Now back to Cruising.......for a while!

Sunflower tidy and ready for visitors

My goodness it's been a really busy month. We are still getting over the excitement of buying a villa in Turkey and after a frenzy of looking at furniture shops and second hand cars, have managed to calm down long enough to get Sunflower ready for visitors.

John and Christine visit a carpet shop

A floating shop has everything that you need in the bay.

We went for a drive in the mountains

However we have managed a couple of extra sneak peaks at 'our villa'. With guests arriving and not having had visitors for so long, the V berth and Sunflower generally were getting very full of 'stuff'. So we asked if the villa owner would mind if we stored some things in the basement. She happily agreed ( the sale of her other property, a small apartment had recently fallen through and I think she felt we were more committed if we had our belongings in her house:) So we got all the spare sails and boaty bits together and took them up to the villa to store them (and have another look around!)

While we were there we asked the tenant if we could bring our visitors up for a look as well, so we managed another visit with John and Christine. Luckily we still love it as much as when we first saw it. After agonising about names for it we have decided on Yelkenli Villa, which means sailboat in Turkish. There were several Sunflower Villas in the area already and this way we can have a slight nautical theme going on.

Well that's enough about real estate. Our Aussie friends John and Christine arrived in Fethiye a few weeks ago, we are the end of a huge trip they are doing. They spent 3.5 months in Canada before arriving here and travelled all over the west coast including Alaska, then taking a train to Halifax on the east coast and then flying to Istanbul. It is their 3^rd visit to Sunflower, so they know the ropes.

Babadag from about 20kms, just over 2000m high.

We left Fethiye after a couple of busy days including taking John to our favourite dentist! His filling came out for the 3^rd time just before they arrived so we knew just who to take him to:) John was so impressed he also got a quote on some major work he needs to have done including dental implants and numerous crowns. He may return to Turkey next year to have the work done, as even flying here and back it still very much cheaper than having the work done in Australia.

Jumping off the top of Babadag.

Shopping was on the list for both Christine and I so we dragged the guys along to our friend Mustafa who owns a carpet shop! John and Christine bought a lovely one to hang on the wall and we bought 3 small floor rugs and a one for the wall. (the shopping spree has started!)

We went back out in the Bay for a week or so, enjoying some lovely autumn weather, warm sunny days and cool comfy nights. We even managed to sail most of the way! We returned to Fethiye at the end of the month to meet up with our English friend Trudi who joined her husband Simon on his boat in the big marina there. We managed one evening all together and went for dinner to the top of one of the highest mountains around, called Babadag (pronounced Babadaa) We were met at the marina and driven for an hour to the top of the 2000 meter summit. There are plans to build a cable car, but until then the drive is up a tortuous gravel road which hugs the mountain side with no safety barrier and barely enough room for two cars to pass. Usually the only people to make the trip are the loonies who like to jump off mountain tops and para-glide down to the beach at Ouldeniz. We're told the trip down takes about 45 minutes!

Simon, Christine,Trudi, Dee and John

We arrived at sunset, and luckily it was a lovely clear evening. The views along the coastline and the sunset were stunning. We watched the last of the paragliders take off into the orange sunset and then dinner was served. It was standard Turkish fare, mixed mezze and a mixed grill, but very nice. They then bought out lovely new snugly wraps as everyone was a bit chilly and lit a an open fire we could sit around. It was a really fabulous evening, and we will definitely be going again.

Then it was time to start wending our way east. First stop Kas which is a lovely little town and picturesque harbour. We went into the new marina there and experienced our first storm this year! We had 35 knots on the beam and poor Sunflower was getting blown back onto the dock, so we were all out sorting lines out and trying to get our big canopy down. Not much rest that night!

The para glider flight takes  25 - 40 mins

It got cold after sunset.

We are now in Kekova Roads another very picturesque spot and will spend our last few days of 'freedom' here before going into our winter marina, in a very non-tourist town called Finike, on Saturday. We will get settled in and celebrate John's birthday before hiring a car for a few days to explore some of the numerous ancient sites nearby and then dropping John and Christine at the airport in Antalya.

Then it will be all hands to the varnish brush to get Sunflower sorted before we move into our villa for the winter and start renovations of a different sort!