After arriving in Darwin we booked our flights to France. This trip is to catch up on some much required maintenance on Anja, rebuilding the bathroom and the new entrance to the second bedroom.
What a horrid seven weeks of hard labour with every step on the boat throwing curve balls and also enduring record heat waves at times.
We were very fortunate to run into fellow canal friends made last year who offered their boat to us for 3.5. weeks while they traveled to Croatia. Thanks Russell and Maxine .
Staying on their barge meant at the end of a hard day we were able to go back to their barge for showers and recoup for the next day. When not on the Russell and Maxine barge we were staying on Anja, amongst the work zone and fumes from resin and paint. We used a portaloo (we bought) and the shower was in the boat yard which was dirty, thongs a real must.!!!!
Some of the curved balls Anja threw at us were the pipes on her were a different size to the plumbing pieces available in France, this meant that instead of joins requiring a simple fitting welding was necessary. We found a hull full of water, coolant and rust under parts of the bathroom area and second bedroom, this needed cleaning prior to work commencing, nothing was level when doing early construction and this is just to name a few issues we encountered.
However, some progress was made and pictures below show our steps of construction of the new bathroom and laundry. The bathroom is not quite finished and the second bedroom a project for next year. John did all the construction, a huge job while I did the cleaning, water pressed the decks ready for painting, rust removal on the hull and tarring of the hull, painted and sanded as much of the outside areas that could be reached. These included the rails, decks , sides of the boat , roof on the front cabin and underneath the back verandah roof.
laundry
bathroom
outside
We took two days off and visited our french friends in Dijon, Anne and George. They as usual looked after us well and we attended a french BBQ at their friends place. New protocols were learnt and observed about eating and entertaining in France.
Coffee in a bowl and dip your croissant in!
and when you go to dinner , or a bbq your take wine or beers but these are given to your guests and you drink what they serve. And never take home what you don’t drink, very different to the aussie BBQ. Our hosts were lovely, thanks Dan and wife, and the food was great with endless courses.
It was great to catch up with Anne and George and see Catherine and Pascal again. Till next year!
