Chaud!

Soleil de plomb, chaleur etouffante et hunidite en hausse. Nous sommes depuis quelques semaines en plein dans ete tropical qui fait la reputation de Brisbane. Passe 10h, toute activite devient quasi-epuisante. On regarde, l’air reveur, couler la riviere. On a beau utiliser le tuyau d’arrosage sur le ponton comme substitut, l’effet n’est pas le meme que piquer une bonne  tete dans une eau claire. Alors on lit (ou plutot, je lis donc ne pas deranger!), on bricole – doucement tout de meme – les enfants jouent a terre, caches a l’ombre des plantes bien taillees de la marina. Passe 15h30, l’ombre s’imisse lentement de ce cote-ci de la riviere et on respire a nouveau mieux. Le soleil disparait et enfin il fait en dessous de 30ºC. On se reveille tranquillement de cette lethargie mais deja il est l’heure d’aller se coucher…

Previsions meteo pour demain: soleil et 34ºC!

Clea's organisational skills

Clea:"This morning, I prepared my socks for the week"

Jump in history (by Victor Hall)

“Why have I taken this job?” thought Jim as he desperately ran away in the dense forest, away from an awfully angry mammoth. He looked back at the enraged animal then straight forwards in any hope to find something or someone that might save him from being squashed. A glim light appeared in front of him: “A village!”. He was relieved. “I am saved”.

Jim sensed a slight movement on his right. Suddenly, an arm shot out and pulled him in deeper bushes. Jim could clearly see the face of a prehistoric boy. He was young and strong, very strong. He had a long stick and cut our rocks for hunting. Apparently, he was on a hunting mission. But his face was full of fear. He was scared of the mammoth…

As an archeologist, Jim had volunteered for testing an untested time machine which was set up for the prehistoric time. He regretted choosing this job because now he was being chased by a very angry mammoth and he was facing an uncivilized kid…

The animal came crashing through the trees towards them. “Oh no!” thought Jim as they hid in a hollow branch. But the animal didn’t mind them and ran towards the village.

Jim and Uluru, as it was the boy’s name, made a bow and some arrows with a flame at the end. They prepared for the big battle to save the village: tiny vs. big and they were really tiny.

They met the animal at the center of the small village. They tested their bows and attacked. It was awful. They had battled for at least an hour and they were running out of arrows quickly. Jim had his bow squashed but Uluru gave him his weapon. With only one arrow left it was their only chance to save the village. The man aimed carefully and shot. The arrow sailed in the air and hit the mammoth square in the heart. It then fell to the ground.

Now it was time for Jim to return to his era and to his family. This meant leaving Uluru behind. He chose to take a souvenir with him. It was the bow and the arrow which was used to kill the mammoth.

“Bye my friend, I shall miss you. But I promise that I will come back” cried Jim. Then he went back to the place where he first crash-landed few days ago, in the middle of the mammoth territory, remembering the awful chase that happened there. This time, the mammoth was dead, so he was safe to pass. Then he heard a strange noise.

“Oh, no, it is the female…”

Jim rushed for his capsule. The mammoth was already stomping towards him. “Aaaaaahhhh!” screamed Jim as he stepped towards the time machine. Then an arrow struck the animal in the neck. Jim looked around and saw Uluru. His friend has just given him a clear path to go back to his era. He jumped in and entered the coordinates for 2011.

As soon as he came back, he remembered his gift. He will always keep it close to him for the rest of his life.

Victor would be really happy to read your comments about his first big story!

One, two and three already

Three years ago Table Mountain was disappearing slowly behind us. We were heading West with a tight knot in our stomach, a smile on our face and without knowing what will await us.

Three years later, we still have a smile on our face and we stopped (for a little while) going West, at least with the sails up. The knots are here but only to keep Merlin tightly moored at Dockside Marina. Do we really know what awaits us everyday? Not too sure…

Lots of changes happened during this time and the posts of this blog tell you about our many discoveries. Many other details are not mentioned: Victor is more than 20cm taller and he can now wear my shoes (however, being a boy he prefers not). Felix doesn’t even wear Victor’s clothes from when we left. He too grew a lot. He can write and read in two languages. The boys still speak about Cape Town, and odd details of their life there. They are begging me to bake some koeksisters for example. Clea, the boat girl, tries to copy her brothers by telling stories about “Rhodes Cottage”, but clearly can’t remember a thing of our old house. In three years, so much happened in her life. The bags of nappies which were filling up the lockers when we left are only old memories. She prepares her own breakfast and starts reading. Most importantly, she knows how to steer a boat, how to make a call on the VHF and what AIS is.

Today, we are still under the Southern Cross and only 5 deg closer to the Equator. The Ocean next door became the Pacific. Strelizias and agapanthus are still flowering along our paths. We call it more BBQ but we still braai. Greg and I have more grey hair and more wrinkles and most of all, we are very proud of what happened since Table Mountain disappeared.  

Australiversaire

1 an aujourd’hui que nous sommes arrives en Australie.

Des hauts et des bas se sont succedes au cours de notre nouveau quotidien. Nous savons par experience que nous ne retiendrons que le bon et que nos multiples aventures, beaucoup moins exotiques que les precedentes car surtout administratives, seront considerees avec humour tres bientot.

Et pour feter cela Merlin a eu un nouveau drapeau  – bien merite sous ces latitudes!