Day 60, Year 3: Meeting a Born and Bred Darwinian
Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Weather: Back to Beautiful Weather; No Clouds, but Windy
Location: Fannie Bay, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Today I met Jane and her 21-month old son Tarick (Tarky). Jane was born in Darwin and evidently it is a bit of a rarity to meet someone here who was born here as Darwin is a melting pot of nationalities with people moving in and out all the time. Jane is a good friend of our daughter-in-law Jo, and Jo made arrangements for us to meet. Jane’s mother came to Darwin from East Timor in 1975 and subsequently married Jane’s father who is from England. After graduating from college, Jane went to England to spend some time with her father’s family there and got a teaching job in the same school as Jo. Jane eventually returned to her beloved Darwin and is living here happily ever after. She and Jo keep in contact via email and that is how we came to meet Jane. Jane was so helpful in directing me to the best shopping areas and took me for a short ride to acquaint me with the different shopping centers and nature reserves within walking distance of the Sailing Club. Some places seemed so far away, but she was able to show me the shortcuts and that will be most helpful as we provision for the next three months. She also gave me some excellent pointers on which places we should visit in the Northern Territory and she hopes to arrange for us to visit the bush camp where her father is currently prospecting for gold. That would be a truly unique experience. So thank you to Jo for getting us together and thanks to Jane for all of her help.
While I was spending time with Jane, Mark went with Rendezvous Cay to buy engine oil and transmission fluid. He had hoped to find fan belts, but there were none of the size we need. We can’t leave here without extra fan belts for the alternator, so we will have to continue that search. I stayed at the Sailing Club working on my computer while waiting for Mark to return. I wrote emails and named photos and when Mark returned, he got on the internet. We stayed through Happy Hour and then returned to Windbird. The number of boats in the anchorage is growing daily, probably now at least 70 boats, but Fannie Bay is large enough to accommodate us all. As the sun is going down, I am sitting here in the cockpit writing this log and watching a harbor cruise boat going by seeing how the boat people live. It’s a great life.
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| 080708 Day 60 Darwin Sailing Club and Fannie Bay |
