Jackal

Santorini

2006-11-12T21:58:00.000-08:00

So the Adventure here was sleeping on the boat when she was rearing like a horse due to the wind and the fact we had more than 200mtrs below us. We were tied to a floating bouy and alan spent most of the two days in the dingy rowing back and forth to the knots he had secured. As amazing as sailing into a volcano was, I wouldn't do it again!
All seemed happy and calm on top in the village, it was hard to me to leave to return to our bucking bronco.

Mum didn't, she piked it and slept in a hotel. More to the point it was too dangerous for her to board the boat from the dingy in the huge swell, she had already fallen out once that day!

My Art Teacher

2006-11-12T21:53:00.000-08:00

A taste of Greece

2006-11-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

Greece is really easy to photograph, not so easy to paint. When Ma came out onto the boat she treated me to a painting lesson. Meet my teacher and take a good look at the work cos I aint never going to frame it.

The exciting stories of this season really only happened whilst mum was on board, exciting isn't really a good description...scarey, yeah that's better. I didn't find hitting a reef or another boat exciting.

Ma had the gang plank collapse under her and I had to dive in chilly water to recover an electrical device she actually thought might work again.
This summer was made up of high winds, intense heat and very lazy days. I vote for Turkey for being more interesting, prettier and far friendlier than Greece, yet my pictures of Greece look more impressive than Turkey.

2006-11-12T21:40:00.000-08:00

In Case you were wondering....yes, still in love.

2006-11-12T21:24:00.000-08:00

A whole summer has gone and now the boat is funny enough, back where we left her last year. Our plans of heading East to Australia changed after the war broke out between Isreal and Lebbanon. We'll take the risk with desperate pirates but not with political wars. So we did Turkey and the Greek islands for 6 months.

Celeste looked after us yet again, she was working her tail off opening a new pub for her bosses and hasn't got a problem getting down and dirty with the tasks required of renovating a classic building.
It was great to catch up with Celeste and Lee, as well as Katie and Laura who have both returned from their individual oversea ventures.

All the more wiser and experienced are going to be joining us on the boat next year again. Here alan is showing them where we plan to go and where we have been. I should of recorded it, would of saved me time writing!

It was great to have a few wines with good ole Kel Kel, this was at the end of the night when I have great footage of her pole dancing.
It's not always easy or convenient when we come stay in England and we super appreciate the blow up beds and the minor life adjustments that have to be made when we turn up. So THANKS HEAPS!

It's nearly XMAS AGAIN!

2006-11-01T02:05:00.001-08:00

Where has the year gone?

Not the easiest thing to update the blog whilst on our travels. Apologies but you all know where we are and what we are doing anyway...if not WELL>>>>>>>>>

We worked our 'happy fat' off in the winter season. Made fantastic friends. Conquered Blackcomb mountain and Whistler mountain and saw our first wild bears.

Finally the five month adventure in Canada came to an end and we put our baby back into the Greek waters to explore the famous Greek islands and the beautiful Turkish coast line.

It was great, it recharged our batteries to be in the sun again. I enjoyed it so much I began dreading heading into another winter season, which was planning to be our last. A position Alan was promised fell through and I took this opportunity to take us back to Australia. It was the day after we arrived when Alan received the email telling him there were new positions available for both of us with different a company in either Italy or Spain but we are sooo comfortable where we are, we ain't doin it!

Of all the folks who were going to join us on the boat, only my ma and our mate John turned up to battle the high seas. They brought good laughs, took many photos and were a real treat to have on board.

The plans now? Who knows. It'll probably be another year before I can update it onto the blog!

It's nearly XMAS AGAIN!

2006-11-01T02:05:00.000-08:00

Xmas Eve

2006-06-21T14:44:00.000-07:00

Just a quiet one this year, yeah, stayed at home, behaved oursleves, left the drinking for the others and really enjoyed staring at the walls.

