24th July - Tasmanian sunset - Darwin colour - rally briefing - war museum

Wednesday 24^th July

Am I homesick?  Well yes, all the time…but I am having a fabulous adventure and am really very happy… But…I do so miss my family, my friends, and Tasmania…

Yesterday my brother Pete sent me a sunset photo, from a cold campsite at Cape Pillar:

How very different from the soft purple and orange Fannie Bay sunsets!  And so very beautiful, in its very Tasmanian way…

(After the rally briefing, we got talking to Jake and Jacqui, from California, bright smiley young people sailing in a small monohull, with great enthusiasm.  When we told them we were from Tasmania, their faces lit up.  Their two weeks in Tasmania in December were, they said, the highlight of their nine-month Australian adventure.) 

Yesterday we caught the bus into town for our 12-5 information session, at the Hilton Doubletree Hotel.  We rode our bikes to the bus stop and got there a bit before 11.45 – the bus was due at 11.49, and I had told Pete how I had noticed the buses coming just a bit early.  Well we sat and SAT in the little bus shelter, which was full of an increasing number of perplexed people – the bus had obviously gone past TEN minutes early… Just a bit hyperpunctual…

It didn’t really matter.  Pete met up with an oldcodger at the bus stop, and continued the conversation on the oldcodgers’ seats on the bus.  He was a delightful man, 86, with a zimmerframe – it turns out he was a farmer, from Westbury, and he was full of cheer and chat. 

And it wouldn’t really have mattered if we had been a bit later for the presentation… In fact it probably would have been a good thing; the conference room at the Hilton was air-conditioned to arctic temperatures.  Tania put a towel around her shoulders; Sue had a lightweight waterproof thingy in the depths of her bag; I went and changed into my “cocktail frock,” was which slightly warmer than the sundress I had been wearing in the 32 Darwin heat; Mercedes had to go and sit in the (slightly warmer) foyer because she has a bad cough and the chilly air was making it much worse.  Why oh why??  All two hundred-ish of us sat and shivered and listened to various people doing PowerPoint presentations of varying standards… Most of the items on the agenda were just duplications of information we already have, in our Sail Indonesia packages.

A rather excited man from the Sail Malaysia rally showed us slides (sell not slides, PowerPoint…) of the glorious Malaysian coastline.  Sand, beaches, fish.  Beaches, sand, beaches blah blah blah…he said, invitingly.

Sam was asked if there is a word in Indonesian which reflects the concept of mañana.   Well no, he said.  There is no word which conveys the same feeling of urgency…

And yes we did have cocktails at the Novotel – Pete had Long Island Tea, very potent, and I had a refreshing mojito.  Denise and Cameron very kindly give us a ride back to our bikes and we retreated to 2XS and our midgie friends.  We had an hour between our rally meeting and our cocktails, so we went to a pharmacy and bought up big on antihistamines and anti-itch potions, so we are better armed, especially as I had already bought three BIG cans of aeroguard in my huge shopping frenzy.

Today is a boatwork day, yet again.  Pete is hoping all will be finished… I am going to make mosquito nets for the hatches and either stay around 2XS to help if possible, or make myself scarce so as not to be in the way.  I will see what is the most beneficial action as the morning progresses…

Two hours later

I made myself scarce and rode off into the wind on my bike.  I am even more filled with admiration for racing cyclists…they go up steep mountains in the heat, the wind, the rain, and barely show a sign of strain, whereas I found it quite hard going along a gentle bike path, in just a bit of wind. 

I had a few jobs to do, but decided that I really should go to the war museum, which is only a few kilometres along the waterfront from us.  Pete has been before, and was full of enthusiasm.  It is a very good display, but, as always, I get far too sad and dreary in war museums, no matter how wonderful.

There were lots of old tanks, trucks, guns, instruments of war, in amongst the leafy gardens.

And I was very tickled to find a folding bike, designed for parachutists to have transport when they land:

PHOTO

I am back on 2XS, sloping, now and it is full of men (four, including Pete,) which is a GOOD sign.  But maybe I should make myself scarce again…