As usual, we were sucked into the vortex of city life as soon as we pulled up at the dock at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. Resulting in the blog lying neglected for two months.....
Our son Matt had left a car at the Squadron for us, so we were able to take our freezer-load of wahoo and tuna home, along with whatever we needed to clothe ourselves and get back into civilisation. Well, civilisation is a word they apply to Sydney life. We aren't sure. The very first thing John noticed was the ineffable rudeness and aggression on the roads as we drove our gear home - unprovoked, gratuitous and irrational rudeness - "If I let you into my lane on the bridge, I'm going to die!" kind of rudeness. After living at 5 knots for the last 6 months it's inexplicable and undigestible to us.
But we got to see Matt, Jane, Tom and Amanda and our wider families, as well as sailing and other friends, so that was part-compensation.
We arrived in Sydney on a Thursday, and had our first patrol at the Surf Club on the Saturday, and John got immediately into training a group of new Rescue Boat crew, so that has tied up Saturdays for him since then. Shauna is back managing First Aid for the Club and she is also busy teaching Advanced Resuscitation. It is so nice to meet up again with all our Surf Club friends, whom we really miss when away.
"Destiny" came through the season with only a few blemishes, and no really significant issues to address, so we count ourselves lucky. We are trying to use her this summer as much as we can, but time always seems to be the issue at home. We aren't handling the transition as well as "Destiny" - each time we go cruising, it seems to get harder to come back to life where stupid trivia and material trappings seem to be more and more important to people every year. This seems to manifest itself in all walks of life. It becomes more and more important to drive a gleaming 2 tonne 4WD capable of reaching 200KPH to go to the supermarket. Kids seem fatally infected with the virus that confers sanctity on "Fame" - trashy celebrities with nothing to say and less to do are the heroes and aspirational models for so many young people - bling is everything.
We miss the disingenuous, artless smiles and natural generosity of the Ni-Van people, their patience with life's problems and with each other. We feel more comfortable where someone can come up to you and say "Hello! I'm Isaiah - where are you from?" without arousing suspicion in us and making us look over our shoulders for their accomplices.
Plans for this coming season are uncertain, due to some family medical issues, but we remain hopeful of getting away from what we call "Compression Sickness". John is cooking up a plan to get some medical outreach going in Vanuatu, and we may have something to report on that soon.
The pic above is of a lovely moonrise we had while anchored at Ilot Mbe Kouen; Grande Terre is in the background, looking rugged and impressive, and the moon is shining over the calm waters of the lagoon like a good old friend coming to visit.
A few new photos are here.