Noooooooooooottttttttttttttttt!!!

Only a few picies cos after this bar my camera got really blurry and the room swayed and 'loud noises' ruined my concentration.

So sad to say I don't have photos of Alan dancing on the podium, or everyone else for that matter, or the view of everyone cheering happy birthday to George who celebrated at midnight his...um..well he's younger than me. I'm sorry I can't remember, it wasn't until months later I even remembered we went out that night let alone to a birthday party!

A Family Affair

2006-06-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of having Katie and Laura spending Xmas with us. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed myself and laughed so hard during the nights we spent playing Sharades. Quality.
I gave Alan something that put him just that little bit closer to his dream of being a cowboy...when and where he chooses to wear it is questionable though.

Can't you just hear the music?

2006-05-02T01:13:00.000-07:00

Blame Canada, Blame Canada....

2006-04-29T11:42:00.000-07:00

THE Seb.

Whistler, Canada is our new home from December to May. We have triple the work load this season for there are three chalets to manage, and a staff member less due to capacity down 50%. Less people doesn't by any means make it less work and of the three staff we have, Cat, Hannah and Erika, only Erika has had experience in this game.

During the first week here it felt like we never properly got over the plane trip that incidently was delayed for 24hrs. We weren't really given the proper details of what we were walking into and relied heavily on the previous manager, Mark.

Rather than re-live the stress and headaches of our tasks and duties I'll skip straight to telling about the party's that were held by the village companies hosted with free food and alcohol! It was a week's worth of drinking and dancing with the same people in different locations all over the village with the chance of winning things. Alan scored a $70 shirt and I got a baseball cap!

These parties were great cos we got to de-stress and let loose, the week just went too quick. Just glad we have the whole season to play with our new friends, by the way...meet Seb.

Back to civilization

2006-04-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Our month in England was spent introducing each other to our friends and family. It's no longer nerve racking because we have been together, in each other's pockets for a solid 8 months and we are confident that those close to us will see how happy we are together and nothing silly like age gets in the way.

We were lucky to be in the right place at the right time to catch my good friend's Celeste's engagement party to her English lad "Lee Lee Lee Lee Lee Lee Lee Lee Lee Lee...I gotta friend called Lee"... I didn't even get a chance to even talk to Alan at the party for all the guys surrounding him listening intently to his stories and jokes.

It was so good to see Celeste happy, I've never seen her so content, and smiling like that, I have to add that I can relate.

We got to attend ski instructors Annette and Tim Eyte's wedding, well 2nd wedding anyway, we couldn't make the 1st wedding on a tropical island.

We went back in time when we stayed in the home of Duchess Rowena and John's house, well, miniature castle. Never before have I sat at such an amazingly dressed formal table and enjoyed such a deliciously contemporary meal that I can still taste now. Really fantastic cooking and company.

With keeping with the old time era theme we stayed in my relations 400 yr old farm house. Clive has lived there his whole like and so is used to the slanted floors and walls, and Fee is a comfortable height for the low ceilings! We were grateful they made room for us since we gave such short notice, but I figure I'll make it up to them when Clive comes out to Greece to see us on the boat!

Fee isn't the biggest fan of boats, and wouldn't really find too much in common with Alan's cousins Joan and Peter who have just sold their house to buy a little house and a REALLY little house...that floats. We look forward to when we return and can stay on their new canal boat.

A month was basically too long to stay in UK, but we had our reasons and we were so grateful to be looked after by everyone and a big thank you goes out to everyone for putting us up and putting up with us!

I got a special treat when Alan took me to his home village, Droylsden. Now we have seen each others home towns and we feel just that little bit closer.

Out of the Water

2006-04-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

I can't explain how disappointed I was when finally we took the boat out of the water, we drain our tanks and I can't use the toilet to relieve my serious stomach problems that affected me for the 3 days we stayed at the marina. On the last night I was privi to an amazing lightning storm, I watched nervously as it circled the hundreds of conductors I sat amongst. I was thinking, this is not the way I want to be found dead!

