Back on Songster

We are back on Songster and the forest of masts has grown even denser since we left last year.  The marina at Marmaris is a hive of activity.  Boats of all sizes and shapes are getting ready to launch for the season.

Bob on the aft deck amongst a forest of masts

We have unpacked the 70kg of clothes and equipment we brought with us and fortunately still have plenty of space.  Songster was easy to settle into, even on the hard with limited plumbing and no refrigeration.  We are beginning to put our own touches to the boat with the kids’ picture taking pride of place. 

Kids' picture soon to be hung on the bulkhead

The number and size of mega-yachts that have come onto the hard since last November is just astonishing and they all have crews polishing, painting and fixing.  One even installed security cameras mounted on poles bolted to the concrete at each corner of the yacht with thick cabling to the cameras.  We had great fun speculating why such exc-ess security was needed – crown jewels, Rembrandts, cases of Moet or something more sinister like Mafioso rivalry?  The later is not at all farfetched as the owner of one of the mega-yachts, called The One, is currently doing time.

Mega-yacht with security cameras

There is a huge sailboat under that covering

The marina.  The blue yacht in the foreground is The One

The OTT opulence aside the majority of yachts are occupied by grotty yachties in daggy work clothes doing their own work.  Yours truly are definitely in that category.  The first easy job was getting the barnacles off the propeller.

The propeller after a scrub with a wire brush

All shiny

 The next job is to replace all the windows on the hull.  The first rule of sailing is to keep the water on the outside of the boat and we had some leakages during the northern winter which stained some of the wood in the aft cabin – another future job to revarnish.  So Songster is flanked by scaffolding and I am scraping off the old Sikaflex around the windows.  Just before launching the bottom will be painted with a fresh coat of anti-fouling.

Songster with scaffolding and the rickety ladder for getting on and off the boat

Then there is the usual polishing of chrome and cleaning away the winter grime, which turns out to be a lot less than we had feared.  They have had so much rain over the winter that the boat has been washed quite clean.

The big job for which we need to contract is to replace the 40 year old, 10,000 hour, 500kg non-functioning Perkins engine with a new 250kg turbo Yanmar.  This will be a huge and expensive job.  The Marlin diesel mechanics are coming tomorrow with the quote.  I might have to give Bob prophylactic Valium before they come to dull the impact of the price tag.  Still the silver lining is that the new lighter engine will let us provision 250 kgs more gin and Sailor Jerry....  But the details of this job are for another post.

The weather has been unseasonably cool – more like mid-winter in Canberra.  One afternoon I had to cut the outside work short because my fingers were going numb.  But Sunday was a beautiful sunny spring day and we took a break from boat maintenance for a short walk admiring the spring flowers and beautiful glistening Mediterranean around the marina.

Wattle - just like spring in Canberra

Wild poppies - appropriate with the 100th anniversary of ANZAC just around the corner

Istanbul in Spring

After a fairly grueling three flights and 30+ hours of air travel we were back in Istanbul.  I must admit though that as we started this journey, even though I was sad to leave the good people of Bellingen and the beautiful bush environment, I felt a wonderful lightness of being to be on the road again.

Arriving bleary eyed in Istanbul at 7 am Istanbul time, one of our 21 kg bags wasn’t there.  It showed up two days later having decided to take a bit of a side trip to Singapore.  Ah, the tales it could tell...  What a change in travel from last year when we traveled for 7 months with just carry-on luggage of a small duffel bag each.  This time we had 70kg of luggage in 5 bags packed with things for the boat.  Bob was sure we would be stopped and our luggage searched.  We had masses of electronic gear – VHF radios, EPIRB, GPS, computers, hard drives, sailing route books, wet weather gear, inflatable life jackets and clothes for several seasons.  We even brought a cocktail shaker with a two way radio stuffed inside – now if that didn’t look like a bomb.....  But we were never questioned and our bags went through all the checks smoothly.  

This time in Istanbul we decided to stay in Beyoğlu across the Galata Bridge on the northern side of the Bosphorus.    

Art Gallery and new mosque in Beyoğlu

The Galata Bridge and Tower

This area has quite a different feel from the main tourist area of Sultanamet where we stayed last year.  Beyoğlu is a bit bohemian with lots of cafes, winding narrow streets, old classic buildings and undergoing massive gentrification.  Our hotel was right in the middle of this gentrification, a polite way of saying construction zone.

The view from our hotel balcony

We certainly know how to pick them!  Actually the room itself was very nice but to get to it we had to pick our way through mud and scaffolding then climb 4 flights of treacherously narrow winding stairs.  Taking our 70 kg of luggage up and down those stairs was no mean feat!

As we saw most of the tourist sites last year we spent our three days in Istanbul mainly just walking around the streets taking in the atmosphere.  The city was quite different in the spring.  The weather was cool – more like Canberra in mid-winter but the parks were glorious with spring flowers.

