By the time you read this blog, we will be on our way back to the US to spend 3 months enjoying the holidays with our kids and new grandson. This year, as with the previous cruising years, just flew by. It seems that is was only yesterday that we had returned from the States to Bundaberg to start this cruising season.

We enjoyed our year which including land traveling around Australia, cruising up the Great Barrier Reef, going “over the top” when we passed Cape York, and then our sail to Darwin. We met a number of very nice people in Australia, including Steve and Wendy (Sydney), Phil and Heather (Sydney), and Brian and Gayle (Darwin), all who invited us into their homes and shared with us the famous Australian warmth and hospitality. They really made our visit to this country something very special for us.

We also enjoyed Indonesia with the various cultures they have and the great snorkeling and diving reefs. While Sail Indonesian ended up being a bust this year, due to the canceling of most of the festivities, we still enjoyed our time there. What made it very special was the month that Portia and Steve (formerly of S/V Dream Caper) were with us. We were not sure how it would be having someone with us for a full month, given that we are used to having the whole boat to just the two of us, but it turned out great and we are hoping that they will come and visit us again next year when we sail over to the eastern side of Malaysia.

While we have been in Malaysia for a few weeks now, we really have not had a chance to get to know its people and culture. We have been on the go since we first arrived trying to finish a number of boat projects and then mothballing the boat this last week. However, these last few days at Rebak Marina has been most enjoyable and getting to know Rick and Robin (S/V Endangered Species) and Dick and Lynne (S/V Wind Pony) as well as a few of the other cruisers here made it very, very nice. We felt so welcomed.

We are looking forward to our next cruising season (Year 6), when we will have more time to explore Malaysia, Thailand and then do some serious land exploration of China, Vietnam, Cambodian and possibly Laos. We hope to explore parts of China with our good friends Joe and Valerie, who we explored Peru and a bit of New Zealand with a few years ago.

Thank you for following our blog this year and a special thanks to everyone who either left us a blog comment or emailed us. We really enjoy getting those comments and emails. It helps shrink our world down knowing that we have people who care enough to write and offer words of encouragement.

We will be returning to Leu Cat in early February 2013 and will pick up the blog again then. Until then, have a prosperous rest of 2012 and here to an even better 2013.