Tuesday (19 January) it was very hot and steamy but thankfully it was dry first thing. We had a car for the afternoon so popped out to our local Repco motor store (a bit like Halfords) and picked up some transmission oil and coolant. I then dropped Richard back at Morphie where he got busy changing out the main engine transmission oil whilst I headed back out to Westfield Coomera for more girlie pampering – this time, it was a manicure and a pedicure. Such a treat. Back to the Boatworks I returned the car to find a very happy Richard as the job had gone very well with no hiccups. By now it was raining so we just relaxed down below the rest of the day.

Wednesday it was hot and steamy again and a bit drizzly. Richard stayed on board to swap out the main engine coolant while I took myself off to the cruisers’ lounge armed with a bag of laundry. Surprisingly all the machines were busy so I had to wait for a little while, but once the machine was loaded up and started, I set myself up with the computer and started to download more Netflix content for watching offline.

Back on board and Richard had finished his engine job with no problems. So I found him busily unwrapping some parcels that had just arrived for us – one was the spares from the US which was pretty speedy considering the significant reduction in flights into Australia at the moment. So we are now the proud owner of a retrofit fresh water conversion kit for our Raritan head. This job will be done when we are out of the water but nice to have it all ready for when that day comes. The other parcel was much more exciting – it was our new shade tent for the beach.

Thursday was another cloudy grey day. We had a lazy one and just popped out to the Galley for coffee and a cake. We unpacked the tent, checked the instructions, so that we wouldn’t look complete numpties when we used it for the first time. And that was about it for the day. The weather cleared up a bit in the evening so we had sundowners in the cockpit.

Friday morning and there was no rain forecast – woo hoo! So we gave Morphie a bit of loving – I spent the day cleaning all the stainless steel and Richard did a spring clean down below. By the time we had finished we were both pretty tired but felt satisfied having done a good day’s work. We picked up the courtesy car we had booked for the weekend and headed out for some supper at the nearby Boathouse Tavern. We have driven past this place on numerous occasions but have never stopped in and were pleasantly surprised by the ambiance in the little cabanas in the Bistro area. Was basic fare but very tasty and we had a good time.

On the way back to Morphie we spotted some kangaroos having fun near the local sports fields. Not something you see everyday on the rugby pitch LOL.

Saturday we headed down the M1 to Surfers Paradise as we wanted to visit the Skypoint Observation Deck located atop the iconic Q1 building with panoramic views of the entire Gold Coast coastline, hinterland area and the central business district. This is the only beach-side observation deck in Australia. The traffic was heavy and it had taken us at least an hour to get there so we were delighted to find a free parking spot just outside the building, that was totally unexpected! We queued up to get in, whizzed up very fast in the lift to the 77th floor, and then wandered around and enjoyed the spectacular views. We also had some great coffee and cake from the on-site cafe. They were restricting numbers to the tower so there were lots of opportunities to check out the views whilst still managing social distancing. Was definitely worth the trip.

Afterwards we drove back to Coomera and stopped off in Westfield for some fresh fruit and salad and then back to Morphie for the evening.

Sunday morning, the sun was out and it was glorious! So we quickly packed up a salad picnic lunch and headed down the M1 to Southport as we wanted to go to the beach on the ocean-side near to the Gold Coast Seaway entrance. The traffic was crawling along most of the way and then we all had to get out of the way for an ambulance to get through – to find ourselves stuck in traffic alongside a prone teenager who was being tended to on the side of the road. Not sure what hit her but she was out for the count – just hope she was OK. We continued our journey (feeling a bit subdued after seeing that) and arrived at the car park and actually managed to find a parking space which is definitely a bonus anywhere near a Gold Coast beach at a weekend! We unloaded the car and headed to the beach which was a bit hard going for me walking on soft sand. But I made it and we got out the new tent shade and erected it – it was very simple and quick. We were both delighted by our new purchase and made ourselves comfortable.

This beach is one of the few that allow dogs to play off their lead so we enjoyed watching them having as much fun in the surf as their human parents. Some of them were a bit naughty though and one little Rasta dog with dreadlocks (probably some sort of poodle cross-breed) definitely liked the look of our tent and came visiting for cuddles a few times and stole some rubber bands of all things. A bit concerned we told his mum but she said he just liked chewing them, he wouldn’t swallow them so no worries. Phew that’s a relief. Oh yes and if you are wondering about the pier structure it is a sand bypassing system which delivers all the sand that arrives at the Gold Coast Seaway across the entrance and moves it up the coast into the Moreton Bay Marine Park. Up to 500 cubic metres of sand can be moved per hour. Oh yes, and how could I forget watching the yacht race that was going on just off the coast. Was a fabulous day!

Coming back to the Boatworks and, again, another ambulance this time rushing to the children’s waterpark on the Broadwater being directed by a lifeguard on the ground. Sends shivers down my spine when this happens just hope that incident turned out OK for everyone concerned also. Driving via the back roads to avoid the mayhem that is the M1 on a busy weekend we returned to Morphie and unpacked. We then headed over to the showers having checked up on the new marina duck family and, suitably cleaned up, we took up residence at the new pirate ship landscaped area for sundowners listening to some tunes. We had this space all to ourselves and very pleasant it was too! Lovely way to finish the day.

This morning, Monday, we have returned the car and Richard is doing the last bit of laundry while I’m blogging. Later on we will head out to pick up our hire car and get packing as we plan to leave early tomorrow morning heading north towards Bundaberg. So the next blog of our adventures will be published after we come back.

The grim news from home continues and now you have heavy snow just to cheer you all up! Please stay safe and well everybody. So just to make you smile here is an Australian quokka showing you his cheeky grin. Love from us both to you all.

Jan

Monday (11 January) we were up very early as we wanted to make the most of the rising tide to push us towards the Boatworks on the Coomera river. At 6am I picked up the anchor and started washing off the glutinous black mud as the heavens opened, so I got pretty wet! By 6.30 am we were underway and heading across the Broadwater to the river checking out some more casualties of the last wind event along the way. The forecast was for the wind to drop by now but this didn’t happen so we were getting buffeted around a bit as we motored along. Luckily the wind was pushing us onto the dock when we arrived at the Boatworks so we made it into our berth, tied up, and all with no dramas.

We quickly rinsed Morphie off with fresh water and then got ourselves cleaned up before heading to the laundry. Once the washing machines had started we headed over to the Galley for breakfast and very nice it was too. Having completed the laundry we were back onboard by lunchtime. At 4pm we picked up the courtesy car and headed out to Westfield for our medical appointments. Doctor was happy with both of us (which is always a relief!) and we then headed into Coles for some fresh provisions before heading to the great Thai restaurant for dinner. As always, the food definitely didn’t disappoint. So Happy Birthday to me!

Afterwards we headed back for a quiet night on board escaping from the showery weather down below. Back on line we found out that the Brisbane three-day lockdown had been eased as there had been no community transmission of Covid. We did feel for those people stuck in quarantine though who had been moved swiftly to another quarantine hotel and were having to restart the whole 14 day process – one guy was only an hour away from being released. That must have been tough!

Tuesday it was raining so we had a lazy start. The rain continued and I needed some girlie pampering so I managed to get another car and, leaving Richard on board, I headed out to get my hair cut and a facial. Such a treat! Returning to Morphie we had another quiet night on board bingewatching a couple of Netflix programmes.

