Bundaberg to .....Bundaberg

That’s the trouble with sailing. The wind is either too strong, too weak or blowing in the wrong bloody direction.

Our head blocked on the way from Harvey Bay to Bundaberg. It turns out that the pipes have calcified and are not large enough to let the waste out. Cost of new pipe, about $30. However the sea cock that needs to be turned off to stop the ocean coming in has seized sufficiently that I broke not one but two admittedly Chinese spanners on it trying to free it. Cost of a new seacock, about $100. To do that job the boat needs to be lifted out of the water. Cost for a “Quick Lift” in the yard, $350! Then to change the stop cock we had to change the skin fitting, $70, plus two hours labour by 2 guys who could not have worked more slowly if they tried, $140. So the toilet is now working fine and the cost was only $690! While the boat was up I did find a huge barnacle that had grown inside the engine water intake and had completely blocked that side so that was a bonus.



Brunch at the Bargarra Hotel



Rona and I enjoyed a terrific Easter Monday brunch at Bargarra. The Coffee Shop that we had chosen had unfortunately broken its Espresso machine so we had to repair to the local Hotel. I have never actually drunk coffee in a Hotel before so ordered Champagne. Ned and Craig and Rona and I were joined by Susan, our now resident Beer Bitch and Bow Cow, (That is a new position brought about by her expertise and enthusiasm for scrubbing the fore deck), Chris and Kate whom we had met before and were instrumental in our getting our berth also joined us, several of their friends drifted in, and we also had the pleasure of meeting Kate’s Mum and Dad , Paula and Bob.  What a great afternoon! Good friends, great conversation, great food , great weather. It doesn’t get better.

I must say that everyone we have met here has been so generous to us. Paula and Bob offered for

Susan, our latest Dream Girl

us to stay in their beachside penthouse, and also offered us the use of a car, Chris went and got a heat gun when I thought that changing out the loo hose was a 10 minute job, Susan took Rona shopping for provisions, Ned and Craig let us borrow their beautiful, red  V8 SS VF FF whatever it is Commodore complete with Doof Doof machine and loud exhaust for the day so we could get some more shopping. Thanks guys for all of your help, and please try to find time to join us sailing on our journey north.

Now Dreamagic is sitting in her berth at Bundaberg waiting to set sail. She is provisioned, watered, fueled. We have so far had two farewell parties aboard and we are still here. The days are sunny, the nights are balmy, and the wind will not stop blowing up to 30 knts! We have been waiting two days, it is now Friday morning and Sunday morning is our latest target window.

Meanwhile we are whiling away our time reading, and catching up on boat chores. Yesterday we caught the bus to Bundaberg and had lunch at the RSL before coming home and watching Pirates of The Caribbean on the boat. I use it as a training video.

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