It's true love when your partner, in
the morning carries the bucket off the deck and empties it for you.

For 3 days we climbed a ladder to get onto the boat, we walked across the yard to shower and we lived amongst our laundry.

An issue we have is that one of the tanks is leaking and so I went through the bilges with a towel to dry everything to watch where the leak may come from, it wasn't discovered this time around, but a new issue arose on our drive to the airport...I left the wet towel under the floor boards! When we finally return home to our boat, she'll probably smell like a dead body.

It was real big...well, legal size at least.

2006-04-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

We have decided to park the boat in the 'Cleopatra Marina' at Previsa, but just before we put her on land we thought we'd explore the inland sea where in the furthest corner has a little village shadowed by a castle on the hill. Vonitsabay.

Whilst Alan tried his hand at fishing, I explored the area attempting to jog off my layers. I came across an area that I could of mistaken for Australia for all the gum trees, shimmering in the sunset.

On my exploration I was lucky to meet some Greek fisherman, and I had a cheering squad down main street as I jogged past, but the best part of the afternoon was seeing Alan walk back onto the boat with his shoes on, his jacket on and a fish in a shopping bag...oh yeah, sure he caught his fish.

I can hardly stop laughing thinking he just couldn't handle failing at fishing and went and bought a fish, just bad timing I turned up I thought. Well, I know it sounds unbelievable, but Alan did catch the fish.

It turns out that whilst he went down to the toilet, a fish took the bait, still on the line he put the fish in the dingy where he climbed into with a plastic bag and unhooked the fish. I did a columbo and checked the dingy and yes there were scales, but the real give away was when he put the bag down, the fish inside starting flapping about.

Ahhhh we ate well that night, after I filleted and floured it!...and made fried rice, prawn cocktail, pompadoms....well it wasn't the biggest fish.

Who wants to walk?

2006-04-23T23:47:00.000-07:00

Corfu was relaxing and we took our time exploring from north to south on a scooter.

With Alan as the trusty guide, we rode to all the places he knew and then once we'd done the block we took every turn imaginable to try and get lost.

We found this intriguing tiny church up the track of a no through road, when we discovered a partially cobbled, overgrown path that led behind the church and up the hill into the bushes we had to explore it.

With mild excitement we discovered a deserted, earthquake condemned village. A whole hillside of houses were torn and ripped at the seams and now were now occupied by grape vines and cats.

The earthquake was 40 years ago, all that's left are a few beds that only spiders sleep in and the odd broken chair. It was tempting to take home the rolls of chicken wire we found but there is little need for them on a boat, salvage for another explorer another day.

It's only a matter of weeks now before the hard slog of work and skiing was upon us and I did have an ambition to shed my, what I like to call, 'happy fat', so I took a jog along the cobbled beach at which our boat was moored at and discovered a deserted hotel. The area has had it's hey day and looking at the furniture which still stands silently in the foyer, it was a good 30 years ago. Business just isn't what it used to be.

I seemed to be fighting a loosing battle, with my 'happy fat' I mean, so I gave in and bought two new dresses instead, 'adjustable' to whatever size I may be over the coming year...well if you can't beat em, join em!? It's too hard to break the habit of sleeping till after midday and eating 3 meals a day. Also when there is a cool blue scooter with a sleek silver haired rider waiting at the end of the dock, who wants to walk?!

The Count Down

2006-04-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

So Lolly and Olly have left and we have a couple of weeks to ourselves before we head off on our next adventure of skiing in the Canadian Mountains. Not much to do really except eat, drink and take in some of the most prettiest scenery I've seen yet, all made magical by the company kept.