Wednesday morning the weather improved slightly although it rained on and off all day. Richard took the opportunity, when the sun did occasionally break through, to clean out our anchor locker; cleaned the anchor chain properly; and swapped out the bow roller as the old one had cracked. Jobs done we, again, sheltered down below. I was having a bad pain day so spent most of it reading and relaxing. This week we were supposed to have been going to New South Wales to see my nephew and his family and was very disappointed this couldn’t happen again because of border restrictions. We had been looking forward to some time away from the boat too so had already booked into the Boatworks until the end of January expecting to leave Morphie safe and sound in her berth.

So we made the decision to book another short road trip within Queensland. First stop is to Mon Repos which is the only ranger-guided turtle encounter available on the east coast. They are instrumental in turtle conservation research, especially the endangered Loggerhead turtles that frequent this area. It is turtle season right now so we are very excited about the prospect of seeing hatchlings emerge, but, of course, nothing is guaranteed!

On the way back south we are stopping off at Caloundra which is a 30 minutes drive from Australia Zoo so we are going to visit there plus spend some time relaxing on the beach. We were easily able to get a self-contained apartment booked as holidaymakers from NSW had cancelled.

Really looking forward to this six night trip (starting next Tuesday). So that was it for the day apart from organising a hire car plus online shopping for some spare boat parts from the USA (as they are not available here in Australia).

Thursday morning I defrosted the fridge and that was about it for the day. We stayed down below to try and keep cool as the weather had turned very hot and humid. We did, however, manage to pop to the Galley for coffee and a cake during the afternoon followed by another quiet night on board.

Friday morning we had a lazy start as again it was very hot and humid which certainly zaps our energy levels. Late morning we headed out for lunch before getting ourselves cleaned up and picked up our courtesy car for the weekend. We then headed out to see the Australian Outback Spectacular’s Heartland show which was my birthday present. We arrived, picked up our tags (for free drinks and photo) and were given cowboy hats and then headed into the bar. Don’t we look smart!

We then entered the arena which is set up on three sides around a sandy floor and a backdrop. All seats have tables in front of them as our tickets came with a served three course dinner and complimentary premium drinks. So we settled in and enjoyed our vegetable and feta tart starter and the live music.

Then the lights dimmed and the spectacular began. Basically the story is about the current five year drought where crops are dying, cattle are being sold for next to nothing and this show depicts the generosity and warmth of a community as it rallies around its central characters (Marge and Reg) as they face the tough conditions head on as the drought threatens their future. As all hope is fading the rain finally falls and the whole town can rejoice. The stage effects were amazing with rain, thunder, helicopters, flowing rivers, canyons and some aboriginal sights. The animals were live and there were lots of cattle and even some ‘wild’ horses.

During the show they managed to serve us a steak meal and a chocolate desert along with copious amounts of sparkling wine. Was a great show and we were amazed by some of the horse riding skills and acrobatics. It finished with the guy getting the girl, getting married, and a celebratory line dance from the cast. Absolutely fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed the whole production.

Saturday morning we had breakfast in the Galley then went shopping including picking up some prescription medication. Arriving back, we stowed our goodies, and then did some more laundry combined with Netflix downloads in the cruisers lounge. Thunderstorms had been forecast and the clouds certainly were building. Then the warnings started of severe thunderstorms coming to our area and to take cover. We are in the marked red zone.

We managed to get the laundry back on board just before the heavens opened….and the wind blew…and the hail started and the thunder and lightning was very close….with a whiteout looking down the river and the storm drain overflowed into the river behind us from the road. The noise was incredible! We did try to sit in the cockpit for a little while but the horizontal driving rain drove us down below in the end. Phew thankfully we came through unscathed with no damage from the hail.

Sunday morning and Richard wanted to check the head hoses as we had a blockage so he started early taking everything apart, thinking it was the usual joker valve that had failed. But, of course, it wasn’t. By now there were tools everywhere and a pretty fed up Richard as he struggled to access things. Why would you put a serviceable item near the ceiling of a bilge locker and then install a tiny access locker more than an arm’s length away in the floor?!? Here it is partly reassembled only after a lot of swearing, and cursing. You really need to have very long arms, small shoulders and flexible joints to work on certain parts of an Island Packet!

We did have a list of things planned whilst we had the car for the weekend so I decided to leave Richard to it and get on with the jobs as I was more useful than being in his way onboard. So I headed down to Southport to visit the Volunteer Marine Rescue to pick up our membership card; then on to Charis seafoods in Labrador for some fresh fish; then back to Oxenford for cash and some provisions from Woolworths that I couldn’t get in Coles the other day; before finally returning to the boat. Richard was still huffing and puffing so we took a break over a cold drink and then I headed back out to Bunnings to get some bits and pieces that Richard had now found he needed. Back on board and it was obviously not going to be resolved that night, so we cleaned the place up, and had sundowners in the cockpit. Richard had a couple of beers and he certainly deserved them! We then had dinner down below followed by a movie night.

This morning, Monday, and I’ve taken up residence in the cruisers lounge to blog leaving Richard on board using acid to clean the remaining hoses through having swapped out the more accessible ones yesterday. The weather is closing in again, the clouds are building and the threat of thunderstorms continue.

However, at least we are not in NE Queensland as Tropical Cyclone Kimi is threatening to come ashore as a Cat 2 storm soon. Hope everyone comes through that OK.

Anyway, that’s about it from me. The news from home remains grim but at least the vaccination process is gaining ground and we just hope that everyone is able to stay safe and keep well. Take care everybody, sending more Australian hugs.

Bye for now

Jan

Monday (4 January) we did some fruit and veg shopping and then headed into the marina office to say our farewells. We had really enjoyed our time in Sanctuary Cove Marina but our month was up. By 11am we had left our slip and was headed out into the Broadwater.

We had planned to go to Tipplers for our first night on anchor (which is only a few miles away) but when we had got there it was absolutely rammed. We had hoped that as this was ‘back to work’ day after the Christmas break it wouldn’t be too busy. We didn’t want to squeeze in and worry about swinging room overnight so we continued on north to the top of South Stradbroke Island, navigated the shifting sand banks at Jumpinpin and entered the southern end of the Canaipa Passage.

We decided to try Perry’s Hole which is an isolated anchorage between Crusoe Island and Short Island which meant navigating a narrow entrance and bar to enter. Luckily the tide was right for this and we were successful, having covered about 15 miles. We were treated to a wide open space with nobody else around apart from one trawler. We weighed our new anchor for its inaugural use and, OMG, it set so quickly I virtually had to hold onto the bow when it set and pulled Morphie around into the wind. We let out more chain and enjoyed a nice evening in the cockpit with our insect coil burning brightly to keep the biting midges away. Was very peaceful and we certainly slept well with no concerns.

Tuesday morning we decided to return back to Millionaire’s anchorage at the top of South Stradbroke Island. We found a great position in shallow sand and settled in for the day.

Of course then the wind decided to pick up to 25 knots. This is a pretty exposed spot but we held on whilst we waited to see what would happen – the predicted bad weather wasn’t supposed to arrive until Thursday. We sat on board and watched the tide change as there are very strong currents here to ensure we were set properly. Did you know that in Europe we tend to set our anchor on 5:1 ratio (eg chain to depth) but here in Queensland the norm is 3:1 so we always have to watch out for their different swinging radius. Anyway all was well and the wind died away as quickly as it had picked up.

