Better Late than Never

This is whats happened : I worked in Tasmania for three months and came to Fiji and worked in my capacity as volunteer Locum at the Lautoka Hospital for the next three months.  That bought me to the end of May at which point the boat was to have been in the water fixed up and all set to go. I was going to have two months sailing in Fiji waters then go to Nigeria with MSF for August.

But there have been a series of delays and frustrations that have almost driven me mad, which I shall outline in brief :

On returning to Fiji I spoke again to BaoBab Marine , at the Marina, who had told me last year they could fix the engine but it would take about two or three weeks.  I had 12, so plenty of time but I wanted them - and asked them - to get on with it so I could get the boat in the water and sort out everything else that may have developed over 20 months of inactivity. Yes, now I was back they will get on with it - to make it easier for them I had brought back the reconditioned pump and detailed instructions on how to repair the broken cam shaft, as well as the parts they would need, gaskets seals and "O" Rings.

Two weeks later nothing had happened and I asked why - they would do it next week they said. The next week something came up and they finally did it the week after that - they removed the motor from the boat and extracted the cam shaft. It was now week six. On week eight I went to see what had happened : they announced their workshop couldnt fix it and they would send it to another workshop - why they took two weeks to decide this is beyond me. A week later, week nine, they rang and said the "other" workshop couldn't fix it either. What they had to do was cut the broken end off the cam shaft at a precise length and fit the new end on with the two  special screws I had supplied from Sydney.

Shaft with broken end on left, new part bottom right

Now something REALLY outrageous happened : after they rang me, on a thursday afternoon, I went straight down to get the cam so I could send it urgently to Sydney to my mechanic at Wichard Marine who supplied the engine in the first place about 15 years ago. At the workshop I frankly but politely expressed my dismay at the enormous delays and time wasting that had gone on - there were only three weeks left and the boat was supposed to be back in the water by then - and was immediately verbally attacked by the Manager with an outburst of such shouting and a torrent of vulgar language and abuse for having dared to ask, for even bringing my shitty little problem to him to fix, for being such a f'ing little "C" for leaving my crappy motor in his workshop....it brought the entire workshop to a standstill as all the other workers shrank into their corners as this tirade of abuse continued and I feared this huge front -row forward hulk of a man towered over me bellowing abuse was about to assault me. He may have been surprised that I stood my ground and insisted I had a right to express my dismay and give him some feedback about the service, asked him why he was shouting at me and abusing me...he stalked off still shouting filthy abuse at me.

Two weeks later I returned with the repaired cam, it was now week 11, I had a week to go at the Hospital and the engine finally went back into the boat. By this time I had agreed to go to Kiribati for a week to conduct a training course for the young Doctors and midwives there, so instead of getting the boat lifted for a quick anti foul, as there was a whole week to kill I asked the painters to do a thorough job this time and strip all the old antifouling off and start all over again.  She would finally be ready to launch when I got back at the end of week 13.

Then, the day after I left for Kiribati, the Travel lift dumped someone else's boat right in front of Sapphire and blocked access to her - it was only for a day but yes that yacht was still there when I got back, and was finally removed at the end of week 14. The agreed job then took several more days but now I wished I had just paid for  the usual quick anti-foul job....

While this was going on I began a discussion with Customs and Revenue about the fact that Sapphire had been in Fiji longer than the routinely permitted 18 months.  I had several meetings with Officials who informed me I had broken the rules by  keeping her here nearly three months too long, and by working in Fiji. They made me pay $450 to get a formal valuation of the boat done and then assessed my liability under the relevant legislation : $FJD30,000.00. The fact that I had been working as a "Volunteer" for the people of Fiji for 5 months meant nothing. Not only that, I would not be able to use the boat until the debt was paid.

At that point, two weeks ago, Sapphire went into the water! What I needed to do was sail to Futuna, a French territory half way between Fiji and Samoa, then return to Fiji and reset the clock - I would be able to stay another 18 months! This is what I had planned for late last year, when the engine broke down and thwarted my plan to avoid the Tax. I spoke to my bosses at the Hospital - the Professor knew the Health minister and phoned him, I wrote and appealed, and eventually it was determined I would pay $2500 and must leave Fiji by the end of June. I received this notification on Friday 20th June at 5.12pm after everything had closed! At the same time my long term accommodation expired and I had to pack up and moved to a cheaper and horribly noisy and grotty hotel in an industrial part of Nadi. The boat was a mess and not ready for me to move aboard.

The following Monday I paid the money.  Over the weekend I was frantically cleaning out the boat, cleaning up the inflatable and the ants that had infested the boat, airing clothing and wet weather gear, - a million things needed to be done - checking the radios and the batteries - one was faulty and I hadto replace it , I pulled my self up to the top of the mast to check the fittings and adjust the Windex which was bent and stopping the wind instrument from spinning and recording wind speed - and so on and on and on in the steaming tropical heat.

