After a big party night on Delos,
the time was finally here, we were headed to check out of Australia!
WHOA WHOA WHOA, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself! We had 2 great weeks here in Darwin!
We met up with old mates,
And we met some new ones!
We went to the local Darwin show, basically a massive local Fair
where only the best of the best personalities come out
We even had some time to go on a mini road trip to Litchfield National Park
This place is exactly what I pictured Northern Territory to be like
Dry aired land, cut up by creeks, waterfalls and rivers
Oh yeah, and remember that sail that we blew out leaving Cairns?
Well, we fixed it!
So, where was I? Oh that's right!
We had a bon voyage party on Delos!
Obviously we were a bit hungover, but that took a backseat to our thoughts of sailing north
"Come on there ol mate!"
(Sighs)
"Time to check out of Straya!"
As we untied from the dock, and I realised we probably wouldn't see another
one for a very long time, I drifted into my memories of the past 2 years
I had flashbacks of my Burrito Technician days, working 12 hours a day, and going home smelling like a taco
I saw Josje standing behind the counter of Huxtaburger where she would look at me with tired eyes through the window
Letting me know she would be off soon
Then I came home to Brian, sitting in our tiny apartment, writing code all day with the heater on
and in his sweat pants. We dubbed his room the 'hot box'
And finally I saw Karin working her ass off
in University, creeping her way towards her Landscape Architecture Degree.
I suddenly snapped back to reality, with a great feeling of what we had overcome,
and the adventure we were about to have together!
We left the Marina,
and said good-bye to the land down under.
"We're done with Australia!" "DONE" (laughs)
"Three years!" "I feel a little omisous, and a little nervous though!"
"It's always a big step. Leaving a country and moving on"
"Yeah" "To the next Port..
"we didn't forget anything and the weather's good, and it's a lot of sailing
it's like 600 miles or something!"
"Yeah, it's kind of surreal! But it's sweet I guess, as well!"
"We picked up some Strayin lingo! She's a fair dinkum sheila!"
"Get off me tits!"
"Gidday, howagoin?" "Came up with our own"
"instead of saying 'hey ya going' or 'gidday'..
it's 'giddayhowagoin' " (laughs)
"There's a lot chucking involved" "Yeah a lot of chucking things on the barbie"
"Chuck us ya c *nt mate!"
"Chuck it over ere!" (laughing)
That's Nina on the right!
Our good friend from New Zealand who came out to join us for the passage
"What do you christen the new lure?"
"The Blue Thunder"
With 20 knots out of South-east and a gentle swell,
Delos felt like home again as she fell into a steady rocking motion for the night
"Having a cool sunrise..and have some friends with us at the bow"
Our fishing lines were out for less than an hour, and the alarm went off
and we pulled in our fish of the passage. A small, but very eatable blue-fun tuna!
"So, let's see.. 24 hours from now we're gonna have..
about 15 knots pretty much out of the south-east..
and two days from now,
it's gonna tend a little bit more southerly and be about 13.5
..maybe 13, 12, it says 15.5 over here
So not too bad!
And then 72 hours from now, ahh lets see..
some 16, 15, still south-east, so we're sweet!
We should be on our way to Banda without any troubles!"
The conditions were perfect for our favourite passage meal. FRESH SUSHI!
Yeah, it really doesn't get any fresher than this!
"Holy jesus, look at the butt on that!" "YEAH!"
"He must work out"
At day three coming to an end, we had a well deserved sun down
Well.. because we felt like we deserved it!
"So we're just passing the live volcano..
that's not very alive at all.. at the moment..
..No life!" (laughs)
"Everything is going steady
Just a little bit of a swell..
Brady's taking the preventors down"
AHHH Day Four at sea..
Just about the point where you get a bit bored.. and really don't feel like reading anymore.. Or staring at the water..
Or even playing on the computer.
The girls subdued their boredom with an outdoor shower
I ate an orange!
And the breeze backed just enough
for us to put up our mizzen balloona, which we hadn't put up in years.
I was even bored enough to ignore the thought of sharks!
And tried my home-made dive planing board
"Is it safe?" "No, it's not safe!"
"No, no, me neither, what if a shark comes and bites your leg off!" "Yeah, Brady.."
"We haven't seen any.." "Yeah, but they won't be like 'harrow!' " (laughing)
"You're gonna see a little sea snake there and get all excited!"
"Oh, we caught a Brady!"
"Yeah! The sexy ones!" (slaps bum) (screeches)
"How was that?!"
The swell turned towards the beam, and we rocked comfortably back and forth
But Josje took the challenge of cooking for the crew.
"Josje-Rama it's hot in here"
"How ya goin?" "Good"
"Just trying to cook us some lunch" "What are you cookin?"
"Malaysian Stir Fry"
"Tuna, broccoli..
tofu and sauces"
"And garlic and ginger!"
"HEY LOOK! There's Indonesia! Oh yeah!"
(laughing) "You're such a dork!"
"I'm tired.." (laughing)
I think fatigue from being at sea for 5 days was starting to show in Josje
But no worries! We made it! And we were ready to check out these amazing volcanic peaks!
"Nina Pants!" (laughing)
"And how was the sail?"
"It was good! A bit tiring though.. pretty exhausted..
but it was not very bad, like we didn't have any bad or anything..
and I just think.. I don't know.. It was a sail though!
I slept through 50% of it!" (laughing)
Next Up! Delos explores Banda and The Spice Islands of Indonesia!
"Is it on?" "Do you want me to show you my vision?" "Yep, show me your vision"
"Alright mate...
so f * * *ing pan.." "A wok!"
"Oh yeah.." "Yeah, that's good, that's exactly what I was gonna draw!"
"Yeah a f * * *ing pan, with some f * * *ing broccoli and a f * * *ing carrot sticking out"
"Yeah, like a lot of sh *t, and theres like steam coming out up here, it's like.." "Yep, Day Four!"
""It's like Day f * * *ing Four!" "F *CK YEAH, that's exactly it!"
"I like it Brady! I like where you're going with this one!"
"Thanks mate!" "Is it on?" "Ummm.."
(laughs) "Yeah.. yeah, go ahead!"