We arrived home in early December 2019 having completed a 4,500 mile season taking us from New Zealand to Australia via Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. The season wasn’t without its difficulties and challenges ranging from mechanical failures through to being chased around or thwarted by weather. Despite that we still had some really great experiences and look forward to revisiting some of these Pacific Islands again another year. Here are some of our favourite memories….
Christmas started with a theatre trip followed by a family affair and then a cruise to Hamburg and Bruges for New Year. Phew! Then it was time for family and friend reunions and days out for my 60th birthday celebrations. In fact, I haven’t stopped celebrating the whole time I’ve been home – definitely one to remember. Thanks to all my family and friends for being so generous and making it such a special time. In the meantime Richard was back at work topping up the sailing kitty, so thanks to him for that. Eventually Richard retired again and we headed off to Lanzarote for a week in the sun – after a miserable windy, wet and stormy time at home – but nature even tried to ruin that with a massive sand storm grounding flights and now, of course, there is the coronavirus doing its rounds. Back from Lanzarote and we had more reunions, only this time it meant, sad farewells…..
Now we are in full preparation mode for the next season. We are flying back to Sydney later this week immediately followed by a few days exploring Brisbane and then back to Morpheus in the boatyard. We know there will be quite a bit of work waiting for us on return to get her ready to go. Once all that has been done we plan to sail slowly north towards the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsunday Islands exploring the east coast along the way. Then our plan is to meander back south towards Sydney in readiness for Christmas and New Year celebrations. During the year we have plans for family school holidays; some land exploring; more reunions and just having fun. So we will stay in Australia for the whole year – the visas have been granted – so we are on our way.
Unusually we are not carrying back huge amounts of spares which certainly makes a nice change. Most things are available in Australia so it is just some key bits and pieces we needed like new reading lights for our cabin; winch springs; more maintenance manuals; new Morpheus rash shirts etc. And, of course, don’t forget the tea bags LOL.
Anyway, that’s it for now folks, welcome back and hope you enjoy the next season. Looking forward to seeing our girl again….
Bye for now
Jan