This week came and went and before I knew it the week was gone and no work was done on the boat. I started feeling a little unwell on Monday, and spent Tuesday in bed getting progressively worse with the flu. On Wednesday and Thursday I was in Melbourne on business although I probably should have been in bed. I spent Friday very busy working and still feeling unwell.
On Saturday Jo and I went into Sydney for the Live Earth concert. For those that don’t know, this was one of 9 concerts around the world organised by Al Gore to highlight environmental damage and to encourage green practices. As Jo and I aspire to live aboard our boat and be as power and water self sufficient as we can and to use our motors to the absolute minimum (I would really like to have electric engines and not have to rely on fuel ever but that is not yet attainable and a generator would be needed for extended motoring and the cost of electric options are still staggeringly expensive) we felt our intentions meant we were not totally hypocritical. But we also learnt that we can start to do the right thing now by just doing things like changing light globes to energy efficient compact fluoro’s and turning off lights and appliances not in use. (We already practice not having lights on as we will have to get used to living that way anyway, but even things like having a dvd player on standby is wasting power).
Anyway back to the weekend, we went along because we also like many of the bands on the schedule which included Wolf Mother, Eskimo Joe, Missy Higgins but for us the highlights were the reformed Crowded House, Paul Kelly and best of all the John Butler Trio, but more importantly we were celebrating. We stayed at the Sebel Pier One hotel right on Sydney harbour almost directly under the harbour bridge. The more observant long time readers would know that this weekend was our 1st wedding anniversary. Many people ask me (mostly in jest but some serious) how I convinced my wife to agree to building and cruising a cat and my answer besides the obvious choose the right wife, is not to let the build get in the way of your relationship, which means sometimes it takes a back seat. I gladly take a break from the build from time to time as I decided before I started that I did not subscribe to the notion that you had to give up living now for a great lifestyle later in order to achieve this dream, you have to be realistic and continue to enjoy some of the things you do to maintain your health, your relationships and your lifestyle.
This morning we started with Pancakes then a 2 hour walk around circular quay and the Opera House and around the botanical gardens to take a look at the American Aircraft Carrier the Kitty Hawk. This is one huge ship. It is at dock with the aircraft all along the deck, jets and choppers. We saw the 2 queens (Cunard lines Queen Mary and QE2) in February and this boat rivals the QM. We hope we never have to stare up the bow of one at sea! Then once we got back to the car to go home we couldn’t get the key to rotate to start the car. We rang the auto club (NRMA) and they asked if it was our immobiliser because they were getting a lot of calls about immobilisers due they thought to the Kitty Hawk sending out some kind of blocking signal. I wouldn’t be surprised. We got the car started and drove home but left the car outside the dealer in case we cant start it again in the morning and will have a new lock fitted.
Anyway, that’s the weekend. I am still coughing and spluttering and no work done on the boat to report. I should be able to get back to it soon. Jo and I had a great weekend and I love Jo very much. Jo and I decided that we will try and start a tradition of staying the night of our anniversary in a nice hotel somewhere around the world each year especially after we start cruising so even if we are in a lovely harbour somewhere we will stay the night in a hotel. Jo suggested we start next year with the Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong followed by Raffles Singapore the year after, which if we do will mean we will probably only be able to afford one outboard which in turn would mean we use less fossil fuel so a win win I guess!
Life is great and the boat is coming along nicely. In the next few weeks, once the uni strips are done I will start on the keelsons and hull webs which will include starting on the plumbing of pipes and wiring conduits through the web under the hull floors. Fun stuff.
