Friday morning (24 January) we checked out of our apartment in Caloundra and drove towards West End, Brisbane. Having arrived early we headed into the ice cream shop to have dessert before lunch LOL. Subsequently we met up with Ryan (who Richard used to work with in London). Ryan was working from home that day and, as it was school holidays, he was joined by his two beautiful young daughters who were not going to miss out on the opportunity to have pizza followed by ice cream. The girls were not shy at all and were very assertive – particularly about their view that pineapple was born to be eaten on a pizza LOL – and it was a lot of fun. After lunch we headed down to the mall and ended up in Anita Gelato where the girls were able to choose from a huge variety of flavours.

Sadly it was all too soon to say goodbye so we said our fond farewells and headed back to our car. We then drove towards Riverside Marina on the Brisbane River where Russ and Barb have their boat SV Happy Hour moored. They had already sent a message to let us know that Russ was home earlier than expected from work so we went straight there. We were greeted at the barrier by Russ and Barb (although we went to the wrong one to start with doh!) and then walked down to the boat having conveniently parked the car at the top of their pontoon. We had packed an overnight bag / toiletries etc so left the rest of our luggage in the car – there is no room for hard shelled suitcases on a boat! We had a lovely evening chatting and catching up on their news since we had seen them in London last year. This was the start of a bank holiday weekend in Australia as Sunday was Australia Day – or invasion day according to the First Nations people. Russ did his usual whipping up of a culinary feast of a chicken stir fry – was lovely. Then we headed early to bed….by which time a storm had started so we watched the lightning striking from the comfort of our bunk through the port. Felt quite nostalgic….

Saturday morning we had a leisurely start and Russ cooked us an eggs and bacon breakfast – and delicious it was too. Before we had even got up he and Barb had made fresh sausage rolls and baked a selection of cup cakes. Wow! They have more appliances in their boat galley than I have in my kitchen at home….

We showered ashore and bumped into John Hembrow near the office who used to run the Down Under Rally which we had participated in back in the day – he is working at Rivergate as a dockmaster on weekends / holidays. Was nice to see him although he was a bit stressed by the demands of a superyacht!

We spent the day playing card games – introducing them to Five Crowns (where I wiped the floor with them all) – we then played Sequence where Russ and I teamed up and beat Barb and Richard, followed by our first introduction to Upsies / Downsies which was fun although took a lot of concentration LOL. Throughout the day we were drinking and eating…and laughing very hard. Was great fun before we called it a day and had an early night.

Sunday we headed over to Fort Lytton and joined the first walking tour of the day.

Oh yes and there was a heatwave! Most of the tour was out in the full sun and by the time we finished I looked like I’d just come out of the shower….have never felt so hot and bothered in all my life! Was an interesting tour seeing all the armaments in preparation for an invasion during the Second World War which, of course, never happened so the guns or mines were never fired in anger.

Back to the marina we continued playing games – this time it was Barb & Richard’s turn to beat us in Sequence so we made it the World Series which was the best of three games (totalling nine games including the day before). Oh they revelled in their victory and refused to play any more having secured the crown! So back to Five Crowns and I won one, Russell won one too. So in total I won twice, Richard lost twice, Russell won one and Barb won one. It all got very competitive as the wine and laughter flowed…. Russ cooked us burgers for dinner which was very nice – always surprises me though that Australians put beetroot and pineapple on a burger – but everyone to their own LOL.

Monday was a Bank Holiday so Russ didn’t have to go to work. We had another leisurely start and Russ cooked us pancakes for breakfast. Followed by more sausages rolls, wahoo fish bites and other nibbles / lollies. (Explanation required here – lollies are what the Australians call sweets. Think skittles etc). Thankfully a slightly less hot and humid day so we enjoyed just sitting around chatting, eating and playing games again. But we did have a walk after breakfast around the marina to have a little look around. So not completely lazy!

A competitive afternoon of gaming followed with Upsies / Downsies starting us off which Russ won. Then a hand of Phase 10 which I won. Then Five Crowns again which I won and then Barb won. For dinner we had sausages and mash for dinner. We had another early night as Russ had to leave for work at 4.30 am the following morning. So we said our sad farewells…the time had gone so quickly…and we had had lots of laughter and lots of eating!

Tuesday morning Barb did our breakfast whilst we had our onshore showers. We repacked the car and said our sad farewells. We had enjoyed being back on a boat again even if it was a catamaran LOL. We headed to Margate first – and we had a few hours to kill – so decided to try and get me a haircut as it was getting pretty wild and out of control LOL. Managed with the first saloon of the day so pretty happy whilst Richard took himself off for a coffee. Very reasonably priced too…. Leaving Margate behind we then went to Radcliffe for a spot of lunch and to see the Bee Gees. We sat on the pier for a while watching all the kids jumping in and having fun…

Afterwards we headed to Woody Point to see Tom and Diane (who used to own SV Avalon) but whom have now decided to settle in Australia. We admired their beautifully refurbished apartment and then headed to their rooftop terrace for bubbles overlooking the expanse of water that is Moreton Bay. Also grateful that we were able to use the visitor spot in their gated car parking facility so we didn’t have to worry about leaving our car full of our junk on the street.

After enjoying the bubbles we walked to the pub for dinner which was at least downhill. But my legs were feeling it in the heat and after a nice meal and good evening Tom very kindly offered to get an Uber back which I gratefully accepted. And we were the last punters to leave the pub – which used to happen when we met them on the Down Under Rally! Back at their apartment we had some pontoonies before retiring to bed. Was so lovely to catch up with them.

In the morning we went out for breakfast – Richard drove as Tom and Diane were going to walk back. Leaving them having said our sad farewells we headed to Brighton and Sandgate before returning towards Brisbane and Remmant where we were going to visit with Ed & Yvonne (who used to own SV Steelee). Yvonne laid on a wonderful charcuterie board for nibbles with a glass or two in the garden before we had a lovely lamb dinner on the deck of their amazing Queenslander home. Such a lovely evening….and so to bed.

In the morning Ed cooked us breakfast on the BBQ on the deck and we just sat around chatting.

Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye again and we drove towards Brisbane Airport – filled up on petrol – then checked into the Pullman Hotel. We looked like the poor relations with our assortment of bags and cases – one of the jobs was to get all our stuff back into cases / hand luggage bags for the morning’s flight to Perth.

Have to say we were completely blown away by everybody’s hospitality whilst we revisited Queensland. Amazing friendships are formed by cruising couples even though most have sold up and moved on since we last saw them – the bonds remain…. Was just so lovely to catch up!

Having checked into our room we then drove to Ace cars where we returned our hire car, retracing our steps back to the hotel utilising the complimentary shuttle bus. We decided to enjoy the afternoon and laid by the pool and had a late lunch – deciding that all this entertainment was pretty bad for the weight – and vowed to do better whilst we were on our own going forward LOL. Later on we returned to the room, repacked and weighed our suitcases and had a quiet night in.

So that concludes this part of our Australian adventure. Come back soon for the next instalment. Bye for now. Jan