Happening 14 - 2008/09 December to March

Australian Holiday

Audrey hadn’t been back home in over a year and we were both chomping at the bit, keen to be back with family and friends, and the thought of a cooler climate, a large comfortable bed, western food plus plans for interstate travel all heightened our impatience. We needed a holiday from our job; the daily grind of simply messing about in boats.

December 1st 2008 finally arrived and early next morning our Air Asia flight landed at Coolangatta. Audrey’s mother Lavinia met us for we were staying at her suburban Kenmore, Brisbane house.

Back home again. Roast Lamb tonight!

Our little Pontiac ‘Fiero’ came out of storage and like headless chooks we raced about seeing friends, doing business, shopping, checked out our two rented houses at Karragarra Island and Cannon Hill, and the days raced by. But wherever we are our early morning daily walking exercise routine still continues, now for over fifteen years.

It was time to catch up with friends, so we drove to Yandaran just north of Bundaberg to spend a few days with fellow Rally cruising friends Wal and Robyn who, in their yacht ‘Annwn’, have since returned to Oz. They have five acres of lovely shaded parkland where bird life abounds and we marvelled at the brilliant red and green hues of the Australian Parrots and the blaze of colour of the Rainbow Lorikeets that came to the feeding station at their rear patio.

Rainbow Lorikeets

Wal recently bought a top-of-the-range zero turn ‘Fastrak Hustler’ ride-on mower for their five acres of lawn – told Bruce to give it a try; it was so much fun he spent the entire day mowing the whole property. Bruce is still puzzled how the ‘little boy’ in him got conned into a full day’s work!

The 'little boy' mowing

Worse still, Yandaran was suffering a caterpillar plague, as reported in the national media at the time, and for my joyful sins I spent the next week covered in itchy red rashes, removing invisible hairs from the pores of my bare arms and legs. Bugger!

Enroute home we called on Bruce’s Brisbane Boys College schooldays’ friend Ian MacLennan who, with wife Pam developed an old Burnett River cane farm at Wallaville, inland from Bundaberg, into one of Queensland’s bigger state-of-the-art Citrus Orchards, principally producing Mandarins and Oranges. It was a real treat to see them again after a few years, to reminisce the past and catch up on all that has happened since.

Before we knew it Christmas was upon us. Christmas Eve we feasted on seafood at Lavinia’s, the Napier clan joined us for breakfast next morning, followed by a traditional Christmas lunch with the Vidgen tribe at the Gold Coast.

Christmas Breakfast in Kenmore

During the week after Christmas, we had an overnight visit with long-time friends Ron and Margot Finney at their lovely Noosa Beach canal-front home, almost an annual occurrence which we greatly anticipate. New Year’s Eve was shared with old schooldays friends Peter and Barbara Eldred at their picturesque property adjacent to the scenic rim of Springbrook National Park, through part of which we enjoyed an early morning 4km trek that took us up hill, down dale and under waterfalls.

Trekking with the Eldreds - Springbrook National Park

Located high in the Gold Coast hinterland, with a clear mountain stream and fish ponds gurgling through it, their large acreage, in addition to natural bushland, comprises a productive well represented orchard and the grounds and gardens present as ‘open- house standard’; the stuff of many peoples dreams. Even the resident ‘vermin control’ officer, a robust carpet snake is a welcome guest sunning itself in the vegetable garden!

2 metres of 'vermin control'

Enroute home on New Year’s Day we lunched with other lifelong friends Anthony and Denise Goodwin at their brand new home in the newly developing, internationally acclaimed Currumbin Valley ‘Eco Village’ . Perhaps the largest house in the Village, it is attractively and intelligently designed - a beautifully built home with a difference, just so liveable, & no doubt the envy of many.

The Goodwins fantastic eco-house (we look forward to seeing it after landscapping)

Thus ended a truly marvellous whirlwind week that saw out the 2008 Festive Season.

We spent the next few days relaxing at Kenmore watching the South Africans whop the ‘invincible’ Aussies at Test Cricket, saw the movie ‘Australia’ at the cinema, mowed the lawn and other exciting things like that, and now it was time to travel farther afield.

So on 5 January 2009 Audrey and I headed out west on a six hour drive to visit my long time work colleague and our dear friend Margaret Neill at her ‘Newstead’, Surat cattle property. Our previous visit in June ’07 was during a serious drought but now the property was green following good rains, the river waterholes were full and running, the cattle were in good condition and the young calves were just superb. Following a working life career associated with it, ‘going bush’ nourishes my soul.

Marg then took us down to St. George to her sister Jo and husband John Knights’ huge Cotton farm. Cotton requires a lot of water and the extensive earthworks development in constructing above ground ring tanks, that hold 5000 mega-litres (five thousand million litres) of irrigation water, is quite mind-blowing (not to mention mega-bucks expensive).

Most people associate Pelicans with the seaside, and quite so. But many Pelicans fly to the outback to breed before returning to the coast. Here in the shallow backwaters of one of John Knights extensive dams we counted over 300 Pelicans in a single flock. Amazing! (Grab a book on early Australian verse and read Mary Hannah Foote’s poem ‘Where the Pelican Builds its Nest).

About one-third of the flock, St George, SW Qld

Four days later we were back on the road again, on a 1060 km run from Surat, SW Queensland to the old distinguished town of Bowral in the New South Wales southern highlands. We departed ‘Newstead’ at 4am, cautiously on the lookout for kangaroos ‘til daylight, travelling via St George, Moree, Scone, Putty and Penrith, arriving late afternoon at Audrey’s aunt June’s ‘Culreuch Cottage’ in Bowral. We spent four ever pleasant days with June, enjoying dinner parties there and with retired naval warship commander David Farthing and wife Judy in their nearby Mittagong home. Bruce also made a short day trip to Canberra for lunch with PNG days’ friend Roz Murray and Hector.

Aunt June's (2nd from left) Dinner Party

There’s not much fun having a seriously nippy sports car if you don’t give it a run occasionally, so on a quiet, flat, secondary road between Quirindi and Scone in central NSW I asked my Pontiac ‘Fiero’ to show me its stuff, which it did for a couple of kilometres – flying smoothly at 166 k/hr and still more squirt left in the tank. No doubt about it, the aero-dynamic rear spoiler keeps the car firmly on the road.

The Pontiac Fiero - our Lunch spot at Bermagui, NSW

Departing Bowral we took the scenic route through Kangaroo Valley down to Nowra, then along the New South Wales southern coast through the stunningly picturesque towns of Ulladulla, Bateman’s Bay, Moruya, beautiful Narooma and Bermagui, where they filmed that delightfully funny movie, ‘The Man Who Sued God’, and where we ate lunch on the knoll above the river mouth. On through Merimbula and stayed the night in Eden. As a parochial Banana-bender I readily accept the beauty of this southern coast.

