HERE WE GO !!!!!

LETZ BEGIN

 Brads 50th haz begun, we spent hiz first night up til 4 am drinkin and getting acquainted.
Itz now thyme to point the yot Northwards towards the Mary river and itz legiondary Shady Camp Barra fishing.We won't be able to leave  until the tide rises and we refloat.
Our second night we spent at the pub watching a tittie show then back to clarkiez place or the Nudle Bar 4 drinks and stories of gettin old.
This tendz to happen when everyone iz ova 40 in the group.
Our night waz interrupted by anutha Tropical Storm this put the yot adrift again, panic stationz! We had to drive from The Nudle Bar to the boat ramp while not being able 2C through the rain it waz down to 30k's an hour while the yot bashed up against anutha but just a gentle kiss B4 the anchor chainz tangled. The yot did a full circle b4 itz collision and ended up behind the 40ft steel yot.
I failed to tie the tender 2 the yot in my rush to start the engines and save the yot from banging into the other so the dinghy iz now adrift in the middle  of the storm (holly shit). Day one of the trip and we've lost the tender, 2 hours of searching and Ann and Troy found it nearly 3/4 of a mile out 2C.
Back to Clarkies place,
Day 3 wake up B4 noon and set the yot up for the Mary.
2 tripz to troyz place then anutha trip 2 the fuel station then a trip 2 the yot club 4 more ice now the water haz returned.
Dodging sum of the best tropical storms we've seen yet, we set off 4 the Vernon Island group 20 nm from Darwin. Plan iz 2 spend the night anchored off these 3 islandz. but that'll depend on the tides and currents when we arrive in 3 to 4 hours..
Itz a week later and we R finally back in harbour many drunken nights and lotz of hard graft, finishing jobs like painting the stern of the yot in prep 4 the new stickers which are on their way via post. Thanx to Brother Mark.
Itz thyme to take stocks of our supplies and readiness to head  towardz The Kimberly region.
The outboard motor needs some love and attention so we are getting a replacement impellor and plugs. Then it'll be thyme 2 put the yot on the beach at fanny bay to scrape the hull and get the hulls surveyed 4 insurance.
This will probably be the last chance we get 2 clean the hulls between here and Broome. I'm expecting just a few crocs on this leg of the journey.
Our week away iz now behind us and we achieved our goal of catching Brad his meter plus barramundi it came in at 1 meter 05 cm job well done!
Brad joined the multitude of boatz fishing the river mouth at one stage we counted 25 small boats working the same stretch of water.
Hiz barra capture went viral up the river with many boats coming over with messages of congrats.
Mind you, with that many boats we didn't do any good fishing from the yot! not through lack of trying.
The remoteness of this area haz me amazed considering we were 35 kms from the boat ramp on the main highway 200 km's from town and it took 2 dayz travelling in the yot. 2C so many trailer boats it waz obvious we were on a special patch of water. Many of the boats had fished the mouth for years and never broken the magic meter. We  got the job  done in just 3 dayz.
The only live bait we could muster up were the scores of poddy mullet and a few prawns. Heaps of catfish took their toll on our  livebaits.
So it waz thyme to put the yot on the beach and start our selves a bonfire out of the tonnes of driftwood on the shore.
We found many lures amongst the drift wood, sum brand new. The lure Brad got his Barra on was a tiny thing about 8cm long and bright green who'd of thunk it, everyone had a perfect barra lure but Brad nails the Big One on a tiny green deep diver.
Our plan to scrub the hulls failed with the neap tides not allowing us access to the props and rudders, the main hulls show only minimal growth but the props and rudders should of been antifouled while I was at Fannie Bay.
Unfortunately Honey pulled a hip muscle while running up and down the beach. Lots of yelping and she had 2B carried up the ladder for sum much needed TLC.
The list of jobz that need 2B done is slowly reducing in size, still lotz to do though.
A huge care package haz arrived in Darwin from Dad,mum and Brad. This pallet of stuff includes the repaired powerdive unit plus spare motors for the evakool freezer. We need this freezer to create our ice bottles which are SO important up here.
There iz also the materials needed to finish the curtains on the kitchen side of the main cabin. This should make the air con unit more efficient.
We are no longer waiting for a package from evakool with the new lid for the icebox and digital thermostatz for both the evakool units. However it loox like the evakool freezer iz totally ffffkd.
So itz thyme to repair Dad's 110 litre Weaco unit as we found 2 holes in the old evaporator and I managed to drill a perfect 3.5 mm hole through the evap pipework.
2 dayz of hard graft and we are nearly ready 2 go!
So just 2 make life interesting nature decides 2 send not 1 but 2 cyclones...
Here we go we are ready and we may need to park the yot in a marina for the first week of the trip. Itz not til you realize that when we leave Darwin we have 3 days of open water cruising with no cyclone anchorages available, that  you can appreciate our current dilemma.