Just a quickie while I snatch a break and then it’s back to ye olde oars. For the first time since the very, very early days, this morning I was out and rowing before the sun had even contemplated an arrival. Result!
Since last week I have been maxing out on the oars – rowing more hours than normal. It is like a distance runner striding out toowards the bell , which will signal the final circuit. The beach is still 500 nauties away but this is nearly the last lap… I have been so so SO excited that I can’t imagine what it will be like when I am 400, 300,200 away and racking up the pace yet again and again. And then 100…and then 50…So on and so on… And then Mauritius. Mauritius. MAURITIUS! I know I use the word ‘excited’ very often, but I really am supra-excited.
And yesterday was another ‘4 chocolate bar’ triumph. Though on this note I am fearful that the next few days might herald the start of the Unchocolate Age. Gulp. Even more reason to max out to Mauritius…MAURITIUS !
Yours in supra bubbly excitement from Day 112,
Outey Toot Toot x
PS
Paul Kane – Have Getty agreed to fly you over to photgraph my final miles and landing?! I haven’t been much of a fisherwoman though – on grounds of not wanting to catch the Tweedles.
Xtina – Yowch, I do pity the boys’ issues in the undercarriage department. Hope they have some good creams. Safe trip out to M – hopefully you’ll still be rumpunching when I arrive.
Claire C – Poor Mr Halibut, indeed. Any other breaking news in the wildlife world?
Mark MM – Yum, I’ll have a fiver’s worth!
Margot- Happy days! Shame about the cakes – maybe just a figment of my imagination.
Wow! how very exciting – i hope everyday now continues to be as supraexciting and evercloser to the rum punch. Way to go girl! xx
Oh yes, tons more news on the wildlife wires – Japan is currently beseiged by Nomura’s jellyfish which appear from nowwhere, measure up to six feet across and weigh more than 450 pounds. They sting humans, poison fish and were even responsible for shutting down a nuclear reactor by clogging the cooling pumps.
The jellies destroy the fishing nets and turn any fish caught in the nets into a rotten and slimy gloop – but the ever enterprising Japanese scientists have developed a method of extracting collagen from them to be used in cosmetics.
And company called Tango Jersey Dairy has even come up with a “slightly chewy” vanilla and jellyfish ice cream, which is created by soaking diced cubes of jellyfish in milk.
Methinks it could replace chocolate in Outey world soon..
Claire,
The jellyfish icecream sounds revolting!!!.I must admit I’m not a fan of ice cream at the best of times, BUT that!!!! well it doesn’t bear thinking about!
ugh!!
Helen
Good going Sarah.
Keep up the good work.
Keep in mind that the game is not over until the last ball has been bowled (and your side won the test).
You have finished when you step ashore.
John
From SRS Mermaid – We’re now preparing for our dinghy sailing holiday and one of us is off on the Tall Ships Race on Saturday but you are only 500 miles to go ???!!! It sounds fab!
Hello Sarah’s mum,
You mean Sarah might not be tempted by jellyfish ice-cream?!
I was in Mauritius a couple of years ago, staying near Grand Baie – it is truly a paradise and you will have such a lovely time when you arrive. If oyu get there before Sarah, there’s so much to see if you;re not too excited by imminent dottir arrival.
Do you like snorkelling? There is an amazing spot called, I think, Les Flots Isles, which you get to by boat, very exciting in the middle of nowhere these two little sand banky islands have created a perfect reef where you can see all manner of creatures like moray eels, clown fish, angels, sugeon fish, the noisy crunchy parrot fish, triggers, and wwen you ght tired of that you can let yourself play on the current which is like an ocean bobsleigh.
Won’t be long now!! Pull on those oars Sarah!
A wonderfully positive attitude, I take it it’s downhill now even if it doesn’t feel like it! All the very best.
It must seem to you an eternity since you left Fremantle, but it seems like only yesterday when we waved you off for the final time from the deck of R100 !
Great news Sarah, keep going and it won’t be long we hope. Stay safe and enjoy your journey, you so deserve it.
