Homeward Bound

We spent our last day in Monastir preparing Common Sense for a little rest, cleaning and securing everything and locking her up safely. Then, after completing the last few stages of the complex process of visa acquisition, we were off on a three hour train ride to Tunis, Tunisia's capital. We spent a couple of days there - and what a fantastic city it is, with the best of modern Europe and ancient Arab culture side by side. When we finally located it, the Bardo museum was a stunning highlight - a beautiful exhibition space filled with Roman mosaics and the few precious artefacts that survived the burning of nearby Carthage.

There's that Neptune bloke again

 

Then at last, after a year and ten months away, it was time to head for home. We boarded the Qatar Airways flight to Dohar (about five hours) then changed over for the ten hour flight to Perth. We were pretty impressed with the service on Qatar, especially their care and attentiveness when I managed to faint a couple of hours into the second leg. I recommend passing out as an effective, though slightly extreme, way to get a nice lie down if you're fed up with being cramped in your seat. The less said about the waiting lines in Customs in Perth Airport, the better, apart from the fact that it puts a serious dampener on your excitement at coming home, and must create a rotten first impression of Australia for new arrivals. This was sad, as the Brits on board had been just about orgasmic at the prospect of 24 degrees at 6pm in the evening.

 

Fortunately we discovered that our passports had microchips and we could go through the self-check-in, leaving all the other poor passengers seething in their endless slow-motion queues. The it was out into the clear air and the lovely balmy evening. In spite of the slightly jarring discovery that I'd let my driving licence lapse, our car-hire proceeded smoothly and off we went, back on the left hand side like we'd never had to change.



It was a very weird feeling to be driving through a familiar cityscape where we felt like strangers - tourists in our own home town. But I'll save the Australian travelogue for the next blog. It really is great to be back!

 

Ponton Deux

How fortunate we were to end up on Ponton #2 at Cap Monastir with all the live-aboard French families. There is always some interesting project underway, whether it’s Olivier constructing his own fibreglass dinghy, Laurent repairing sails, Giles building new cupboards, Christine’s awesome sewing or even the children’s projects ; and these are not just building sessions, they are social events with much conferring, lending of materials and offering of advice, not to mention regular breaks for food and drinks. DIY skills are taken for granted – it seems to be the mark of a real French sailor to be able to make or fix anything yourself.

 

It’s also a matter of pride to be able to cook, and we have been privileged to sample the wonderful dishes that issue constantly from tiny boat galleys and grills – tartes, crepes and gateaux as well as great salads, fish dishes and pasta. Last Sunday’s cook-out on Ponton Deux saw us feasting on ourcins (sea urchins which Guy and Giles had dived for that morning) and seches (cuttlefish cooked with peppers and pasta) followed by crepes doused in delicious home-made orange liqueur. And several bottles of wine, of course. We contributed fennel and artichokes grilled in the delicious local olive oil – thankfully these passed the required culinary standards and were pronounced ‘tres bons’.

 

Last week we took the train to Mahdia and toured the huge Friday market with Olivier and Lauren. I bought a much-needed warm blanket for 15 dinar (it even has special symbols to ward off the Evil Eye) and our friends picked up a good sewing machine for 70 dinar, after a bit of gentle haggling. We also bought loads of dried fruits and nuts, including some black figs which are brushed with olive oil before sun-drying, and are totally delicious, especially stuffed with walnuts and fresh cheese. Mahdia has a spectacular old cemetery spreading over the cliffs on a high peninsula, and a fishing boat harbour carved out of the limestone rock below it. We wandered through the town and enjoyed a very good lunch of fresh fish, chicken and cous-cous (along with all the usual extras of bread, harissa, olives etc etc) at El Moez restaurant, before taking the train back to the marina.

Well it’s just a week now until we head home, and we’re so looking forward to seeing everyone. Just don’t expect to see the trim, taut figures who completed the Atlantic crossing – as you can tell from this post, we’ve been eating a little too well for that!