FRIENDS COME & GO FROM DARWIN

Brian & Maxine from "Kinetic Energy", had travelled with us since leaving Airlie Beach in early May, so after nearly 8 weeks of enjoying their company, it was hard to say goodbye when they departed for the Kimberlies last week. But we each had something else to look forward to at this stage & with email, I know that we'll always stay in touch.

,

Since being in Darwin, along with another 100 or so yachts in Fanny Bay, we've enjoyed some spectacular sunsets, so unlike the sunsets on the East Coast of Australia where the sun disappears behind mountains & bushland instead of sinking below the horizon of the ocean. With the local Indigenous people burning off the land on a daily basis, the smoke has helped produce the most amazing & colourful sunsets that I have ever seen & hardly a day goes by when I don't have the camera out to try & capture these special moments.

Our time in Darwin has kept us very busy with organization for our upcoming trip to Indonesia but we've still found plenty of time for socializing but barely a day has gone by when we haven't been on a bus trip into the CBD of Darwin to see Customs, organize visas, shop for charts, duty free goods & food etc so at this stage, where we have a week before departure, we are finally starting to relax & feel that most things have now been covered. It's always awkward without a car when you're sailing from A to B & although the bus fares up here are very reasonable at $2.00 per return ticket to where ever you need to go, the burden of having to carry huge amounts of groceries, & wine etc, becomes a pain. However, things were made a little easier for us there, when our friends, Pam & Harry, from Coffs Harbour , arrived a few days ago & hired a small car to do the touristy thing in Darwin, so we've been able to get our gas cylinders refilled & most importantly, been able to collect our wine order from the local bottle shop!

With leaving the country, we've been able to order some spirits through the duty free shop & have really taken advantage of that by going halves with another yacht in a case of gin, vodka & rum. It seems a bit excessive, especially when we don't normally drink spirits, but with wine being nearly impossible to buy over there, we thought we'd better have something to keep us going! Not to mention the 6x 10 litre casks of wine on order, along with the home brew ginger beer & home brew beer! We don't drink much----really!!!!!

Pam & Harry, being very thoughtful, decided not to stay with us for their 10 days in Darwin & without talking about it, took accommodation nearby. We were really disappointed because how can you party when you have to drive at the end of the night?! Anyway, that was overcome by having a sleepover & boy, did we party! The champagne flowed as we watched another glorious sunset ondeck & then we made up for lack of exercise, by dancing the night away until nearly midnight. Rock N Roll in the cockpit was cozy, to say the least, but we sure had fun & it was great catching up with our old friends again.