THREE WEEKS TO GO!..Dave

Only three weeks to go before leaving Hong Kong behind for Sydney.   It’s a tight schedule organizing my business, family and home life while preparing for the adventures ahead.  The Photo shoot went well on Monday,  Elden Cheung did a  great job and gets a big thank you from me, he even managed to make me look quite handsome, apparently…. A big thanks to DB Management Company for permitting us to use the Bounty replica for the shoot, it was great to walk around her and get a real sense of what life must have been like for Bligh and his crew.  Looking at this picture on board was a stark reminder of how it must have felt like as a loyal Bligh crew member being cast off for certain death, avoided only as a result of Bligh’s leadership and outstanding navigation skills.

I purchased the navigation charts this week, chart 4060 covers the entire journey, I left the ship store, met a friend and we proceeded to review my purchase while drinking our coffee….  Wow….  It’s a long way… don’t misunderstand me, I knew this, but to see it laid out in front of me just brought the reality home….   I appreciate the chart will have to stay here in Hong Kong on my departure, for now, I am enjoying charting Bligh’s journey, wondering to myself how I will feel at varying stages, however hard I try not to, my mind returns to the hunger ahead.  So I pop to the fridge for a comforting piece of chocolate… I worry about the hunger more than anything, I know this will be a very big challenge for me.

The more time I spend reading varying aspects of the adventure the more at ease I feel, I wasn’t so happy to read Don’s change in heart on the clothing, I know I speak for everyone when I say how grateful we are for his experience and dedication, he is such a caring petal, but more on the clothing later….  In truth I am not happy!

I purchased several Astronomy books to broaden my knowledge on the subject and have become very excited at the prospects of studying the stars during our voyage, anyone who has lived in Hong Kong will appreciate, due to the pollution; stars are not something you can see very often here.  (other than Jackie Chan that is) 

I continually think how I will fill the time, when I travel on business trip, I am known for taking a library of books as company, indecisive I take a selection of genres, just in case!  Now here I will have many potential reading hours (when not capsized) but no books.  I am an avid mind mapper, and the other day became quite elevated at the prospects, as while I cannot take a vast supply of mind mapping material I realized, I have the largest template available to man, the sky and its stars!  I hope to create my mind maps, literally using my mind and imagination, the stars as focal point for each branch, I think Tony Buzon (original mind mapper) will be very proud of me. 

That’s it for me, its 1.30 am, an early start tomorrow.