Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Where do we go from here?

This is one happy family
I'm still having a hard time collecting my thoughts about this whole adventure and wrapping it all up—so I'll wait on that for another post (you can't get rid of me that quickly).  My heart aches thinking that there won't be any large oceans to cover for awhile and that we go back to just being "Kym and Martin."  Not that this matters, but it seems strange that we go back to life as it was before such a grand and unthinkable adventure like what we have experienced this past year.  I'm not just "Kym" anymore after all this.  There is so much more to me now.  So, I have to sort this all out before I just go back to being a housewife and mom (two roles I greatly adore).  I guess this is what you call surreal and leave it at that for now until I get it all sorted out in my head.

Emotions are mixed because every day for the last year I have woken up to a new day knowing what was ahead of me, what was expected of me, and where I was going (for the most part).  Now, it's planning.  Planning on what Martin and I should do with AMARA for the next five months.  Planning on where we should go once we find AMARA her new home, and then planning for the next chapter in our lives—going home to Utah.  It may sound trivial but it will be hard to leave AMARA in Australia while we venture home to our old lives in Utah.  I know she's just a boat, but she has also been our home for the last year and we were anticipating her for a whole year before that.  AMARA has been another member of the family so to speak, and now we are leaving her here while we go home to Utah.
Coming into the harbor in Brisbane
So, what's next?  That's all going to have to go in my next entry, because Martin and I just aren't sure as of yet. Truthfully, we're tired.  Beat.  Exhausted. Because of that, we are slow in making a game plan for what happens next.  What we do know is that we have to figure out where to leave AMARA before next week.  Yesterday we went and visited different marinas around the Brisbane area to see what would be the best fit for our rather large boat.  She just can't go anywhere and we just can't leave her anywhere.  Then there is the matter of security.  We need to make sure she is safe before leaving her.  There is the decision on whether we should pull her out of the water for the season and put her on the "hard," or should we leave her in the water in a marina for her to sit until we return in April?

Then there is the matter of returning in April.  See, this adventure isn't completely over yet.  Just this leg of the race.  We still have oceans to cover and places to visit, but come this time of year, in this part of the world, there are cyclone's to contend with.  So, packing up AMARA is a must in order to wait out the storms.  Then we can be back on our way again come April 2014.  I probably won't be a full-time sailor when I return in April.  I'll just be one that comes to the fun ports and then back home while Martin and his crew make the larger crossings.  Our plan is to eventually make our way back to the Caribbean some time in the Summer of 2014.  

The plan for today is taking down sails, cleaning my side of the hull (which is going to take me days to sort through) and then getting in a visit with a little town named, Brisbane.  We have been here 5 days and haven't even been to downtown Brisbane yet.  So, that is a priority for today.

Hopefully, I can wrap up a few more thoughts running through my head in the next post and highlight beautiful Brisbane. Maybe by then, we'll have a few more things finalized and I can share with you what our next leg of this amazing adventure will entail.