Sat 1 Oct - premature P'n'P, heavy rain and wind, coffin making for alphorn

Rita misjudged the time last night, and prematurely Pinched and Punched me before midnight. So I won the October P'n'P by default. The morning started with heavy rain and wind, and it didn't improve at all during the day. So I spent my time profitably in the wheelhouse, by making a carry case (looks more like a coffin) to take the newly-acquired Alphorn home to Australia. We acquired all the needed supplies from Brico a few days ago (two flatpack cardboard boxes, a roll of bubble-wrap, a roll of plastic wrapping film, and of course a roll of gaffer tape) and have just been waiting for a quiet, wet day to start construction. The first job was to wrap the alphorn (in its own carry case) in bubble-wrap (looks more like a broken leg in a plaster cast). Then unseal one of the cardboard boxes and lay it flat, and trace the required shape around the alphorn, leaving sufficient on the sides to give enough depth for the case. Luckily, with lots of juggling and re-orientations, I found that one box laid flat was just enough to build the bottom half of the case. Then the gaffer tape was used to tape corners and sides to give the required strength to the bottom half of the case (leaving a gap for the flexible handle on the alphorn's actual carry case to protrude through the box and once again be the handle for the cardboard carry case.

The procedure was repeated for the top of the coffin, making it just a tad larger than the bottom, to ensure that the top half would fit over the bottom half. Then more gaffer tape was used to join the two halves together.

Finally, the carry case was labelled with name, address and FRAGILE signs, and then the entire assembly was wrapped in cling-wrap to keep it all together for the long journey ahead. Job Done!! When weighed it came out at 18kg, leaving me 12kg for all my other luggage. Luckily I travel light for the French trips.

Sun 2 Oct - cloud, sun, wind, NRL GF, Dole Festival, rainbow, canopy frame, sunset, moonrise

Today was a day for all seasons, with cloud, sun, wind and a little bit of rain. I started the day by watching the NRL Grand Final between Penrith Panthers and Parramatta Eels. Parra were lucky to make the GF, so it was no surprise when Penrith won their second GF in succession. In the early afternoon, Rita went across to Dole for their annual music and food festival. Despite intermittent rain, it was apparently very successful again.

The combination of rain and sunshine in the late afternoon gave rise to an amazing double rainbow over the port. It was worth putting up with the fickle weather just to see this sight.

I particularly liked this juxtaposition of the rainbow and the bimini - somehow they just blended well.

Mon 3 Oct - cloudy but dry, canopy frame, NZers, sunset, moonrise

The day started cloudy but dry. During the morning, we realised that, with just a few more days on the barge, we had run out of water. So I partially filled the water tank, making sure I didn't put too much in, which would only have to be emptied again when we left the boat. I then did some work on this blog, trying desperately to catch up with many weeks of unreported activities. In the afternoon, the weather fined up to clear blue skies, so I thought I'd take advantage of it, as the date of our departure for the year approached, by taking down the dogbox tent and building the framework for the winter canopy over the cabin.

As I was just about finished with the canopy frame, I heard a familiar accent from two boats up, and met up with NZer Neil Gray who had entered port that afternoon. We chatted for a while, and then agreed to catch up for drinks, with partners, on Kanumbra later that evening.

As the evening approached, Auxonne put on its usual sunset show, followed soon thereafter by the rising of the halfmoon.

Tues 4 Oct - foggy then cloudy, Rita to Besain, reading, blogging

The day started out foggy, until midday, then remained cloudy for the rest of the day. Rita had decided to take advantage of the mediocre weather to go up to Besain and visit Sarah on the Jura plateau. She later reported that they had gone for a walk in glorious sunshine through the vineyards around Arbois. Meanwhile, I stayed indoors on-board and did some reading and blogging. Exciting day!

Wed 5 Oct - foggy then sunshine, cabin canopy, Bruce Surfcoast, Pokarekare Ana, sunset

Once again the day started foggy, but then turned to full sunshine in the late morning. So here was my chance to get the winter canopy fitted over the cabin, without having to worry about rain or wind. By early afternoon the job was finished, in time for lunch.

As we sat on the rear deck having lunch, we heard Alain walking down the pontoon in conversation with someone. And that someone turned out to be Bruce "Surfcoast" Munro, a barging friend from Victoria, who was in Auxonne looking at some boats for sale for some friends of his. We chatted for a while, but he soon had to leave to go further north to pick up his daughter who was going to spend some time with him on his barge Matilda (yes, another barge Matilda belonging to an Australian!).

We busied oursleves for the rest of the day doing various tasks that needed to be completed before leaving the barge this week. The Auxonne sunset appeared as usual in the west, but today was very special. For the past few weeks, we have been hearing the soldiers in their barracks singing as a choir (perhaps rehearsing for some event). Today, they were singing Pokarekare Ana, a traditional Maori song (that we had also learned on the pans for an event some years ago).

Thurs 6 Oct - collect van, Besain shed, back to port, bimini down, farewell drinks, last sunset

We started the day by driving the Scenic to Dole so that I could collect the van after Dole Citroen had done the VIN engraving and plaque. We then drove up to Besain and parked the van in the community shed for the winter. We took notice of the sign saying that this area was not a landfill!

The sound of the male choir as the sun set in the west was truly magnificent! At one point we looked across to the Gray's boat and saw Neil and his wife listening intently; I'm sure I saw her shed a tear or two, given her Maori ancestry.

After a quick lunch with Sarah, we headed back to Auxonne, where the first job was to take down the bimini and secure it to the back of the wheelhouse. This saves the bimini from being blown away in the winter storms (as happened twice in Moissac), and also protects the rear doors on the wheelhouse from the wintry weather.

A couple of days ago, Alain had approached me to ask if we would be in port this evening, because he and his wife wanted to host a little surpise farewell party for Rita. So I said nothing to her, but made sure she didn't plan anything else, then dreamt up an excuse as to why we needed to go and see Alain tonight before we departed tomorrow. As we headed to the port office at the end of Pontoon A, she saw some other friends approaching from the opposite direction, and the look on their faces must have given the game away, as she quickly realised what was afoot. We spend a lovely couple of hours chatting and drinking and snacking, until it was time to say goodbye.

As we broke up at sunset, Auxonne put on one final display for us, accompanied by the head of the port swan family.