Take care
Love
C & K
Sarah
Will be very close to You and Dippers (Bob too) very soon ~ so looking forward to this moment when you come in and we can have that big Smelly Hug, knowing you though, i guess you have found another little package tucked away somewhere with “arrival wet wipes and other such equipment for final prep’ on entering the last nmile”
Just keep up the good work, sing and dance in the sunsets ~ my thoughts are with you all the way.
xtina
(I have a special paper lantern for you to send off over the Ocean ~ full of your own thoughts)
Hi Sarah,
That is SO wonderful. We are extatic for you.
The last 3 weeks my computer has been down or being stupid, so i’ve been having withdrawal symptoms — literally. I’ve managed to see the odd one at work but with great difficulty.
Couldn’t haved logged into any more exciting news. Don’t push yourself too far though.
Tonight will be spent going over all the unread blogs.
I was thinking of you last night when I was tucked up in bed frightened by the strong winds rattling the wooden house. It brought me back to my senses and just strengthened my admiration for you, and made me feel very safe.
Take care,
Jill
Fantastic Sarah, I’m so excited for you. I can’t even properly comprehend how far you have come – your squiggly line just doesn’t seem real. But blimey it must feel real for you!
Keeping my fingers crossed for a calm final big push xxx
Hello Sarah!
I have been following your voyage for just a couple of days now, and I am supra-impressed, in awe and, surprisingly enough, a bit envious. As an ex-rower with no particular results to show for it other than massive training doses many years ago, it is really inspiring to read your very well written and witty journal. I mentioned your journey to my 7-year old son yesterday. He has decided to take up jogging, and I was following him on our daily 3,4 km lap, even though he is a bit too young. I am bonking along like I do, and he his hopping and skipping along like he does, and I tell him very briefly about it. That sparked so many questions and thoughts in his young mind, you wouldn’t believe it. He had to walk the remaining kilometers, because he couldn’t consentrate any longer on the “jogging”. So, you see, you have even touched an ex-rower and his son in the land of the Vikings.
Sarah, Talking of airfares. I enquired about the cost of a flight from Perth to Mauritius, and was quoted $5000! Perhaps you could consider ferrying people over each year for a bit less than that. “A roller coaster ride and free chocolate and wild life safari all included”
OK Clare, enough is enough about the lovliness of Mauritius otherwise you may spark a mass migration to it’s shores and we have work to do here and haven’t had the jabs! It’s just not fair.
But hey Sarah, fighting words getting those oars pulling you ever closer to the paradise of Mauritius (enough!) This community supporting you has had the joy of sharing your journey through the daily diary writings you have treated us to and we look forward to the next 500 nautical words. Maybe the excitement is catching…. Whooaaahao!!!
Hi Sarah
Getting close now – I will have to re-jig my days when you arrive in Mauritius – no more Sarah’s blogs! I’ve followed your adventure for a long time now and will miss them. You are an inspiration. I hope to meet you sometime in the future. (I’m in Oakham) Take care!
Peter
Hi Sarah,
well if there is indeed to be an Outen cocoa famine (‘brown-Out’ or ‘choc Outage’), it’s good to know there’s always jelly(fish)and ice cream on standby – maybe tastier than the dehydro mush you are currently savouring?
But row like billy-o, and you can hold out for rum baba on the beach with Sarah’s Mum and probably most of Mauritius in part-ay mood! Hope we can all troop along too, like we’ve been thronging the boat…
Hmm, will you do a Beachblog after the Seablog I wonder? best Jane
Hi SARAH
GOOD YOUR ROLLING THE RED CARPET AT EXTREME PACE . YOUR DOING MARVELLOUS WITH ONLY 500 NAUHTYS TO GO ,KEEP YOUR MIND ON THE JOB IN HAND AS YOU CAN NEVER TRUST OLD NEPTUNE . GREAT JOB TAKE CARE & SAFE ROWING ,KEEP UP MARS & REST !!!!!!