Bermagui River - Scene of lightening strike in Film 'The Man Who Sued God'

An early start next morning finds us in Victoria travelling the Prince’s Highway through Cann River, Lakes Entrance, Sale, Leongatha, and into the Mornington Peninsular arriving at our new friends Geoff and Sandra Spinks’ lovely Mt Martha home, where we enjoyed four days of wonderful hospitality with them. They showed us all the local sights including the high peak of ‘Arthur’s Seat’, then we spent one day sight-seeing in Melbourne where we enjoyed the 88th floor view from the Eureka Tower, the highest viewing level in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Spink's lovely home and garden - Mt Martha

We farewell Mt Martha mid January and head for Sorrento to take the Car Ferry across Port Phillip Heads to historic Queenscliffe, from where we travel the coast road through Torquay to Lorne, then veered inland via quaint tiny Birregurra, (where we had a super hamburger lunch for $6), continuing on via Colac, Camperdown and Warrnambool, arriving at Port Fairy, south western Victoria, at 5pm. Along much of the way from the NSW/VIC border we remarked how dry the countryside was, not the usual lush green pastures one associates with Victoria, but very dry drought-stricken forests and grasslands.

We’d been invited to visit fellow 2006 Sail Indonesia Rally participants John and Joy Marwood, owners of the swift yacht ‘Touché’, by now good friends with whom we’ve cruised SE Asian waters, at their Port Fairy home. Named after an old sailing ship named ‘The Fairy’, this very pretty river-port town is bathed in both history and charm and the local hostellery, “The Stump”, boasts to being the longest continually licensed hotel in Australia, which was reason good enough for us to breast the Bar.

Charming Port Fairy - SW Victoria

The surrounding districts around Koroit were settled by Irish immigrants and still reflect their distinctive character, with much local industry centred on dairying. The area’s colourful history includes stories of bushrangers and illicit whiskey stills, and the Marwood’s son Tim, who makes high quality boutique ice cream, also runs a legal whiskey distillery in his nearby Timboon village restaurant. Fascinating!

With John and Joy Marwood in son Tim's Restuarant/Distillery, Timboon

Not far from Port Fairy is the western end of the well known scenic wonder, ‘The Great Ocean Road’. We’d purposely bypassed it coming down since John, who grew up there on a dairy farm quite close to the ocean frontage, suggested they accompany us on our return to point out all the best spots, which is exactly what happened --- spectacular picture postcard ocean coast scenery, culminating in the famous ‘Twelve Apostles’, spectacular limestone rock stacks that rise up to seventy metres from the sea.

Spectacular scenery along the Great Ocean Road

By the time we got to what is left of the 'Twelve Apostles', there was a southerly change and the mist rolled in from the Great Southern Ocean

We said farewell to John and Joy at Lavers Hill near Apollo Bay, then skirted around Melbourne and continued on up to the Yarra Valley to visit Gary and Sue Richmond, whom we met in 2006 on the Rally in Indonesia. They have a lovely hilltop home at Launching Place, were great company and generous hosts. The following day Susie took us sightseeing around much of the upper Yarra Valley, including the tranquil ‘Cement Creek’ Air Walk, a high boardwalk through the forest canopy with the clear running creek below, and we lunched at the upmarket Tokar Winery with its fine Rose Gardens.

Bruce with Sue Richmond, Yarra Valley

Tokar Vineyards and Rose Gardens

Like millions of others around the world, that evening we watched President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony, and wondered how Martin Luther King Jr. would have felt to be there!

Early next morning we bid the Richmond’s farewell and headed north for Bowral, driving through Healesville and other areas that two weeks later were to become the horrific scenes of this nation’s worst ever natural disaster, the February 7 ‘Black Saturday’ bushfires which claimed over 200 lives.

Three nights were spent in the garden town of Bowral with its leafy avenues and many stately old homes. Built on what was originally the grazing property of surveyor and explorer John Oxley until 1863, it is more readily identified through its most famous son. Though born in Cootamundra, (Sir) Donald Bradman spent most of his youth and played his first cricket here as a boy, and a visit to the local ‘Bradman Museum’ reveals a surprisingly in-depth history of the game of Cricket in Australia and England, together with fascinating memorabilia, and honours ‘The Don’s’ amazing career as the world’s greatest ever cricketer.

Vineyards and their Boutique Wineries are prevalent throughout the southern highlands, many with restaurants, so we lunched once more at Mittagong’s Buusaada Winery. My experience with many fledgling wineries is that their wine is both over rated and over priced.

Bruce with June and Lavinia - Buusaada Winery, Mittagong

Departed Aunt June’s Bowral home in the dark at 5am on Sunday 25 January and driving slowly through built-up nearby Mittagong in the early morning dewy mist, veered to avoid a kangaroo sitting on the street-lit road, which decided to about turn my way and subsequently bowled him over at about 2kph, fortuitously leaving neither party damaged.

We took the New England Highway back to Kenmore, Brisbane where we arrived late afternoon to conclude a most enjoyable 21 day three State tour.

The following three weeks were spent doing nothing in particular apart from visiting friends at Mooloolaba Beach for lunch, researching what government benefits I could expect upon turning 65 on 13 February, and celebrating that significant event with a dinner party at Kenmore with twin brother John (who attained this milestone 20 minutes before me) and twenty two close friends, mostly all from childhood days. Audrey and Lavinia catered magnificently and a great night was enjoyed by all!

65th Birthday Boys

A quick day trip across to Karragarra Island to leave my car (with Alan “Mr Fiero” McClelland who imports them from USA) for service during our impending absence in New Zealand, to where we flew on 18 February to visit our good friends Ralph and Yvonne de Gruyter, sailing friends whom we met in Brisbane on their world circumnavigation some years ago.

Ralph and Yvonne with dinner on the super-yacht

Ralph was there to meet our mid afternoon Qantas flight and, after collecting Yvonne from her office we went for cocktails on the luxury yacht of which Ralph is paid skipper. It is reputedly the second largest mega-yacht in Auckland and Ralph’s job as Master is to cruise her with owner and guests around the Pacific. We had the privilege of meeting the (local) owner who joined us for Sundowners. This USA built beauty is luxury plus, with large cabins and all the trimmings, and the engine room is awesome – appliances of every sort everywhere, a million wires, pipes and tubes, and so clinically clean you could eat your food off the floor.

Caught 6 Snapper

We spent only one week in New Zealand but packed each day full, including a weekend ‘down the Bay’ on Ralph and Yvonne’s sailing yacht “Aureo”, where we caught and ate Snapper fish and met up with another kiwi couple, Bill and Josia Whall, with whom we cruised the Pacific in 2003. Some days we took Ralph’s car and drove all around Auckland, recalling memories from our stay there in 2002, and revisited the Australian Gannet colony at Muriwai Beach on the west coast from Auckland.

From left: Bill, Josie, Ralph, Yvonne and Audrey

Gannet Colony, Muriwai Beach, NZ

Most nights we ate out at restaurants or with their families, other than when we cooked BBQ’s on the deck of their superb hilltop home with its commanding views overlooking Maraetai Beach and Waitemata Harbour. Since this home was undergoing extensive renovations Audrey and I stayed in their other Maraetai house nearby, having it all to ourselves, just as we did back in 2002/03.

