New Year Celebrations

Woke on NYE raring to go!! We had to head back to the boat to finish off the clean, which took about 30 mins. So after that we basically headed back to customs house to have hair of the dog! I went with Ben our bowman up to Shippies to meet Bob and Jos, some of the AFR crew and Bert (who was joining us on the delivery) for a long lunch. Great lunch and a few bottles of wine later and it was back to customs house to get ready for NYE celebrations.

A few more of the crew joined us at Customs House, and the plan was to meet up with Bob and Jos at the rambler for the midnight fireworks. Unfortunately, time flew by and being a little worse for wear I got lost in the harbour trying to find the AFR…. It was one of those nights when all networks are down on mobiles again so it was a nightmare getting in touch with anyone…
But eventually found my original crew with 10 mins to go till the new year and saw the fireworks with a bottle of fizzy stuff on Kioni! Then back to Customs House to finish off the celebrations. I have to change my original comments and say that there are a few people in the crew that I would definitely like to stay in touch with and see again back in the UK, the experience was definitely enriched for their being a part of it.

New Years Day I had an early start, meeting Bob, Jos and Bert at the boat for brekkie and then off to do the victualing for the delivery from Hobart back to Sydney on the AFR Midnight Rambler. It was only then that I noticed the set up for the heads (toilet). Usually in race mode the toilet is a bucket! In delivery there is a toilet on boat in the bow, all open plan no doors on this one!! Ha ha, should be interesting… The boat is very basic, compact a bijou as you might say…

Anyway, so the victualing went well and everything got put on the boat. This is a new type of delivery for me as it is more of a pleasure cruise really back up to Sydney. You can tell when the final food and drinks bill is 30% food and 70% drink (3 cases of wine, 4 cases of beer, 4 bottles of rum and a bottle of vodka… yep you guessed that one was for me!). This should be a fun delivery!

After the work was done we took a peak at the “Quiet Little Drink” at Shippies which is an all day event, bbq, drinks, music, and basically every yachtie in town is there… fantastic atmosphere and great fun. We had a good time there and then headed down to taste of Tasmania to meet more friends of Bob and Jos.

Taste of Tasmania is basically a marquee filled with different local produce, wine, seafood, meat, fruit, cheese, chocolate and basically you can but a whole product or a taste. It is a great way to spend time and eat and drink well. We tucked in to fantastic seafood, wine and cheeses and deserts until we could eat and drink no more. Great way to start the year…

I have to mention the weather here in Tasmania because it is crazy, and well I certainly wasn’t ready for it… it is summer here, and this morning it snowed enough to make snowballs. Then the sun came out and blazed, then the wind blew and it was freezing, then the rain poured and stopped as quickly as it started followed by more sunshine and steam coming off the streets. So you never know what to wear and it’s a constant layer system of clothing to stay warm or keep cool…

On the 2nd January I moved from the hotel to the boat and met the final member of the crew, Bill. So the crew is Bob, Bill, Bert and me. I spent the day getting ready to start the delivery on the 3rd,! I am very excited as Bob keeps teasing that this is a single-handed delivery to Sydney and the boys plan on sitting back and relaxing! Can’t wait