Seven Seas Later...

Well troops here I am in Kudat. The good ship Olza rests at ease at the marina here, and my work here is done. The final 15 day run from Tawau was a real battle. We had to motor most of the way, because the wind pinned our nose with uncanny precision the whole way around Borneo. We weaved through reefs, rocks, shipwrecks and numerous other hazards and nearly got run fown by a bulk carrier ship. I got real sick at one stage after I dived over the edge to scrape some barnacles off the hull in Semporna. The tide began to turn and so much garbage floated past me. A nappy went past my face. I was in agony and bucket bound for a week. Malaysians dont give a fuck about pollution, unfortunately. The beach at Sandakan was the worst I've seen. Had to wade through a 2 feet deep layer of plastic and shit to get off the beach. Full on. Apart from that the country is pretty good. Pretty developed and modern, but I like Indonesia better. More charachter and nicer people. No money brings out the best in people. But anywho.
Easily the best bit was when I swam with a bunch of giant sea turtles in this amazing bay at sunset. Possibly the most awesome thing I've experienced. They were all swimming around the boat as we dropped anchor, so I jumped in and joined them. Perfect. I'd marry Mother Nature for that. Easy.
Our engine died with 20 miles to go just before we were to round the northern cape of Borneo. Not cool. Good old Olza way well be the slowest, least well prepared ship to sail up-the-wind on the seven seas, and we had plenty of wind. Straight, as usual, on the nose blowing clean from Kudat. We spent 3 days and nights storming the cape. Hard fuckin work, dudes. So close to the finish line of a long long journey with so little time to spare. Frustrating stuff. Tacking left and right across the channel for ages and ages in a battle of inches, until finally we began to make some progress as the with the wind slowly shifting to the NW. I had just about given up on the third morning, we could still see the place where our engine had failed three days before. Then, as if by magic, our prayers were answered and we got an awesome wind that blew us all the way home. One last bit of champagne sailing really got the juices flowing I tell you. Wind in the hair, sun on the skin and that satisfying hiss of the boat cutting through swell. Ahhh. Man! We enlisted the help of a few fellow yachties who towed us in to the marina and before we knew it, it was all over. Mixed feelings and emotions and thoughts going everywhere. Been a long, wild ride, and I'll never forget it. Something else I tell ya.
In other news I have decided to put Canada on the shelf for 12 months. Im running out of money and would need to borrow money off Mum to continue. I cant do it. Im 26. Time to go home and earn my independence, and do it under my own steam. Centrelink is hassling me for money too so that needs sorting out and I have a parasite in my eye. All signs point to Oz. And to tell you the truth I'm heaps heaps keen for it. Steaks, VB, the Ashes, fat banjos, video games, YOU. Australian summer has never sounded better. Canada will be there next year, and my work visa lasts 12 months. So I think I'll go back to Brissy via Sydney, Newcastle, MP, and Coffs and try get some shitty job to last me till the next pearling season in Darwin. Pumped. Going to spend a week in the Jungle then romp on home, so this will be the last blog post for a while. Thanks for taking the time to read it, ay. Makes me feel good. Anyways Stay tuned for version 2.0. A man, a van and the Americas. Going to be a hoot!

First thing you know Ill be back in Bow Riveeee-rrrrr... Aaaaaa-gainnnnnnnnnnnn.

Tawau Rock City

Well gentlemen, ladies, I have been in Tawau, Malaysia 4 days now. Indonesia was the best ever. Most awesome people on God's blue Earth. Tawau itself is a bit of a dive. Kind of looks like Bankstown or Redfern or some shit place like that. Day before yesterday though, I dropped into a music studio to buy a Morbid Angel t-shirt I saw in the window, next thing you know I was jamming in the studio with the dude, Paktam. Pretty much the legend around town it seems. My Guitar skills: shameful. Drum skills: worse. Turns out his band, Noisy Crush, a grunge/rocknroll cover band was playing a gig that afternoon. I went along and got my mosh on to some local bands, sang backup vocals on "Smells like teen spirit" for Noisy Crush, who ripped it pretty hard, and sang an Arctic Monkeys number with another band. The scene here in Tawau is really good, all the bands were sweet and the kids sure no how to mosh. I busted my toe up good, but it is a long-established fact that thongs and hardcore dancing don't mix. All in the name of rock and roll, so it's all good. I met some really rad people and had a sweet, sweet time.

Yesterday I stayed on the boat, jumped in the water heaps and listened to terrible 80's and 90's music beamed from KL on the radio real loud. I ate so many biscuits with jam, drank alot of coffee, read and wrote and smoked cigarettes all day. Ended up covered with salt and sunburnt. It was a good day.

Today, after lunch, My skipper and I are set to begin our last hair-raising leg of our intrepid voyage. We plan to get around the northern tip of Borneoto Kota Kinabalu in 2 weeks. A slightly ridiculous proposition, sailing by day and night around 400 miles of fairly dangerous coastline, but whats life without a bit of danger eh? The whole coastline is a jumble of reefs, rocks, islands and atolls, and Tad's charts are pretty dodgy, but we are capable. Besides, we dont have much choice. Skipper has to get back to Oz because everybodys favourite wankers at Centrelink are trying to take his pension and the closest marina is at KK. So it's a mad dash for the finsh line for the 2 men aboard the Good Ship Olza. May Neptune, Apollo and the good Lord above guide our way. HUZZAH!