A week of haul-out went and passed with LOTS of sweat shed during 15 hour days in the boatyard. Funnily, I enjoyed the whole thing – all but the missing pin in the sledge which put us back in the water on six attempts after which we had finally resolved the drip of water that kept on coming in through different parts of the engine and shaft. All good now and gosh it felt good to be back in the water without knowing bills and expenses growing exponentially over night. The main things that have showed up on the boatyard bill include (disclaimer – if you own a boat or are planning to do so in the near future, always count at least double for a haul-out than what you’d anticipate, just because boat well and truly stand for Bring On Another Thousand!):

• lift and high pressure hull clean,
• reconditioning and refitting prop shaft, including new coupling, bearing and flexible bearing,
• stuffing box strip out and clean
• new rope cutter, new anodes,
• a few new sea-cocks and one new thru-hull
• grit blasting of emergency tiller,
• new anti-foul meant to last us at least two years,
• stainless steel bow protection near anchor,
• reinforcement of mainsail leech.

There’s probably a few bits and piece I’ve missed out, but it was enough to make us wanna reach out to our savings back in OZ – only to realize that we have no access to our bank account. Vodafone kindly let us top up my phone continuously over the past two years, but still closed down my number. Friends, whose address we used in conjunction with the bank, just moved house. In order to change the account’s related phone number we need the address. In order to change the address, we need a valid phone number… See the problem. Australia, will you see us much earlier than expected? Just what you need to wonder about on a beautiful full moon night and our last so here in Turkey.