Going thru our first lock on the Danube

Wanted to try something a little different. This is a series of photos that Belinda took and has shared with me. I've selected all 25 photos and then created this link and I'm hoping that it will work without me doing any more than that. This is the Greifenstein lock about 20km upstream from Vienna.

 

Now going back to edit this post (24th April). This was at 0740 in the morning doing some work and took this shot for the guys at oobe.

Left at about 0900 to head off to Vienna and go thru the lock on the way. Feel free to look at that link above which shows the whole series as we go thru. At one point the current was almost 10kmh so I took this shot.

And then this. Lots to look at here. The tablet is showing we are doing 17.9kmh Speed Over Ground (SOG). The chart plotter is also 9.5kts SOG (9.5kts * 1.85 = 17.575 kmh so it's about the same which is a good thing) and it is showing a speed of 4.5 kts (8.325 kmh). What this means is we are moving thru the water at 4.5 kts but our speed over the ground is 9.5 kts so therefore the water is moving at 5kts or 9.25 kmh

End of the day in Vienna with Belinda watching the cruise ships going past.

Unloading at Tulln

Got up early in the morning in Vienna to take the train to Tulln. We made the train on time but it didn't. Train was cancelled and we took one an hour later. Then there was taxis at the other end and Uber was about 40 minutes away. End result was we took a local bus and walked the last 20 minutes. The train however was pretty fast. Yeah that's 233kmh.

Sorry, no photos of the unloading itself, I was way too busy. This is a shot of the driver reversing. He's holding a remote in his hand that allows him to steer the rear wheels remotely.

And our backyard for a few days. That's the Danube right there.

Loading on the truck in Koper and transport to Austria

Polished and painted on it's way to the truck

And loading on to the truck. Next time we see her will be in Austria. We're off to catch a train.

On the train

Working away

In the Restaurant car, both ordered the Schnitzel which was made fresh.

Haulout and working on the boat in Koper

Temporary desk while waiting for the guy to turn up with the antifoul paint

Monfalcone to Koper

We've seen some good weather in the Med but Monday was awesome. Left Monfalcone at 1000 and arrived in Koper around 1300. Took it nice and easy with most of the way on diesel but did the last mile or two on electric just to make sure everything was working ok.

4 Days on Sun Chi

Thursday 31st March - First day and night on the boat with no water pump. With no running water we collected water in containers. Gas and fridge works, so grocery shopping we go and ordered 2 new batteries. While Martin was checking the electrical stuff, I cleaned the cabin, unpacked and made the bed so we now have a place to sleep. Wasn't easy in the confined space and with a lot of extra stuff in the cabin we placed there to storing for "winter". After dinner we promptly went to bed at 7:45.

Friday 1st April - Martin started the day with phone calls to the marina in Austria and Koper and the trucking company. Once Martin lined up all his ducks, he called Gregor to update him on our arrival and departure times and was told by Gregor that will need three whole days to work on Sun Chi as one of his staff is sick. We have come to an arrangement, we will do the antifoul if he supplies all the equipment. Crisis averted. 

The rest of the day was

• me swabbing the deck while we had a break in the rain
• playing go-fer for Martin while he
• placed one battery in - we now have running water but we can't let it drain in the sink as the pump for the grey water has a broken clamp.
• working on how to run the engine without the Battery Isolator (I call it the blue box)
• buying groceries to last until we arrive in Koper 
• buying an adaptor for my computer Europe to Australian 

Saturday 2nd April 22

• Drive to Trieste to find a clamp for the grey water pump, didn't find one without having to order one and wait until next week for it to arrive. We did however purchase a heater that rolls up.
• return to Monfalcone and Brico to buy an adaptor with 2 prongs out and three prongs in and a large round bowl to place in the sink.
• Quickly returned our purchases to the boat.
• Return car in time for midday when the rental places shuts for the weekend
• Catch a bus in to Monfalcone central, had lunch and then caught a taxi back to the boat. Would like to say the was a quick trip but we didn't get back until 3:30

Sunday 3rd April 22

• fixed the boat heater / aircon 
• replace the battery for the bow thruster, this included dismantling the bed, 
• baled about 50 litres of rain water out of the bow thruster housing
• reassembled and remade the bed,
• couldn't work out why the bow thruster still didn't work
• dismantled the bed again and did more fault finding on the bow thruster
• got out the manual for the bow thruster and realised it needed to be turned on
• reassembled and remade the bed 
• found the Australian power adapters we left on the Sun Chi,
• cleaned up to ship out tomorrow,
• take the old batteries the the recycling shed here at the boat yard

The blue thing

 

Back in the water

Been a busy day today. This morning we woke (a few times, it's the jet lag) in the hotel and then went for a walk to go and pick up the car we had hired from the airport. Drove to Monfalcone and picked up a couple of Vodafone SIMs on the way. On our way up we heard from Gregor that we had an electrical problem on the boat. This thing takes the 12 volts generated by the alternator and the 12 volts made by the 12V battery charger and works out which one to use and then delivers it to the house battery OR the engine battery OR the bow thruster battery. Needless to say that black gooey stuff coming out is not supposed to be like that.

Also, the house battery and the engine battery are way down on what they should be (7 volts and 4 volts). I guess this is what happens when you leave stuff for 2 and a half years. Anyway, today we hired a car, droved about 130 kms, got two SIMs with data and phone numbers, order 2 batteries and got SunChi back in to the water. Tomorrow is another day.

Frankfurt to Venice

After landing at Frankfurt and getting off the plane at 1330, we had about 90 minutes to clear immigration, pick up our bags and clear customs, check our bags in for the flight to Venice and then clear security. Made it with 45 minutes to spare. We ended up landing at Venice around 1730 and got to the hotel just after 1800. Out for dinner and then crashed. Flew over the Italian alps and the Venetian lagoon on the flight down.

On the way in to Singapore

Going back in time a bit ;-) Took this shot on our descent in to Singapore.

Yeah that's been a long time between drinks

So Covid, yeah, it's been a long while. Anyway, we're due to head out to Sydney on the 27th March and then out to Frankfurt and then Venice on the 28th. Fingers crossed we'll actually get there. Rough plan is CBR-SYD-SIN-DXB-FRA-VCE and then drive up to Monfalcone. Boat in to the water, sail over to Koper in Slovenia. Boat out of the water on to a truck and then up to Tulln in Austria and crane back in to the Danube. Where to from there? Right or left but we plan on ending up in the Rhine river around about Strasbourg. That'll do for now.