The Week Summarised in Photos

2006-04-22T20:16:00.000-07:00

Lolly's Beach

2006-04-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

All Lolly wanted was to sunbake on a secluded beach on a fine sunny day. It took all week for the sun to come out and it took the exploration by scooter to discover this little piece of paradise on Parga. Mind you, to get there, we rode up a driveway that became so narrow we couldn't move the bikes, then ran through prickly shrubs until we stood at the top of a cliff overlooking this fine piece of land. Alan led the way enthusiastically cos it was his mission to please his lolly!

Vola!

Could we sunbake on the beach? No, could we even get to it? Ahaaa, no.
But it is the thought that counts right?

It's Sweet having Lolly and Olly here!

2006-04-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

Our mission to get to Corfu in time to meet Alan's daughter Laura, 'Lolly', and her boyfriend Oliver, 'Olly' was successful. Everyone knows Laura and I have been friends since she first taught me to ski in Spain, but this was the first time we were seeing each other since I had been with her father!

I couldn't help but be a little nervous, didn't help with Alan telling me he was nervous too. But Laura just laughed at both of us and the week was excellent!

It was a week of sites, winds, good laughs and 'small dance movements'.

Sure, a father and daughter, what's the REAL story?

2006-04-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

One fine day, whilst sitting on deck, I saw off in the distant sea a puff of smoke. After much debating whether it was a fire on Albabnia or in the middle of the sea we took advantage of seeing Spiros jump into his speed boat and thought we'd go for a ride.

It took nearly 15 mins for us to get out to the sinking Catamaran. We got there just in time to watch it disappear under the water to rest 100ft beneath the surface. As slow as we were, the water police were slower.

Many other boats were there and we were told that a man and his daughter were on the boat but were safely evacuated before things got too serious. When I told dad the story and how it was a man and his daughter, dad replied "Sure. Father...Daughter. Mmmmm."

Do you think he is implying something?

Oh the Adventures and the People we met!

2006-04-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

It was exciting for Alan to hear that a friend he hadn't seen or heard of in quite a long time had actually returned to the very village he worked at when Alan knew him.

Russel now worked across the road from his old joint in a bar with wall to wall hangings of memoriablia of actors and sportspeople. I'm talking from David Beckham to Star Wars, an amazing collection. By the end of the month Russel and his family picked up house and moved back to South Africa where he had dissappeared to all those years ago. Business just wasn't what it used to be.

We were moored on 'Spiros's' jetty that was falling apart for the time we were there which was great, until we realised we had a whole 60cm under the keel. The name given to first born sons in Corfu is 'Spiros', so don't be surprised when I tell you we hung out with Spiros and Spiros and met many more in the month.

Alan told me a joke that was about a man called 'Spiros', I found this joke all the more hilarious after Alan told me he used to own 80 donkeys and did tours through the hills of Spain.

'Spiros is sitting in a bar all depressed and the bar tender asks "Spiros, why you look so down"? Spiros replies "All the boats in the shipyard I own, do they call me Spiros the sailor? No. All the land on which the farmers grow their crops I own, do they call me Spiros the farmer? No. All the houses in the village I own, do they call me Spiros the builder? No...
I make love to one donkey"!.....

2006-04-15T11:49:00.001-07:00

We explored the pretty Corfu by Scooter visiting all of Alan's old friends whom he worked with years ago, years and years ago. I didn't get to meet all of them, a couple had died...liver failure from drinking.

This is the Life

2006-04-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

Finally we get to Corfu but not without the odd storm, engine failure, run out of fresh water and melting of a valuble impellor. Were we worried? Maybe, but we aren't going to admit it.

I don't have any photos of our trip through the arch of the foot of Italy but it's a story worth telling.

It began with great winds, full sun and me laying down in my bikini trying to not get motion sick in the high winds and strong swell. Alan is at the helm, maintaining a cruising speed of 9 knots without the engine. Now, 'without the engine' is an important sentence. Was this by choice? Well, yes and no. The strength of the winds allows us to have it off, but the lack of fuel and the tipping of the boat caused air to enter the tank and just a split second before Alan turned the engine off himself, it stalled. Nothing he could do until the boat levels out...