Maraetai Beach and Waiheke Island - view from Deck

The New Zealand week was over in a flash and we were back at Kenmore where we spent the next ten days leisurely preparing for our return to ‘Envy’.

After 14 weeks back in Australia, on Friday 6 March we spent a happy last night with Anthony and Denise Goodwin in their modern spacious and airy Currumbin Eco-Village home, and they drove us to Coolangatta Airport for our 9am Air Asia return flight to Langkawi, Malaysia next morning.

We now have our cruising hats on once again, living our other life, and working hard at losing the extra weight we put on Down Under.

(PS: We have each lost over 10kg since returning here 10 weeks ago!!)

Cheers til we meet again in ‘H-15’.

Happenings 13 - 2008 June to December

Australia, Borneo & South China Seas

Mid June 2008, only five days after our return to Sebana Cove Marina from land travels in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia (reported in ‘H-12’), Bruce flies out of Singapore for Thursday Island to help twin brother John pack and relocate back to Brisbane.

Thursday Island Panorama

John’s career with Q’ld Health had been medically terminated following assessment of his suffering early Alzheimer’s, so I went to help out. Six days later we departed this beautiful little island which was home to my parents during their earlier life, and flew to Brisbane, where it took a further five weeks to find suitable accommodation for John in a retirement village, and unpack his 270 cartons!

Meanwhile Audrey sailed with other cruising friends to Kuching in Sarawak, Borneo to attend the annual ‘Rain Forrest Music Festival’, which we’d planned and prepaid weeks before. ‘Muso’s’ from all around the globe are invited to perform their unique ‘ethno-music’ over this popular three day outdoor event. Audrey then flew back to ‘Envy’ at Sebana Cove Marina in Malaysia, just across the strait from Singapore, to where I returned on 3 August 2008.

On the foredeck of Muscat, Audrey, Sue from Court Jester and Alison from Muscat on the Santabong River, Kuching, Sarawak.

One week later ‘Envy’ departs on our 640 n/mile non-stop South China Sea passage to Borneo and that first afternoon we got caught in a so-called “Sumatra”, gale-force winds of 30/45 kts (mostly above 40kts) and totally unrelenting for half an hour. Then on day three, just about half way across this vast sea, we copped another belting where it howled a strong gale to 46 kts for an hour, and bucketed down rain as well. On both occasions we just held ‘Envy’ head to wind and rode it out – some days at sea are just soooo much fun!

We quickly prepare Envy for the storm coming from behind

Then shortly after midnight on day four, sailing under a waxing three-quarter moon, a huge flying fish (alias - missile) landed in the cockpit narrowly missing Audrey who was standing watch, and by daylight the wind had died so we were motoring on an oily smooth sea. Passed downwind of two very smelly fishing boats during the morning and that afternoon had a pod of nine playful Dolphins frolicking at the bow; and for as long as we stayed and watched, they continued their skylarking performance of dives, rolls and flips.

One of the playful dolphins

The sea was a lovely mid blue colour and as clear as crystal, though we did have close shaves with two large floating logs and a truly huge tree root-bulb floating close by; we shudder to think of what goes silently floating by unseen in the darkness, though on more than one occasion we have felt a bump in the middle of the night, and ‘Envy’s’ bow has a few waterline chips as testament to this. Borneo waters are notorious for large logs that flow down jungle streams into the open sea, and navigating log strewn inland rivers is a daytime job - not for the feint hearted.

Floating log off the Borneo Coast

At 0800 hrs on day six we arrive at our destination, Miri Marina in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, after 120 hours non-stop at sea, having averaged 5.3kts. Many of our close cruising friends were already there and we celebrated our arrival with a get-together that evening in a carnival spirit that extended for the next ten days.

Cruisers 'get-together' at Miri Marina, Sarawak

A couple of days later we were off again, heading north to Labuan Island, to participate in the 5th annual Borneo International Yachting Challenge, http://www.borneorace.com/ a regatta series of sailboat races held both at Labuan in Sabah state and Miri in adjoining Sarawak state. There is an additional 110 nm overnight passage race between the two cities, which are separated by the tiny, fabulously oil-rich nation/state of Brunei, with its many brightly lit oil-rig platforms which clutter its coastal seas, together with those of neighbouring Sarawak.

We were happy to pass this Oil Rig Platform during the day

Since Brunei's sandy coastline is about 120km of straight exposed beach, the Sultan spent $millions building a protected artificial harbour large enough for multi-qquatic activities, complete with 'Disneyland' type entertainment claimed to be the biggest in the world, as a gift to his people. The Facility is called Jerudong Park, and we stopped there in perfectly calm conditions enroute to Labuan, but didn't see any aquatic or on-shore activity whatever. The sandy beach of its island entrance was a perfect spot to relax and share 'sundowners' watching the colourful sunset.

Sunset at Jerudong Park

But not everything is beer and skittles in wealthy Brunei. We've heard talk, some visiting Aussie yachts have recently got a hard time from Brunei officials when entering. The story has it that the Sultan’s brother Prince Geoffrey, who owns a large cattle station in the NT, was in the habit of casually jetting in and out of Oz in his private plane without clearing Customs or Quarantine, and took exception to having this practice stopped. So it’s official ‘un-official’ payback for Aussies.

Another Gala Dinner

To boost participation and massage tourism, all competitors are paid US$400 and given two nights’ free accommodation at 5 star hotels in both Labuan and Miri, plus gala dinners and entertainment at no cost; it is certainly an incentive to lure cruising yachties away from peninsular Malaysia to out-of-the-way Borneo.

Welcome to the Labuan Gala Dinner

Traditional Dancer at the Labuan Welcome

Trophy Presentation at Labuan

About 25 cruising yachties were competing and we were delighted to get a 2nd and two 3rd placings in our division for the three events. Aud's mum Lavinia was on board as crew, having flown in from Brisbane to join us for a two weeks’ visit, and we spread the ‘word’ that we had imported a special octogenarian international racing tactician from Australia!

Start of the Overnight Race from Labuan to Miri

At the trophy Presentation Dinner upon conclusion of the Regatta in Miri, I was asked, with little forewarning, to offer official thanks to the Minister for Tourism and his delegates, Trophy Sponsors and Race Officials, as spokensman on behalf of the competitors. The total surprise of this got my heartbeat going, my blood alcohol count plummeting and my meal abandoned as I scribbled thoughts on my table napkin, but miraculously it all went off OK, with a standing ovation to the officials.

Bruce thanking the Officials and Sponsors on behalf of the Competitors

Trophy Presentation at Miri

Now that the Regatta was over, Lavinia, Audrey and I left 'Envy' at Miri Marina and flew down to Kuching, (Chinese for Cat) the capital of Malaysian Sarawak and widely considered ‘the pearl of the Orient’ with its well kept commons and general parkland appearance.

During our six days there we stayed in a very comfortable riverside high-rise hotel and visited every-thing worthwhile seeing around town, including their famous 'Cat Museum', entirely devoted to any-thing and everything feline. We even had another close encounter with Orangutans in the wild at a small reserve not far from the city. The red-haired residents were quite used to humans and would pass us very closely by with scarcely a second glance. By their standards, no doubt, they probably considered us quite ugly.

