27th December 2016 - Tas Christmas - Wild Oats 11 withdraws - Philippines typhoon

Tuesday 27^th December 2016

Christmas here in Tasmania was a happy, cheery occasion.

All four of my offspring together!

Last year Pete and I gave each other tickets to Cirque du Soleil.  No not a combined, sensible collaboration…I bought tickets in the most expensive section, quite close to the front.  He bought some a bit further back…We did not need four tickets for two bottoms!  (Claire and Jemima scored the extra tickets.)

This year we bought each other…a Bose bluetooth speaker to replace the one stolen in the Trobriand Islands.  Do we need two Bose speakers?  Well no…

I was about to launch into a paean of praise for Wild Oats 11, which was storming down the coast set to beat its own record for line honours in the Sydney-Hobart race.  My brother Chris is aboard and ABC radio has been full of enthusiasm – it looked to be a dead certainty that Wild Oats 11 would be crossing the finish line at 5am.  But…Wild Oats 11 has pulled out – hydraulic problems, nothing dangerous or ghastly.  But – bummer!!  We were all set to go out on the welcoming boat in the early hours to cheer and sing and clap!

I have been so thrilled with my small raised veggie/herb bed that I organised a similar set-up for Stuart, who was my Secret Santa recipient this year.  Instead of getting a small neatly wrapped present under the tree he got a thwacking great flatpack, six little pots of herbs, a bag of potting soil and a bag of mulch.

He took his set-up home and…

The guinea pigs are very happy!!

Some of our sailing friends are still in the Philippines.  I read on Claudie’s FB page that they had endured two hours of shrieking terror off Puerto Galeras.  They are OK, on Mystic Rhythm, but it must have been hideous.

We survived, we are fine. Really high winds, trees and other debris blowing onto us (or next to us).  Some ferry started drifting and lost control when his mooring broke and a line got stuck in his prop.  He then got tangled with another boat's mooring and both went dragging when the high winds hit.  He took almost every other boat in the anchorage with him and ran 2 sailboats to the reef, hit another and overturned a local boat!  He came so close to us!  This typhoon was 2 hours of sheer terror! I never want to go through something like that again, that's for sure!

24th December 2016 - happy Christmas to one and all - 2XS engine fixed - Tasmanian creativity - Langkwai Duty Free tale of woe

Saturday 24^th December 2016

A slither of a beautiful Hobart building

We have had many cheery messages from all around the world.  I haven’t written a Merry Xmas letter…not that I am gloomy; I just haven’t summarised the year in any meaningful way.  I am very happy to wish everyone a very happy festive season and a glorious new year.  And I can add that this is the most beautiful Christmas weather I can remember since I was small – when I was small weather was always wonderful.  Of course!

Brad the engineer rang Pete from Townsville yesterday – the engine is fixed and is ready to go go GO!  That is very good news.

Here in Tasmania we haven’t been near the water other than to zip across the bridge, or to admire the river from afar.

Everyone seems very creative, on our island.  My friends all knit and quilt and make gorgeous things.

Susan made tea cosies for her family:

Eva (8) did a drawing of her class, painstakingly copied from the yearly photo.  It is amazingly accurate and much more charming than the original.

And I have made – a herb garden!  I an inordinately proud of this.  Eva helped me create the raised bed from a flat pack and I filled the small enclosure with soil, potting mix, manure and mulch.  Everyone I know is a more experienced and better gardener than I am and…I had it pointed out to me, firmly but kindly, that having parsley, basil, oregano, thyme and coriander in a small confined space was OK.  But MAYBE not six zucchini seedlings which will take over the whole world if I let them.  So I have released them into the wild (ie Pete’s veggie bed, which is much less confined than mine – they can take over the world there.)

My sailing friend Misty from Scotland wrote a very entertaining Christmas letter – I am taking the liberty of doing a minor edit and cutting/pasting the bit about Langkawii Duty Free.  I can only imagine the anguish the new laws are causing!!

Rebak marina

We end the year with a major disappointment, occurring last month.  We are on the tiny island of Rebak,  one of 99 islands in the Langkawi archipelago, which has been duty free for some 30 years.  Alas - in order to stop smuggling Customs decided on November 1st to restrict the amount of duty-free you can buy per month.  For cigs and beer you are allowed a generous 3 cartons/slabs per person, but they've lumped Wine & Spirits together with a total allowance of 5 litres per passport per month. 

Rebak hammock - dangling just near the Beach Bar...

Being non-drinking Muslims they don't see the difference between a litre of whisky and a litre of wine, so there is panic among the fleet and Xmas partying will be severely curtailed:  'Do come on board and have a glass of bubbles........... but don't drink any of ours!'  Not quite the spirit of this time of year.  Initially the winos amongst us thought we'd just pay extra, but the powers that be want to preserve Langkawi's *Duty Free* status so there is no way to pay duty!  There are Customs officers at every till -            what a waste of manpower - and once you've had your allowance that's it.    Teetotallers have suddenly become very popular since the only thing that matters is the passport.  I've produced Peter's while he's gone back to the car, without a problem.              The lucky few with several passports are doing OK, but wine-drinkers like us are guarding our stash in a very mean and                    un-Tamoure fashion! And turning to gin. We are friends with the resort GM who kindly offered us his quota but since he's an Indian male 10 years my junior I worry that might be pushing the passport thing just a bit too far!

Rebak hornbill

15th December 2016 - 2XS still in Townsville, Captain Pete and crew back in Tasmania

Thursday 15^th December 2016

Before he left Pete carefully dried out all of the cards I had collected over the years and which were happy swimming around in what I thought was a safe resting place under the starboard aft bunk...

Pete is back – he is sitting at his computer cursing faintly as he struggles with his paperwork.  Just a change from struggling with boat work!

Michael is also off the boat.  He is driving from Townsville to Melbourne, a long long way.  Friday he and his ute will be on the ferry; Saturday he will be here in Hobart.

There is still a lot of boatwork to do, so Pete will have to go back to Queensland in January.

In the meantime…it is all GO in Hobart.  The fourth biggest cruise liner in the world has been and gone.  Ovation of the Sea – I do think this is a funny name…

It was very hot (32) on Tuesday, chilly and windy on Wednesday.  I walked into town and on to Battery Point and was startled several times by violent and unexpected gusts of wind.  One of the gusts blew my sunglasses right off my face.  The lenses flew in one direction, the frame in another…

Beautiful Battery Point

Echidnas abound, right in the city.  My niece Isabelle found one gamely crossing Macquarie Street the other day.  She and her friends rescued it and sent it on its way towards the Rivulet, where it will stay, one hopes.  And yesterday I found one on the footpath outside Pete’s house.  I discouraged it from crossing the road and I hope it has gone back down into the valley where it should be safe from squashing.