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!