Cat Museum, Kuching

Who are all these people bothering me?!!!

Audrey and Lavinia, Riverfront Esplanade, Kuching

Streetscape, Kuching

Lavinia departed for Australia and we flew back to Miri on 5 September from where, a few days later, we commenced the 600nm passage back to 'duty free' Tioman Island off eastern peninsular Malaysia. The night sky, under a fine full moon, was ablaze with light from the many offshore oil-rig platforms, and the following day (#2) several large copper banded sea snakes, two logs and three dolphins passed us closely by.

A strange phenomenon also occurred that same day about 200 km offshore; four Swallows paid us a visit, circling the boat then stopping for a rest. Two birds sat on the radar tower for several hours, but one Swallow sat on Bruce’s shoulder and another in Audrey’s lap where they remained for some minutes before seeking quieter refuge elsewhere. They appeared exhausted and beyond fear or caring.

Our theory is they hitch-hike a ride out to sea on fishing boats and then for whatever reason decide to return to land but find the distance too much for their small wings; they are unable to rest in the water as sea birds do, so continually fly til they’re worn out. Two were missing next morning and two were found dead on the boat.

Half way across the South China Sea drama began when ‘Envy’s’ alternator died and with it our electrical generating capacity, which meant no power for lights, ship’s radio, radar, electronic navigational and other safety equipment, so for the next three days our 2kva Honda auxiliary petrol generator sat strapped to the deck providing the essential power requirements.

We made landfall after a five day passage just after midnight in a small bay at Aur Island where our cruising companions ‘Court Jester’ and ‘Jaraman’ had arrived two hours earlier. Noted for its good diving, we spent two days at Aur Island snorkelling and recovering from our sleep deprived crossing, then moved on the 35nm to Tioman Island.

Can’t imagine why Tioman Island is ‘duty free’ – it’s a tiny little unremarkable island with a small new marina; it boasts little more than modest backpacker accommodation and a handful of very basic cafes and souvenir shops. But it’s a pretty little place, with a good marina, and a two hour ($25 return) ferry service to the reasonable sized mainland town of Mersing for shopping, supplies and spare parts. There were very few tourists to be seen on Tioman, and its ‘duty free’ shopping was not very cheap.

Quiet Main Street of Tioman Island

After one week at Tioman Island, which included two visits to Mersing for alternator repairs, ‘Envy’ then island hopped in company with ‘Court Jester’ and ‘Muscat’. On the way we were puzzled by some dark spots coming over the horizon ahead, which looked like distant tiny islands but none were shown on our chart and upon closer approach turned out to be buildings sitting on posts, many kilometres off the coast, in seas of 15/20 metres depth. We think they are fishing holiday complexes.

'Sea Building' off the East Coast of Malaysia

For seven days we headed southwards through the Tioman group, visiting North Sribuat, Tingi, and the Rimba Resort on Sibu Island, plus an overnight stop at Lompat Point enroute back to Sebana Cove Marina where we stayed for only a short three day stopover. On this passage one of our group suffered engine problems and, with the little breeze to sail, was towed for much of the way.

'Court Jester' preparing to tow 'Muscat'

Then we went upmarket, moving ‘Envy’ across to the flash ‘Oneº 15’ Marina at Singapore’s exclusive Sentosa Island where we spent two weeks doing maintenance and shopped til we dropped! After several visits over two plus years, we’re getting to know our way around the island pretty well.

One Degree 15 Marina - Behind 'Envy' the new Residential Towers on Sentosa Island

A further 14 days were spent sailing easy day-hops up Malaysia’s now familiar west coast to Penang, where we purchased a new air-conditioner for the boat. In this climate you can’t live without it. Bruce is having dental ‘implant’ work done here for less than half the cost back home.

Ten days later we departed exciting Penang, the ‘culinary capital’ of Malaysia, for the final two day hop back up to our Rebak Marina 'home base' at Langkawi. Audrey’s birthday was celebrated enroute with a swim and beach BBQ at our favourite, small and cosy Lovers Bay, in company with our two cruising yacht friends.

We spent two weeks in Rebak Marina preparing ‘Envy’ and ourselves for our imminent departure back to Australia for three months holiday, where we arrived on an Air Asia flight at Coolangatta early morning on December 2nd 2008.

'Envy' de-commissioned at Rebak Marina for our return to Australia

Like Jekyll & Hyde, we’d left one lifestyle behind in SE Asia and were returning to our other in Oz.

The adventure continues soon in ‘H-14’.

Happenings 12 - 2008 March to July

Land and Sea Gypsies

Many months ago around last Easter, the ongoing odyssey of the retirement sailing explorer “Envy” finds us island hopping south from Thailand, (where ‘Envy’ spent the past three months as reported in ‘H-11”), back to Langkawi Island, our wonderful inexpensive and duty-free paradise off the top western coast of Malaysia.

We’d suffered a worrying passage of recurring engine alarms and burning smells, which took yours truly some time to pinpoint as an electrical problem caused by continuing demand on the ship’s electrical supply - too many new gadgets were overloading the system. It is now eight years since “Envy” was totally refurbished so system failures and breakdowns can be expected.

We cleared back ‘in’ at Telaga Harbour Park, one of the area’s three marinas, then on to our ‘home base’ at nearby Rebak Island Resort Marina a couple of kilometres away where we spent two weeks doing reprovisioning and maintenance, preparing for the continuing voyage south to Sebana Cove Marina at the bottom end of Malaysia across from Singapore.

That passage took three weeks in the mostly light airs, motor-sailing in day hops, with several stopovers enroute at Penang and Port Dickson marinas, which are always a welcome haven after sitting in the cockpit on ‘anchor watch’ in the middle of the night as wild thunderstorms and lightning rage about, or dodging seriously dangerous waterspouts too close for comfort.

The tail end of a dangerous much larger water-spout

Landlocked in the middle of nowhere five miles up a muddy river, Sebana Marina is hot, still and humid, causing everything to turn green after a while. But a saving grace is that it's safe, secure, inexpensive, and provides a daily passenger ferry service to nearby Singapore, mecca for spare parts and shopping, of which we regularly partook during our two weeks there.

By mid May the ‘Envy’ sea gypsies become land gypsies with full backpacks at Singapore Airport headed for Bangkok to join our good cruising friends Trevor and Joan, off Brisbane yacht 'Been-a-long', for 32 days of land travel through Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

After an interesting day and night in Sukumvit, Bangkok’s seedy and colourful nightclub district, we took a 2 hour bus trip to Kanchanaburi, a busy tourist village of WW2 history where we stayed for 3 days, and that afternoon we walked across the famous Bridge on the River Kwai.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

The next day we visited the ‘Tiger Temple’, started by a Monk who took in an orphaned cub a few years back, where the same Monk plus helpers walk fully grown tigers around like leashed pussycats. For an additional fee you can have photos taken nursing one in your lap. Wow!

