Civilized Darwin

From the Darwin Military Museum,
like most of the pics in this post

A big reason we went cruising was to see places different from the U.S. So I almost feel guilty writing this. But after spending so long in  areas where many people live in grass-covered huts and your choices in stores (when you can find one) are limited, it has been a nice break to spend some time in what we think of as civilization.

Darwin was bombed in WWII too. A lot.
Apparently Australia didn't really teach it
schools here for a long time.

There are two big grocery stores in town and friends that we have made here often have their favorite. For us, it's all heaven. We have been eating fresh broccoli, cauliflower, peaches and berries for the first time since I-don't-know-when.

 

From a memorial at the Military Museum

Not to make light, but this is not
a cause of death you see everyday for
a soldier.

Darwin has tons to do, especially for families. There are great public parks, including free water parks. We visited the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and the Darwin Military Museum. We learned lots about Darwin's history, including the Japanese bombings during World War II and Cyclone Tracy. We still haven't visited one of the crocodile parks (although we did see a croc in the wild, albeit at a distance), the Botanic Garden, or the Territory Wildlife Park. We're trying to balance boat tasks with fun stuff. I think boat stuff is winning.

 

 

Lizard on a tire.

Other than the "Darwin born-and-bred" foks we have met, much of its population is from somewhere else. It makes for a very diverse population, including the Aboriginal people who were here first, of course. Despite the general small-town friendliness and outgoing Aussie nature, there seems to be an awkward co-existence between the native and non-native Australians. There are always groups of native Aussies who sit around in various locations and have a disconcerting (to newcomers like me, anyway) habit of yelling at each other to communicate. It took me awhile to figure out that they weren't angry.

 

One local Australian cruiser complained that he could only buy 2 boxes of wine a day because that is the mode of drink favored by Aboriginal people, some of whom have issues with drinking. In that same vein, there's the requirement that anyone buying liquor show an ID (even old farts like us).

 

We finally got hauled out and are sweltering with the sand flies at Spot On Marine. It's what we get for coming here this time of year. The Roodberg lift was a new way of getting taken out of the water. The night before, we motored up to Fannie Bay, so that we could be at Spot On bright and early near high tide (around 6:30 am). We got tied up and waited for the tide to go down so that the machine could be put into place. There were a few disconcerting minutes as our hull bounced on the concrete ramp, before settling into place so we could be lifted.

 

The next day, Matt worked to bend the strut back. The bending bar that we had custom made in Indonesia couldn't be used because we didn't have enough clearance under the boat and Matt was only able to dig down about a third of the way needed into the hard ground before the blisters on his hands made him try another tack. The straps that he set up seemed to be working well, up until the point that the strut snapped and ricocheted into Matt's calf, leaving a grapefruit-sized lump. Miraculously, there was no swearing.

So now Matt will be grinding out the remainder of the strut (P-bracket as they call it in Commonwealth countries) and we will most likely be having a new one (or two--as a backup) fabricated. He has been missing fiberglass work. I'm pretty sure.

In other news, the main bolt for the windlass is seized up. So far, no amount of coaxing with Liquid Wrench, a levered winch handle (which actually bent under the strain), a butane torch, or a hammer will budge it. So today we got to explain to the kids what 0-for-2 means (as in, 'we are 0-for-2 on the two things we needed to be out of the water to work on'). Good thing we have been enjoying the blueberry pancakes that Matt has been whipping up. We might be eating them for awhile longer than we thought.

Indonesia to Australia

It's a bit rainy in Darwin this time of year.

We left Saumlaki on a wind forecast that was higher than we would have liked (first 12 hours was still up to 25 knots and the apparent wind would be creeping just forward of the beam).  However,  the trend was that the wind was moderating and, more importantly, there was an almost zero chance of a major low forming and turning into a named storm in the next few days. So it was time to put on the big girl panties and get to Australia.

The locks at Cullen Bay

The forecast was accurate for the first day and we made good time (averaging over 7 knots), though it was not the most comfortable. The next day, the winds died down and went behind for a bit, with the usual trade-off of comfort for speed. We were able to sail most of the way to Darwin, excepting a few lulls where our speed dropped too much. Ordinarily we would have just sailed slowly, but we had to get to Darwin during business hours for Border Force or pay hefty overtime charges.

On passage we witnessed the total eclipse of the moon, which was interesting but slow. It was like seeing the all different moon phases in a few hours rather than a month. A solar eclipse is much more spectacular because it's over in a few minutes but at least with a lunar eclipse, you don't burn your retinas. It's certainly worth watching if you have to be up on watch anyway.

Because of the super blue blood moon, the tides in Darwin have been more extreme than usual. As (bad) luck would have it, the entrance to Cullen Bay, where we had to park Perry to do our formalities, was going to be too shallow for us at low tide. We weighed the options of trying to get our speed up or waiting until late in the afternoon to make the entry. The lure of a new continent, a safe port, and more importantly, a cold beer  had us firing up the engine. Even with the engine, it was pretty slow as we were fighting a 3 to 4-knot current. We eventually made it through the entrance, with about 15 minutes to spare based on our tide calculation, though it was close (we saw less than 2 feet under keel at the little bar entrance). The sailboat that came in a few minutes behind us (which had to be towed the last bit to Darwin due to mechanical difficulties), got stuck on the sandbar and had to be pulled off by the Cullen Bay tender. They had to wait several hours until the tide came up to check in.



If Mark learned nothing else from
Indonesia, he learned about selfies.

The dock at Cullen Bay was a bit tricky for us with one engine. The locks were draining and as we approached, the flow of the water basically stalled the rudders and made steering next to impossible. Our heavy boat steers much better with twin screws in tight areas at slow speeds. We finally got docked with no damage to the boat (or dock) and the Border Control force came and checked us in. We had heard horror stories about Australian officials being hard on yachts, but the officers we met were very friendly and professional. They are definitely thorough and go through your whole boat (we tried to put out all the items that might be 'questionable'). Also, quarantine is fee-for-time-based so the longer they take, the more it costs. The kids waited with bated breath to see if any of their treasures would be confiscated. The only thing that didn't pass muster was a wooden sword given to us by the chief in the Mortlock Islands that was suspected of having termite damage.

In the few days we have been here, we have hardly made a dent in our extensive to do list, but we have spent lots of money. A single burger at a casual place in Cullen Bay was $20 Australian, which would have fed our entire family in a typical Indonesian restaurant.

It also took awhile to get online. Activating a prepaid SIM card in Indonesia involved putting into the phone and turning it on. In Australia, they want an Australian address, your date of birth, your passport number, and the size of your underwear (not really that last one). And even after we provided all that, it still took 4 days and multiple visits to the store (including the intervention of a regional manager who happened to be there) to get connected.

Steve Backshall's Deadly 60 Live on Stage show.
Nose-bleed seats but the kids loved it.