Here its mostly fine during the day with a late storm some days. We walk an hour every morning and then do whatever boat jobs are on the never ending lists.
There has been the inevitable re provisioning to do after a lengthy absence. The fridge and freezer were emptied and turned off so some serious shopping happened. We bought back some Roo steak and cheese. The Australian Customs took the Blue Castillo off us because its a "soft" substance...probably a nitro bomb!! Darn!! Air Asia were also antsy about us flying our two new plastic diesel Jerry cans. In the end they assured themselves, probably by smell test...that they were safe and we were able to bring them. Malaysian Airlines didn't have a problem with them. We were pretty unhappy with Air Asia the last couple of flights. Their prices have not been so competitive and the service is really ordinary. We have done a few flights with Malaysian Airlines and Vietnam Air lately and been pleasantly surprised.
Since we returned David has re commissioned the Spectra Water-maker which we pickled, as we were unsure how long our absence was to be. Its running well apparently. During that process he discovered a pump had come undone and was rubbing on the steering cables so just as well we found that now and not in the middle of a storm!!
While we were back in OZ I got an Xray and Ultra Sound of my shoulder but didn't have time to get back to the hospital for a second ultrasound and to have the injection. In Miri we called into the Orthopedic Specialist for an appointment. We went back an hour later for a cortisone injection into my shoulder. No fuss no bother and now no pain! All for just $57Aus. In Australia just the Xray and Ultrasound was $300 plus 2 doctor visits and I still hadn't had the cortisone!!
A couple of days ago we put new rope clutches on the Main Traveler because the Ronstan ones we purchased and installed in Thailand were not clutches. The were only jammers and now we have moved the track forward there is more tension on the lines so we think clutches will work better David also replaced the injectors on the Volvo which we had serviced back in Perth. He has run up the two engines , main engine and gen set, and its all systems go!
We are waiting here in Miri for Chris and Daun to return to More Magic and for Huck our trusty sailor friend to come from OZ. We are hoping Huck will sail with us from Miri to Singapore.
Tim and Vanessa, Davids son and partner, are planning a trip to Phuket to catch up with us on the 15th of July for 10 days so our plan is to sail back to Phuket to leave Taipan on the hardstand from mid August until mid January when we return from Australia. Mid August because that will give us time to do a few little things before we leave, like pull the mast out and strip it in preparation for new paint. We would like to get the non skid deck surface redone and the hull painted if that is possible. We are exploring possibilities and prices at the moment. There are some good trades people in Phuket we have worked with before and its possible to leave the boat and expect the work to be done. The trusty blue Jeep is already booked with Morn, the great car rent man of Phuket, so we'll have wheels as well.
So for now we are waiting and doing jobs!