Then I had to get a Coastal Travel permit and some other Clearance. Another day gone. Food and drink, water, diesel....and finally on Wednesday the 25th left Vuda marina under motor on a windless  morning, hurrying for Savu Savu the port from which I will leave for Futuna, the boat hastily sorted, poorly prepared, incompletely tested, my mind a jumble of frustrations, irritations, anxieties and disappointments.

But as I motored north and away from the Marina, some of the tension and the stress and the chaotic scrambling of the previous weeks started to drain away and I started to smile, and to breathe a bit easier....

Anchored in Vatia Bay, alone, the end of the first day back on the water

A few hours later the engine alarm sounded, a high pitched scream I hadn't heard before. There was no wind but a current was slowly moving us to the reef we were passing - I inspected the engine and immediately saw he broken fan belt - the mechanics had moved a hose so the belt was rubbing on it and the hose was broken and the belt snapped! The engine was baking hot but I had to pull the water pump off to replace the belt, burning my finger tips and all the while  watching on the GPS as we drifted towards the reef - it was 100 yards off when I got the motor going again!

The next day I motored for six hours to the north eastern corner of  Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji, swam off the boat and planned my crossing the next day to Vanua Levu. In the morning there was a breeze, and after creeping out through the reefs was at last in clear water, 30 miles across on a fine reach with no motor, the Hydrovane working beautifully, and then in through a Pass on the other side to Nambouwalu Bay for the night, anchored off a wharf in 4meters.

Oh yes we nearly sank on the way across  - a hose came off its attachment to the underside of the sink  and the cabin started flooding. Easily fixed but then a few dozen buckets of water to remove!

The fourth day I motorsailed to Savu Savu, passing through a remarkable natural shortcut that must save 30 or 40 miles, the Navisonisoni Pass with huge steep standing waves and strong currents pushing me back. And it was Saturday afternoon when I got here, so yesterday I wandered about the empty streets and checked the weather for Futuna..

A view at Savu Savu

Probably I will leave for there tomorrow. A few chores and the usual round of forms and notifications to do in the morning...

My next post will be when I have returned to Savu Savu - hopefully in  about a week

About "A"

I spotted this super yacht in Auckland yesterday - it was hard to miss - and went down today to look more closely at it. Google  tells me its name is  "A",  it is here for its third repaint in its 5 year life, and is owned by a russian billionaire described as a maths genius on wikipaedia but I couldn't find out why.  He apparently sued the last company that tried to  repaint it, for $100m, because he wasn't happy with the final finish. He and his wife also sued an artist that had been commissioned to make a 7 foot high sculpture for them that was less than 4 feet high on delivery. They paid 423,000 pounds for it and were suing for $2.9m!

Apparently stored inside A are three high speed launches that are longer than Sapphire.This monstrous vessel cost $300 million to build and $20 million a year to run. The diesel tank holds 757,000 litres.

The billionaires story, like most of the stories surrounding the new wave of post-communist mega-rich, is distinctly vague. However theres nothing vague about the descriptions of their yacht and their penthouses and private jets and collection of Monet paintings, or their variously estimated nett worth of somewhere round 10 or 15 billion, which leaves the poor fellow languishing down near 80th in the list of the richest people in the world.

I can barely find words to describe what I feel about people who live on the same planet as everyone else, and when they are trying to find something to do with their fabulous wealth, no matter how ethically it was acquired, the only thing that seems to occur to them is to spend it on themselves. 

What a pity these ghastly self centered people can't follow the lead of Bill Gates who has given away $28billion by the latest estimate, and yet remarkably is STILL the richest man on the planet! Clearly he could afford to give away a hell of a lot more but when you read about what is being done by his foundation - everything from health education to Malaria research and to funding the search for a better toilet (2.5 BILLION people do not have access to a toilet) - you are saved from the despair that looking at something like A tempts you to sink into.

Snaps of Tasmania

Ann Bay, NW Tasmania

Yes, Tasmania has a dark past, but having now seen quite a bit more of it, I have to tell you it is a wonderfully beautiful place. 

I took a tourist day cruise 14km up the Arthur River on the west coast, and looked at trees that are hundreds of years old in bush that has never been logged. We were told, and it was easy to believe that if the Tasmanian Tiger had survived, this is where it would be found. It was wonderful to imagine that maybe some were still there, hiding and watching. We were also told that if the locals ever saw one they would keep quiet about it because once the news got out, the "greenies" would see to it that plans presently being developed to expand logging in that area would be stopped. The "greenies"  were hated by lots of people out there, the fishermen and loggers whose livelihoods depended on being able to carry on chopping down the trees and catch whatever they could along the wild and desolate coast. 