So we dropped dink and went exploring the spit at Jumpinpin. We enjoyed watching pelicans, tiny crabs, bird life and even the surf as it came crashing over the bar from the ocean on the east side. This narrow sand bar between South Stradbroke and North Stradbroke islands is not really navigable and certainly should not be crossed except without local knowledge. It was certainly a nice place to explore….. We left dink on the beach and, as the tide continued to recede whilst we were ashore exploring, we had to walk him back into the water. This was like a creek with another sandbar. Once re -floated we went to the sand bar itself and had a quick bob in the chilly water which was certainly refreshing.

We returned to Morphie, got cleaned up and had a quiet night on board.

Wednesday morning we picked up anchor on a rising tide to return to Tipplers. We were delighted to find our favourite anchoring spot available on arrival and got a good set. Boats were coming and going all day around us but we were pretty happy with our positioning. Early afternoon we took ourselves ashore for a coffee and a cake and were treated to a visit by a huge monitor lizard who was sunning itself on a tree.

Back onboard we had sundowners on the coach roof watching all the late arrivals trying to find a spot in this busy anchorage. We had a trawler ahead of us and a houseboat behind so there really wasn’t room for anybody else to squeeze in. Sitting in the cockpit we suddenly heard a bit of a commotion and watched this orange fibreglass dinghy heading off down the river – clearly someone couldn’t tie a knot on one of the houseboats ahead of us. Most of the houseboats that ply these waters are charter vessels and the skill of some of the “captains” is a bit suspect at times! Anyway, the trawler in front of us very kindly shot off and rescued it for them. Later on we heard some shouting and screaming. Suddenly the trawler in front of us picked up anchor as the houseboat (which they had helped earlier) had swung too closely to them – we are not sure if they touched or not. Anyway, the houseboat then decided to move too….not sure why as he had loads of room now….and, of course, he dropped anchor alongside us. We were not happy!!! We kept watch for a while and, eventually convinced that it didn’t present us with any danger unless the wind switched direction (which was very unlikely) we retired down below. By now the wind was howling and it started raining heavily which gave us a stormy sunset.

Thursday morning it remained very windy with intermittent rain and the forecast was just horrible.

Early on a supply vessel came through the anchorage to offload some trucks – as there are only sand roads on this part of the island we were surprised to see the size of this ship and even more surprised that he found room to back up to the beach!

We stayed on board watching all the anchoring shenanigans again as people came and went throughout the day. Thankfully our houseboat neighbour left and another one came in to take his place but he couldn’t get his anchor to set (despite numerous attempts) so he moved off to try his luck elsewhere. Then a small sail boat turned up and anchored in front of us. We watched as he got himself settled and considered him a bit too close but, thankfully, he came to the same conclusion and picked up and moved forward to give us both a bit more room. And by now another houseboat had arrived behind us – but this time it was a liveaboard houseboat with two old ZZ-top type bearded men and one woman on board. This was a good result for us as, once again, we were well spaced with no room for anybody to join us. Although the wind howled throughout the night and the rain was persistent we had a pretty good night’s sleep.

Friday morning it was raining heavily and the wind was still howling. Our wind generator beat it’s own personal best record and produced 204 amp hours in a 24 hour period. So we didn’t have any problems with keeping our batteries topped up despite the lack of sunshine! Anyway we spent the day down below reading again….not much else to do…. By now the news had come in that Queensland had extended the closure of the interstate border to New South Wales in relation to specific Covid hotspots which included Greater Sydney and the Central Coast until the end of January. Well, sadly, that put paid to our plans to visit my nephew Jamie and his family again! Then the news hit that a cleaner in one of the Brisbane quarantine hotels had tested positive for the new UK variant so the Greater Brisbane area was placed under lockdown for three days while they undertook extensive testing and tracing which included banning recreational boating in Moreton Bay so we won’t be heading that way on Morphie anytime soon either. We had another quiet night on board with a Netflix binge.

Saturday morning it was still raining and it had poured heavily overnight. But come lunchtime it had cleared and the wind had dropped. So exciting!!! So we went ashore for coffee and a walk along the beach checking out the mangroves and a derelict wedding venue along the way (along with dead statues). Real shame that this stuff is just left to rot on the beach. Oh yes and even wallabies leave footprints in the sand LOL. Was nice, though, to stretch our legs for a while.

We got back on board just before the heavens opened again – phew! More anchor shenanigans were going on but we escaped the drama. During the late afternoon a police boat came through the anchorage and stopped at the Tipplers Cafe pontoon – we wandered who they were looking for but I think they were just after a coffee LOL. Later on we were treated to a lovely sunset once the rain had cleared. The wind died down considerably during the evening so we were hoping that this latest wind event was over.

Today, Sunday, and the wind is still blowing a bit stronger than expected. There are more comings and goings in the anchorage and, because the sun is trying to break through the clouds, the jet skis are back and buzzing around as this is a popular watering hole for jet ski tours from Southport. Richard is upstairs reading while I’m down below blogging. And that’s probably it for the day. Tomorrow we return to the Boatworks primarily for doctors appointments although there are some other things in the pipeline but I’ll share them next time. It is definitely time for us to give Morphie some loving care and attention again.

So, finally, just to let all our family and friends know that we are thinking of them constantly, especially as the news from the UK is so grim right now. So sending lots of love and hugs that you all stay safe and well.

Bye for now

Jan

Tuesday (29 December) we woke up to a cloudy day but the sun was trying to break through. So we had a leisurely start and then headed to the lagoon pool for the day. We were quiet surprised as most of the lounge beds were ‘reserved’ with towels placed on them. We made camp best we could in the adults’ area before going bobbing in the pool which was lovely. Four hours later we decided to evict two towels and commandeered two lounge beds as we needed some shade from an umbrella. By now two people had returned and it turns out they were British expats – although they moaned loudly enough for us to hear nobody else turned up to take possession throughout the day. It was all very strange but we just ignored them. Later on we returned to Morphie for a quiet dinner on board and a movie night.

During the night the heavens opened and by Wednesday it was raining heavily. So we just got on with boat jobs like laundry, freezer defrosting, and a bit of cleaning before having a relaxing afternoon and evening down below. Our sole entertainment for the day was feeding the fish that lurk underneath our neighbour’s boat with some out-of-date seedy bread LOL.

Overnight it rained heavily again and we thought that New Year’s Eve might be a bit of a washout. But Thursday morning it cleared up a bit so we headed out for breakfast at the Anchor Buoy which was very nice.

Whilst there we downloaded some Netflix programmes to watch later, then did a bit of shopping, before going to the lagoon for a little while. On the way back we showered off using the marina facilities and then headed to the Pizza Wine Bar and had a delicious thin and crispy pizza. And yes no cooking for me for the whole day woo hoo!

Back on board we rested up for a little while before heading back to the lagoon suitably adorned with our wristbands which we had picked up earlier in the day giving us access to the pool bar for the beach party. The trees that were lit up around the lagoon looked really pretty.

