to get a photo of the shops; got the footpath instead...

We were so impressed with the friendliness of he people.  They were all wreathed in smiles as we went by, and not one single person came out and shouted BUY BUY BUY!!! at us.  Wonderful!

Lots more to write but…I am flagging…

30th July -Kupang

We are in Kupang,West Timor!
I am sending this in case my l-o-n-g doesn't get through...

All is well!

27th July - leaving Darwin

Saturday 27^th July

Our flags are flying

The fleet is fleeing

It is warm and calm and…we are off!!

27th July - route map - ours is the Western Route

27th July - departing for Indonesia

Saturday 27th July

Time to disband the little city-in-the-bay…

I think this small fleet has been very good for the economy of Darwin.  We will be missed!

Yesterday we rushed about doing last minute things, ably abetted by Ann-Marie’s daughter, darling Miriam, in her nifty little red Yaris.

I spent more hours than you can possibly imagine trapped at my computer screen trying to get the Ethernet cable to work on my poor little MacBook Air.  I had a whole team of techsupport people in India running around in ever-decreasing circles.  Every now and then the internet connection would cut out and I would have to start all over again.  I became just a little high-pitched during some of these conversations, but fortunately most of our chat was via the internet (when it wasn’t cutting out…oh dear, oh no…)

Last night we had our last supper…at the sailing club.  With our wonderful Tasmanian friends Rosanne and Jason, plus – BONUS! – Pete’s cousin Julie Cameron (Green),

with her son Lachie, his wife Holly, and lovely small child Arlo.

I was just a teensy bit emotional…leaving the country, leaving the family…but Roseanne and Julie were very kind.

I might have a bit of time to send one last feeble blogpost as we leave...

26th July - John arrives - depart Spot On Marine - ready to leave on Indonesian Rally

Friday  26^th July

I am (cautiously…) optimistic that we will set sail on the Indonesian Rally tomorrow. 

Yesterday it was all still GO GO GO!!! on board as Pete and a sometimes less-than-reliable gang of workers got everything fixed and finished.

Our friend John Miedecke arrived in the very middle of the night, about 2am, with a new windscreen tucked under his big capable arm.

We are very glad to see him and I was particularly relieved that he was here this morning when we tried to leave Spot On Marine…

The sun was shining, the tide was in and full, perfect conditions for scanning out.  Engines revved up…reverse off our position of the last eleven days and…oh dear and oh no (aren’t you glad I am not a swearing type?  You would have to avert your eyes from the pages if I were inclined to say anything more than oh dear and oh no…) the starboard engines conked out, leaving poor Pete with no steering.  There might have been just a bit of scraping against our rough concrete wall…aagghh…As well as this, another yacht was approaching, ready to go up on the lift-out crane…I made myself scarce, brewed up some coffee and waited inside, writing cautiously cheery postcards to the many Tasmanian grandchildren…

John and Pete remained admirably calm, although there may have been just a bit more strong language than oh dear and oh no…It seemed there was a fuel problem…after a bit of head scratching, the light dawned… The young bloke who had fixed the water pump had – just maybe – turned off the fueltap when he was removing the filters.  And – just maybe – he had forgotten to turn it back on again.  Easypeasy! 

Last glimpse of Spot On:

And last night our river was SO beautiful…

But…I will NOT miss the midgies!  Or the slope…It is just lovely already, not being on an angle!

We are at the fuel wharf at Cullen Bay right now, filling up.

I will post this blog and do another one later; not sure when there wil be opportunities again, in the next few days before