It took till midnight for the boat to level out.

This is 7 hours after we left the marina.

Eventually Alan was too exhausted to hold the boat and needed me, still in my swimmers, just hidden under heavy blankets, to get up and take over whilst he sets a new course. I'm stinging, I'm freezing, and I'm basically naked and holding back from throwing up. We are riding down waves that were taller than our mast, waves are crashing into the back and splashing around my feet.

Alan is in the cabin, his big hands in the hot engine, cutting and buring himself whilst he is trying to 'bleed the tank'. I was straining to hold the boat on course and keep her level, but when the "winds changed" the boat veered so sharply that the mast swung around and rocks the boat and poor Alan screams in agony and he scores another minor injury.

I'm screaming "the winds changed the winds changed"!...then I looked to the shore line and realised I had changed course whilst trying to navigate by compass...turns out not the best time to teach myself how to do that.

Finally we get into calm waters, Alan can complete his task and horay the engine starts at 4am! And conks out at 1 minute later.

WHAT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????

Thanks to the previous owners never replacing or even maintaining the impellor, over time it melted and then stopped drawing in sea water that cools the engine and the engine over-heated!!

No longer was there the problem of waves and wind, now it was shallow waters and oil rigs?!
Alan now has to fix the engine again, as well as plot a course through the obstacle course. I'm now able to lay down and am waving in and out of conscienceness making sure we aren't drifting into danger.

After a half hour Alan had the engine roaring, but although we were a mere 2 miles from our destination, it took 2 hours to get there cos we had to stop the engine every now and then and only drive at 2 knots not to have it explode. The lights on the land were confusing with reds and greens everywhere and Alan wasn't trusting his eyes and it was the only good fortune we had arrived at the opening just in time before the signal lights turned off.

We parked next to the pertol pump that was due to open in half an hour and Alan died on the bed, too smelly for me to sleep next to so I returned to deck and slept solid till the petrol man came and woke me up.

After we filled up and reparked the boat we showered and ate and Alan slept solid again till the sun went down 14hrs later. The heat was unbearable for me so I didn't get to sleep for another 20 hrs. All in all, stinging eyes, aching body, and sore head. Welcome to Crotini.

Our time of storms wasn't over, we endured one more between Italy and Corfu, but this time, we were in full control of the boat. Except that one time I held the wheel and we did a full 180 turn.

I actually got some sleep on this trip, waking occassionally to hearing Alan saying "Whoa"! as a wave would crash over the back and just miss his shoulder.

But the feta, tomato and Olive salad at the other end made it all worthwhile.

No Worries Mate, I'm Eyetowelain!

2006-03-06T20:16:00.000-08:00

It was my third time through Italy. We bypassed relations Zia Lena and Zio Caesar in Napoli because although we could essentially see Mt Vesuvius through the clouds from Capri, it still would of taken us 3 hours to get there and time is running out and a storm was closing in.

From perfect blue skies and calm waters to angry wild winds blowing surfable waves over our anchored boat and lighting highlighting our closing path to the shore. It was exciting and thankfully passed quickly enough to live to tell the tale.I got some good videos of the lighting in the clouds, flashing like a disco party for the gods, and caught a lighting strike that hit the beach in front of us.

The next day we planned only a 6 hour trip however the waters were dead calm and no wind so Alan took advantage of me not being sick and went to bed whilst I sailed us on till evening. Come just onto midnight another storm closed in, now we were low on fuel and water, so we again changed course, not planning to stop for another 8 hours. To cut a long story short we traveled non stop for 3 days!

Finally we stop at the toe point of Italy, completely exhausted, sticky and smelly, out of water, running on petrol fumes and Ritz biscuits. We pull into an unfinished port, we enter through an opening in the wall, created from explosives, with the original opening having silted over to a fishermen's beach.

