Just realised I never published this draft from January… my how things have changed since!
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The last four months have seen us back up on Children of Phoenix each month for two lovely extended weekends, getting to know some good anchoring spots in Moreton Bay. The two week Christmas office shut down period has us back on the boat again, for a more extended period. Unfortunately strong winds in the area meant we spent the first five days in the Marina – not the ideal way to practice being a Blue Nomad! We finally got out on December 31st, with a really pleasant sail up to the Brisbane River early in the day, where we snapped up a prime anchoring position to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks. After watching the ‘Kiddy Show’ at 20h30, we valiantly stayed awake until about 22h30, then decided on a few hours rest before getting up again for the main display. Alarm set, snuggled up in the V-berth, asleep within 2 paragraphs of the latest dragon novel. At 23h50 when the alarm went off, I did contemplate sticking my head up through the hatch to watch, for about ten seconds…. I’m afraid to say the New Year was heralded in without us.
That doesn’t mean we’re not enthusiastic about the year to come. We are as committed as ever to our Blue Nomad transformation, and we get the sense that 2016 will be a year of change (again). Rather than wait for all the things that would need to fall into place for the ideal transformation to occur, we’re making plans to move forwards with what we’ve got. That will involve another winter getaway on Children of Phoenix, further up the Queensland coast this time as we’ll be starting from Brisbane. I’m not sure I could live permanently without a hot shower but camping on the boat for a month or two is fine. And who knows; the warmer the climate, the more attractive a cool deck shower becomes!