Plans have firmed up to leave Children of Phoenix here at WMYC when I return to Melbourne. A much more appealing base from which to use her for cruising… I can see the frequent flyer points accumulating now! The crowd here have been very welcoming – a lovely, low-key club. The event organiser helped us find some local crew for the Ladies Skippers Race last Sunday and we had a great time. The crews here go all out for the ‘Best Dressed’ prize – we Melbournians really need to lift our game! A fantastic effort with about $6,500 raised for Breast Cancer Research – these people know how to support a good cause. We’re looking forward to coming back and getting to know the club better, but after a very pleasant 6 days, it’s time to move on.
We farewelled Jim last Friday with thanks for being a great travelling companion, albeit also with regrets that we weren’t able to offer the trip to Noumea that he had expected. Belinda has also left us for greener pastures (or a wider beam, to be precise); heading to Port Douglas to jump on board a 12 metre catamaran sailing from there to Darwin. So after 6 weeks Richard and I have the boat to ourselves for the first time. A day at the Brisbane office was productive on Monday, then replacing the foam mattresses in the V Berth yesterday with some high density foam meant a good nights’ sleep for the first time in a while. Today we’re itching to get going and see some more of Moreton Bay before potentially heading north to Mooloolaba. The boat is clean, the water tanks are full, the fridge is stocked and Richard has purchased some bait for his fishing lines… but there’s no wind and it’s raining. We’ve lazed about reading and blogging long enough for it to be lunch time. With Belinda gone from the galley Richard has taken over – it’s legendary toasted sandwiches, then convince ourselves it’s stopped drizzling enough to blow the dinghy up and lash it to the foredeck and get going.
There’s a east/northeasterly predicted for this afternoon, so we think it should be pleasant anchoring over on the western side of North Stradbroke Island… except that the forecast is for another 2 days of rain. Not exactly a glorious introduction to our cruising life as a couple!