Monday 30^th January

Snapshot:  It is 9.45.  I am – obviously - sitting at the computer with eyes which feel as if they are full of sand.  Pete is on deck muttering darkly and putting the anchor chain down.  We are in Coff’s Harbor, having left Mobb’s Bay (Ballina) at 10.30.  We are supposed to be tied up to the public wharf… Our friend Duncan Wood is waiting there to greet us; we can nearly see his big cheery smile…but we are anchored and there is dark muttering and dark words emanating, now, from the port engine hatch…

We had a lovely trip down the coast, with the wind and the sea fairly pushing us along at a splendid rate of knots for most of the way.  We were very pleased to get to Coff’s Harbour, although yet again we have missed going in to Yamba, which, I hear from all and sundry is a beautiful place.  We have a lot of lost time to make up, after our long delay on the Gold Coast.

(Why are my eyes full of sand??  Goodness knows…there is something very tiring about being at sea.  My cosy bunk beckons…)

It was quite dark when we came across the bar into Coff’s.  Not a problem; Pete swirled in like a professional.  We waved at Duncan and headed for the wharf and then…the boat wouldn’t go into gear.  This was more than a bit alarming.  We were in the middle of the boats gently moored in the marina, with a large stone retaining wall far too close on one side and some big wooden pylons much too close on the other.  Pete uttered some startled expletives and somehow – we’re not sure how – wheeled 2XS around and back just outside the marina, where we are anchored.  Something, we assume, is dreadfully wrong with the gear box…