Arthur River

I had planned to continue down that west coast along a back road through the forest, but there had been a slip, the road was blocked and I was turned back. I decided instead to go to the far southeast of the island, passing through Hobart to the Huon Valley, and the Kermandie Motel.

In the northwest the land is rather flat and the coasts wild and the beaches long and sweeping. By contrast, in the southeast, the coast is highly indented and tortuous with hundred of little bays and headlands, islands and small harbours. The land is hilly, even mountainous in places, with dense forest descending down to the long valleys of farms and cottage industries that sell raw wool and fresh home grown  vegetables, apples, cherries, jam, wild honey, and vegetables. The coffee shops are great, there are art and craft galleries everywhere, and you can stay in upmarket Hotels, B&Bs, cheap motels or set up tents in numerous campsites on secluded bays and bush sites. 

Across the road from my motel was a small marina. Fortunately the security gate was ajar when I went down at 6.30 on my first morning there, and it was such a pleasure to wander about in the still quiet morning air and admire the many beautiful yachts there. Later I took the car ferry to Bruny Island and then went for a wild ride in a high powered commercial speedboat. We went  out into a rough ocean with 30 knot southerly blowing onto the cliffs and saw seals and blowholes and a few albatross, as well as massive dolomite cliffs .

A bay in the far SE of Tasmania

Lastly I visited the extraordinary Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart. It was built and paid for from the gambling winnings of a maths genius who worked a system to beat the odds at race tracks and casinos round the world! Its set on a low headland jutting out into the harbour, and has a nice restaurant, open grassy area in front of a stage, and lots of space.Inside, the art is mostly New art - but there are Egyptian Mummies there! -  all housed in a modern maze-like building thats mostly underground, dark and cool. Its a place that should really be visited  numerous times - theres much too much to see and take in at a single visit.

The Entrance to MONA with a real tennis court beside it

And then I came back to work. The Road Trip had been a great success.

History Tour

The Windfarm at Woolnorth. NE Tasmania
(The white things in the distance are huge rolls of Hay, not sheep)

I am having a week off for a road trip around Tasmania, an island which according to our Guide on the Arthur River Cruise ( more later ), was originally one big Prison - colonisation of Tasmania began with the establishment of a convict settlement at Port Arthur not long after the first one was established in Sydney, in 1788. Yesterday, overlooking a huge lake in the centre of the island I saw a single grave, a monument to an explorer Pioneer described on his tomb as the "first person" to set eyes on the lake.

Except that there was an Indigenous population here for millennia, ignored by the people who thought they would use the island as "one big prison" and by the Explorer who stupidly believed he was the first "Person" to see the lake.

On the first day of my trip I went to the extreme north western tip of the Island where there is a huge wind farm that I wanted to see. Unfortunately, it can only be visited by Tour groups, and none was running the two days I was in the area, but I drove out there anyway and saw from a distance about 50 of them lined along the cliff tops facing into the roaring 40"s. A notice at the locked gate gave the history of the property they were on, called "Woolnorth", founded in 1829

"Its the kind of place that would defeat most people and yet its here, at Woolnorth Station that one of Australia's oldest companies continues to work the land, turning the grey sands into milk and beef"

The West Coast looking north to the Wind Farm

They make it sound quite magnificent, as all colonial history is meant to sound in Australia, but one clue to another truth is in its name - the property was initially intended to be a sheep station - wool!  It didnt get off to a good start so two things were done to try and keep it afloat - displace the indigenous people from their ancestral homelands, and get rid of the animal that they thought was attacking the sheep, the Tasmanian Tiger.  

What a Beautiful creature 

An extraordinary animal, correctly known as a Thylacine, they disappeared from the mainland of Australia 3000 years ago. They are not a tiger or a wolf but a marsupial, like the kangaroo  the koala and the possum, animals which are almost unique to Australia, and are distinguished by the fact that they give birth to their young at a very early stage of development and then keep them in a pouch, attached to a nipple until they are big enough to live independently. 

But in spite of these measures the business venture was a failure and eventually Woolnorth gave up on sheep. 

And the Tigers?  A bounty was paid for their hides, and inevitably they were hunted to extinction, the last lonely one dying in the Hobart Zoo in 1936. Click here  to see a sad You Tube video of the only known film of a live one. 

And the indigenous people? They were all "deported" to an offshore island (Flinders) and most died of European diseases there.

What a horrible but all too typical story of how indigenous culture and the environment so often are ruined by Capitalist Exploitation. And in a few days its Australia Day, also called Invasion Day by Indigenous activists, but they will get little if any coverage of their feelings about the arrival of Captain Cook in 1770 and of Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet of Convicts on 26th January 1788. Instead it will be wall to wall Flag waving, boozing and a a day off to celebrate.

