Tainui Internet Log
The Final Page (for now)
The end of the Year 2000 & what lies beyond...
Recorded by Brian Fairweather
Well, I've actually been pretty slack in finishing off this log - it's now April 11, 2001 and I am sitting in an office tower in Singapore, back working on a short-term consulting job for Pegasystems, my old company. In some ways, nothing seems to have changed, but of course, everything has changed!
I learned a lot while sailing last year and had a lot of fun... in fact, one of the most important things I learned was just how important it is to have fun and enjoy what you do! Now, the challenge is to find something else to work on for a while - TAINUI is up for sale back in Sydney and I am actually enjoying doing a bit of work (and getting paid isn't bad either...)
November 7 - 10 - Well, obviously, we made it back to Brisbane OK - as I recall, the winds were pretty good and the trip was largely non-eventful. It was, however, great to see the Queensland shoreline on the horizon and to sail into Moreton Bay... we started up the Brisbane River before realising that the Customs and Immigration services had moved to a marina to the north - so, a bit of delay, but did get into port safely...
Dan, Scott and I spent only a short time together in Brisbane, as Dan had to rush home to London to see his grandfather, who was in poor health. Scott and I spent a few days cleaning up and hanging out in Brisbane before his scheduled flight back home at the end of the week.
Then, I was on my own...
Back to Sydney
I flew down to Sydney to see Kathleen for a week or so, then we both headed back up to Brisbane to sail TAINUI down the coast to Port Jackson - Sydney Harbour.
We were staying in Manly Harbour, in Moreton Bay for a week or two, then sailed south through the inland waterways along with two other boats, TAMAR (Carol and Graham) and Deus Regis (Dave). We stopped in and visited some friends of Kath's family in Sanctuary Cove, then started the sail along the coast, leaving the Gold Coast and heading for Yamba, a small town in QLD just north of the NSW border. We stayed for a couple nights and Kath, Dave and I even went ashore one evening to use the telescope that I had carried all over the South Pacific! FINALLY! We could clearly see the four major moons of Jupiter, which I had always wanted to check out while in the South Pacific...
We stopped in at Coffs Harbour for a few days, then down to Port Stephens and then straight to Sydney, skipping the Pittwater this time. The trip south was fast, using the coastal currents, which run at up to four knots, just at the 50 fathom line...
We were trying to get home in time to go to Dubbo for the holidays with Kath's family - we spent the Christmas weekend with them, then returned to Sydney for New Years Eve.
We managed to get a berth at Cammeray Marina for the month of January, which was pretty good - back to home base around Mosman again!
Not having a car was a bit of a pain, but we had a great New Year's Eve party aboard the boat, right in the middle of the Harbour at Bradley's Head. Fantastic fireworks and a lot of good friends aboard made it a great night.
Kath and I lived aboard for the month of January - Kath was doing consulting work, while I worked on the boat. At the end of the month, we had another big party for Australia Day and my birthday, and we sailed up the coast to the Pittwater for what we expected to be our final coastal cruise in TAINUI. We met up with no less than ten other boats and rafted together on a mooring in Jerusalem Bay. TAINUI was the centre yacht in the raft and it looked pretty impressive!
We had a birthday lunch at the Newport Arms and then spent one night on the mooring before everybody else had to go back to work on Monday - being bums, Kath and I stayed up there for a couple extra days and explored all the little creeks and coves in the Kuringai National Park. We had dinner at the Cottage Point Inn, which is a great restaurant anyway, but made even more special when you pull up in your own yacht...
I decided that the Pittwater was a place I'd really like to live someday...
February was spent back in Sydney - I took a trip to New Zealand early in the month to renew my VISA (been back three months already?!) and to see some friends made while sailing. I visited Richard and Nicky Poor and their kids in Auckland, as well as our crewmember Brendon Smythe from our trip from Opua to Tahiti!
We had to move TAINUI on the 15'th, as the berth at Cammeray was no longer available. We found a spot over in Drummoyne at the Gladesville Bridge Marina... it was a much more modern facility, with easier access to transport and without the flight of 100 stairs that we had to climb at Cammeray, but it lacked a bit of the charm and it was right under the Sydney Airport flightpath! Victoria Road was also a big turnoff, as it's noisy and ugly - at least you could get a quick bus to the city...
I decided that I really don't want to live in Drummoyne.
I got a call from my old boss at Pegasystems sometime in February, asking me if I would like to work in Singapore for a three-month contract. I thought it sounded like a good easy way to break back into the working habit, so I took the job and am now living in Singapore, in a short-term rented furnished apartment.
Future plans - return to Sydney, take a vacation back in Port Vila, Vanuatu, with two other couples,