Our favourite Cat at the Tiger Temple

Kanchanaburi - day 3 finds us in a small air-conditioned van doing a day tourist trip as follows. First stop was to a waterfall, then 1½ km down a shallow winding stream on a Bamboo raft, followed by an Elephant ride thru the countryside, saw basket weaving, and on to Hellfire Pass.

Basket Weaving

Preparing for our Elephant ride

Hellfire Pass

‘Hellfire Pass’ is the name given to the Konyu Cutting where allied POW’s hand dug a railway pass through a solid rock ridge on the infamous Burma Railway, resulting in many deaths. We then took a 25km train ride on an old ‘rattler’- together with scores of uniformed school kids, from nearby Krasee Railway Station (Where Lt.Col. ‘Weary’ Dunlop had his hospital and operating theatre in a cave beside the tracks) back to our waiting van further down the line.

Next morning we take a mini-bus from Kanchanaburi northwards to the old royal capital of Ayutthaya, travelling firstly through semi open cattle grazing country, past many sugar cane plantations and then quite extensive rice paddies, (Thailand is a significant exporter of high quality rice) arriving at historically scenic Ayutthaya at 1pm. Later that afternoon we booked train tickets for our trip to Chang Mai the following day, then took a ‘longtail’ boat ride down the river to explore three ancient WATS, one of which was quite superb.

Wat ruins in the old royal capital of Ayutthaya

At 10am next morning we board the air-conditioned express train, not nearly as flash as it sounds, and were unfortunately seated directly above the bogie wheels which made for a noisy, uncomfortable trip, arriving Chang Mai at 8:15pm. The countryside comprised mostly flat agricultural land cropped to rice, sugar and smallcrops, though we did encounter two slow winding, high-country passes, a pleasant change from the monotonous plain lands.

Almost all our Thai accommodation was in ‘Guest Houses’, whose rooms are similar to ground level motel units; clean, not always air conditioned, though often nicely landscaped but minus the car park out front. Cost was usually around Aust $20 per night.

The next day we arranged for a tour guide to drive us around Chang Mai’s several tourist spots, one of the highlights being the hilltop Buddhist Temple – Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, both architecturally and historically interesting, dating back to 1355 AD. The National Museum featured early history artefacts and art, with little variety, and we found it uninteresting.

After five days exploring Chang Mai, mostly in Songthaews (pronounced song-tau) pick-up trucks with bench seats, we headed further north to Chang Rai, stopping enroute at the superb ‘White Temple’- nearing completion and absolutely awesome, featuring stunning meticulously fine craftsmanship - then on into the Golden Triangle, the infamous opium poppy growing area, where Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and China converge, hence the name Golden Triangle.

The White Temple

Village elder from Chiang Rai area

Next morning we took a local bus along a sealed but horribly pot-holed road to Thailand’s border town of Chiang Khong, situated beside the Mekong River, where we had to walk down through the sandy riverbank silt to board a small longtail ferry-boat to cross over to Laos.

Mekong River at Chiang Khong

Long tail ferry-boat across to Laos

Laos - poor, clean, friendly and a single-party communist state, achieved independence from France in 1949, only to be overthrown by the communist Pathet Lao in 1975. With a population of around 6.5 million, it is our first visit to this Socialist Republic.

A new country – another adventure. We loved it!

The people are Lao - the culture is Lao - and the language is Lao, but during the 1870’s, as a newly fledged French colony, some bureaucrat in Paris tacked an ‘s’ on the end, hence its adopted name Laos. (Pronounced ‘louse’ – not ‘layos’). Lao currency unit is called Kip, but US dollars are widely used and preferred. The mid 2008 exchange rate was 8650 Kip=US $1.

It was here in Houei Sai that we boarded our river boat for a two day, thrilling 200km one way ride down the fast-flowing mighty Mekong River, which was low and running at a brisk 5kts (about 8km/hr); we were on the very last scheduled run at the end of the season, when the river is too shallow in places to safely navigate, so they stop for a few months til the rains come.

This was to our benefit since there were only eight passengers on board and we were treated like royalty. Up here in Northern Laos, the Mekong traverses flat country for just a few kilometres where it forms the border with Thailand, then runs canyon-like through predominantly mountainous terrain for most of the two day journey to Luang Prabang.

The sensation of doing 25kts (40km/hr) through the many narrow channels of rock-bordered, white-water rapids was quite exhilarating, seated at the open bow as the 100ft-long narrow wooden boat sent the bow spray flying as it knifed through the murky brown waters.

Scooting down the Mekong at 25kt

We had a tourist stop at a ‘Hill Tribes’ mountain village of the Hmong people, who live in relative isolation with no roads through these inaccessible mountains, and only the river as their contact to the outside world. They live a life of mere subsistence, eating (dryland) ‘sticky rice’, scrawny half-starved poultry and whatever vegetables they are able to grow. A heavy rain shower whilst we were there made for a most difficult descent down the steep and very slippery firm-mud track back to the boat; something like walking on ice!!

Hmong hill tribes children

The overnight stop was near the village of Pak Beng, at the Luang Say Lodge, a collection of bungalows with thatched Bamboo Roofs, nestled 200 metres high above the Mekong, offering panoramic views both up and down the river and surrounding hills. Dinner was excellent Lao cuisine, the local brew was US$2 per can, we slept with open shutters and whirring fans, under mosquito nets, whilst it rained most of the night.

Welcome to Luang Say Lodge

The river boat viewed from our bungalow

Departed at 8am with rain all next morning, so opted not to stop at another slippery hillside village; we continued our race down the Mekong all day, occasionally passing other boats, a few riverside villages, and sped through more thrilling rapids, saw a few fishermen, other river tributaries that joined the Mekong, and enjoyed another good lunch underway.

Mekong River trading post

That afternoon we stopped at Tham Thing to visit ‘The Caves of 1000 Buddhas’ (which are right on the bank of the river and so named for the thousands of Buddha statues/ettes, of every size and type deposited there over the years), before arriving at our destination, the old royal city of Luang Prabang at 4pm after a most memorable and enjoyable two day Mekong River experience.

The Caves of 1000 Buddhas

Luang Prabang is World Heritage listed; a biggish country town with many of its old buildings historically valuable, two-story wooden structures with a decidedly French architectural style. The main two streets reflect an ambience of past grandeur, as does the wide tiered stairway down to the Mekong River. We stayed a kilometre out of town at the Haysoke Hotel (a two star guest house costing US$ 28 p/day including breakfast), with a scenic view over rice paddies.

In past history Luang Prabang was, for a period of time, the royal capital of Laos and the old Palace with its colourful though modest décor is now unoccupied and open to the public. It is located in the main street of this touristy town, around which we did a 3.5km walking tour, including the steep 400 step assent to the temple on Phou Si ‘mountain’, directly opposite the Palace, offering splendid panoramic views of Luang Prabang. Each night, the main street becomes a very colourful market offering a great variety of quality local arts, crafts, apparel and food, albeit expensively priced compared to the local economy.

