I am writing from the top floor of a pretty terrace house in inner-city Melbourne, staying with the friend of a friend, truly homeless. As I look out of the window, writing upon someone else’s desk, the sky is grey, there is the sound of birds and traffic (rather unlike the sea), and it is three hours after arriving at Melbourne airport from Sydney.
This morning I packed the old windvane paddle from Windy the Windpilot, and a set of charts for Palmyra Atoll into my backpack, started up a borrwoed two stroke outboard for the last time, and buzzed onto the dock at Cammera Marina, in Sydney. It was humid and rainy, and the last filmic moment of this whole crazy voyage, was Constellation fading away into the background as I motored ashore. She sits on a mooring in Sydney, the keys are hung up in the office, and a fresh owner has taken over with new dreams and impending oceanic madness…
The last month has been spent moving Constellation from Coffs Harbour to Sydney… Originally I thought I would have the gumption and technical resources to sail her to Melbourne, however as things ended up happening (always by the cusp), we sailed no farther than Sydney harbour.
In some respects it is a very sad day. But in others, as one door shuts, new ones open… As they already have… I may not have Constellation the physical object, but what memories! And those memories can never be taken away, or even sold.
I plan to write an exhaustive post on the statistics of this voyage, and thank all those that have helped me come this far… But for now, just a farewell and a few small images from the last month…
Me and Chris, the new owner.
Flying from Newcastle to Coffs with Chris
Downwind to Sydney
Catching a tuna the first night out
On the public dock at Port Stephens (thanks Brad!)
Great friends and amazing supporters of my trip, Paul, Duane & Marty
Moving all my personal stuff off of Constellation
Thank you everyone,
Nick.
