Friday, 5/09/08
12 00 Darwin Time, 170 miles to go, 12 11S; 099 48E

I saw a shooting star tonight. I wished upon it, who wouldn’t? I am not going to tell you what I wished for, but maybe someone can guess it... 
By the way, did your last wish come true? Do you remember it at all? Can the shooting stars make our dreams come true?
Wouldn’t it be too easy then? One could just sit in Ustka in the night and name things they want from life… but it doesn’t work this way, does it? Why is it so then, that when we see a lonely, falling star we make a wish? Because we have them and we need them? Well, they are the beginning for many things...
I have been out on the sea for two weeks now and I bet nobody suspects that I will have a beef steak for dinner, even though I don’t have a fridge. Ha! this is true, I don’t have a fridge and no, I haven’t butchered a calf on the way. I have met Bernie, though. No, my head is all right, I met Bernie back in Darwin. He approached me one day while I was sitting with my computer, sipping coffee. He has got his own yacht, you see,  and he is heading for Tasmania (he was looking for a crew if you are interested). Anyways, when he heard that I am struggling to collect money to bring Karolinka to my next stop, Bernie took out everything he had from his pocket and gave it to me… Such a kind thing.
An elderly gentleman in an Australian hat invited me for breakfast the following day and I accepted. What a breakfast it was! Bernie prepares flour and bakes hand-made bread on his yacht. I thought - I don’t bake bread for I have no oven in my yacht. Oh, how wrong I was!!! I don’t bake bread because I don’t have… a tray with three wires and a pot? It’s his oven, and I am ashamed that we reason so frequently with excuses. Bernie and his friends made terrific bread with raisins, I was given a lot of dried mango – homemade, no sugar or preservatives. What is more, I have learned how to prepare meat in such a way that it can wait a bit before it finds its way to stomach. Janek took me to a butcher, bought pellet salt and soon I had a lot of steaks drying on rails in the Darwin sun. 3-4 days of drying (doesn’t look good meanwhile), and the meat is ready to be stored for a longer time. It needs to be kept in water for several hours before frying, but it makes you feel a Viking a bit. Did Vikings have olive oil from Kasia for their food? At least once I am not sorry that I am not a Viking:) Or a mermaid. Who am I? hahahaha