Luang Prabang, Laos

Old Luang Prabang

Following our three day visit, we hired a private air-con mini-bus and departed southwards next morning for the small town of Phonsavan, a six hour drive in heavy rain through very mountainous country with deep valleys, on narrow winding roads. After a slow 4 hours we had a welcome stop at the tiny cross-roads village of Phou Khoun for lunch - chicken noodle soup was all they offered. Dinner that night in Phonsavan was the opposite; a truly huge meal for 15,000 Kip (A$1.90), then we walked the 1km back to our room at the Banna Guest House.

Planting new season rice

Our two day visit to Phonsavan was to see the mysterious ‘Plain of Jars’ where, at three separate locations, many ancient rock-hewn stone jars of varying sizes lay in small clusters in open fields, miles away from where they were quarried. Reputedly used for the storage of grain and liquids in times long passed. It continued to rain as we miserably visited all three sites, with one of them being accessed via a slippery track through rice paddies. The ‘on-site’ café again offered only chicken noodle soup at A$1.15 for the meal.

Our guide explains ‘The Plain of Jars’

Farm cultivator-cum-transport

The next day at 4pm we arrived in our private mini-bus at Vientiane, the largest and capital city of Laos, whose mix of old French and traditional Lao architecture makes for some very interesting streetscapes. Nestled on the eastern bank of the now much wider and shallow Mekong River, (most of which is dry sand channels until the wet comes) and which is the border with Thailand, Vientiane’s charming river boulevard is shaded by tall Teak trees, whose leafy canopies offer cooling shade from the tropical heat.

Old Teak Trees Vientiane

The city is clean, the people are friendly, the food is good, and the scenery is interesting - and we became instant ‘Laotian millionaires’ as the bank’s ATM handed over 1,000,000 Kip, approx A$116! We took the local currency to pay for meals and accommodation to conserve our dwindling reserve of US dollars.

Our room at the downtown Asian Pavilion Hotel was very good value at US25 p/day, and within walking distance of all the things to do and see. We had no trouble buying antibiotics, prescription free, at the pharmacy for our deep chest colds, and so inexpensive!

Vientiane offers the usual run of touristy things including museums, monuments, architecture, and all things cultural etc., including the Patuxay Monument, an Arc de Triomphe look-alike affectionately referred to as the ‘Vertical Concrete Runway’, so named after being built with USAID that was granted to fund construction of a new airport runway in the 1960’s.

“The vertical concrete runway”

Farewell to Laos - and to Trevor and Joan

After twelve busy days in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, six of them in lovely, tidy Vientiane, we farewelled Trevor and Joan and flew on a Vietnam Airlines A320 jet to Phnom Penh, capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia. It is a constitutional monarchy with parliamentary representative democracy. Our preferred Paragon Riverside Hotel was booked out so we took an excellent room at The Asia Hotel downtown, good value at US $22 incl breakfast.

Our hotel Phnom Penh - Cambodia

Having arrived before midday afforded us time to go exploring around Phnom Penh. We walked a few kilometres around this bustling city that afternoon, and more again the following day and decided it was the filthiest town in SE Asia with litter everywhere; traffic was totally bizarre with mad drivers out of control. It was generally more expensive than socialist Laos, though the big yellow-domed market close to our hotel offered many good bargains via barter.

View from Hotel

Street litter

Scrounging thru rubbish

Sadly, there were lots of street beggars, with missing limbs, ‘UXO’ victims - (UneXploded Ordinance) – the land mine legacy from the murderous Pol Pot regime. We took a city tour which included the infamous Khmer Rouge ‘Killing Fields’ where thousands of human skulls are on display at the Choeung Ek Memorial , then to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, previously a school where Pol Pot incarcerated their mostly political victims prior to their deaths.

“The Killing Fields”

Pol Pot victims Memorial

One soon tires of the ubiquitous Wats, Temples, Museums and Markets ‘ad nauseam’, but we did enjoy our visit to the Silver Pagoda within the Royal Palace to view a magnificent 90 kg Solid Gold Buddha emblazoned with 2086 diamonds and precious gems, sculptured in 1902.

The Royal Palace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Another memorable Cambodian event was having a haircut. I sat down in the chair at this modern Barber’s Shop in Phnom Penh and a grey haired barber gave me a haircut (what little I’ve got) with antique Hand Clippers – just blew me away! It is 55 years since my previous hand shearing; Ron the local Chinese Barber at Graceville had electric clippers 50+ years ago!

Then it was off to Siem Reap, a 6 hour bus ride away through all flat country with long straight roads where we had to negotiate a huge tree fallen across the highway, and plenty of mad, dangerous drivers in the very heavy rain.

At the roadside stop, on offer were large fried insects resembling crickets and even larger tarantula spiders!!!! Apparently a delicacy in rural Cambodia.

We spent the next day discovering Angkor Wat, the most famous and best preserved religious temple in Cambodia, and the nation’s leading drawcard attracting over 4 million visitors in 2007; these ancient ruins cover several hectares, surrounded by a man-made moat. The numerous buildings and passageways featured many superbly detailed reliefs depicting ancient Khmer culture and history, with much of it remaining originally intact. Our long day included visits to Angkor Thom, Bayon Temple, the Elephant Terrace and Royal Palace. Though ‘off season’, there were scores of tourists everywhere; very tiring but a worthwhile excellent day.

The Temples of Angkor Wat Temple Gallery Reliefs

Our final day was spent souvenir shopping in Siem Reap for (near) pure silver ornaments, for which local silversmiths are renowned. We flew back to Singapore next morning then caught the ferry across to Sebana Cove Marina, where “Envy” opened up well following our 32 day absence. All in all it was a wonderful experience and next year – who knows where?

Do you think you’d get away with this in Australia?
These are everyday scenes in SE Asia

Van


Motorbike

Truck

Utility

Bicycles

Four on a Motor Bike

Cheers ‘til Happenings 13 – Borneo and the South China Sea, coming soon.
Bruce and Audrey

Happenings in Brief

Penang to Langkawi Island
November, 2008

This our last visit to Penang for 2008. Georgetown is now on the World Heritage Listing, and every time we visit we see more and more of the old buildings being renovated. This was only a short visit on our way through to Langkawi. We went to the movies and saw the latest James Bond movie "Quantom" lots of fast and furious action and very very loud, its been so long since we've been to the movies, that we're not sure if the loudness is Malaysian cinemas or the same everywhere, but even with the noise, a very enjoyable movie. We also hoped to see the Masters Tennis with McEnroe, Sampras etc being held in Penang, but time was against us.

So again our main enjoyment here was the food. We joined a couple of other cruisers for a buffet breakfast at the famously up-market E&O Hotel at a cost of $Rm35.00 well worth it with a great selection of food.

Breakfast at the E&O Hotel with Graham and Isabel 'Quiet Achiever'

Audrey's favourite - Japanese

Also enjoyed a couple of chinese breakfasts of 'Dim Sum' and not to be forgotten our favourite Tandoori Chicken at Kapitans, a highly considered Indian restaurant just a short walk from the Marina, where a Tandoori Set costs about $Rm7.50 ($Aus3.00).

