In preparation for leaving on Thursday, we decide to hire a car to do our provisioning and the other run about jobs that we have, one of which is to get me to an osteopath to check whether I really have done something nasty or not. It’s really difficult knowing whether to work my back or rest it.
We eventually find the osteopath but as we enter his practice I become a little unsure. It is somewhat grungy around the edges and there’s a mouldy smell about it. I ask to go to the loo but don’t even want to sit on the seat when I go there. I hope he washes his hands between patients!
After an examination he declares that there is nothing basically wrong apart from very strained muscles and that one side of my back is very much tighter than the other. So instead of bone crunching he does some stretching and I come out $90 the poorer and aching more than ever.
We find a garden centre and buy a hose pipe and lots of connections. We want to be able to wash down the cockpit more frequently with salt water then be able to rinse it down with just a bit of fresh water. This should do the trick.
Next stop is customs. We need to tell them that we are not leaving today with the rest of the fleet and to get the sales tax back on some of our purchases. They are very nice and helpful and tell us that as long as we leave tomorrow we don’t need to have any paperwork altered. We have visitors’ visas for another couple of months anyway, it’s just tying up the leaving date documentation for Bali that’s important.
Then it’s the chandlery at Fannie Bay. In the distance we watch the fleet leave in the distance, bound for Bali. Most of their sails are flapping as there’s not much wind. I wish I was going with them.
We have a good look around the beach at Fannie Bay as Mike discovered yesterday that we can’t beach Jeannius at Dinah Beach as there wouldn’t be enough water depth to get in. We ask a local guy about the crocodiles in the bay as there are signs all over the place. He tells us that the authorities moved about 230 crocs out of the bay at the beginning of the season but you still have to be careful as they are like homing pigeons – very territorial – and eventually they find their way back!
We head over to the other marina where most of the fleet were based (before they left) for lunch and to get some washing done in the laundrette. We see both Suzanna and Paul who are now heading out to Bali then Judith and Joe from Brown Eyed Girl.
We have a couple of mezzes from the Greek restaurant and a glass of wine (for my back, you understand!). The marina is completely different to where we are – very pretty but a tight squeeze. As we watch, the customs officials and deliver firearms back to one of the boats in locked cases. They take them off you when you arrive in Australia and deliver them back to you at your port of departure. Darren, the Volvo dealer arrives with our engine seals. They cost an arm and a leg so it’s worth going back to customs to get the sales tax back on them.
Mike drops me off in town after and goes back to the boat to do a couple of jobs while I look around for a didgeridoo for a friend. I hunt around and find a really good shop where the sales girl is very knowledgeable. She plays some of them to demonstrate what they sound like but what do I know. In the end, after nearly an hour of indecision (I intersperse this with looking at the Aboriginal art as I would quite like to get a painting) I choose one. As usual, I have fun and games with my plastic money but eventually find a card which works.
Last stop is the provisioning, and it’s a visit to Coles. I’m not particularly methodical when provisioning for a long time and I know we will end up having some very strange meals that I would only serve up to Mike, myself and Victoria. It’s so difficult trying to estimate how much of everything we will need. We manage to literally fill the boot of the car. We have no idea what provisioning will be like in Bali or Cocos Keeling so we buy enough to last us practically to South Africa, although I know we will run out of something really important that I haven’t thought of!!
By the time we have unloaded the car I am absolutely shattered and my back feels bruised and very uncomfortable. I take a shedload of pain killers and have an earlyish night. Tomorrow we have to get Jeannius through the lock again and round to Fannie Bay to beach her. I can’t wait!
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