Sunday, February 01, 2009

Hoist the anchor

Three years ago before this trip began I had the pleasure in meeting Mrs. Perkins in the UK, yes the same as Perkins shipping, it is this lady who said the quote that I have in my title “a wise lady once said……” So I wrote Mrs. Perkins a letter asking for special permission to get a birth aboard the vessel that would take my bike from Dili to Darwin, unfortunately company policy did not allow this which I understood. But that was three years ago and now here I was in Dili with permission to take the ship.

The MV Kathryn Bay.

As I made it back to the port I saw the Kathryn Bay docked and off loading containers, this was my ride, it was huge, a far cry from the wooden Dhow I took across the red sea to Yemen with a crew of a few men, a sheep, a goat and a squat loo straight into the ocean! I approached a guy with the Perkins insignia on his uniform and said Hello, his reply was, “welcome Allan Roberts come aboard we have been expecting you”. As I stepped off the dock just like that I had left behind the madness that I had known for so long, the madness I have loved and at times loathed but steeping onto this ship was for me stepping onto Australian soil, for me it was 5 star, extremely clean, Captain Pedro and his crew, all from the Philippines made me feel very welcome and I was showed to my room, wow, it was two rooms, en suite, hot shower, air con, this was amazing, I needed the shower as I was dirty sweaty and tired. After freshening up I was then invited to the mess for dinner with Captain Pedro, I had yet to eat all day, it was delectable.
Captain Pedro in the bridge.
What a way this would be to arrive to Australia, in luxury aboard a container ship. My dream was never to have to fly any part of the journey and to ride a bike the whole way, well I did not fly but the mother ship did from Ulaan Batar to Bangkok but I crossed on the 150 cc Sunik and now this, I am on the same ship as my bike, I did it, I achieved what I set out to do, overland on a bike from London to Australia via Cape Town.

I think the green container has the precious cargo inside.

But like I said in a previous post I am not there yet, I still have 3000 k’s to cover before the final flag drops.