Dim Sum, long lazy breakfasts

This is a Tikka Tandoori set, it is chicken breast only cooked kebab style

We are now back at Rebak Marina, bedding down 'Envy' for our 3 month visit back home. The Marina and Hardstand are as full as we've ever seen them, but still 'wet' births available as cruisers leave for Thailand and points west for the 2008/09 cruising season.

Happenings in Brief

Port Dickson to Penang

Left Port Dickson at 0730 hrs and motored all day to Port Klang, with current assistance after a couple of hours. Had a quiet night opposite the shipping wharves. Next day motor sailed to Burnham River, anchored at 1815 hrs, the three cruising yachts causing great interest with the local fishing fleet.

Port Klang - very busy Port for Kuala Lumpur


Fishing boat having a close look at Court Jester

Next day we again motor sailed into head winds, arriving at Pangkor Island we went into the unfinished Marina at Mentangor Island, at this stage no staff or facilities available. The Marina fingers are very low and the surge coming in made the outside berths vey rolly (not well designed). We had a security guard come over later in the evening, stating 'no parking, no parking' although other yachts did not see anyone.

Court Jester in front of the yet to be opened Marina off Pangkor island

Envy departed at daybreak for Rimau Island, just south of Penang, arriving just on dark. We had a good night and after breakfast departed for Tanjung City Marina, Penang.

The marina is beside the ferry terminal and does not have a breakwater to protect it from the river traffic so it is beginning to deteriorate. It is at present being dredged in preparation for the Rally 2008 late in November and the Raja Muda Race arriving here 17th November.

Broken pontoons at the Ferry end of the Marina


Another of our favourite occupations in Penang,
is trying all the different eating places,
above is a Tandoori Set

Happenings in Brief

Admiral Marina, Port Dickson. Malaysia
Contact Marina Office VHF14

October 26th, 2008; Envy has arrived at Admiral Marina, Port Dickson, after a very difficult passage from Pisang to the Water Islands taking over 20 hours to do a 70 nm passage, finally dropping anchor, wet and tired at 11.30pm. We had gale force head winds gusting over 40kt and a very short sharp 2 to 3 mtr swell with surf breaking on top.

Nothing life threatening, but very, very exhausting and uncomfortable.

And you guessed it, the weather forecast was for a benign 5 kts.

Our misery was further exacerbated through a hatch being left open half an inch through which buckets of sea water poured in. Bugger !!!

Admiral Marina at Port Dickson

We were invited by the Port Dickson Hotels Association and the Ports Authority to celebrate with them 'Deepa Valli' in a Village just outside Port Dickson. 'Deepa Valli' in brief is the Hindu 'Coming of the Light' their annual festival, like our Christmas.

Welcome Dance

We were collected in an air conditioned bus and shared with us local food, a couple of short speeches and some dancing, we were then shown through a couple of homes. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, a delightful afternoon.

Some 'Cruisers' joining the dancing

Colourful local children

Happenings 2008 Number 11

Thailand

“Envy’s” riding at anchor 200 metres offshore in a broad inlet that forms the mouth of the Pakchan River, which itself delineates Myanmar’s southern boundary with Thailand, 137 n/mls from Phuket. This is the extreme northern limit of Thailand’s west coast – the narrowest point of the Thai/Malaysian peninsular where the Isthmus of Kra narrows to a slim 32 km separating east from west - the Andaman Sea from the Gulf of Thailand.

Myanmar’s border town of Kawthoung is clearly visible across the inlet at the tip of Victoria Point; we’re intrigued with the huge volume of traffic- the never ending procession of un-muffled engines of longtail boats that ply their noisy way back and forth across the 3 km wide river mouth, all day long, never fewer than ten or more in any one window, doing whatever their business is with ‘old Burma’ – now the Socialist Republic of Myanmar.

Up a narrow channel, 1km behind our little facing island anchorage, lies the small but extremely busy port of Ranong, home to a huge fishing fleet, and we’ve just discovered the filthiest and smelliest place on earth! The stench is almost unbearable --- unbelievable!

Crowded along several hundred metres of old wharves with decaying buildings, a mix of more than 100 large and small fishing boats are rafted side-by-side several deep, intruding out into the narrow 100 mtr wide channel, which itself is the colour of dark chocolate and, my guess, the most toxic water on earth.

The port is alive with activity; people everywhere milling around talking, or watching the labours of bare chested lithe young men manually loading or unloading last night’s seafood catch, plastic barrels of ice, food stores, general cargo etc; the cacophony of the shouting workers blending deafeningly with the constant noise of the ubiquitous longtails speeding menacingly in the narrow channel. We live in fear of being splashed with this unctuously poisonous cocktail as our dinghies weave between them, bobbing up and down as we negotiate their threatening bow wash. The smell!!

We’ve come here in the company of two other yachts, in search of a restaurant to celebrate Bruce’s 64th birthday, amongst other things, but notwithstanding the prevalence of suitable venues, the Port stench sends us scurrying the 5 km into Ranong township where we enjoy a lovely birthday lunch, buy fresh stores at the open street market and search out an Internet Café.

By mid-afternoon we’re all back on our boats and making the most of the favourable current as the ebb tide carries us swiftly back the 22n/m to our sheltered anchorage off the sandy beach of tiny Luk Kam Klang Island, where we take a late afternoon swim to wash away the last smelly vestiges of Ranong, and enjoy a cool ‘Sundowner’ as another day in paradise slips away.

But this is February 2008 and we need to account for the passage of time since our last Happenings report (#10) many months ago back in 2007, following our return from India’s Andaman Islands, the principal topic of that report.

Not much cruising travel happened during the period in question, and since old news is stale news and boring, I shall quickly paint a broad brush account of events.

Clearing back into Thailand on March 1st 2007 upon our return from the Andaman Islands, “Envy” took a berth in Yacht Haven Marina at the top end of Phuket Island. We hired a car for a week and set out daily to discover this very touristy island, with its numerous bays, beaches, resorts, and thousands of tourists – mainly European, only now returning after two very quiet years following the devastating ’04 Boxing Day Tsunami.

At that time we met a lovely Aussie couple, Peter and Dorothy Hermit, ‘weekending’ aboard their yacht in the marina, who live and work in Bangkok. We ‘hit it off’ immediately so they invited us to visit and stay with them in their unit in the colourful suburb of Sukhumvit.

A few days later we took a V.I.P bus for the day-long trip up to ‘Bangers’, sight-seeing Thailand out the window along the way, then spent five action packed days and nights discovering this modern bustling city. Sukhumvit itself is one of Bangkok’s highlights being central to everything including its seedy nightlife.

Dorothy was our daily guide, taking us to all the most interesting sights, going by tuk-tuk, skyrail, river or canals, and we never wasted an hour deciding where to go or getting lost. It seems like we visited every palace, temple, shrine, museum, and open market in lively Bangkok.

The rest of March was spent cruising the sheltered waters of famous Phang Nga Bay, east of Phuket. Dotted with scores of tiny islands with their walls of interstitial limestone and sheer cliffs towering above caves, caverns and open ‘hongs’, this shallow protected area is itself a natural wonderland.

Karstic waterline caverns with their galleries of eroded limestone having a Stalactite appearance are a feature of this geologically karst area. It is simply exhilarating to dinghy into these large ‘open rooms’ through a cave-like entrance and marvel at nature’s handicraft within.

