The boat is finally UP on the Domain slip.  It took some judicious swearing from Pete to get it there – a few fraught moments… - and now it is up in the air, alongside Windeward Bound.  Tomorrow we are going to anti-foul it (details to follow; I can’t imagine how good an anti-fouler I will prove to be.)  A wonderful, reliable mechanic, Glenn, is fixing the gear-box – a shambles, according to Pete, - as we speak. 

Pete got home last night and was totally grey.  Hands, head, clothes, all covered with a fine grey sludgy substance.  I had dismantled my bed to put a new white skirt arrangement (yes I do now know this has a proper name – valance!) over the mattress and I needed his help but we looked at the bed, the man, the bed again and decided nothing at all should be done until a long hot shower with lots of soap.

Coff’s Harbour 2010

We spent a night last year at the marina in Coff’s Harbour.  It was the shabbiest marina yet, v tickytacky, with shabby old boats which would not dare show their pointy noses on the Gold Coast.  But it had a lovely amenities block and, best of all, CALM water…we had had a rough time at sea.  And I was able to do special treat things like scouring out the mat in the shower base with salty water – it was so unbelievably scummy it was actually a pleasure, to change it from slimy brown to pristine grey.

I had another treat – a delicious glass of water the previous day… There was a glass in the sink, so I rinsed it out carelessly, filled it from the cold tap, and skulled it.  Oh yuck… something wrong … I said to Pete, in some consternation, that the water we had just filled up the huge water tanks with must be contaminated.  Oh no, he said cheerily.  He had used that glass to measure out a dose of diesel to check his filters… I made some sort of choked reply indicating HORROR and he said, with wrinkled brow, “But a bit of diesel won’t hurt you!”  Exactly the same tone as when Angus said soothingly to Nicky, “Don’t be afraid of a shark, Mummy!” at Whitehaven Beach.