It was a terrible night with a constant heavy rocking that could be likened to Chinese torture. I stayed up and out on deck all night. It is the following night in populated yet still unfinished port that we hear just the night before in the very port we just stayed, there was an armed robbery of a yatch where gunmen boarded the boat from a dingy and stripped them of anything valuable. Luck of the draw.

By now we have heard stories of the Mafia and dirty politicians ruling this land, and having stopped in at a port where recruitment are done for "cosi nostra mafia", forgive me for being a little suspicious when two local Italian men go round to each boat, appearing super friendly and asking everyone's names but not giving their own.

My Italian is poor but enough to make pleasantries and I introduce myself using my ancestors name, Gambino. It was a gamble I know, but it worked completely in our favour and for our time there we were treated like royalty. Even to when they heard through the grapevine we were leaving they arranged to meet us for farewell drinks and took a photo of us. Granted 'Enzo' had a crush on me and kept telling me to run away with him. I told him he was too young for me.

All in the Swing of things now

2006-03-06T18:40:00.000-08:00

Okay, so after battling sun stroke, sea sickness, bad headaches, and a few cuts, finally I start to learn to sail. I'm pulling ropes, I'm steering the boat and most importantly I'm map reading and setting our courses.

Still the odd debate over Alan throwing himself overboard in an attempt to make me respond under an emergency situation and turn the boat around to rescue him. I feel competent enough to do it but everytime he suggests it and stands on the side ready to jump I'm always in the middle of something, like eating nachos and dip, and he should know by now, DON'T DISTURB ME WHEN I'M EATING!

Weeks later I did however rescue a 10cm by 5cm square sponge! That's more of an achievement trying to pin point something so small and then simply leaning over the back and picking it up with such little effort. So I'm confident in saying, I can come to Alan's rescue, as long as he doesn't mind waiting till I've finished any meal I may be in the middle of and can handle being run over, (Alright so it wasn't proper protocol how I rescued the sponge).

We have our sites set on Corfu and have a dead line to meet Alan's daughter Laura (aka Lolly), and her boyfriend Oliver (Olly). So we stop taking our time and start taking advantage of any good winds and weather we may have.

Our journeys are now averaging 8 hours and we are feeling a bit thin. Our nights aren't always the smoothest and our time around Italy was really quite exhausting. We touched the Italian islands of Ponza, Ventanone, Isle de Ischia and Capri. All beautiful, each with intriguing stories.

Capri was Alan's favourite with no roads on the mountain and lovely cobble tunnels and pathways to follow to beautiful views. Boring I know. Second choice for him was Ventanone, here we sailed into a port that was completely carved out of the volcanic rock which the island is made up of. It was carved out by the Ancient Romans, and after all the history lessons I've had, I would say it was carved by the Ancient Roman's Slaves, but do they get credit?

As exotic it was, we opted not to pay the 60 Euros for a berth in it and instead parked in the next bay on anchor for free. You should of seen the luxury boats that did pay the bill, million euro speed boats, or 'Stink boats' as sailors call them, with the typical balding men and up to date fashionable women who look like they have never taken their jewellery or make up off except to go to bed cos the diamonds catch and the make up smudges onto the silk sheets.

Isle d'Ischia was my favourite, the large castle on the top of the tall island is impressive anytime of the day, but it was the fact we were there for some festival. We caught an alive village full of activity and energy. After a bottle of vino casa my photos represent my vision perfectly!

It was the funniest wake up call I have ever had the next morning. It began at 7am with, can you believe it, Canon Ball Fire. It continued 5 explosions every 20 minutes, literally 10 metres from the boat. It was combined with the church bells that ran non stop, AS WELL AS a brass band that marched through the echoing stone village to eventually end by the water to complete another hour of performance. I honestly could not believe a little village could make so much bloody noise!? Who has celebrations at 7 in the morning?! Italians, twisted Italians.

Can you believe Alan slept through it all!