It's been 11 years since I moved back to Australia from England and settled in the Peel area of Western Australia. In all that time I've only managed to get onto the water a handful of times. A bit of a waste really when one considers that this is an ideal area for aquatic recreation; sailing, surfing, skiing, diving, fishing, crabbing...the list goes on.
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| The South West of W.A. ...Not the greenest place in summer! Not too many places to sail either! |
While both of my parents are English, I was conceived and born in Bridgend and spent the first five years of my life living in a wet, verdant landscape near the coast.
The culture shock of arriving in hot, dusty Australia was considerable and I spent much of my childhood dreaming of the infrequent occasions when we managed to get away to the coast.
I've always loved coastal regions and was pleased when, 35 years later, I finally had the opportunity to move to within "spitting distance" of a river and a short drive to the ocean. Strange then that my dreams of sailing, diving and fishing took so long to come to fruition. 10 years to be exact!
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Well things have finally come together. Last year I was married for the first time (at the tender age of 45) to a wonderful lady who has encouraged me to start living the dream.
That said, and after nearly a year of research, I finally bit the bullet and ordered the plans for John Welsford's Pathfinder.
This will not be a quick build mind you. We've just bought a house together and I now have a library to fit out and a four poster bed to make for one of the wonderful daughters that I "inherited" with the marriage.
But things are looking up. I have a shed (granted without easy access to the road), a great many tools and a garage I'm allowed to commandeer for the duration of the actual build.
And of course I have a wonderful, supportive wife who truly wants us to build this boat so we can enjoy accessing the estuary and coastline of the Peel Region.
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