Eight Thousand Seven Hundred

A Japanese Twister

When I came back from Ethiopia the first time I was 8 kg lighter than when I went three months before.   I was quite pleased to have lost that weight but was amazed at how quickly I regained it all.  I lost a couple when I was in South Sudan last year but again, quickly regained that when I got back - and then some!  My cholesterol and my Blood pressure were borderline when checked, so I have been taking a bit of notice of my weight and my diet over recent months, stimulated also by the attention in the Press to the "Obesity Epidemic" that is overwhelming the west.

I am sure the main cause  of this epidemic is not our sedentary lifestyles, though they are part of the problem,  but the sheer volume of food we eat. Simply put, we eat much more than we need to, and our bodies store the excess kilojoules of energy as fat. We are encouraged to do this by a constant barrage of advertisements for food and drink,  the endless parade of cooking shows and competitions on TV, the Takeaway food industry and the proliferation of "Convenience" foods. Even take-away coffee is served in a huge cup unless you ask for a "small" one - which used to be the standard size. And why is it that people cant watch a movie unless they have a massive bucket full of buttercoated popCorn, a litre of Coke and an ice-cream?

All I actually wanted to write about this time was an advertisement seen dozens of time by anyone watching the test Cricket on TV last week, for a KFC product called a "Twister". Its promoted as a fun tasty snack. I wondered how much of an adults daily recommended energy intake would be supplied by one of these things - so I looked it up.

Now, you need to know one thing, and this is your fact for the week - the average daily energy intake for an adult, is 8700kj (kilojoules) - if you only ate at three meal times that would be 2900kj per meal.
But remember, as we have an obesity epidemic on our hands this average is probably too high. And its much much too high for kids, the ones who are eating this stuff.

I predict that if you ask any one who has seen the Twister ad to guess how significant a contribution one of those would make to their daily energy requirement, they would answer "not much" and generally regard it as a minor food item you consume  to get through to the next proper meal if you're feeling a bit peckish. I haven't asked anyone so I might be wrong but thats my guess.

From a Blog that Compares what they advertise with what you get!

Well, if we are to believe the KFC website, a BLT Twister on its own supplies just over a quarter of your daily energy requirement (2273kj)  It costs $6.95 in Melbourne, but for three more dollars you can get a BLT Twister Combo ( chips and pepsi Max)  and 1000 more kilojoules : 37% of your daily requirement. The Large Combo ( just more chips and more Pepsi ) for two more dollars is 4453kj, just over HALF your daily energy needs! I noticed they also have an enormous amount of salt.

Who would  have guessed these numbers were so high?

Animals are wonderful

As you can see Angora rabbits are very cute fluffy little animals that apparently make good pets :

"People keep angora rabbits for breeding, showing and for their wool. Either way, they are quite docile creatures, very intelligent and make good pets as long as you are prepared to spend some time grooming them. As a result of all this grooming, angoras are used to human contact and react well to being around us."

Ive just followed a link from the NZ Herald website to a video that shows how their long fluffy wool is removed , so it can be made into beautiful soft garments that most of us can't afford.  I probably should have  included the link to the video because it is something many of us probably need to see :  horrifying and distressing cruelty, a naked demonstration of the bastardry and viciousness of human beings towards innocent and defenceless animals.  I couldn't watch all of it.  It is sickening and revolting and utterly appalling : the animal is tied to a board, and the wool ripped off in handfuls, like you would pluck a dead chook, revealing the angry red soft skin underneath, while the rabbit shrieks and cries out pitifully, struggling . And this is repeated every few months. The wool can be cut off but it is worth twice as much if "plucked" because the fibre is longer. 

Apalling cruelty - an image from the video 

And for the sake of what? Personal gain for the grower, luxury and pampering and prestige for the buyer. Is there no limit to the extent we are prepared to go in our need for comfort and status and glamour? How could anyone argue this is not abhorrent?

This video was made in China where 90% of Angora wool comes from. The article reported that several stores in the UK have now refused to sell Angora products, and one has even offered a full refund for any that are returned. I hope more shops follow their lead, but such is the nature of human greed that I doubt this monstrous practice will disappear until its outlawed. 

A Fact for you

Each year human activity currently adds over 30 BILLION TONS of CO2 to the atmosphere.

Thats a staggering amount of anything to be loading into the skies - 30 billion tons!  And as the graph suggests the amount is increasing rapidly. I cannot understand how anyone could assert that 30 billion tons of CO2 couldn't possibly  affect anything, let alone the climate.

What we are struggling to realise in the west is that the Planet is not so vast, or human activity so insignificant that we couldnt destroy it.

Just something to think about.