12:27S 130:51E Darwin

Babe!
Paul & Trish Ducker
Mon 23 Sep 2013 00:08

Hi all

 

So final stop in Australia is Darwin, for which we arrived around 5pm on Friday 13th Sept. Trip over top was fairly benign – little wind so mainly motoring at a brisk pace to get to Darwin for Friday night fun, until we noticed that Babe had developed a greedy taste for fuel, which she was drinking at an unhealthy rate – so throttle back from 2000rpm to 1800rpm and less to ensure we get there with at least 50 Litres to spare! As it happened fortunately managed to get a little wind and plenty of tide in the last 24-hours, so no drama and pulled into Cullen Bay at anchor safe and sound, along with Aequitas and Proteus for the evening.

 

Wasn’t such a good trip for me, caught the infamous Oz rally flu bug, which on top of 3hr alternating shift with Nelius wrecked me, so early to bed for a good nights shut eye and renewed vigour in the morning to get round to Tipperary marina, where we were booked in for the week  – well that was the plan……..

 

So next morning, still feeling rough, time to pull into Cullen bay wharf for a much needed re-fuel before the hour trip to Tipperary to get in for 2pm, tied up nicely along the fuel dock, in goes the fuel, 100l later – oh s**t, that’s not diesel it’s fu*king unleaded!!!!!  So a nice mix of circa 125l of diesel and 100l of unleaded in the tank – Babe not going anywhere!! Fortunately birth next to fuel dock was free (well for a little while as Spent and Stiana were booked in for 24-hour bio-check, which we escaped cuz we‘d been out of the water so long whilst in Oz) so man-handled lines and pulled Babe back to the along-side birth back to the fuel dock whilst I hatched a plan to sort the flipping fuel issue – umm where could I sell a diesel/unleaded mix?? A few vigorous phone calls later I finally managed to track down a man with a UTE (utility Truck), 3 empty 50gall barrels and a pump - result! Well almost, a DIY jobby as Paul the guy with the kit was busy, however he’d leave the UTE at the top for us to sort and then return the UTE, which he did, so connected it all up with the assistance of Tim, Ollie and Jack from Proteus and having to swap the Oz plug for a 13A to connect to the boats mains and swap the suction hose for some of the boats hose cuz wasn’t long enough to get into the tank – pump ran, but nothing came out! OK so our inlet hose was too flimsy, imploding under the pressure of the pump – no worries fit a more substantial one – still no pumping, OK pressurise the fuel tank using foot pump – wow almost worked, but still no steady flow. Back onto the phone to Paul – well is worked fine for Yantina, try cleaning the filter strainer – haha wasn’t even fitted. Time for a break……………….then it dawned on me – on replacing the inlet hose the coupling wasn’t a very secure fitting allowing air in at the pump inlet and hence not creating enough vacuum – so re-sealed the inlet hose connection and hay-presto FINALLY got it working!! Hour or so later and we’d managed to empty the fuel tank, completely, including any bits and bobs at the bottom (can see into the tank via inspection covers under the starboard side bench), hence another bi-annual major maintenance job completed – a positive!!

 

So eventually managed to load the 3 x barrel’s onto the UTE, with the help of Nelius (the Ox) and Marco and Murray from Pandemonium, when harbour master announces that we can’t stay on the wharf as only 2 yacths can raft-up at a time (at which pint Spent and Stiana were already rafted-up along side Babe) – I can’t move says I as I’ve go no fuel and am rafted on inside – well you need to sort then, came the reply! Um into my usual ‘rule are for fools’ mode, ignored him and decided to take the UTE back to Tipperary. Just so happened that Kady called on the way so picked her up from the airport on the way, to raised eyebrows – what have you done dad! Anyway UTE had been manned-up and went like S**t of a Shovel, great fun!

 

As it happened didn’t get any more hassle about moving Babe so stayed the night, although did get a load of ribbing from various Oz’ys around the marina re pommes being stupid, grrr. What a day in the sweltering sun as we’ll – came to evening and boy was I feeling rough – stress, flu and a degree of sun stoke, so no night on the town for me – bed by 9pm and sounds like I missed a good session L.

 

Managed to fill the boat up the next day (Sunday) and get her round to Tipperary marina, though tight lock gates and in our fancy dress [O there’s another story, whilst waiting at Cullen decided to also fill-up with water, half way through onto Spent for a well-deserved beer having sorted the fuel issue. Next thing realised water was overflowing and cuz left our bedroom hatches open was pouring into our main birth, f**k another frigging issue, requiring a bail-out under the floor, drying out of carpets, seats, and stored toiletries – no wonder was so tired at the end of the day]. Tipperary was a tight affair, not only through the lock but also squeezing alongside Crazy Daisy. Still handed over the reins to Nelius and with a little guidance and a couple of twinges he managed to bring here in. Trish also arrived back from the UK, hence a good Sunday and road to recovery for me.

 

Darwin’s a little bit of strange place – alter clock by 30 minutes – which is ridiculous – neither one thing or the other! Few boats took a trip into the outback, we need to catch-up on a load of routing maintenance following being out of the water for so long, although we did manage a road trip into the outback for a day, seeing emu’s, a croc, many miles of outback and stopping at a place offering bikini car washes! Eventually headed back and met-up with Sotto and Spend at a typical Oz out-back inn in ‘Humpy-doo’ for late lunch and a beer or two! No survey results here either as it’s illegal and (according to one of the crew from a rally boat, honest) even in the strip bars the girls are not allowed to be any closer than 1 metre when naked – a far cry from Queensland!

 

Having got through all our stuff – and particularly Nelius, who we’ve now put in charge of the day to day boat maintenance, it’s almost time to leave Oz, which in really and particularly due to the 5 ½ weeks of Babe being out of the water, hasn’t been that good and for us and leaving a little remote from the rally. No worries sure we’ll catch-up in Indonesia, which is our next place/area of call (i.e. Kupang in Timor and then along the lower middle Indonesian islands to Bali), so keep you posted during our visit there.

 

Lots of Love,

Paul, Trish, Kady, Nelius

Xx

 

Photos:

a)      No wind

b)      First sight of Darwin

c)       New addition to the yacht – was supposed to be a pink blow-up plastic pig??

d)      Nice Bird – now who does this remind us of?

e)      Darwin Road trip

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