Gülhane Park

Like Miss Carpenter, I love daffodils

Istanbul's own Floriade in Gülhane Park

Funky Rainbow steps

Cobbled streets of Sultanamet

Along with over a million people a day, we spent many hours walking up and down Istiklal Cadessi, a wonderful pedestrian street which goes for about 2km from Taksin Square down the hill to Galata Tower.  It is lined with cafes, up-market shops, buskers and a perfect place for people watching.

Some of the million plus people walking up Istiklal Cadessi

This cello trio busking along Istiklal Cadessi were superb

Bob even took his chances again with a Turkish barber.  We found this small barber shop with a single old man next to trendy salon buzzing with barbers.  We decided to give some custom to the old man and thought it would be less likely he would go for the ear waxing and facials of Bob's horror experience in Marmaris last year.  The old man was lovely but his shop was less than hygenic with a large rat trap sitting on the top of the counter.  Still he got a good haircut and I'm sure earned some karma points giving the old man some business.

Bob and the Barber

Near the Galata Bridge we stumbled upon the fish markets and the iconic street carts selling Balik Ekmek (fish sandwich) – a must have taste treat when in Istanbul.  But buy the sandwich from a street stall as the Balik Ekmeck from the cafes and restaurants tend to be fairly average and have none of the rich flavours of those from the street sellers.

Fish Market, Galata Bridge

Street sellers preparing Balik Ekmek

We did do one tourist site, Dolmabahçe Palace, the home of six Sultans and where Ataturk died in 1938.  The grounds were lovely but we could only see the palace in a guided tour group and no photos were allowed.  Quite a few of the areas were in need of a bit of restoration but the gold gilding, crystal chandeliers and ornate furniture were impressive.

The grounds of Dolmabahçe Palace

Looking out to the Sea of Mamara from Dolmabahçe Palace

It was great to see another area of Istanbul in a different season.  Istanbul has so much to offer and even after two visits we only touched the surface of this fascinating city.

Packing Up Again

In just a few days we will be back on Songster in Marmaris.  The four months back at Boggy Creek working non-stop renovating and fixing the place and renewing friendships and ties to the land have flown by.  Now it is time to move again, just as the weather is becoming much more pleasant.  On the day we arrived the rains started and now as we are getting ready to leave the cooler, drier weather has arrived making it harder to say goodbye to this beautiful, if midgie ridden, place.  (The midgies are certainly one aspect of Boggy Creek we won’t miss!)

The Little Green Truck came to move the heavy pieces of furniture and pack up the storage container leaving enough room for our last minute items.  

The storage container packed up

So there are empty rooms and we are back to living with folding chairs, a small camping table and minimal kitchen things for the last week here in Bellingen.

Empty boys' bedroom

The living room - but no comfy couch

Back to a small camping table

Solar Mist is wrapped up again.  She never got the chance to go back in the water on this visit – poor neglected lovely boat.  I hope she isn’t feeling usurped by her big sister but sadly she has been.

Lovely Solar Mist all wrapped up again

The Kids’ Visit

The Phillips family has come full circle with the visit of the three children back to Boggy Creek where it all began.  Pamela, Peter and Patrick drove up from Canberra in Pete’s flash new car.  We had a great time together.  First we walked around the property, visiting Josh at the Shamballa cemetery (the flame tree we planted in his honour has grown), saying hello to the neighbours that were around – most haven’t seen the kids since they were little – and generally going down memory lane.

Pat standing in front of the big bamboo in the garlic paddock

Playing cards on the verandah

We had lunch in one of the many cafes in town and the kids marvelled at all the up-market shops that have sprung up in the last 20 years.  Pam and Pete drooled over the clothes at Kakadu but Pat, having absolutely no interest in clothes was totally bored.  Then we visited Bat Island in North Bellingen.  The beautiful, if a bit smelly, fruit bats summer over every year on this island in the Bellinger River.  It is a magnificent sight to see them go out to forage at sunset. 

Fruit bats hanging from the trees

We had a great two hour paddle in the river near Fernmount.  Pam even saw a platypus in a billabong.

Pete and Pat on the river

Pat being the woodland Pan

The last day of their visit we went to Dorrigo and took the Wonga Walk in the National Park – an easy 2 hour walk through two waterfalls.  The park is such a special beautiful place.  The trees are gigantic and the abundant flora and fauna make it a magical woodland.

On the Wonga Walk, indulging their mother for yet another picture

The kids dwarfed by the big trees

The boys at the waterfall

A great night at the Federal Hotel then an early morning group selfie and they were off – Pam to start a new phase of her life in London, Pete finishing up his training as a primary school teacher and Pat stepping up to the responsibility of a flat, work and uni and developing good social networks.  We are extremely proud of all of them.

Dinner at the Federal Hotel

Early morning group selfie before the kids hit the road