This is great news!! You will be there in no time hopefully. Keep going for the final straight and you will be sipping your rum punch before you know it. xxx
Well done Sarah – I can FEEL your excitement! You are doing so wonderfully well – proud of you. Hope the chocolate supply doesn’t run out….!! Let me know it it does as I shall be in Switzerland at the end of the month..
Will think of you as I sail on my little boat around Paxos next week…
Take care.
Rosie
hi sarah,great news that things are going so well,having followed you (figurativly)since day one of this amazing adventure things will seem a bit flat once you’re safely home but i guess i’ll just have to get used to it……..
hope you have time to fully enjoy kicking back for a while before working out what to do next apart from tv,radio,book,medals etc…
hope also that you soon find another chocolate stash.
regards to you and dippers
ian
My new crewmember Susana (28 year old Kiwi) is mighty impressed with both your chocolate stowing and chocolate discovering skills. My boat is 60ft long and 25ft wide, Susana has asked that you help her in the chocolate stowing process to see how much she can hide. Can I suggest first stop in Mauritius is a dentist. Also, please explain, how everytime you decide to have a clear-out of your boat, you find more chocolate. It is only 16ft long…!!! Keep paddling Outers.
Our excitement and pride of a fellow SISTER conquering this AMAZINGLY brave and CHALLENGING, nay MEGA CHALLENGING feat is hard to describe and we are all there with you (sorry for the overcrowding) as we have from day one, wishing you a safe and speedy finish. Row, row, row your boat Sarah! from ALL your Natracare SISTERs.
Fantastic news just keep the oars going. Homeward bound I hope I am.
Rations getting low but hey not long until the cocktails and the sands and relaxtion with your loved ones. Keep rowing ever stronger.
Otter,
Great to get back from a long Hebridean weekend(Coll & Tiree,wonderful,have you explored them?) and see your progress.
Good basking shark sightings from shore at Gunna Sound and amazingly a group of common dolphin incuding a calf & a juvenile in Oban harbour where they seem to have taken up residence.
Keep it going & stay focused till you`re safe ashore.I know you will.
Phil
Heavenly Rum Punches await on the shores of Paradise Island.
We are working on a chocolate flavoured one!!
Robin
The person who quoted you $5000 Perth to Mauritius must have been on a Rum Punch drip.
It’s more like $1,800.
Contact Air Mauritius Office in Perth.
Well done Sarah – keep it up – we are all very proud of you!!
Kitty & Bruce Wigmore (Buckingham Road))
Look out Mauritius! Outey Toot Toot is well on her way …
Take care
X
spanish, sorry. Es realmente emocionante lo que estas haciendo, y realmente te envidio, espero que tengas buenas corrientes y tengas suficiente chocolate.Adelante y no le aflojes nada .
Desde Uruguay (south america) Marco.
500 left ??? WOO HOO!!!!!
More lyrics for you.
RUSH’s
PRIME MOVER
Basic elemental instinct to survive
Stirs the higher passions
Thrill to be alive
Alternating currents in a tidewater surge
Rational resistance to an unwise urge
Anything can happen…
From the point of conception
To the moment of truth
At the point of surrender
To the burden of proof
From the point of ignition
To the final drive
The point of the journey is not to arrive
Anything can happen…
Basic temperamental filters on our eyes
Alter our perceptions
Lenses polarize
Alternating currents force a show of hands
Rational responses force a change of plans
Anything can happen…
From a point on the compass
To magnetic north
The point of the needle moving back and forth
From the point of entry
Until the candle is burned
The point of departure is not to return
Anything can happen…
I set the wheels in motion
Turn up all the machines
Activate the programs
And run behind the scene
I set the clouds in motion
Turn up light and sound
Activate the window
And watch the world go ’round
From the point of conception
To the moment of truth
At the point of surrender
To the burden of proof
From the point of ignition
To the final drive
The point of a journey
Is not to arrive
Anything can happen…
hi sarah nearly there keep going how many more weeks do u think u will be out there