The mix of people was quite interesting: from yummy mummies in their expensive skin tight dresses and killer heels (not forgetting the fake body parts) pushing infants in prams; to people dressed to the nines having clearly come down from the masquerade ball; and other guests like us just casual there to have a drink and enjoy the fireworks. Surprisingly a large contingent of the younger guests were British ex-pats who were definitely having a good time LOL. The DJ played very cheesy songs – a bit like a bad wedding entertainer – but the kids enjoyed dancing around even when the heavens opened while we all ran for cover for a little while. There was a full moon to check out too which was pretty spectacular as it appeared in the clouds above us.

At midnight we did the count down and watched the fireworks which were great. It felt strange to be alone again (and socially distanced) as we usually spend NYE with friends but that just sums up the rest of 2020 really. Anyway, Happy 2021 everybody.

Friday we had a lazy start and again it was drizzly and cloudy. But by noon it had cleared up and we headed into the Marine Village to meet Sandra and Nigel. The last time we had seen them was many years ago when they returned to the UK for a while and came to Clive and Sharon’s for Christmas and our two families spent the holiday together. Afterwards Sandra (Sharon’s sister) and Nigel returned to Australia where they had been living for many years. Coincidentally Clive mentioned to them that we were currently in Sanctuary Cove and they had literally just got a place around the corner on Hope Island. What a small world eh?!? So we had quickly organised a reunion.

Well, as you can imagine, we had many years of news and memories to cover so we chatted, had lunch, chatted some more, had another drink or two or three….and before you know it the whole afternoon had passed. Was lovely to catch up with them!

We said our farewells, promising to see them again soon, and headed back to Morphie for another quiet night on board.

Saturday it was partly cloudy but the sun managed to burn it off and we headed to the lagoon where we spent the whole day. Once again the place was pretty quiet now that the NY celebrations were over and we had a choice of beds and was able to get a floating bean bag for bobbing purposes whenever we wanted through the day. Around 4pm, having had more than enough sun, we were packing up and some kangaroos decided to join us – I love watching these creatures.

On the way back to our dock we used the marina showers. I got myself ready, put my toiletries in the shower cubicle, took my glasses off and climbed into the cubicle. I was just rinsing my swimming costume out when something moved in the corner and, of course, I’m pretty blind without my specs. Quickly I grabbed them and realised that there was this HUGE spider (about the size of my fist) sitting there looking at me and then it reared a couple of legs up. OMG I thought my heart was going to stop, I’m petrified of spiders, and of course in Australia many of them are dangerous. So I rushed out of the cubicle grabbing all my belongings and ran naked into the main area before taking another cubicle having checked first carefully that it was clear of nasties. Will definitely be more careful in future not sure I could stand the shock again LOL. I have since found out it was a Huntsman spider which is probably one of the most common (and scariest!) spiders in Australia. Their size, fast movement and ability to “jump”, coupled with their habit of finding their way into houses and cars makes them pretty frightening although they are non venomous. 

Back on board we had a sundowner in the cockpit before retiring down below for dinner and another Netflix binge night.

This morning, Sunday, and it is cloudy and very humid. This is our last full day booked here into Sanctuary Cove Marina so we need to get ourselves ready to leave having been here a month. Richard is cleaning Morphie’s topsides while I’m down below blogging. Afterwards there will be engine checks, water top ups and then we’ll probably head out to get a final internet download fix before we go back on the hook tomorrow. It is time to try out our new Christmas anchor. Typically the weather forecast for the next week is currently very mixed, nice for a few days then some strong winds with possible thunderstorms. So not sure we’ll actually go too far as we need to return to the Boatworks on Monday 11 January for doctors appointments.

Bye for now, take care of each other.

Jan

Saturday (19 December) after I had published the latest blog we headed into the Marina Village for coffee and a cake at the Anchor Buoy.

We also had a look around the shops and I tried on a couple of swimsuits but didn’t like the fit or the price so decided against in the end. Whilst we were out, we had hoped to be able to download some more Netflix content to watch offline but, for some reason, my computer couldn’t find the marina wifi so we had to give that up as a bad job. Back on board we had another quiet night in.

Sunday morning we got ourselves ready to go to the pool and headed there via the IGA to pick up some lunch (they do very tasty wraps). We had a lovely day by the lagoon watching lots of people having fun especially when a family turned up with loads of floating flamingos which meant that the big bean bags were abandoned by the kids so we could do some more bobbing ourselves LOL.

Later on we came back to Morphie via the showers and had a quick drink in the Tavern before having a light supper on board and a movie night. We then found out that Queensland had slammed shut the interstate border again to anyone in Greater Sydney, the Northern Beaches and the Central Coast (New South Wales) in response to the latest Covid outbreak and people were panicking and rushing to try and get back across the border into Queensland by Tuesday 1am so they would not end up having to do 14-day compulsory hotel quarantine on return home (at their own expense). So, once again, our plans to visit Jamie and the family in January are up in the air. Fingers crossed it gets sorted out quickly. And, of course, the new Tier 4 lockdown restrictions were announced at home too so on both sides of the world family Christmas plans were sadly overtaken by events.

Monday morning we headed to the pool around 11ish. It was cloudy most of the day and was very hot and steamy so we stayed in the shade apart from when we spent some time chilling out in the lagoon pool. We came back to Morphie via the showers and had a salad supper onboard before talking a walk down the dock to see the ‘little star of Bethlehem’ when Jupiter and Saturn were closely aligned. We had a good view but our camera sadly wasn’t able to capture the moment so here’s our traditional view of the Christmas star instead.

Tuesday we headed out again to the lagoon pool and it just got hotter and hotter. Then suddenly, from nowhere (and not forecast either) the sky darkened, the clouds rolled in, and the heavens opened. We rushed to the hotel pool bar to sit it out before heading back to Morphie.

Wednesday it was another hot and sunny day but the clouds were building around us.

So we decided we would spent the day catching up with chores instead of more pool time. So we headed out for coffee and cake (at a different cafe this time just for a change); picked up some fresh vegetables from IGA for Christmas; got medical prescriptions filled at the chemist; withdrew some cash from the ATM; picked up a lottery ticket (fingers crossed); and did the laundry. Back on board we then flushed both the water tank and the bilges through and, once it was all pumped out, we refilled the water tank.

Afterwards we just rested up down below before getting ready to go out for dinner. During the afternoon the winds picked up and gusted up to 30 knots momentarily. So we double checked all our lines again and then got dressed up and returned to George’s Paragon restaurant. This is a walk in restaurant – no reservations allowed- and we weren’t surprised to find the queue out the door and into the street. So we headed to the wine bar next door and had a quick drink before re-joining the slightly shorter queue. We actually didn’t wait that long before we were seated and had another wonderful meal.

Really good food here…in fact so good…we even succumbed to a desert which isn’t something we do very often LOL. Great evening and, as we tend to eat dinner later in the evening than the locals we were pretty much the last people to leave the restaurant.

Completely full up we enjoyed the Christmas lights in the marina village as we strolled back to our dock.

Thursday morning, it was Christmas Eve, and we had an early start to go to the pool. It was cloudy for some of the day and when the wind picked up it even felt a bit chilly but we didn’t mind and enjoyed bobbing around. We were expecting everyone to be full of the joys of Christmas but, has become the norm, we were completely on our own and didn’t really engage with anyone apart from a couple of neighbours who said goodbye as they vacated their sun beds (as they recognised our accents). People here are mostly in groups of family or friends so they tend to focus on each other and we end up just watching them. It certainly didn’t feel like Christmas to us….

