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American Spirit II - Day 238; Brother David Arrives in Darwin; Sunday, August 31, 2014



Up at 8:00 AM. Breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and raisin bread.

Took a taxi to the airport to pick up a rental car. $24.50 one way. Expensive. I had reserved one at Thrifty using my phone but Jeanine got online and found one for me at 1/2 the price of what I was going to pay at Budget. So I rented the car for 2 days instead of one. I was back at the boat by 10:30 AM; then at 12:30 PM I took Michael, Peggy and their 2 children to the airport. From the Rally boat Polaris. Back at the boat by 1:20 PM. Then off again to pick up my twin brother, David, flying in from Chicago via Los Angeles and Sydney to Darwin. He arrived at 2:15 PM toting a bag weighing 70 pounds and loaded with spare parts, a couple of hose reels and 30 freeze dried dinners. Once he got to the boat Joel and I finished packing up the 200+ cans of fruit and vegetables I'd purchased and stowing them in the aft, port 'hidden' hold. We purchased enough canned goods to get us all the way to Africa.

At 5:30 PM a dock party sponsored by our marina started, and within half an hour things were pretty lively. It was good getting together with people before we head out to Bali on Tuesday. Since I had my twin brother with me we were getting a lot of double takes. Jonathan and Jenny from Merlyn of Poole had just returned from the UK and it was nice catching up with them.

At around 7:00 PM we headed out for dinner, driving down to the wharf downtown. Went to Crustaceans again. Another very good meal. Once back at the boat at 9:30 PM everyone was in bed by 10:30 PM except me.

Since I've neglected to add Australian slang to my last few logs, I'm going to go overboard here. "Howya goin' mate, orright?" is a popular greeting between males. In Australia you don't go to a 'tire store' to get a tire fixed, you go to a 'tyre' store. That's how tire is spelled - tyre. 'Just quietly' means just between you and me. And the word 'presactly' is a combination of precisely and exactly.

Brian Fox

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