FROM PERTH TO MONTENAGRO

Did I tell you it was a bloody long way from Perth to Tivat, Montenegro! Especially when you are travelling on your own and you don't sleep, but all that was forgotten when I got t0 the boat yard and saw Tony and the boat and the water and the sunset and the warm night air and my bed zzzzzzzzzzzzz. 

Tony flew at the start of April to work on Phantomas. He had commissioned a new and improved solar arch and a barbecue table made from Stainless steel and they were fabbed at the Navar yard in Tivat. Tony then installed the new solar panels and associated gear and numerous other jobs but a major job was to polish the boat. He had bought an electric polisher here in Tivat before we left in October last year and was itching to get started. I think the excitement began to fade as the enormity of the job ahead became apparent. 

Before too long it was time for me to say my goodbyes at home and jump on the plane to join Tony and Phantomas. I think I've mentioned to a few of you..."Its a very long way from Perth to Montenegro." especially when you don't sleep much on planes. 

Tivat turned it on weather wise on my arrival that Friday night. It was a beautiful calm evening with a sunset to remember and the following day was around 24 degrees. I'm not sure where all the cold, wet weather Tony had been complaining about was. 

We caught up with Mark and Tanya Wicksteed for brunch the next day and then picked up the hire car ready for the road trip to Germany to pick up the new Jambo anchor from land locked Stuttgart. 

We got going around 6.30am to trek through Croatia and we got a real buzz driving past Cavtat and Dubrovnik where we had spent some great time with the kids and Barb and Daz last year. Great memories. 

We stopped in Vallich, Austria the first night and got some great views the next morning driving through the Alps and drove through so, so many tunnels. We found the anchor warehouse in Stuttgart, even with my dodgy navigating, pretty easily and stowing it in the car we set off to Oberstenfeld.  

Tony, Gary and three small, dark haired, attractive girls (Midi, Luchi and Conchi) had met Thomas and Sabine Garbe in Scicily way back in 1987 when they were all younger and scruffier versions (the boys that is!) of themselves. Tony has kept in touch with Sabine over the years and this would be our 3rd visit over the intervening years but 17 years since the last visit. 

Nothing much has changed with Sabine, she is still such a generous, gorgeous person who is so hospitable. Although I say nothing much has changed, Sabine has a new partner Alfred who we enjoyed meeting on the first night. The conversations were great and despite the language challenges, but Google translate seemed to fill in the gaps. 

We had a great few days in Germany and crossed a few important things off our "Needs" list to make this years sailing more pleasurable. Most importantly was a Weber Q BBQ, can you believe we survived last year without one. The bean bag saga was finally solved, I won't bore you with the details but thanks to Sabine we now have two "Sabine Bags" for the front of the boat and we also got some water filter membranes which are kind of essential to keep our tanks topped up by converting sea water to fresh. 

We also got the chance to catch up with Sabine's brother Jo and Connie and their daughter Lisa. Lisa had come to stay with us in Australia in 2018 for a month before she travelled to New Zealand. She had certainly grown up and we also met Julian, her boyfriend. Before long we had packed everything into the car and started the long, wet and rainy drive back towards Montenegro.