G'day from Australia -

It's been awhile since we posted. We haven't been doing much that we consider exciting but we do have some progress and changes to report. It's the rainy season here and the weather has been a contributing factor for delaying us on the projects, most of which required work outdoors.

First of all, we've been eating very well. There's a farmer's market on Sunday that we have visited every weekend. We are able to get a very nice variety of fruits and vegetables which prevents us from missing the meals we enjoyed regularly back home. The available meats and fish are every bit as good as well and the lamb is cheap, so we've been enjoying lamb chops regularly. We have had to cut back on our ice cream ration as ice cream shops are not as plentiful (nearly on every corner in the South Pacific) and our freezer is not currently operating while we are out of the water.

Dennis has spent considerable time fine-tuning the design of our bug screens as the mosquitoes and midges have been voracious here. They go after Virginia more than Dennis for some reason. At one point Virginia had more than 200 bites on her arms and legs and was really worried about getting it under control. She switched to a repellent that had 80% DEET and covered herself with it that day; ended up with DEET poisoning. She had vertigo for three days and Dennis had to assist her getting on and off the boat. A pharmacist gave her an antihistamine to take each day as she gets an allergic reaction - her bites get really red and swell up. She is now using an all-natural DEET-free repellent. Things are much improved - especially with Dennis' impenetrable screens.

Virginia's been doing 'inside' projects so she can be behind the bug screens. She sewed new curtains and cushion covers for our salon. In one of the photos you can see the little challenge that we are still pondering....one of the seatbacks is curved and it bugs her that she can't get the wrinkles out. We tried to get a bit more contemporary than the 1980's harvest gold. She also finished a Sunbrella fabric shade structure for the bow of the boat that Dennis designed, complete with rain gutters so it can double as a water catcher.

The dripless propeller shaft seal had started to drip so it needed to be replaced (they are usually good for five to ten years and this one had gone about six -not bad considering all the motoring we had done on the various Baja Ha-Ha's and on this voyage through Mexico and Central America). It requires removing the shaft from the transmission and that requires clearing away other engine-related equipment. While Dennis had all the equipment removed, he decided to change the transmission fluid as well. Sounds simple enough until you try to find the specified transmission fluid (Type "A" FYI) for a 25 year old transmission. Most of the clerks in the auto parts stores he went to weren't even born when the transmission was built. Eventually he ended up at a farm equipment shop (the engine/transmission was one originally used in farm equipment) and there was an old guy who could help. "Type "A" isn't made anymore", the old guy explained (duh), "but here's a fluid that will work for you."

Standing rigging was due for replacement as promised to our insurance company. Dennis has to replace the rigging in two stages so that the masts always have some support - we aren't out of cyclone season here yet and could get a big blow. After several trips up the masts (weather permitting), he sent the first half off to the rigger in Brisbane (no qualified rigger in Bundaberg!!!) and it took several weeks to get it back. While installing it he discovered a few problems (all rigger errors) and it took a few days to sort them out and get new parts shipped up to us. He has now sent the second half down to Brisbane and we are hoping they will give us a quicker turnaround on this batch. His repaired knee gets a good workout on this project and hasn't slowed him down a bit.

The stainless steel welding shop finished up the repairs to the frame for the back swim step. We couldn't find any teak in town to replace the cracked slats so Dennis decided to use a different type of hardwood and redo all the wood slats; it looks gorgeous. The bow pulpit which was damaged along with the swim step (see Marquesas blog entry) was sent off to the shop at the same time but the welder was scheduled for a three week vacation and didn't have time to finish it before he left, so this week we are expecting to receive that piece repaired so the boat doesn't look like it's been in a fight.

Dennis is now sanding the bottom of the boat in preparation for painting. This is the first time we have painted it ourselves. He has a friend who is a boat builder and is advising him as he goes, so if we decide to have others do it in the future (most likely!) he can watch and know if they are doing it right. He has to be completely covered while doing this project as the paint dust is quite toxic (that's how it keeps growth off the bottom of the boat) and can really irritate soft tissue. We can't actually paint it until a few days before we are ready to go back in the water. Bottom paint doesn't like to be out of the water for long. He is also grinding out the fiberglass around the hinges that connect the rudder to the skeg as we noticed some cracks there. Found a small void filled with water so he'll fill that in before painting.

Virginia is researching possibilities for land trips in Australia and New Zealand. In our last posting we mentioned that we had hoped to tour Australia in late March, but due to delays in getting our boat projects completed, we are more likely to tour New Zealand first, maybe mid-April. Our plan is to tour both the north and south islands for about two weeks in a campervan. For Australian land tours we'll probably take a short trip south to Sydney and then another trip after we have started our cruising for the season and are in Darwin in the Northern Territory. She has also researched and purchased the cruising guides we'll need for this next season, which brings us to our next change.

Our plans for the upcoming cruising season had to be modified. We had hoped to hightail it from here in Bundaberg, Australia to Singapore when the cyclone season ended (April/May) in order to put Libertad on a freighter headed for the Mediterranean - and then sail the Med this season. But.....we finally had to admit to ourselves that there is not enough time after cyclone season ends here in Australia to safely get to Singapore as the last freighter headed for the Med leaves May 15. We were holding out hope that they would add a June boat, but that isn't going to happen. In addition, we'd miss 2-3 months of Med sailing season by leaving so late and not giving any of our family and friends much time to catch up with us there. So, here's the plan for the upcoming season.


June 2013 leave Bundaberg, Australia to sail through the Great Barrier Reef, making numerous stops along the way to enjoy that miracle of nature.

July 2013 arrive in Darwin, Australia and spend about 3 weeks there getting our liferaft recertified, our visas and other paperwork in order, and doing some land travel south of Darwin to Kukadu National Park, Ayers Rock (Uluru), ... via car or bus.

end of July 2013 - end of October 2013 Join the Indonesian rally (see www.sailindonesia.net for the route and other rally details) which starts in Darwin and winds through western Indonesia

end of October 2013 sail the short distance to Singapore

Nov - Dec 2013 join the Malaysian rally for the segment of that rally that goes from a spot near Singapore to Langkawi
(see http://www.sailmalaysia.net/passage-to-langkawi/rally-schedule.html )


From Langkawi in Malaysia we will sail to Phuket Thailand. We will leave Libertad in Malaysia or in Thailand while we go back to the states for a visit somewhere in the Dec-Mar timeframe. We will put Libertad on a freighter headed to the Med in March 2014. We will meet Libertad in Turkey about 16 days after it boards the freighter in Thailand. And that will be the start of our season to sail the Mediterranean!

One other change since our last posting is that we both had a birthday and are a year older. We went out to dinner in Bargara for Virginia's birthday. Dennis' birthday was on Easter Sunday so Virginia tried to make sure he had a US type Easter basket filled with the goodies he enjoys. They do celebrate Easter here in Australia, in fact it is a 4-day weekend with both Good Friday and Easter Monday being holidays for government offices and many places of work. And they do sell candy, but it is all chocolate. It fact it is all Cadbury chocolate (which is made in Australia). Virginia searched for some of the non-chocolate items common in the US and finally found one bag of jelly beans. But the biggest disappointment for Dennis was no marshmallow peeps! She had to make 'grass' for the basket by cutting up green bubble wrap. We're both 62 now. We pass a bulletin board when we take the bus into town which shows an "older" woman on a surf board, with the heading, "Aging is Optional". We strongly aspire to this philosophy!