(For some reason this post wouldn't upload as we were sailing away from Australia. Rude.)
You haven't heard from us for a while because of this.
We hauled out again, and dug into the painting and the cleaning and the stressing and the painting. It's been a year since we did it last time, but feels like much less. The rudder was full of water again (which we've come to expect), so we drilled a few holes and let it drain. But there was also water in the skeg, which is the bit of the hull in between the rudder and the prop. The rudder is it's own little thing separate from the rest of the boat, so it doesn't really matter that it hates us so long as it works. But the skeg is in the main structure of the boat, so we had to fix it to make sure the rest of the boat stayed watertight. It was important but not serious, so we got a lovely boatbuilder to do it for us. Garth watched his every move very carefully. Now if it happens again hopefully he'll be able to sort it out himself.
We managed to acquire some red paint from some of the nice guys in the yard to redo my Taniwha eyes on the bow, which made me happy. Although they're now under the water line instead of half sticking out... The guys running the travel lift think we weigh 10 tonnes instead of six. So that's awkward. I don't know how there's any possible way we could have added 4000kgs to the boat. But we're heavy nonetheless.
We're leaving for Vanuatu in the morning. So considering we just got plonked back in the water today, there's a lot of cleaning, tidying and securing to do. Plus all the cooking... So it's all a bit stressful. Garth has been lazing around for weeks, and now we're actually leaving he's decided to start fixing everything. All at once. We've got the number three jib hooked up ready to go, and piles of seasickness tablets all ready to be taken. Although the inside still looks like an epoxy bomb went off in a box of paintbrushes and drill bits.
We've had a great time in Mackay, with friends and dinner parties and being spoiled rotten by amazing people. I'm so glad we decided to depart from here instead of Bundaberg!
I'll chuck up a few pics from our adventures pre Mackay. We came back via Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman Island, because my gopro dive case finally arrived and I wanted to play with it. It was the first time we'd been swimming in the Whitsundays and not seen a turtle, so I bet they could smell my working camera. It was still pretty there, but after visiting Bait reef it wasn't as good as I'd previously thought.
We went by Cid Harbour one last time and finally climbed up Whitsunday Peak. It was 5km each way I think, and they said to allow four hours. It only took us 2 1/2 to 3 though, which included me stopping to take pictures of everything. The view from the top was magnificent, and well worth the hike. You could see all the way to Whitehaven beach on one side, Hamilton island on another and the third viewpoint where we sat down to have a snack had an amazing view of Hook Island.
The forest that the track wound through was beautiful in its own right. The cute little path snaked up through the trees, leading us up pretty little steps and through typical Australian rainforest. It was a lovely way to spend the day! But then we had to jump back on the boat and race back to Mackay before we lost the wind.
So that was Australia. I'm so sad to be leaving, which probably has a lot to do with all the friends and family I'm leaving behind. It was so wonderful to be able to come back home at all - if my husband was sensible he would have insisted that Australia was too far out of our way. But it's just been a blur of friends, good times and beautiful scenery, so we wouldn't have missed it for the world. Now onto Vanuatu!
Xxx Monique
Fishies at Blue Pearl Bay
The bat fish were huge! And they loved hanging around the boat
You haven't heard from us for a while because of this.
We hauled out again, and dug into the painting and the cleaning and the stressing and the painting. It's been a year since we did it last time, but feels like much less. The rudder was full of water again (which we've come to expect), so we drilled a few holes and let it drain. But there was also water in the skeg, which is the bit of the hull in between the rudder and the prop. The rudder is it's own little thing separate from the rest of the boat, so it doesn't really matter that it hates us so long as it works. But the skeg is in the main structure of the boat, so we had to fix it to make sure the rest of the boat stayed watertight. It was important but not serious, so we got a lovely boatbuilder to do it for us. Garth watched his every move very carefully. Now if it happens again hopefully he'll be able to sort it out himself.
We managed to acquire some red paint from some of the nice guys in the yard to redo my Taniwha eyes on the bow, which made me happy. Although they're now under the water line instead of half sticking out... The guys running the travel lift think we weigh 10 tonnes instead of six. So that's awkward. I don't know how there's any possible way we could have added 4000kgs to the boat. But we're heavy nonetheless.
We're leaving for Vanuatu in the morning. So considering we just got plonked back in the water today, there's a lot of cleaning, tidying and securing to do. Plus all the cooking... So it's all a bit stressful. Garth has been lazing around for weeks, and now we're actually leaving he's decided to start fixing everything. All at once. We've got the number three jib hooked up ready to go, and piles of seasickness tablets all ready to be taken. Although the inside still looks like an epoxy bomb went off in a box of paintbrushes and drill bits.
We've had a great time in Mackay, with friends and dinner parties and being spoiled rotten by amazing people. I'm so glad we decided to depart from here instead of Bundaberg!
I'll chuck up a few pics from our adventures pre Mackay. We came back via Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman Island, because my gopro dive case finally arrived and I wanted to play with it. It was the first time we'd been swimming in the Whitsundays and not seen a turtle, so I bet they could smell my working camera. It was still pretty there, but after visiting Bait reef it wasn't as good as I'd previously thought.
We went by Cid Harbour one last time and finally climbed up Whitsunday Peak. It was 5km each way I think, and they said to allow four hours. It only took us 2 1/2 to 3 though, which included me stopping to take pictures of everything. The view from the top was magnificent, and well worth the hike. You could see all the way to Whitehaven beach on one side, Hamilton island on another and the third viewpoint where we sat down to have a snack had an amazing view of Hook Island.
The forest that the track wound through was beautiful in its own right. The cute little path snaked up through the trees, leading us up pretty little steps and through typical Australian rainforest. It was a lovely way to spend the day! But then we had to jump back on the boat and race back to Mackay before we lost the wind.
So that was Australia. I'm so sad to be leaving, which probably has a lot to do with all the friends and family I'm leaving behind. It was so wonderful to be able to come back home at all - if my husband was sensible he would have insisted that Australia was too far out of our way. But it's just been a blur of friends, good times and beautiful scenery, so we wouldn't have missed it for the world. Now onto Vanuatu!
Xxx Monique
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