Stocking up
'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Sat 13 Apr 2013 21:55
It all started when Maureen Calypso on one of her shopping forays that Paul so enjoys (not) discovered an Indian grocery store a mere ten minute bus ride away. As well as lots of 'luvverly' spices they have an enormous stock of...wait for it...DRIED BEANS, PULSES, LENTILS & MUNG BEANS...yay, way to go Trouters!!! A$4 for a 1kg bag of kidney beans and a bit less for other 'stuff''. I went with them yesterday to a chandlery to watch them possibly spend a lot of money on a new chart plotter. The store was a hop, skip and a brief stagger away. A$53 later I have enough food to probably get me to Darwin with no fear of running short of wind
Of course this is not a Pacific crossing. I mean with hopefully anchoring every night there are in fact 'shopping opportunities' for the next 700 miles or so before going 'over the top' so as long as I have at least two weeks supply on board I won't starve. Maybe eaten by a Saltie, stung by a box jelly-fish or savaged by a Tiger shark but I won't starve dammit!The game plan is to leave Brisbane sometime the first week of May (weather allowing) and head steadily North to warmer weather. This is counter-intuitive to a chap from the Northern Hemisphere. Head north until the butter melts still doesn't seem right somehow. The idea is to be in Darwin by the beginning of July, leaving time to arrange an Indonesian visa. The jury, or rather the wallet, is still out on the Indonesian rally but this coming week I'll at least register for it. Payment is not until the 1st July so it might be a 'goer'.
'Pommy Dave' has kindly lent me his dingy complete with 15hp outboard so getting ashore is now less of a chore, and less exercise, than it was. I don't intend to get the old Mercury going at the moment, I quite enjoy rowing if it isn't raining/blowing too much and I don't need it right now. Since I spent a few tides aground the leak has also stopped. Oh yes, I dragged. NO Andy, I didn't dress up in women's clothing and hit the town. Last week Trouters decided to go walkabout and I gently impacted on Viatrix at about 0500...did I tell you this already, I think I did. Anyway, after a couple of days of going aground I repositioned an anchor, after sinking up to my thighs in mud trying to extricate the bloody thing at low water. All was well for a day then when I was off the boat, obviously that's when it would happen, Trouters started getting friendly with Jambalaya. Fortunately not too friendly but I got a phone call and rapidly returned. After the tide had turned I managed to get one anchor up and after the wind died down Trouters drifted back with the current. At that point Pete on Jambalaya threw the farewell- party participants off his boat and came over to give me a hand. Finally a two-anchor masterclass. The trick would seem to be to allow not only a bit of room for the second anchor to set but also to let out additional chain. Around high tide tighten up both anchors and that should be it. So far, it works! Pete is heading North next week, can't remember the name of the place but it's about 700nm up so no doubt we'll meet up at some point.
Nothing much else to add right now. The writing has slowed up but I'm doing a lot of editing so maybe that's a good thing. Still hoping to get the next book out before the end of this month. I'm now listed as an author on Alpha wolf's web site although no news about a publication date. Still waiting to see some art work. They have a new web site,
http://www.alphawolfpublishing.biz/
It looks better than the other one and they have more authors signed up now. We'll see what happens but strangely enough I think Emma the Agent is more excited than I am. Maybe too much on my mind at the moment?
Congrats to Pepe and Bear for getting to Galapagos. See Beez Neez in the list of diaries at the top left of the page. Great photos and it brings back a lot of happy memories. Just the 3000nm to go to Gambier then chaps? Enjoy.
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