On our way back we came across some kangaroos enjoying a munch on the grass, including one who was having a bit of a lay down. Check out the length of those legs LOL. Some of the hotel guests then came along to check them out and, the stupidiest thing we have ever seen, is a man taking his very small baby (about 9 months old) out of its pram and sitting it up on the grass just in front of a kangaroo for a photograph. Does he not realise that these (wild) kangaroos can do a bit of damage? Seriously, what an idiot!!!

We stopped off in the Tavern for a couple of drinks before heading back to Morphie for a quiet night on board. Before we turned in I did at least remember to get the meat out of the freezer for defrosting overnight LOL.

Friday morning and Happy Christmas to you all! Not the Christmas we had expected but that was true for most of our family and friends with lockdowns and travel restrictions across the world.

We went to the pool early and had a lovely time bobbing around before returning to Morphie via the showers around 3pm.

On our return, Richard relaxed in the cockpit while I got on with preparing and cooking the Christmas dinner. We decided not to go Australian with a BBQ so instead I prepared a full traditional dinner with only a few missing items (sprouts and pigs in blankets LOL). So the menu was a rolled and boned turkey, roast potatoes, roasted parsnips / carrots / onions, yorkshire puddings, peas plus cranberry sauce and gravy. Oh yes and don’t forget the stuffing. Considering the restrictions of two shelves only in my marine Force 10 oven I was pretty happy with how it turned out and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

After dinner we had a Netflix binge before an early night as we were both pretty weary.

Saturday morning (Boxing Day) we had a leisurely start and awoke to a overcast day and some rain. So we decided to give the pool a miss and headed out for coffee mid morning. This time the computer was able to pick up the wifi signal so I was able to download a few things to watch offline while we were there. Yay!

We then walked to the hotel and went inside for the first time. It really is quite nice. We chatted to the concierge about options for New Year’s Eve as we knew that they were having a couple of events – but we certainly don’t have appropriate clothing on board to attend a ‘masked masquerade ball’ that’s for sure LOL. Anyway we found out that the lagoon pool bar is going to be open in the evening so we can catch the fireworks from there as they are set off over the canal behind. So that was a good result. On the way back we popped into the Voyager Bar for a quick drink (or at least I had one as Richard remains on the wagon) and then walked back to Morphie via the road rather than the marina village. We think it might actually be quicker this way….

Back on board we spent the rest of the day relaxing down below and having a traditional Boxing Day dinner of mashed potato, pickles and cold meats before another movie night.

Sunday, we headed back to the pool again but, this time, the hotel was really busy. In fact the busiest we have seen it so far and the lagoon pool was crowded with lots of kids around. We eventually set up camp by the other hotel pool instead having been lucky enough to nab the last two sun loungers with an umbrella for shade.

We enjoyed our day there although found the constant reggae music blaring from the pool bar a little irritating rather than the peace and quiet of the adult’s area of the lagoon that we usually frequent. Oh yes did we tell you about Queensland’s track and trace system? We have to scan a bar code into our phone wherever we are and, in this hotel, they use it to monitor the numbers for social distancing purposes and, to buy a drink at the bar, you have to show them this completed registration before they will serve you. Up until now most places have been happy to take a written record when you arrived at their venue – but, in the latest news from NSW it appears that there are a lot of Donald Ducks and Mickey Mouses living in Australia! So compulsory bar code scanning for venues is Queensland’s response – luckily there’s an app for that.

Having had a nice time we later returned to Morphie via the showers for another quiet night on board.

This morning, Monday, and I’m blogging while Richard is relaxing and apart from a bit of shopping later that will probably be it for the day. So I just want to take this opportunity to wish you all a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year. Please take care of each other. Bye for now.

Jan

Saturday (12 December) after I blogged, in a break from the relentless rain, we popped out for showers and a coffee. Richard also serviced the Whale bilge pump (only accessible from the lazarette) so he spent quite some time down the hole with me passing tools as required. Eventually, after a bit of huffing and puffing, he managed to get this done and it all worked beautifully. Fantastic job!

In the evening the downpours continued and the wind picked up so, before we retired for the night, we checked all our lines yet again. The forecast is really rather bad…. Here’s the wind forecast for Sunday.

Sunday morning and it rained hard all day. The gusts of wind were significant and we were glad that we had taken time to put some extra wraps on our genoa and staysail just in case. But while Morphie was fine (as we had prepared) the boat next door wasn’t! The guy had been on board the day before but had not done anything other than put out some more (unsecured) canvas so, of course, this promptly blew off but we were able to save it. Then the support pipes that are sewn into his cockpit canvas started to come out and were threatening to launch themselves at our hull so, once again in the pouring rain, Richard climbed on board and tied these in situ so they would stay put. Later on the neighbour’s top life lines broke under the pressure of the boat being pushed onto the dock by the wind. But Richard managed to re-secure all the fenders to the lower line to save the boat bashing against the dock. Very annoying when people don’t bother to prepare adequately for this type of weather event and it was not fun to end up having to deal with it by default in the terrible conditions. It’s not as if it wasn’t forecast!

Thankfully the Coomera River didn’t flood as we were worried about the forecast King Tide and, although the docks came closer to the top of the pilings than we had seen previously there was no risk that they were going to come uncoupled.

By now it was clear that this was an exceptional weather event and we just ended up having a Netflix binge session with occasional checking outside to make sure everything was OK. The noise down below from the torrential rain was really quite loud….just thankful we didn’t get the threatened thunderstorms too!

Monday morning and it was still raining and the winds were howling. Check out the rain forecast below.

By now reports were coming in of power outages; damaged boats; flooding; landslides; exceptional surf and sea foam conditions; dams inundated; and we were just thankful that we were OK. We didn’t record the actual wind speed that came through here – 50+ knots were forecast – but some others nearby recorded 72 knots, so definitely not an insignificant event. Check out these images from various local sources of conditions here in Queensland.

Tuesday morning and the rain started to clear in the late morning. Again there was another King Tide forecast so there was some concern over the river flooding on top from heavy and significant rainfalls further inland – to the extent that some of the dams were at full capacity. We took the opportunity to dry ourselves out, get some laundry done, and do a clean up. And that was about it for the day.

Wednesday it rained for most of the day so it was another lazy one down below. In the evening we headed out to the local Chinese restaurant for dinner but sadly it wasn’t that good! Never mind it was nice to be off the boat.

Thursday and it was still raining….. I braved the elements to head to the on-site supermarket to pick up some fresh fruit and vegetables. And that was about it again for another rainy day on board. Phew getting a bit fed up of this! But we shouldn’t complain. This is cyclone season here in the South Pacific and the first major storm of the season was barrelling towards Fiji as a massive Category 5 storm so we were concerned about the impact that would have on these lovely islands and their people. So all our thoughts were with them at this difficult time.

Friday morning and it was cloudy but dry. Woo hoo! So we got ourselves cleaned up and headed over to the Intercontinental Hotel lagoon pool for the day. Was lovely, especially bobbing around in the water, although we were concerned about a helicopter that kept circling and circling around low over the river….so wondered if this was some sort of search and rescue operation. And then the relative peace was broken by a man shouting that his baby had stopped breathing and he needed a doctor. The fear and anxiety was obvious from his voice. OMG. We stayed away from the main area as people were now running around and then we saw three police cars as well as an ambulance turn up to the back of the hotel. We just prayed that the outcome was a positive one.

