Friday (17 December) we were planning to do another coat of varnish but the forecast was for intermittent rain most of the day and it certainly started off pretty cloudy and miserable.
So we headed out for breakfast to the Anchor Buoy – which was OK – but we had decided to go there mainly because they have free high-speed internet so we could do some downloading whilst we dined. Of course, the internet just happened to be down that day… Sigh.
Anyway the sun started to break through so we decided to head to the lagoon pool for the rest of the day (as it was too late to varnish now anyway).
We enjoyed a good few hours until the clouds started building so we decided to take ourselves to the pool bar for a drink in the middle of the afternoon. We were enjoying a glass of wine when the heavens opened and the pool bar suddenly started shutting up shop – what?!? Richard rushed to get re-supplied and asked why they were closing so early. Well, the answer was the weather!! But the rain had stopped by now…. People had to phone through orders using the room service menu using a single telephone located near the pool bar and then wait for their order to be delivered to their sunbeds. We would definitely not have been happy if we had been hotel guests. Anyway, this curtailed our afternoon so we wandered back to Morphie via the boardwalk and had a kangaroo encounter to round off the day.
On arrival back to the boat we found that Morpheus of London had now been officially imported into Australia so G’Day Morphie LOL.
This had been a very difficult decision for us – especially parting with a lot of cash to the Australian Government for no return. But with the ever-changing face of this pandemic combined with the constant rewriting of the worldwide travel restrictions, we don’t feel comfortable about heading back out to sea to explore remote islands any time soon. Countries are behaving in very different ways with some being welcoming but most Pacific islands remain firmly closed. So Fiji is open – fantastic would love to return – but then what? Where do you go for cyclone season as both Australia and New Zealand maritime borders remain closed to visiting international yachts (with the occasional exemption being granted). By importing Morphie we have an option either to sell up – as that would now be legally possible – alternatively we can go home and leave her here in Australia as our floating holiday home as she is now free to stay here indefinitely. She obviously remains UK registered despite her imported status. So this decision gives us more options going forward and we both felt a bit relieved now that it had been done.
Saturday morning we were up by 5.15 am and wiped down the rail and had a cup of tea whilst it all dried off. We then went round and did a double coat of varnish and had the rails done by 8am! We then had some breakfast and double-coated the eyebrows. Woo hoo – we were very pleased with the result. The rest of the day we just relaxed onboard although I did pop out to the farmers market for some fresh veggies.
Sunday morning we cleaned and tidied ourselves and Morphie up before heading to George’s pizzeria for a late lunch with Sandra and Nigel – we had a lovely afternoon and ended up back on Morphie for a few pontoonies before calling it a day. Was a fun day and nice to catch up with them – hard to believe that it was six months since we saw them last!
Monday morning we sanded down again before spending the rest of the day at the pool before returning for a quiet night on board. Oh yes and there were rumours that George Clooney and Julia Roberts were here on a boat in the marina but we didn’t spot anything out of the ordinary – although we did see a set of twins at the main hotel pool with a nanny each and it did make you wonder how rich their parents were LOL.
Tuesday morning we were up very early again – to get the work done before the sun gets really high in the sky and hot – and did our final coat of varnish. Very pleased with ourselves we spent the rest of the day at the pool again!
Wednesday morning we went out for breakfast again – this time to Pier B – and then lazed around on our return.
Early afternoon we got dink down and headed up the river to Hope Island to do some provisioning checking out the huge clouds gathering along the way.
We then spent the afternoon catching up with Ernest on SV Crossbones. We hadn’t seen him for about seven months since we were both working on our boats at The Boatworks so we had a good catch up. This was the first time we had been on Crossbones so was great to see what he had done with her – she is absolutely huge! On the way back down the river we were being chased by large clouds and the sky was darkening – oh no – but made it back OK and enjoyed checking out the houses and boats along the way. We then had a quiet night in.
This morning, Thursday, and it was time to start putting the boat back together again. So we removed all the blue tape; did a bit of stainless cleaning; reinstalled the rub rails and moved the dock lines back onto the cleats again; reinstalled the helm seat and on it goes. Again it was supposed to rain today and the clouds have been building…. I’ve done my bit and Richard is now re-running all the lines etc while I’m down below blogging.
Richard has now come down as there are storms circling around us and the rain has started….so this is the start of some dodgy weather to come. Unfortunately the weather forecast for Christmas and beyond is looking pretty dire with strong winds, thunderstorms and the like….. Check out what the Oz Cyclone Chasers are saying below:
Oh well, never mind, we are pretty used to this by now.
Tonight we are planning on going out to dinner – woo hoo – looking forward to that. Luckily we weren’t planning on going to The Artichoke as they have just been fined and shut down until January because they refused to check that people are double-vaccinated before allowing them entry into the restaurant – which is a legal requirement here in Queensland. Can’t imagine they thought for a minute they would lose their Christmas trade as a result of their non-compliance!
We have a few social events planned for the festive period so looking forward to getting off the boat for a little while seeing old and new friends alike. Will be nice to be in company again although still planning on cooking a full English Christmas dinner on board – wish me luck! So, that just leaves me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from Australia. We hope you have a safe and healthy time – please take care of each other. Sending lots of virtual love and hugs your way.
Bye for now, Jan