Disaster!?!

After a few weeks of strict eating, regular exercise and even a trial Tri around Hastings to get the hang of doing the respective sports one after the other we were ready to go, bikes in the car, loaded with carbs when ANOTHER tummy bug struck. Kat was first to be taken down with a bout of the runs, then at about 1am on the morning of the event the mass exodus began from my internals too. Must have done something to piss my stomach off as it shortly found a second exit for my dinner. So after a few hours of regular toilet visits and throwing up we had to admit defeat, the fun tri just wasn't going to happen. Alas. Well at the end of the day the motivation as to be a little healthier and lose a little extra weight which has been achieved so it wasn't a complete waste but disappointing nonetheless.

The source of the stomach upsets is still unknown, at first we thought it was potentially self inflicted with something we'd eaten, but since Mum had it, and Dad got it a couple of days later, it suggests that perhaps it was a bug from the kids. Suzy came down from Sydney for a long weekend visit with the kids so perhaps the little petri dishes brought it with them!!

Regardless, having the kids down was fun, i had some helpers when cleaning the bikes



Dad had a little helper with the watering!



Still waiting on the news that will let us book flights back to the the UK, but still no word. But i do have another new Xbox game so i reckon I'll be able to hold out for another week!

Brad is now content

After wondering around like a lost boy Brad has finally found something to keep him busy - I've lost him back to the xbox and a new LOTR game! He's knee deep at Helm's Deep, but at least he is busy!

Training continues as we start to extend the length of our road rides and runs, but the weight loss has definitely plateaued - very frustrating!

And my work is also frustrating in that we still don't have any clarity over what the timetable for the next few months is. But it's certainly getting colder here and we want to keep following the sun!

Why are we waiting, slowly going crazy!

Well it feels like the seasons have definitely changed now. The last couple of days have seen loads of very much needed rain (I think all the fires are out now!) and a constant wind with a chill in the air. Actually put on tracky daks and a jumper yesterday!!

Well the date that we had been waiting on to give us clarity as to when we could book flights back to the UK and back to the boat came and went with very little new news. Kat's client is now meeting again on the 24th which will hopefully see a decision made and then a plan laid. In the meantime we are kind of just hanging around. Kat has some bits of work to do to keep her busy and reads loads but I'm a complete spare part. I've taken to trawling the web for blogs and articles on anything to do with sailing. Started making lists of things to do when we do get back and even started planning our intended route, but this is the same stuff i was doing last week, and the week before that and the week before that!!!

However under the current global circumstances I can't complain, things could be a darn sight worse. We are both getting into a bit of 'training', doing some runs here, some rides there and a little bit of swimming, but with this recent foul weather motivation is slipping a little.

Well that's about it, nothing exciting happening down here. Now I'm off to the 'office', I have a ceramic soap holder to replace in Mum and Dad's shower!! I've secretly been looking forward to this all weekend.

Well the seasons here change like clockwork. Summer turned into autumn at midnight on the 28thFebruary! It rained a little on the Sunday, more than welcome in and around Victoria considering the lack of water and of course welcome relief for the fire-fighters. The rain continued sporadically throughout the week with a decent 6mm on Wednesday. Lee and Sal came to visit on Wednesday afternoon and we are now convinced that Sal is the Rain God! They were due to go camping down Wilson’s Prom way but it is closed and nearly burnt out due to the recent fires, instead we hit a couple of wineries and drank a little too much.

Kat and I are trying to be a little healthier and get a few training miles under the belt so that we don’t completely embarrass ourselves on our mini triathlon on the 22nd of this month. We had hoped to be doing a little more by way of training but the trip to Sydney and the stomach bug kind of got in the way. However yesterday we made amends with a 20km ride and 5km run.

Not only did the seasons change on the 1st but so too did our, or at least my, attitude to getting back to the boat. I had been feeling quite static and it now feels like we are on the home straight so to speak. Mum is doing really well and beyond the next course of treatment, in about 5 weeks, they are going to reduce the dosages again and will only require a hospital visit every other week versus once (sometimes twice) a week at the moment which is great news. She has shown such courage and determination in the last 15 months and finally it is all starting to pay off, she really deserves it.



It’s been great to spend an extended period of quality time with Mum (and Dad!?!?), helping them achieve a key goals, namely get a larger house and finally getting all those last remaining items out of storage, whipping Hughie in to shape! But I guess there comes a time when you have to move out of home … again! We are both keen to get on with the adventure and get somewhere (god knows where) to finally settle down for a bit.

As I said the weather changed rapidly here in Melbourne and with a new season (we only do seasons that start with an S!!), motivation to be back on Ghost went through the roof. We are now gathering our thoughts for our impending return, making lists (well Kat is), organising work and additions to be completed in Turkey before setting off, researching and reading more advice on recipes for longer passages, the useful life of different fruit and veg (and other info that most of you would be bored stupid by!),plotting an intended course to see us through the Med and onto the Canaries for the beginning of the ARC on the 22nd of November and even reading about events further down the line like transiting the Panama Canal and new findings on the inter tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in the pacific islands. Needless to say we are pumped!