Friday (4 March) we received an unexpected call from the office to say that a UTE was available, having put ourselves on the waiting list for a weekend courtesy vehicle previously. So at 4pm we went along to pick it up. We then headed out to the shops quickly before returning to the liveaboard BBQ area for the evening.
Saturday morning Richard headed out to the chandlery at the Gold Coast City Marina (next door to the Boatworks) as he wanted some boot tape for the mast and the on-site chandlery didn’t have it. He also did a run to Bunnings…. While he was out I headed to the new Hair Works Barber and Massage place adjacent to Garage 25 and had the most amazing massage – after all the physical hard work we had been doing this was a great boost to my back and neck!
Later on we taped up the mast boot – we had ordered a custom sunbrella one when we had the rigging done but this had failed to materialise – so we had told the guys not to bother. So we cleaned up the original boot, cleaned out the drain hole, and then taped it up. And it looked pretty good so we were happy with the result. Afterwards we did a general tidy up and then had a quiet movie night in.
Sunday morning we met up with Kyle and Maryanne (SV Begonia) who we had originally met crossing the Pacific in 2017 and had been bumping into them ever since (not literally!). But this season we had missed them by days / hours on numerous occasions so made the effort to catch up over breakfast at The Galley….and very nice it was too. Of course I completely forgot to take any photos of our reunion but did manage to get a picture of this beautiful Mercedes in the car park LOL.
We quickly returned to Morphie to get changed and waited for Lester and Helen (SV Joule) to pick us up to take us to The Southport Yacht Club for the inaugural Down Under Island Packet Yacht Owners’ mini-vous lunch.
Attendees from back to front: Keith and Robyn (SV Segwun), Lester and Helen (SV Joule), us then Lee (SV Nautilee) plus her esteemed guest Rob Mundle, OAM. Rob is a well-known sailor here in Australia and his media background as a television and newspaper journalist has led him being recognised as ‘the voice of sailing’ in Australia. He is also a well known author of sailing books – in fact, Richard is currently reading his narrative on the 54th Sydney to Hobart Race right now….
Oh yes, we even had a raffle with the prizes kindly donated by Hayden and Radeen in the USA….and we even won a t-shirt! Thanks to Lester and Helen for organising – was great fun.
Arriving back on Morphie the heavens opened and we had a huge thunderstorm so sat tight for a while. Then the skies cleared somewhat, we were treated to a lovely rainbow, and we quickly got ready and headed to the BBQ area to meet Russell and Barb (SV Happy Hour) as it was our last night at The Boatworks. We had a great evening together watching the spectacular lightning show as storms continued to come through the area.
Monday morning we cleared the dock, got the cans back onboard, and returned our keys to the office and said our farewells to The Boatworks. We then moved to Hope Island Marina – literally 20 minutes down the Coomera river – and pulled into F10 dock where Ernest was waiting to catch our lines. We got ourselves tied up and headed to the office to check in and pick up our pontoon access keys before heading out to the attached shopping centre to grab a coffee with Ernest. We then did some shopping and returned to Morphie having first checked out the rather basic bathroom / laundry facilities. Definitely going to miss the Boatworks ensuites! Richard then reinstated the cans on the rail and we spent the rest of the day relaxing.
Tuesday morning I did a final sand and varnish of the sole in the forepeak before locking the master cabin door so we couldn’t walk on the floor by mistake! Richard cleaned, waxed and polished the cockpit while I did some modifications to some of my peek-a-boo blinds as a couple of them had come adrift in the very hot and humid conditions. Fingers crossed this will work. Whilst Richard continue to work hard in the cockpit I took myself off shopping to Coles for today’s dinner. As the supermarket is literally on the doorstep here we don’t see the need to have the freezer running as we can purchase fresh meat, fruit, vegetables and bread on a daily basis. We had another quiet night on board and slept in the stern cabin again overnight to avoid the varnish fumes….
Wednesday was another hot and humid day and I was delighted to see that the floor repairs were good so removed the tape and job done! I then took myself off shopping again whilst Richard installed a new fresh water pump to the fresh water head conversion. The conversion kit from salt water to fresh water had worked with fresh water now coming into the toilet but the flow wasn’t really strong enough so Richard added this to assist. This actually worked – woo hoo – good job! I was also pleased that my peek-a-boo changes had also survived the hot and sticky night so I quickly went round and adjusted all the others to match. Always feels so good when problems get resolved…
Thursday morning we did a spring clean / changed the beds etc. Later on Lester and Helen, picked us up to take us to the Paradise Point Bowling Club which had a roast dinner offering that evening. Had never been to a Green Bowling Club before – and certainly not one of that size – so was quite an interesting place. The roast beef was absolutely delicious, included a Yorkshire pudding, and we even had desert and a coffee too. Was a lovely evening with friends.
Friday morning we met up with Ernest and his friend Joe, who was visiting from Sydney. We all headed – in the rain – to the Westfield Coomera where Ernest had a specsavers appointment and we needed to go to the Commonwealth Bank. Jobs done we met up again and headed back to Garage 25 where Ernest and Joe wandered around the car museum before joining us to have a coffee. We then returned to Morphie via the shops for some provisions and spent the rest of the day on board relaxing.
Saturday morning I headed out early to do the laundry while Richard did some varnish keepers on the rail. He then did some spot cleaning of the stainless steel whilst I got on with sorting out some paperwork. The heat had dropped, thankfully, during the day and so our movie night on board was much more comfortable down below.
This morning, Sunday, and the weather is threatening rain so I’m blogging down below while Richard is cleaning and servicing the stern swim ladder as it is quite rusty. And that will probably be it for the day.
We are definitely coming home this year but, at this moment in time, we are just not sure when that will be. We miss you all and send lots of love and hugs. So today’s interesting and colourful Australian critter is a blue ringed octopus that lives in shallow coral reefs and rock pools. Normally pale yellow the blue rings appear as a warning when it feels threatened. Although not aggressive it carries enough posoin in its body to kill 25 adults within minutes. So a beautiful sea creature that definitely comes with a look but don’t touch warning!
Jan