Back on deck with Newsflash!

The Cruising Indonesia guide has been published at last! Available at the Yacht Shop Darwin and also from Amazon. This has been a labour of love sharing our anchorages in this wonderful country.

So what else has been happening? Well, we are back in Tipperary Waters Marina, in Darwin, until mid 2016 (Keith is the Lockmaster) and getting the old girl ship-shape again (that's Tientos by the way). The bulwarks have been replaced, new anchor winch switches - now we can go down as well as up (I imagine Keith is thinking I could do some anchoring - nope). Floors have been upgraded in the saloon; windows and some timber areas all replaced, head re-plumbing and new dinghy and motor purchased. However, for some reason the list doesn't seem to be getting any shorter.

Life was pretty smooth with our two Burmese, Bennett and Sinh, but sadly, Mum has been admitted to a high care nursing home and asked us to take her own boy Timmy. You know the saying 'three's a ....' well in this case three's a clowder of cats (yep look it up). And is Timmy big! The bunk is getting very crowded (or clowdered).

Over the coming months, we will be updating our blog to include previous adventures and photos.

May all your bars be wooden and well-stocked!

Oh SNAP!

'They're funny things, Accidents. You never have them till you're having them' - A.A. Milne

After an enjoyable leisurely breakfast overlooking the marina, we headed back to the boat; just as Keith said ‘...hey look at that yacht coming in...’, I looked up instead of down and next thing found myself flat on the ground, after hitting my head on the wooden bench seat.

Then my gaze fell on my wrist just as I was surrounded by staff and a group of American sailors, one of whom was a doctor. ‘Your wrist is broken’; ‘no shit Sherlock, I don’t need a medical degree to see that, I thought’ A van immediately appeared to cart me off to the Rumah Sakit (hospital), after the lovely doctor organised ice, and the driver was so careful to avoid potholes, and so very slow. The emergency room registrar asked if I wanted to go to Singapore...another oh shit! Medical Insurance expired yesterday!...if you want to go under anaesthetic, we will have to bring in specialists. By this time all I wanted was my wrist fixed so I agreed to local anaesthetic and it was manually manipulated back into place and plastered. A heady $120 later I was back on board and we were off to Malaysia.

Indonesian flag down

Malaysian flag up

With a few major storms enroute we cleared into Admiral Marina, where Anne and Rob took off for a Malacca visit, and then off to Pangkor for a few days. Unfortunately Lea was confined to the boat  (wet plaster is not an option) whilst Keith, Rob and Anne enjoyed the water and beachside restaurants. This was to be an annoyance as we visited other beautiful beaches on the way north.

Constructing the new bridge at Penang

When we arrived at Straits Quay Marina on the 4th November, it was up to see the orthopaedic surgeon at the Penang Adventist Hospital. He said it was a really good job, come back in 6 weeks and we will remove the plaster. He did comment that 'at my age', they would have pinned it, but hey I really have enough scars already and it works again anyway. Rob and Anne left us here; it was sad to see them go after our amazing adventures.

On the 2nd December, we left Tientos at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club and returned to Penang on the ferry for the removal of the plaster, which by this time was very hot and itchy. We returned to Langkawi to spend our quiet xmas once more at Eco Beach.

What an eventful 2012!

 

May all your bars be wooden and well-stocked!