Sydney Holidays Febuary 3 2008

Hello again everyone.Okay, the week before Christmas everyone came back ending my exile. Rosefrom her friend Philli's and Joey from Nz with working visa in hand. Rosewent to see Philli's GP in Bondi as she has been on a bit of a downer sincewe got here. He feels she's got Lyme's, but ordered a bunch more bloodtest, X-rays, etc. Of course, once again, everything came up clear, but heset her up with a rheumatism specialist who seems very good. He's actuallygetting info all the way back to Samoa before suggesting further tests and acourse of action. We'll see him in another week to see what's what. Roseain't that bad, though, as she's agreed to help Philli out a couple of days aweek at the B & B, deserting the ship again. Easy money, though, and femalebonding stuff!!!Anyway, back to the holidays. Malcolm and Tina invited us up to Mona Valefor Christmas eve through Boxing day. Had a bit of an early Christmaspresent as both my crew bugged me from afar about reserving a car forChristmas week. I figured that would be a dead time for the rentalagencies, but, of course, it was the opposite. However, sometimes things actuallywork out for the best. I called a couple of the cheap car places, and theywere all booked. Avis said they had cars, but wanted $600 for a compact.No thanks. Went on the internet, checked out several places and then wentto a sort of consolidator site that checks all the companies' rates based onwhat you want. So what pops up as the best deal--Avis at half what theyquoted me. It gets better. Went to get the car Christmas eve, they wereout of little cars and gave me the equivalent of a Cadillac at an even betterrate than I found on the internet. They've gotten that back now as theregistration was expiring, but we've decided to get a car for our remainingtime here (we scoped out a place where we could park it for free next to the marina. Otherwise parking was going to be more than the cost of the car!!)and they retroactively reduced the rate even further for the long term rental. Sweet!!!So off Rose and I go to Mona Vale, about an hour north. We only got lostonce! Joey was staying on the boat and taking public transport up onChristmas. On Tina's street, they do a whole decoration thing, closing offthe street for the night with tea candles in bags at the curb, food, a bitof entertainment and, of course, well decorated and lit houses. Rememberit's summer here so it was like a big block party. Christmas was nice, butthe captain had to insist on opening presents as they were waiting untilthe big family do on Boxing day, which was also very nice. All three days,lots of friends, family and kids, and all we did was eat and then eat somemore with a sprinkling of champagne, wine or Jack Daniels thrown in. Joeywent back to Sydney to check out the start of the race to Hobart and, I laterfound out, take an unauthorized sail with some female companionship.For New Year's, Rose had worked out with Philli and her daughter and a fewof her friends to party on the boat and watch the fireworks; Joey, as well,with his friend. They had a 9PM show for the kids and a little previewfollowed at midnight with the big show. To be honest, for all the hype, Idon't think it was half as good as 4th of July in Chicago, but it is prettyspectacular when they light them off the bridge. Anyway, I almost missedthem as I got pulled over for driving the dinghy under the influence. This,of course, was not my fault. Joey and his girlfriend wanted to leave theboat after the 9PM fireworks and get across the harbor to see the laterones with friends. They figured the easiest way was for me to take them in the dinghy. Havinghad a few cocktails, I refused for about 2 hours and then the goodness instilled fromJack Daniels got the better of me and I agreed. To make a long storyshort, the cops wouldn't let us cross the bay, I turned around, and anotherpolice boat pulled us over because Rebecca was sitting in front of one ofthe running lights and they couldn't see it. Well, it was all over.Obviously, they were going to breathalize anyone they stopped, and I was busted. Thatpretty much ended the party as they wouldn't let me drive anyone back toshore and took everyone back AND damned if they didn't give Joey and his friend a ride over to theother side. Rose was not pleased; Joe and company will be paying the fine which is substantial!!Right after New Year's, Will from the Caribbean pulled in on Big Arin. Willand Kim used to crew for Voyage and he always looked about 16. Now he's 31,looks about 21, but is making a six figure salary as captain on this 153foot monster with a crew of eleven. It's nice to know important people.Tracey and Gordon, also old Voyage crew are also here, so we had Will overfor drinks one night, and then he threw a dock party, and we saw them as well.They're out of boating and Gordon is working for a marine electronics outfithere. Will has now departed for Newcastle, a bit north of here, for a haulout, paint job, etc. We think he'll be pretty much on the same route as usto the Med, so we expect to run into him again. We've also made somebeer--a kit was one of Joey's presents and it is just now ready. Kitbeer is about 25% of the cost of bottled beer and it's pretty good. We madeabout 23 quarts for $20 compared to $40 a case for regular stuff.Our time recently has been spent chasing down repairmen, watering up theboat (and moving a few times when the bow anchor broke out again) andworking on the boat. We discovered the wind generator had some corrosionand, of course, have now had to replace the whole thing. The yahoos herewon't sell me the generator only, so I've had to have one shipped in fromthe UK to Lizzie to bring with her in February. I've got a doctor'sappointment this week as my medical insurance is a racket. It's a grouppolicy, but they let you reapply every year if you want. In my case the oldgroup rate--must be a lot of sickies--is $1,600 more than the new policyrate, but they won't accept me without all sorts of more tests as I had thateye problem a few years ago. After that, we've been invited up to Mona Valefor Rose's birthday--the 25th--and Australia day which is this Saturday.Rose's birthday was great as it coincided with Australia Day. Party, eat,sleep and hit a few of the activities like "thong tossing"--no, notunderwear, sandals unfortunately. We've tried Joey's homemade beer and it'spretty good. Apparently, the longer one lets it rest, the better, so we'vebeen testing as it ages.Not much else going on here and we're still chasing down tradesmen. We'veinstalled the new cockpit table which makes the cockpit look about 10 timesbigger, but need to work out some bugs on how to hold the leaves up. We've finally gotten the right stuff to redo the hatches and have been succesful there. Lizziearrives Friday for a month while Rose is off again at her friend Philli's B& B; this time she's running it for an entire week so Philli can take offfor Adelaide. Super Bowl here today (Monday 2/4) at 10 AM which is a littleweird both day and time. Oh, did all my doctor's stuff and you'll all behappy to know the captain is in the peak of health with bp 110 over 80 andlow cholesterol, how I don't know.More later. Until then Cheers.Tim, Rose and Joe