A week ago I’d suggested to Allan that I stay for this week and then reassess. That week is up now. So we’ve set another reassess point for two weeks from now. I now doubt very much I’ll be north of Darwin before Christmas, but over these next two weeks should have a much greater sense of progress towards S. V. Huey being ready to make a splash. By then I’m hopeful we should be able to plan towards a sailing date.
I paid a membership fee for Dinah Beach Yacht Club today. Should have done so a while back, by rights. I feel less like I’m imposing now. It does emphasise the delay, which is probably why I put it off.
I’m definitely now falling behind my original Melbourne-London schedule. I don’t love that, but it isn’t a shock either. And if I’d had to put odds on where the significant delays would be, Darwin would be right up with the likely choices. I can only roll with it at this stage, since “giving up” isn’t an option and other choices are sparse.
Yesterday we’d inflated Allan’s new rubber ducky to replace the heavier, aged plastic tender (little boat to get between the docks and a moored yacht). Today we planned to take it for a morning spin, but the tide was against us on the short boat ramp.
So I borrowed Allan’s electric bike and went for a ride around Darwin, starting with a visit to the a museum that doubles for the Royal Flying Doctor Service history and the 1942 Darwin bombing. The VR display of the bombing was kinda cool, although the entry price felt fairly steep for what the museum had to share.
The tide eventually did its thing, and we took said ducky out to have a look around. Feel free to fast-forward this video, as I haven’t spent ages editing for conciseness.
Ducky performed pretty well, despite needing another pound or two of inflated air pressure. This casual outing also earned me:
- Sunburnt arms and (particularly) legs – who’d have thought one should use sunscreen in the middle of a decalescent December Darwin day?
- Massive blisters on the soles of my feet – when my thongs (aka “flip-flips”, for those north of Newcastle) broke while we were pulling the ducky out of the water through rough, hot bitumen. I now need new thongs and new feet.
Meantime, we’re waiting. Waiting for the dyneema rope for the mast stays. Waiting for the water desalinator engine replacement. Waiting for the wheels for the new tender. Waiting for manufacture of a new roller furling for the main sail. Waiting for a mechanic to come and look at the auto helm. Waiting. Waiting. The Project Manager in me is constantly on the lookout for ways to streamline all this waiting, but Allan (correctly, no doubt) has pointed out that it will be counter-productive not to respect the Darwin pace. I think we’re probably scraping the bottom of the barrel for useful things for me to do on Huey while we wait, too. So it seems I’ve got to dig a bit deeper still to find a good posture into this month of waiting.
The humid heat is oppressive. Day after day is high 30s, with an overnight low that might – if you’re lucky – dip to 29. Hats off to those who manage it year in year out. Getting in and out of the bike gear in this weather just isn’t getting any more fun. I’ve been gravitating to other forms of transport, with a push bike or bus being endowed with an all-new attractiveness!
As always, Darwin finishes the day with a glorious show of magnificence, this time from the humble context of the Dinah Beach Yacht Club car park:
