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A mural on the wall in this restaurant. We ate here before boarding the overnight train to Sapa in the highlands of North Vietnam.

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Heaven's Gate is popular tourist attractions located 18-20 km from Sapa City Centre.

The journey by road takes approximately 30 to 45 minutes by car or motorbike with the route following the scenic National Highway 4D which winds through the mountains passing the Silver Falls while offering stunning views of terraced rice fields and waterfalls until it reaches the famous O Quy Ho Pass, also known as Hoang Lien Pass, or simply as, Sapa Pass. The elevation above sea level at O Quy Ho Pass reaches 2,035 metres above sea level and with a length of over 50 kilometres, the pass is renowned as the "king of passes” in the Northwestern region of Vietnam.

 

The point where the elevation reaches 2,000 meters is aptly named "Cong Troi" or Heaven's Gate and from this vantage point, visitors can gaze down at the formidable terrain of Hoang Lien Son Mountain Range or simply marvel at the grandeur of Fansipan, Vietnam's highest peak.

 

iPhone 14 Giveaway is here. Participate and win a brand new iPhone 14 for free. The price of the iPhone 14 IS $999, you can win for free with this Giveaway

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This photo shows the new owners on the left and the boat builders on the right.

 

Naurvoo is a substantially modified (Easy 11.6) (38 feet) Catamaran. The design, by Queenslander Peter Snell, was known as an "Easy Catamaran" though it proved anything but that, taking boatbuilder Phil Wright over 12 years of actually building time to complete but actually, over 31 years before it was finally launched on the 19th May 2025.

Phil Wright is the great grandsons of John Wright, founder of Tuncurry, NSW and of Wright Shipyards, a business that began in 1875 with several generations of the family managing the business until its closure in 1958.

Despite this family boat-building connection Phil Wright had no previous experience with building boats.

For some, as yet unexplained reason, in the early 1990’s Phil decided he was going to build a catamaran and go off sailing the oceans of the world. While this is a dream he never came to realise he did in fact ultimately achieve at least the construction of an impressive boat.

The story began in 1994 when he optimistically sought out plans for a suitable catamaran that he could by a process of trial and error teach himself how to build. After selecting Peter Snell's 11.6m Easy Catamaran he began construction of the rudders, frames and keels in his double car garage at Green Point, near Forster, NSW but this space soon proved much too restrictive to allow the project to proceed.

The decision to sell and buy a property with a house and large shed to house the boat was finally taken and in the early 2000's he sold his home in Green Point and moved to Timbertops, an acreage subdivision just north of Darawank, about 10kms north of Tuncurry.

By June of 2010 the boat, which can sleep up to 7 people, was well advanced, though some 16 years after its construction had begun. Construction was at times slow, always dependent on available funds, family circumstances and on the motivation to struggle through difficult construction challenges, often necessitating researching new technologies and materials all the while having to learn new skills.

Phil was also fortunate that he had several friends who were willing to assist him whenever he needed help. While there were many others, two bear particular mention, Laurie Kilham and Robert Smith.

 

16th September 2011

 

Some jobs such as completing the electrical wiring required specialised skills and, in such cases, experts were hired.

Most of the work however was carried out on a trial-and-error basis and sometimes this resulted in errors resulting in the need to rebuild some sections of the boat due to incorrect calculations, building construction methods or faulty selection of building materials or components.

As his knowledge of construction methods, materials and skill level grew progress was made, though lack of motivation and money sometimes meant that the boat sat idle, sometimes for several years before work would continue.

 

However, by February of 2014, some 20 years after construction had begun, the boat was finally ready to be raised to allow rollers to be placed under its keels in readiness to allow it to be winched outside the shed onto two concrete pads.

 

The operation to remove it outside the shed took place on Friday 15th March 2014.

 

On the 20th of February 2016, 22 years after construction began, the boat was moved by crane and lowloader about 250m to two newly laid concrete pads at the front of his Timbertops property.

 

The plan was then to fit it out with rigging, mast and sails and launch it into the Wallamba River as soon as funding became available.

This was going to be a costly exercise at the time involving potentially over $30,000 to complete. With Phil's retirement from paid work at around that time the necessary motivations and finances to complete the sail rigging and move the boat to the water became more and more challenging. This resulted in the boat, though for all intents and purposes finished, remaining on its blocks for another 9 years with almost no further work done on it during that period.

 

Finally, in April of 2025, now 31 years after construction had begun, an offer was made to buy the boat as it was, structurally finished, but for the sail rigging.

After some consideration Phil accepted the offer and finally made the decision to sell the boat to an enthusiastic buyer intent on finally getting it completed and in the water as soon as was possible.

 

The new owners were soon on-site cleaning up the boat and after a bit of hard yakka the boat scrubbed up looking a million dollars.

 

On the 19th May 2025 the boat was finally lifted by crane onto a lowloader and moved to the Wallamba River, north of Tuncurry where in untimely torrential rain the 5 tonne boat was lowered by crane into a rapidly rising Wallamba River.

(On May 21st 2025 Taree, on the Manning River just 30 kms north, suffered its most devastaing flood in recorded memory with the river rising to 6.44 m.)

It was a joy to behold for those who had watched this boats construction over such long a period to see it finally hit the water.

Phil had always had concerns that the boat would be too heavy however once floating of its own accord it became clear it was sitting perfectly in the water, a great source of relief for all involved.

With the rain tumbling down it wasn't long before the new owners were able to get the twin outboards on the boat fired up and immediately move it downstream to Tuncurry then across Wallis Lake to Coomba Bay, on the southern end of Wallis Lake.

 

Flickr Album - Moving - Launching Naurvoo

 

The whole operation was carried out just a day before the Wallamba River broke its banks and flooded.

With the boat now at Coomba Bay the owners, Lee and Debbie Roper plan to crane the boat out of the water onto dry land where the vessel will be fully rigged and some structural changes made.

Once the necessary work is completed the boat will be renamed "Affinity 3 of Naurvoo" and then sailed down the coast to Brisbane Water on the lower Central Coast where it will be permanently based in Hardys Bay.

   

iPhone 14 Giveaway is here. Participate and win a brand new iPhone 14 for free. The price of the iPhone 14 IS $999, you can win for free with this Giveaway. We have an iPhone 14 Pro Max and a free year of AKKO coverage to give away to one lucky MacRumors reader. To enter to win, use the Gleam. #iphone14 #iphone14giveaway #freeiphone14pro #giveawayiphoe14promax #iphone14pro #iphone14promax #appleiphone14 #giveawaycontest #giveaways #applegiveaway

 

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iPhone 14 Giveaway is here. Participate and win a brand new iPhone 14 for free. The price of the iPhone 14 IS $999, you can win for free with this Giveaway. We have an iPhone 14 Pro Max and a free year of AKKO coverage to give away to one lucky MacRumors reader. To enter to win, use the Gleam. #iphone14 #iphone14giveaway #freeiphone14pro #giveawayiphoe14promax #iphone14pro #iphone14promax #appleiphone14 #giveawaycontest #giveaways #applegiveaway

 

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Copyright - All Rights Reserved - Black Diamond Images

 

This wooden sculpture was created during a residence grant on the occasion of the Schlossmediale 2017 under the annual theme WILD. The German artist Georg Mann collected lumber and timber from the Werdenberg region and assimilated it into an egg-shaped spiral. The egg symbolizes growth and life.

The wood will slowly rot and will become breeding ground for new things to arise.

   

This is one of the machines at the Western Infirmary, Edinburgh, used to treat cancer. This was taken just after my last therapy session for prostate cancer.

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Photo by Janis Dickinson.

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