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This really is a great spot. The water is clean and the beaches are sandy. The fishing is good although we haven’t wet a line yet. Been too busy doing nothing. Our morning usually starts with a walk on the beach and then to the nearby bakery for a cappacino. All the locals are really friendly. Everyone says goodaye. It has taken a while to get out of the routine of work, but we are now back in cruising mode. The days have been mild but today was one out of the box, very warm and sunny. The end of the day and it’s back to the beach for a wine as the sun goes down. We have to leave to head for Urangan on Friday, but the forcast is for good weather for at least a few days more. We pumped some yabbies this afternnon so fishing will be high on the agenda for tomorrow, especially if it is a s fine as it was today.

Finished my 8 weeks last Thursday and Friday night we slipped down the coast in perfect conditions to Burrum Heads. This is a great spot that we really love. We’ll spend a fewmore days here bfore heading to Urangan for a few more days work and then off to do some whale watching.

The hard work on the hard is finished. Peggy-Anne looks a million dollars. Shiny top sides and a freshly painted bottom. We only brought her from the travellift to her berth, but she seemed to move through the water beautifully. I think she is ready for more adventure and so are we. I finish the job here tomorrow. The weather looks good for leaving on the weekend. A five hour trip to the Buram River where we will spend a bit of time before doing another three days work at Hervey Bay. Then two weeks before we need to be back in Bundy to finish the job here. We’ll spend a bit of time in the bay doing the whale watch thing. There are supposed to be a few around. Looking forward to cruising again.

We came back down the river last Friday at a very slow pace due to a foul bottom and even fouler props. We arrived at the Port Marina and the travel lift was ready to haul us out. All went well and within an hour we were supported on stands and the boys had pressure washed Peggy-Anne’s bottom. Let The Work Begin. Hoses out and under the boat to rub down the old antifoul ready to accept a new coat. Took most of the day working in pretty crappy conditions, but the job was done by days end. Pip did what she usually does and just watched and slept. Day two we had to remove props, one needs a little damage repaired and the other needs a good clean. Had to call on a friend with a hydraulic puller to get em off. All done as well as a few other jobs and by Sunday it was time to put some antifoul back on. Masked up, raising our water line a couple of inches and into it. Another big day ends with us totally tired, hardly any skin left on our fingers, but a boat looking pretty schmick. A bit of polishing and finishing work this week. Once the props are back, we’ll coat them with Propspeed (stop them getting foul) and we’re ready to float again. Can’t believe that we only have a couple of weeks to go before were off cruising again. That work has gone by pretty quickly.

At the end of this week we will be on the down hill run to being back to cruising again. The coxswain course I have been delivering finishes on Thursday and a new engineering course will start the following week. We will definitely be counting down the days. We intend to slip the week after next so that will give us plenty to do. Peggy-Anne needs a new antifoul and a bit to do on props and shafts. We preped the deck painting last weekend and will probably have the job finished next weekend. New deck paint will look good. We purchased a vacuum packaging machine last week, which will allow us to buy our meet and package it so that it will last for up to eight weeks in the fridge. Tried it out last night and it works well. Heading to the movies tonight which are only a short walk from the marina.

No hope of getting any deck paint on this weekend. There is a gale warning out and lots of rain. Have had about 4 inches 100mm til now and it’s still raining. Good for the dams but no good for living aboard. it is even hard to get Pip ashore for a walk so we made her a little coat from an old shopping bag. She is pretty keen to just stay curled up in front of the fire. We have spent the afternoon playing cards with friends from Free Spirit (Steve and Jacqui. I went to town this morning and got drenched. Oh well nothing to do but grin and bare it. Deck painting will have to wait untill next weekend. Sean and Mirja "Martini"have just rung and invited us out for dinner. So it’s out into the rain again.

We had a good weekend.Drinks on board with Lisbeth and Lasser (Sweedish cruisers) and Mia and Shaun (Ausies working in Bundy) on Friday night. Did a few jobs on the boat and we rented a car on Sunday and drove to Hervey Bay to catch up with friends who are building a sailing cat. The weather has turned cold and I had a jumper on all day yesterday. More coxswains this week although more boat prac. work will see me on the water again. Dawn has a list of jobs lined up and we gathered some material for some sewing projects, while we had the car. Will probably start on deck repainting next weekend. TAFE has asked me to deliver a Shipboard Safety course in Urangan when I finish my stint here, so we may head south again for a week or two before heading north. Oh well. Keeps us occupied.

O.K. so it is work, but it’s not a bad job. Last week we had to haed out to Lady Musgrave Island with students aboard and lay a few mooring blocks. All went smoothly and the job was done even though it took most of a day to get them positioned. The students had a great time and got heaps of practical experience from the exercise. Lady Musgrave is I think one of the best sections of the great barrier reef. The lagoon is 4 mile across with a small island situated on the western edge. There is a small entrance channel leading into the lagoon.Chrystal clear water, lots of coral, not much current and an abundence of life.

It was a good weekend but back to the classroom this week.

Well we’re settled in and have met old friends and made some new ones in Midtown Marina. I have been back at work for a week now. I have a great job and really do enjoy it. We took students out to Lady Musgrave lagoon on the weekend as part of a practical on board course. The weather wasn’t too bad although the trip home was a little lumpy. A coxswain course started today and will run for three weeks. They seem like a good bunch of students. Looking forward to setting off again.Only seven weeks to go. 

Well the trip across was great. We had a S.E. wind that gave us lots of assistance. We have moved up the river to Mid Town Marina in the center of town. The boat has had a clean up and we are organised to start work next week. Will keep the blog updated with news from work. Eight weeks will fly by we hope..