On the way back to Morphie we stopped off at the Tavern for a snack supper and a couple of drinks. At this point we found out that there had been a large Covid outbreak in NSW which involved community transmission. So we are now waiting to find out what the Queensland Premier’s response will be to this – already Tasmania have closed their borders completely to NSW – and the Northern Beaches area have been declared a Covid hotspot. And on top of all that our local area back home in the UK is in a Tier 3 lockdown situation and it looks like a No Deal Brexit is probably on the cards….. What a year 2020 has been for everybody – don’t think anybody will be that unhappy to bid it farewell in a couple of weeks time!

So we just want to take this opportunity to wish everybody a very Happy Christmas! We’ll be thinking of all our family and friends so many miles away and will raise a glass to you all on the day. Take care and stay safe.

Jan

Saturday morning (5 December) we had a leisurely start and then headed over to the hotel complex. We got set up by the lagoon pool and enjoyed a few hours bobbing around in the pool on these massive floating bean bag cushion things. Great fun!

We enjoyed watching the world go by and the wedding party as they walked around the lagoon perimeter towards the docks for their photo shoot with the yachts. The staff, meanwhile, were busy clearing one part of the beach for a private reception and there were some guys setting up fireworks for later. Was all very interesting. Around 5pm we headed back to Morphie stopping off at the brand-new marina residents’ shower blocks. These have just opened and are beautifully done – just a shame about the design as you need to be a bit of a contortionist to move around within the cubicles whilst getting dry LOL. We had dinner on board followed by a Netflix session.

Sunday morning we awoke to a cloudy day. I popped out to the local IGA supermarket for a fresh loaf of bread so returned with coffees from the nearest cafe.

Later on we headed over to the lagoon for the afternoon and found a couple of good beds and it was pretty cool as the wind picked up although the clouds had dispersed leaving us a beautiful blue sky. Was lovely and we had a couple of drinks in the Tavern on the way back to Morphie. We then had a dinner and movie night onboard.

Monday morning it was cloudy and drizzly on and off with thunderstorms predicted. So not a lagoon-type of day.

We decided to pickle the watermaker as we will be in a marina for the whole of December and most of January (as we are going on a road trip to see family in New South Wales) so we are unlikely to need to make water for a while. Job done we then washed Morphie down as the large numbers of swifts that fly around here had left little deposits all over the coachroof. We then installed canvas on the bow so that we could leave our cabin hatch open during the night.

Jobs done we sat in the cockpit reading and the rains got heavier and thunderstorms started to pop up all around us. We had dinner in the cockpit as it was so hot and humid and just watched and listened to the storms all around us. It was quite exciting this time as these storms circled us but didn’t get too close LOL. We saw lots of fruit bats flying home to roost for the evening too.

Tuesday morning it was cloudy and humid again with another increased CAPE forecast so we decided to stay put. The damp environment caused problems with my legs so we just stayed onboard and rested up all day. Thankfully there were no more storms.

Wednesday morning we had another lazy start. We then headed to the lagoon and had a nice time bobbing and enjoying the sun.

On the way back to the shower block we came across a cheeky parrot and a mob of kangaroos (including joeys) just munching on the hotel grass completely at home LOL. So we watched them for a while and then found another mum (with her baby inside the pouch this time) on the roundabout near the car park. Everyone just ignores them as part of the scenery but we can’t help ourselves stopping and watching for a while.

Cleaned up we wandered around the different restaurants to see what was on offer and decided that we quite fancied George’s Paragon Seafood Restaurant for the following night. We had a couple of drinks on the outside wine bar terrace before heading back to Morphie for a quiet night on board.

Thursday morning and we had another lovely pool day although, this time, we were by another swimming pool nearer the main part of the hotel as it was a bit chilly in the wind out by the lagoon. We had a lovely time.

We headed back reasonably early to get showered and then, later on, suitably dressed we headed out to the restaurant. It felt very festive being out and about at night for the first time and we enjoyed the Christmas lights in the Marina Village.

We were surprised when we got inside the restaurant – it was much bigger than it looked from the outside – and the ambience of all the Christmas lights was delightful. It felt very festive and, on top of that, the food was really good too. Was a great evening.

And, of course, on the way back to our dock I had to try out Santa’s sleigh as he had left it here for some reason LOL.

Friday morning and we were on a mission to return to the Boatworks but via dinghy. We had ordered a service kit for the Whale bilge pump from the on-side chandlery and had been informed that it had arrived so we got dink down off the davits and took ourselves the 2.7 miles up the river.

We pulled into the Boatworks and Richard went off to pick up the spares. On the way back down the river we pulled into Hope Island Marina to do a quick shop at Coles supermarket (which has a greater selection than the one on-site here) and enjoyed checking out the houses that line the river canals. On the way back to Sanctuary Cove we were being chased down by a rain cloud so quickly made it back (checking out the superyachts at the other end of the marina on the way), got unpacked, and then raised dink back onto the davits before the heavens opened.

And that was it for the day….it rained….it poured….and it rained some more….

The rain never let up all night and it is still raining now (Saturday morning). We have checked our dock lines and have put out a couple of additional ones. The forecast for the next few days is absolutely horrendous as a low front pushes onshore bringing with it up to 50 knots of wind. So looks like we’ll be staying down below for the next few days and keeping abreast with the Brexit news as it develops to its final conclusion this weekend (hopefully!).

Stay safe everyone and look after each other. Bye for now

Jan

Saturday (28 November) and Sunday we were out and about utilising the Boatworks courtesy car. So, in no particular order, we both had GP appointments; then the chemist so that we would have a month’s supply of our medication on board; we visited a couple of malls, supermarkets, butchers and a bottle shop to get our Christmas supplies; we got some cash; and even got a gas bottle refilled. All this was achieved in 35^oC heat and high humidity which was completely draining. Everywhere we went was absolutely rammed with people; we had to drive constantly around car parks looking for people leaving so that we could find a space; and even Santa was out and about with his helpers. Phew glad to say that our tasks were completed successfully and we were happy that, apart from fresh fruit and vegetables, we were now ready for Christmas onboard.

Monday we stripped the beds and headed off to the laundry. Unfortunately other people had the same idea so we had to wait for some machines to become available. So we sat it out in the air-conditioned environment of the cruisers’ lounge and downloaded lots of things from Netflix to watch for when we are offline. While the downloads chugged along we caught up online with various boring administrative type things. And that was it for most of the day – eventually we were back on board with all our clean laundry folded and stowed. By now the wind had clocked to a south easterly direction and was blowing 25 knots. So very breezy in the cockpit and, thankfully, this meant that it was a bit cooler all round. And then the skies cleared and gave us a spectacular view of the full moon.

