IS THIS A GOOD IDEA?

Day 1: 19^th September 2010

My stomach did a lurch and I felt suddenly nauseous. Not seasickness or at least not the traditional type as I was in the CYC bar at the time.  It was just the realisation that effective today, I am technically homeless, with no fixed address.  The trendy apartment has been relinquished and all the furniture has been stored. The family trinkets are in a safe deposit box, the 35 year old potted Kentia palm has been fostered (thanks Dianna) and all mail has been redirected to a PO Box.

Members of my family tell me I am over-reacting (again!). They know I can get myself theatrically worked up about anything.  But I am not exactly complaining, or even looking for sympathy.  I am not penniless, disadvantaged or deserving of charity.  On the contrary, I am decidedly middle class and moderately prosperous. I have chosen to go on what I am broadcasting as ‘the adventure of a lifetime’: 18months sailing around Australia on a yacht. 

But it is weird. No house, just a little yacht. (How will that feel in a storm?)  No car, as our jaunty little yacht is not blessed with either helipad or garage. No job, except a little bit of work running our publishing company via the internet.  No TV.  (Actually, that’s a lie: we will have a TV, CD and DVD on board.)  We will be cut off from the world. (And that’s a lie too: our communications gear includes an HF radio, several VHF radios, a27mh radio, , radar, several EPIRBs, one Telstra and one Optus 3 g account, all run by three computers, with two mobile phones).

Natalie, quick of wit and fast of lip quipped that I was holding up her search for a luxury apartment to lease in Perth with her new man, as “it looks dodgy to have a next of kin with no fixed address”.    

A huge loss is access to Surry Hills restaurants, galleries, cinemas and trendy throb just outside the door.  Cunningly, to acclimatise to this privation, we have booked a berth in a Sydney Harbour marina for the first three months while we get our sea legs and work out which of our friends is prepared to do champagne on the aft deck at sunset. We aim to follow the fleet out of the heads in the Sydney Hobart yachts this year, and take in the traditional Sydney New year’s celebrations a l’eau. My theory is that you really need to work up to desert islands and shouldn’t dive into the slow lane too quickly.

But, back to the nervous nausea.

Could it be that I harbour doubts about my nautical resilience, especially in relation to living with my significant other. Can we live cheek by jowl on a small boat for 18 months? A hint: this is the same couple who had separate apartments in one of our homes so that we didn’t have to interact during the daylight hours with the occasional exception of coffee at 11am on special days

I might also be suffering from a delayed reaction to packing up all our worldly stuff and cramming it into two containers.  All that much loved (I thought) furniture and effects looked decidedly insignificant and unimportant as it was man-handled into a rusty container.   

Is this a good idea? Well.  Only time will tell.