Friends

One of the delights of the cruising life is the making of friends, and meeting them in far-flung places.  In the 13 years or so that we have been living aboard we have made many friends along the Eastern seaboard,in the South Pacific and South East Asia.

You won't all get a mention here so please don't feel insulted if you aren't.

Our longest-standing liveaboard friends are Colleen and Derek on 'Wyena', who we met in 1988, the Bicentenary Year.  That led to the birth of our '10 Year Plan' to go cruising. Following them were Larry and Alison, members of the Palm Beach Yacht Club (PBYC).  Sadly, Larry died in October '08, after they had given up cruising for a land-based life in Hobart.  Sandra and Anthony were also members of PBYC, and we still visit them every time we come to Sydney, often staying with them.  Next would be Wal and Robbie ('Annwn') who we met on our first trip north.  They then became our neighbours in Mooloolaba while Wal did the extensive modifications to our boat.  Also along the way we met Greg and Janise on 'Windchimes'; we have sailed many miles together in the Pacific and Asia. Greg has been a great source of assistance on many occasions.

Long-time PBYC friends Peter and Ann Munckton now live in Brisbane but previously lived in Sydney. Peter helped us sail back to Sydney from Hobart in 2003, and Brisbane to Sydney in 2002.

We met out mates Pete and Donna on "Two Up" in Rozelle Bay, Sydney in 2004 after we returned from New Caledonia and Vanuatu.  We later sailed back there with them in 2006 before continuing on to the Solomons. We have since sailed with them in the Sail Indonesia Rally, around Thailand, Borneo and now the Philippines.

Part of the cruising life is to make friends after a brief meeting, then to go separate ways, then meet up again in an anchorage somewhere.  Since joining the Sail Indonesia and Sail Malaysia Rallies, we have made many friends (there were 130 boats in SI!).  Some have gone on to the Med, others have returned to Australia, while others are wandering around SE Asia anchorages in Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines or Indonesia.

Many photos of these people are stored at Flickr

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