Tuesday we had a car again for a couple of hours just to pick up fruit and vegetables. Once back on board we swapped out our docklines for others as these were salt-encrusted so put them in buckets of diluted fabric conditioner to soak and soften them up. We topped up the water tank and found a (temporary) home for the old anchor onboard. Annoyingly the manual bilge pump (in the cockpit) decided to fail at this point so Richard rushed off to order a repair kit (thinking it is probably the diaphragm) which should be arriving in the next week or so (and we can always do a dinghy trip back up the river to the Boatworks to collect it from the chandlery when it arrives). At least they sell Whale pumps here in Australia so no problems in sourcing the kit we need. And apart from that we had a quiet day on board.

Wednesday morning we had breakfast in the Galley and then returned to Morphie for a leisurely day of cleaning and tidying down below. Then we just chilled out until later when David (the main barista from the Galley) came to visit for a short while with his young family – it was really nice to be social for an hour or so over nibbles and drinks (although I of course forgot to take a photo!)…..

After they left I spent a lot of time thinking about Caroline’s family as the time of the funeral approached in the UK. Thankfully the local florist had done a really great job so, although I could not be there, at least they knew that we were supporting them from a distance. Best message received was during the night to let me know that they were now down the pub celebrating her life with a glass or two of prosecco! Caroline would definitely have approved.

Thursday morning we awoke to grey clouds and a bit of drizzle. We got ourselves ready and, at 10.30 (high tide) we said our farewells before casting off to meander down the river towards Sanctuary Cove Marina. It was a huge distance of almost three miles LOL.

On arrival the dockmaster came out to assist us into our berth and we got ourselves tied up and then headed into the office to complete the formalities. And we were given a bag of swag – how nice is that!?! Whilst there they were talking about a carol concert on the lawn of the on-site Intercontinental Hotel that evening and they immediately added us to the guest list. What great service!

We then went for a walk around the huge marina village complex enjoying the splendid views of our very large neighbours and the lagoon-style pool at the Intercontinental Hotel which we have access to as part of our berth fee. We are at the far end of A dock….could be a bit closer to the amenities but who cares?!? Was very hot and steamy out with high humidity making the temperature feel a lot worse.

Anyway, back on board, we had an early dinner, showered, then headed out to the hotel lawn for the carols (which was being filmed and streamed elsewhere in the complex). Not sure what we were expecting but everyone had taken their picnics and chairs/tables with them and we just turned up empty handed. Doh!! Deciding not to sit on the grass for the whole event Richard bravely walked back to Morphie to collect our new beach chairs and we then settled down in comfort to watch the show. It was very family orientated. It was lots of fun to watch the kids get so excited, especially when Santa and Rudolph joined the show, although the best cheering was definitely for the free candy canes LOL. Not all the carols were ones we’d heard before but obviously were crowd favourites if the singing and dancing going on amongst the audience was anything to go by.

Because it was so dark the decorated buggy parade (with most of them lit up like Christmas trees) was fun to watch but difficult to capture on film. Never mind, was a great evening.

At the end of the evening, we enjoyed checking out all the boats lit up on our way back to our berth. This was definitely a good start to our time here in Sanctuary Cove and it might even feel a bit like Christmas!

This morning, Friday, and I’m blogging while Richard is chilling. We are not allowed to work on our boat here (and actually had to get special permission to be allowed to liveaboard) so this is going to be the theme for the month LOL. This afternoon we will probably catch some rays by the beautiful lagoon pool. Definitely a nice place to settle down and read a book or two….so looking forward to that.

Take care everybody at home and look after each other. Bye for now

Jan

Friday morning (20 November) we had breakfast at the on-site cafe in the East Coast Marina before settling our bill and casting off towards Sandhills, an anchorage on Moreton Island. We have been waiting patiently for a particular weather window to visit this place so were delighted that, finally, the conditions were perfect. It was flat calm as we headed over there and got a really good anchor set in sand on arrival. Amazing views of the dunes and back towards Brisbane. We just enjoyed being back out on the hook again. We were even treated to a flypast during the late afternoon followed by an amazing sunset. It doesn’t get much better than this!

Saturday morning it was flat calm again and we were up early to see the sunrise.

We then took ourselves off on a little dinghy exploration and spotted a small eagle ray and a bin-sized southern stingray on our travels. We pulled up on the beach (which is full of tread marks as people drive along here and get stuck often LOL) and even enjoyed a bobbing session in the shallow beautiful waters.

Afterwards we headed over to Big Sandhills, deciding against climbing the dunes despite more hardy folks giving it a go, and enjoyed the scenery. Heading back towards Morphie we then poodled along the coast to the Small Sandhills and checked them out too. Had been a lovely day.

Sunday morning, as the wind was clocking north, we headed back across to Peel Island and had a nice four hour run checking out all the birds who sit quite happily on the channel markers.

We hung at the back of the fleet looking for deeper sand and got a good anchor set. The weather then started closing in on us and the fetch picked up so we decided not to go ashore. We were surrounded by lots of boats out for the day and, as they left, they were replaced by liveaboards looking for shelter in the strengthening winds. Despite the conditions and the inevitable rocking and rolling we had a good night’s sleep.

Monday morning the weather forecast had deteriorated again….sigh…..so we decided to head back towards the Canaipa passage to get some shelter from the wind. There was a small craft advisory for increasing winds and uncomfortable short-interval swells so being back in the river made a lot of sense. For the first time in a long while the wind was coming from the right direction and the sun was out so we had an absolutely amazing sail south to the entrance to the Canaipa Passage although was quite upset to see our neighbour from Peel (who had left the previous afternoon) stranded in the middle of the sandbanks. Not sure how he missed the well-buoyed channels and ended up there…..

Arriving in Canaipa – now motoring into the winding river system – the wind continued to howl and we carried on towards another favourite anchorage the Huts. But when we got there it was too exposed to the choppy conditions so we decided to continue on to Tipplers. This change of plan brought with it some challenges as we were now on a falling tide and some of the channels are pretty shallow – we saw less than 1ft under the keel at one point! We also saw another yacht stuck in the mud along our route and Facebook lit up with sad stories of groundings and rescues in the area so obviously lots of people had been caught out.

Thankfully we were able to get a good position in the Tipplers anchorage and a solid set in mud (with lots of scope out) and hoped for the best in the 30 knot winds and higher gusts that continued to blow through. We didn’t want to leave Morphie alone so decided not to go ashore….

During the evening I received the terrible news that Caroline, a special friend for 40 years, had succumbed in her long battle with cancer. This was not completely unexpected as we were in constant contact but it still hit me hard. Here is one of my favourite pictures of us both at The Ritz enjoying afternoon tea in January this year when we had a long girlie weekend in London to celebrate my 60th birthday. RIP Caroline you will be sadly missed but the amazing memories of our times together will live on forever.

Tuesday morning and the strong wind warnings persisted along with an increased CAPE (thunderstorms). So we decided to return a couple of days earlier than planned to the Boatworks. As we headed up the Coomera river the winds died and we wondered what was going on but, of course, the minute we got near our berth we were hit with 25 knots of breeze which made docking a bit exciting! We were relieved to be back tied up safely. During the afternoon the clouds built and the sky darkened until eventually the storms appeared – pretty dramatic lightning strikes and thunder – so we were, once again, grateful to be surrounded by much bigger masts LOL.