April Fools’ Day finds us checking back into Malaysia where we spent the next two weeks making ‘fun while the Sun shone’, visiting our favourite anchorages at Kuah town, Telaga pond and Lover’s Bay, before the onset of the imminent south-west monsoon season which arrived, predictively mid-month, bringing April showers almost every day. The ‘wet’ season is not pleasant for cruising with storm winds and rain, so by mid April “Envy” is snugly tucked up in Rebak Marina at Langkawi.

However, a few of us are determined to revisit exciting Penang Island before the monsoon really sets in, so in early May we sail the 65 nm south to the new Tanjung City Marina in Georgetown, Penang, where we spent the following three weeks indulging ourselves in the food, sights and culture of this wonderfully historic English birthplace of old Malaya, with its homogeneous mix of Chinese, Indian and Malays. One of its greatest attributes is that old Georgetown remains architecturally intact, and has escaped the downtown ‘modernization’ that raged through the rest of Malaysia in the booming 1980’s.

Street after street is lined with old two storey shophouses within this mainly Chinese commercial enclave, though colourful and noisy “Little India” shares several downtown blocks within this same area, much of which has been saved for posterity through Heritage legislation. And Penang is a gourmet’s paradise – excellent and inexpensive Malay, Indian and Chinese food, renowned throughout Malaysia. We never cook dinner on the boat.

The weather was becoming increasingly hot, steamy and wet, so a small air conditioner was purchased for the boat which significantly improved our daily comforts and sleeping at night. We also made some new friends who live there, their acquaintance being passed on by another yachtie. Colin is a retired Aussie married to Jacky, a Penang Chinese lady, and they took us to everything worth seeing, and to all the best local non-tourist eating places, all over the island. Magnificent!

However, not all Penang’s attributes are rosy; the Marina, which is so ideally located just a few minutes walk from the middle of town, has as its unfriendly neighbour the main ferry terminal, and the wash from those large vehicle ferries that ply to and fro from Butterworth has us rolling in our marina berths both day and night.

So after three wonderful weeks in Penang, and with the wet season building daily, early June finds ‘Envy’ returning to Rebak Marina in Langkawi, far northern Malaysia, where, on 20 June, we had her hauled out onto the hardstand for maintenance and a sparkling new paint job, whilst we returned to Australia for a visit (by air, of course – since nothing goes to windward like a 747!).

With its relative isolation, travel to or from Rebak Island Marina (off Langkawi Island), necessitates a little juggling, so we caught the water taxi across to nearby Langkasuka Beach Resort on Langkawi for the first overnighter, and took a small regional airline to Penang early next morning, where it was necessary to again stay overnight to catch the next day’s flight to Kuala Lumpur. Next morning, after a 1½ hour wait couped up in the 747 on the tarmac while engineers fixed its problem, we departed KL on our flight to Brisbane, via Sydney, arriving at midnight to be doubly greeted by Audrey’s mum and my lifelong friends Anthony and Denise Goodwin.

Looking out of the aircraft window about eight kilometres up, we saw wave after wave of endless sandhills, bathed in gold by the setting sun as we flew over the central Australian desert, and Sydney’s cool June night air was a pleasant change to the constant 30°+C of the tropics over the past 14 months.

During our nine weeks back in Australia, we spent much of that time away from Brisbane. Our rented home had just been vacated so time was devoted to its presentation, between catching up with family and friends around town, and also in the Sunshine and Gold Coast hinterlands. Bruce’s little Pontiac coupe had been thoroughly overhauled in preparation for this visit, so we were looking forward to giving its new engine a good run.

Another of the highlights of our return was to visit our dear friend Margaret Neill at her cattle property “Newstead Station” in the Surat district of south western Queensland. The overnight mid winter temperatures there dropped to well below freezing, as they often do ‘out west’, but it felt so good being back in the ‘bush’. With Audrey’s roots going back to farming and grazing in both Kenya and central Queensland, and Bruce’s lifetime career in rural marketing, we both enjoyed it all immensely.

Then it was off for a visit with our favourite Aunt June at Bowral in the southern highlands of NSW, which is something we always enjoy, and with it, a short trip to visit our long standing special friend Roz Murray in Canberra.

A visit to Sydney’s International Boat Show had been planned months before, to coincide with our time in Sydney, where we spent ten days visiting relatives and friends. We purchased an inflatable dinghy at the Boat Show and shipped it back to Malaysia, where we bought a new outboard motor for it much cheaper than in Oz.

6am one mid August morning found us departing Sydney to avoid the morning peak hour traffic as we drove to Lake Macquarie to drop in on friends there, enroute to Brisbane, where we arrived at 8pm. With so many jobs to do the following two weeks flew by and before we hardly knew it, we were on a September 2 flight back to Malaysia where we were reunited with “Envy” back at Rebak Marina in Langkawi.
It was still very much the ‘wet season’ there, but during non showery breaks over the next six weeks we managed to complete much of “Envy’s” work list. Then a quick 4 day trip by high speed ferry to Penang to collect the dinghy shipped up from Sydney, before returning to more maintenance on “Envy”. (The old saying is that cruising is really only about doing maintenance in exotic locations.)

During mid November Bruce returned to Brisbane for a 50 year School Reunion and at the same time Audrey’s mum Lavinia paid Audrey a surprise visit at Rebak, where they both ‘swaned it up’ in a deluxe luxury suite at the Resort that attaches to the Marina.

By late November the SW Monsoon season had pretty much petered out and with our Malaysian Visas also coming to an end, the week before Christmas “Envy” set sail for Thailand and we day-hopped via the islands of Khao Yai, Muk and Phi Phi Le the 140 n/miles to Chalong Bay at the bottom of Phuket Island where we cleared Customs & Immigration formalities on 22 December, for our 3 months visit.

The following day we motor-sailed the few miles around the bottom of the island to Nai Harn Bay with its picturesque sandy beach and joined a bunch of yachty friends there for a Christmas Eve buffet dinner at ‘Jungle Jims’, a basic waterfront restaurant right on the beach. Christmas Day was spent on our friends yacht ‘Jaraman’, and was an all-day affair! It started with ‘Bloody Mary’s’, smoked salmon and prawns, and BBQ vegetables with roast pork loin. … and the party continued for a few days at different anchorages.

New Year’s Eve was a wonderful experience for a group of us on the large foredeck of ‘Muscat’, a friend’s catamaran anchored 500 mtr offshore in Phuket’s popular Patong Bay, where many hundreds of candle lanterns floated seawards overhead, all night long, to commemorate those killed by the Tsunami. Simultaneously, (as if in serious competition with each other - as they probably were), most of the large expensive waterfront resorts put on spectacular fireworks displays of a most elaborate quality and quantity, for indeed not a single minute passed between 8pm and 1am that the sky wasn’t lit with fireworks, and for a half hour period either side of midnight, the 2km long stretch of Patong Beach was ablaze of pyrotechnic splendour, the extent of which I’ve almost never seen elsewhere.