September 10th 2012 @ 9am

That is when, according to Ants, we will be sailing from Kangaroo Island to start our journey to the Marshall Islands. Well its all weather dependent so give or take a day or three....but of course Ants is always right so we probably will leave around then!!!
Our big new adventure is a two year assignment with Australian Volunteers International (AVI) in Majuro, Marshall Islands, mid North Pacific. I think the main claim to fame is Bikini Atoll which was used by the US after world war II for testing nuclear bombs. The Bikini Islanders were asked to move by the Americans "For the good of Mankind"!! America still has a close relationship with the Marshallese. I will be working as a volunteer for the WAM project http://www.wamprogram.org in Majuro as a teacher trainer.
The project gives unemployed youth vocational training building traditional outrigger canoes....my job is to formalise the basic literacy program.
Because of the high sea to land ratio...they have agreed to us taking and living aboard our Adams 13m yacht, Breakfree.

Our boat is called Breakfree but a slip of my finger has resulted in me renaming her at one stage Beakfree on one place on our blog. This is no laughing matter as this could suggest we sail in some sort of short faced liberated duck......which couldn't be further from the truth.
Our much loved Adams 13 is a sleek mean cruising machine and her name should suggest escaping the rat race for far flung adventures on the not too high seas.
Mind you my sister has the habit of doing a "Freddy Mercury" with the obligatory fist in the air and attempting to sing .....I wanna break freeeee, whenever our yacht is mentioned.
Even  the naming of Breakfrees little tender has caused a certain amount of consternation....with a suggestion of calling it "little wind" or even "little fart".

I still can't believe its happening.....I spotted the AVI site and suggested it as a possibility for us both and Ants did not hesitate in saying he thought we should apply for it. We are both really excited about the prospect.
We have invested in a new Asus android as it has an internal GPS and all the charts for Australia and the Pacific can be bought for under $40 through Navionics...a great app.
Anyway I just thought, as Ants has sailed up to Adelaide and I'm home alone I would give the new blogger app a try!!
I'm still working at Kelly Hill Cave as an Interpretive Officer. I also have had a few days temporary teaching at Kingscote school over the last few weeks as my long awaited Australian teacher registration eventually came through. My first day in an Australian school was teaching a Year 4/5 primary class and my second teaching Indonesian....it was quite interesting.
But now the time is drawing close to leaving, The house and farm are both leased and next week we are off to Melbourne for a Pre-Departure Briefing. And then the final packing!