Wednesday morning we awoke to a cloudy and gloomy day. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the Galley, being welcomed ‘home’ by the staff. After breakfast we headed to the on-site chandlery as we had decided to bite the bullet and purchase a Rocna anchor. Although our Lewmar Delta anchor was still in good condition and had served us well for many years throughout our travels, here in Queensland we had struggled to find good holding when we came across any sort of vegetation on the bottom and had dragged a few times. So the time was right. We looked at the sizing guide for the Rocna and purchased a 25kg version just hoping that it would fit neatly on the bow sprit and the anchor rollers. So, it was purchased, and they delivered it to our dock. We prepared the chain for it’s arrival by chopping off the last two links as they are showing signs of wear. If you are wondering why we are using the generator rather than shore power to do this job, it’s because our tools (along with Morphie) are all American 110V so would not work using the 220V sockets on the dock.

Then we dropped the Delta into the water and pulled it across to the dock, unshackled it (this will be stored in one of the lazarettes just in case we ever need another anchor attached for storm conditions), shackled the Rocna up and pulled it onto the bow. And, thankfully, it fitted nicely and obviously Morpheus has had an early Christmas present. Doesn’t she look smart?

Our other spare anchor will be donated to a new home as we already have another of this type in the lazarette for when we use two anchors together (bow and stern) to hold us straight….seems a shame to dispose of it but we can’t store everything we take off otherwise we’ll need to raise Morphie’s waterline because of all the weight she is carrying LOL.

Thursday we spent a quiet day on board getting on with some administrative things making use of the good internet service. And that was about it although I did pop out for a short while for my latest physio appointment – he was very impressed with my progress and my hip is certainly giving me less grief after his intervention. So very happy with this.

Oh yes and the temperature was 33 degrees C during the day and a severe heatwave is forecast this weekend. Phew….might be spending some time in the air-conditioned cruisers’ lounge at this rate!

Today, Friday, we plan more of the same. We have a car booked for the weekend so will being doing the usual things like provisioning and propane refills. We will stay here in Boatworks until Thursday when we will move down the river to Sanctuary Cove marina where we plan to spend Christmas and New Year.

The best news this week, though, was that the borders between Queensland and New South Wales have finally opened so we are actively making plans to visit my nephew and his family in January during the school holidays. It is hard to believe that we have been in Australia since March but have been unable to see them until this point. So we have lots of things to look forward.

Take care everyone at home as you come out of lockdown and then have to cope with the new Covid Tier arrangements being put in place. Stay safe and look after each other.

Bye for now

Jan

Tuesday afternoon (10 November) we headed over to the beach at Tipplers and enjoyed a few hours in the sun trying out our new beach gear. Was lovely to relax in this great spot. Whilst we were there we spotted this boat come in with a crowd of people on which seemed quite late in the afternoon for people to be arriving.

Later on, back on board, and we realised that it was actually a wedding party. They decided to have some photos on the jetty so we had a great view from Morphie as we sat enjoying sundowners. Even the wallabies decided to come out to say hi.

After dinner and a movie night we headed to bed to be woken up by some loud bangs and we realised that there was a firework show, so we got up and enjoyed watching that too. Must have been quite some party from the noise that was emanating from the land LOL. We didn’t actually hear the boat come back to pick them all up as we were sound asleep again by then.

Wednesday morning we got up really early and headed out towards Peel Island as the wind was going north. We went a slightly different route this time using the tide to take us through Jacob Wells and then up past Russell Island. It was beautiful and calm along the route.

We weren’t able to ride the tide the whole time as it swirls around through the river systems and so our speed was not consistent but we made the anchorage at Peel in good time having covered a very chilly and cloudy 25 miles. During the passage we observed a two minute silence at 11 am (on 11th November) in remembrance of those that had gone before.

When we arrived it was pretty windy and with choppy seas so we didn’t go ashore and just had a quiet afternoon and evening on board once we were happy that we had a good anchor set.

Thursday morning and the weather forecast had changed yet again….sigh…. The wind was howling and the fetch was significant and it really wasn’t that inviting to go ashore to the beach. So we stayed put for the day. Checking out the forecast for the following week and, on seeing the enhanced CAPE (which equals a thunderstorm risk) we decided to try to get into a marina on Friday. We are really fed up with the weather pushing us around like this with such short bursts of good weather inbetween some pretty horrible stuff! We phoned and were lucky to get the last available berth in the East Coast Marina – phew! So we had a leisurely day and evening on board rocking and rolling in the wind.

Friday morning we weighed anchor early and headed across to Manly where the East Coast Marina is located. We enjoyed checking out the wildlife and fellow sailors along the way. It was pretty grey and choppy out there.

On arrival we secured Morphie then got her washed down and cleaned up.

We then headed to the office to check-in, we got ourselves cleaned up in the shower blocks, and then headed into Cafe le Mer for a delicious brunch. By the time we returned to Morphie it was cloudy and had started raining….and the thunderstorms turned up in the evening…so we sat in the cockpit watching it all happen around us.

Saturday morning and it was really hot and steamy. Richard decided not to waste the time on the dock sitting around so he swapped out the Raritan toilet unit for a new one we had in our stores along with new seals etc.

While he was swearing and cursing the small area he was working in I headed out to the shops for some shopping. Later on we headed out to the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron for a few drinks on their deck. We had a nice time, returned to Morphie for dinner, just in time before the heavens opened.

Sunday morning it was very hot and still but this time with a beautiful blue sky. It did make us wonder what we were doing sitting here in the marina yet again. Richard kept himself busy this time refurbishing the old Raritan head unit with new seals etc so we have another working spare.

Later on the clouds started building during the afternoon and started to threaten but the storms circled us this time. The main focus of the whole day was keeping cool!

Monday morning we decided it was time to get off the boat. So we went for a walk on a blisteringly hot day (30 degrees plus) to Wynnum. We did stop along the way a few times to admire some pretty crabs.

As we walked the promenade we were very surprised by the strength of the wind away from the marina and the white caps out in the bay. Arriving at Wynnum we checked out the sea-fed lagoon and the pier.

Then we headed over to the Pelican’s Nest Cafe for a late lunch of fish and chips (naughty but nice).

Full up we strolled back to Manly village admiring the pretty trees and birds along the way.

Overall we did over 5kms which, for me, is quite a lot! We then had a couple of drinks in the Harbour Bar at the village tavern before we returned to Morphie for a quiet night on board.

Tuesday morning the wind was howling (clocking over 30 knots here in the marina) and the chop was enough to get the marina docks wet. There were storms all around with the occasional rain squall but no really close encounters with thunder and lightning. So a day for resting and relaxing down below, especially to recover from the long walk the day before.

Wednesday the wind continued to howl although there was no rain associated this time. So we were happy to be staying put for another day or so. We made the best use of the facilities so did some laundry and downloaded more Netflix stuff to be watched offline when we go back on the hook. And that was about it for the day.

This morning, Thursday, and we have just checked the weather again. It looks like we are going to have a nice few days to return to Peel (and actually spend some time on the beach perhaps) tomorrow and then the weather gets nasty again on Tuesday with strong thunderstorms and high winds forecast yet again. So a very short window or what!?! We were due to return to the Boatworks on Thursday anyway for my next physio appointment so we’ll probably see if we can return sooner than planned to avoid this nasty stuff heading our way, yet again. Weather is certainly very unpredictable here in Queensland at this time of year.

Anyway, hope you are all coping OK with the latest lockdown. Sending lots of virtual hugs and love to all our family and friends. Bye for now

Jan