Sailing the Tasman

My plan to sail off into the sunset from somewhere near the end of 2020 after Zach has finished high school is still in place.

So when I received an invitation to help deliver a 45' Bakewell-White from Sydney to New Zealand (~1000nm or 2000km) in October 2019, I jumped at the opportunity.

On October 22, I walked down to d'Albora Marinas in Rushcutter's Bay to meet the owner-skipper, Blair and his boat.

At the coffee shop taking our last cappuccino for a week or more, I met Andrew, the third member of the crew, recruited like me through www.findacrew.net.

Telephone recall

As Zach and I walked home today from the shops, Zach raced ahead of me on his skateboard and disappeared around the corner.

When I turned the corner, he was hanging by the phone booth that was there, and remarked, "I tried to call you from the phone, but it doesn't work anymore."

He was recalling the many years ago when there were a number of phone booths at this corner near the post office. Back in a time - in his lifetime - when a large part of telecommunications was mediated by telephones and snail-mail, not just mobiles and email.

Aussie animal in France

Zach in Andorra, 2014

For a number of years, Zach has expressed a wish to go to France during the winter.

This became particularly pressing once he had seen snow in Andorra during a trip in April 2014. In the years thereafter, Zach learned to snowboard in the Australian alps.

And so, a winter in Europe was firmly on the agenda.

While I had indicated that I would make this trip happen, I felt my feet cool on the idea of heading to Europe in the winter as the year moved along.

After having a discussion with Coline, a young French woman who Zach and I had known for years, I spoke with Zach about the matter.

"Zach, you know how we talked about going to Europe this Christmas?"

"Yeah, it's okay Papa, I know that you're not keen. It's not that important."

"Okay, well, I've had another idea."

He gave a non-committal shrug.

"How would you like to go to France around Christmas this year ... on your own?"

Flying - up, up, up and away

The new skill that Zach & I have been learning this last year is how to fly - in three different ways!

Gliding

We took up gliding about a year ago, and flying has become a pretty big part of our lives where we travel out to an airfield about two hours from home and generally stay for the weekend.

We have about 40 flights each and a total of about 20-30 flying hours each.

Zach is keen to solo and even has a $20 bet running with me that he will solo before me. Zach has therefore been greatly encouraged by the instructors who say that Zach is ready to solo and is probably a flight or two ahead of me.

Mother & son - losing & refinding one another

After Zach's Mum kind of broke up with him in late 2017, Zach lived with me full time for a period of about three months.

The good ending to this story is that he and his mother reconciled in about March of 2018, and Zach has therefore re-established his relationship with his Mum and is happily a child who can once again, proudly boast that he has two homes.

The separation between mother and son happened after a decade of Zach living week about with his mother, and with me.

His mother was concerned about Zach's screen time and wanted her rules on screens to implemented in both homes. While I shared her concerns, I was happy dealing with the issue in my own way, and happy for her to deal with the issue in her home in her way. We agreed to disagree.

Star Wars does Macbeth

Zach likes Star Wars a lot.

He does not like English very much.

However, when asked to recast the story of Macbeth into another setting, Zach was inspired.

He cast Anakin into the role of Macbeth. Anakin eager to pursue a prophecy that he will become a Jedi knight, is talked into a treacherous trail of murder by Emperor Palpatine (the role of Lady Macbeth).

The outcome was a ripping yarn presented as a stop-motion film using Star Wars figures and spaceships built out of Lego.

And Zach got top marks for his English assignment!

Here's a hyperlink to the 2'55" film.

(Or this link if the above does not work: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h6MJesR5BWzsbJB_6bS-dYN26i_I3CCK/view).

Five days out bush - Jatbula Trail

On the morning of 20 July 2018, seven fellows headed to hike for 65kms through the wilderness.

The Jatbula Trail is located on the edge of the Arnhem Land plateau. 

It is about 300kms south-east of Darwin and lies just to the north-east of the town called Katherine.

The hike was long (65kms). And arduous (65kms carrying 15+kg on the back). 

Here's a few highlights:

Tasmania - right on point

Tasmania is to Australia like the point of an exclamation mark.

Tiny and inconsequential in some ways, but if you miss it, you miss a significant part of the whole.

Bruny Island

We started our tour by exploring Adventure Bay which is curiously one of the first areas in Australia explored by early European explorers!

About one and a half hours from Hobart airport by car (including a ferry ride), Adventure Bay is in the south-east of an island called Bruny which is to the south-east of an island called Tasmania which is to the south-east of an island called Australia.

The Stephening Standard - 2017

The major event of the 2017 year was that Zach, my little boy, simply disappeared. And in his place, a tall, fit, funny (some times) and charming (most times), young man arrived.

(You can still hear the little boy's voice on his telephone voicemail!)

The transition started with him doing a long solo paddle up Jerusalem Creek in late 2016 just before his 14th birthday.

In April of 2017, he and I participated in a week-long camp for sons and fathers (or mentors) called The Making of Men. The highlight of this camp for me was the "return to community". The men - older and younger - walked back to Durrumbul hall at the back of Mullumbimby. There they were greeted by waiting friends and family. I was delighted to see Zach's Mum and sister there for him. And Zach's mum was blown away when the mothers were gathered together in the centre, and then addressed and acknowledged by Zach and the other young men. And her smile was incandescent when all the men sang to the mothers as a choir.

Zach grew taller than me in about June.

In July, he accompanied me to a conference in the south of France, impressed and befriended some of my academic colleagues, and then stayed on by himself with our dear French friends near to Toulouse while I attended another conference in the US for a week. He managed magnificently.

In August, his braces were removed.

In September of 2017, Zach's mum gave him an ultimatum in which he had to choose between living with her most of the time and spending every second weekend with me, OR to spend all of his time with me and no time with his mother. It was probably around this time that Zach grew taller than his mother as well. I wonder if that was connected in some way?

In September, Zach and I travelled to WA. There his grandfather gave him a chainsaw to use. Trees were cut, wood was hauled, fires were started, masculine poses were pulled ... and there was much laughter.

In October 2017, Zach began flying - literally.

That's one whole bunch of growing up.

And me, I'm still growing - admittedly, mostly outward at this point. And still learning too - there's such a lot to learn!

I'm trying to work less, or at least, to focus on work that I really enjoy doing whether paid or not, and to reject the allure of mighty materialism. A work in progress!

Perhaps the best fun work I did in this last year was my tour of south Pacific islands in order to evaluate whether Australian-funded sports programs are successful in promoting social inclusion among those with disabilities.

And the best party was my sister-in-law's 50th birthday party. Glitz and glam was the theme - and me and my bros went all out... (see picture to the right)

Have a great 2018, and maybe see you there.

South Pacific tour

One of my jobs this year was to evaluate the impact of sports programs (and especially table tennis) being delivered in the south Pacific. The sports program is specifically designed to engage people with disabilities. Table tennis is ideal as it tends to encourage and support play between persons with disabilities and able-bodied people.

The research took me to Fiji, Tonga and Kiribati.