Our engine has been checked and declared OK by Darwin Shipstores' mechanic Nafea. 'Tis a miracle! So we're all-go to depart for East Timor on Saturday. Amazing.
On Sunday we attended the Sail Timor Leste and Sail Indonesia Technical Briefings, followed by the Sail Timor Leste BBQ. At that stage we still weren't sure the engine was OK, but we went just in case. It was great to meet more of the people sailing to Dili.
On Tuesday and Wednesday Nafea visited us to complete the restoration of our engine. Over the weekend we had charged up and down between Fannie Bay and Cullen Bay at full throttle to give the engine a thorough workout. Nothing broke, so Nafea finished his work by adjusting the tappets on Wednesday morning and reseating the rocker cover (which had been leaking oil).
Yesterday we collected a set of bagged clothes to deliver to the yacht Vega which will be in Dili when the rally boats arrive. Several boats in the fleet are carrying charity goods to Vega, which will then distribute them. The bags fill much of our forepeak.
We also have aboard two huge bags of kid's clothes we bought from the Salvo's. We expect to give these away as we sail through Indonesia.
For the last couple of days we've been meeting with various people to say our good byes. It was great to see Rik and Fiona from Dikenga, and Tony and Andrea from Irish Melody. That's cruising - meeting great people and then sailing away!
Today we:
- went for a swim to clean around the log impeller and to clean the rudder;
- topped up the fresh water and outboard fuel;
- changed the engine oil; and
- went into Darwin for a final trip to buy fruit and vegetables, and to collect our mail.
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