Thursday 26^th January

Welcome to another beautiful new baby – Solomon George Wood, born in Tasmania to Simon and Sarah, a grandson to Chris and Angela, a baby brother to Sebastian.

The weather gods are being kind to this part of Queensland today.  No rain…yet!!  And it is 5pm so many Australia Day festivities have been held without monsoonal deluges.

It has been very hot and Pete decided that he would like a swim – yes it must have been VERY hot.  And he was very hot as well from struggling with the last bits of throttle-cable-assembly.  So we packed up a big pack of dirty washing – oh we are lovely guests – and went off to Cam and Del’s to swim in their pool and to avail ourselves of their washing facilities. 

Amy, Cam’s granddaughter, is still there.  While we were swimming up and down the pool together – it was, for me, a bit like swimming with a hyperactive pink and purple dolphin because Amy was more under than on the water – she revealed a fervent wish: to swim in the sea before she goes home on Sunday.  “How about right now?” I said, so off we trotted,, just across the road to the Broadwater.  The sea was warm and inviting but very muddy and brown, from all of the floodwater.  We nevertheless had a lovely time allowing ourselves to be swept down the beach by the tide, and pretending to spot and fend off sharks.  You probably heard Amy’s shrieks in Tasmania… Then we walked along in the shallows, chatting about this and that.  Amy told me that her school song is Lean on Me – what a good idea, having such a meaningful song instead of It’s Good to See the School We Knew and other such dirges more commonly in place as school songs.  And then – oh no, how could I be so foolish as to walk through dirty Queensland water without my sandals on!! – I stepped on something sharply piercing and extremely painful.  Not fun at all!!  It is 5.00 and the pain is subsiding now, and there is nothing to show except for a bit of redness, so I feel like a bit of a fraud… Cam upended my foot and got out a sharp needle and a magnifying glass; I think he must have decided I was what Michael and his army mates call a “linger” – ie malingerer…

Pete is fast asleep but I will have to wake him because we are going back to Cam and Del’s for a BBQ with Tim and Sally… All of the throttle-cable thing was very exhausting, and I think he hasn’t been sleeping properly, most unusual for him.  Much fretting about the weather… He rang the Volunteer Marine Rescue (VMR) at Ballina this morning, to ask about the possibility of sailing in through the bar.  They said, “Don’t even think of it!  Much too dangerous!” which is extraordinary – the VMR NEVER give advice!!  It is OK today but the weekend forecast is ferocious so I think we are Gold Coast residents for a while longer.  Lucky Cam Del Tim and Sally!!!

Wednesday 25^th January

And oh how it has rained! 

All night and all morning.  We felt as if we were living inside an aquarium.  Well a strange aquarium with water on the outside, but I hope you get the concept.

At 7.30 I squelched my way over to the ablutions facilities and I am not so sure why I bothered with a towel at all…

When I came out, wearing, fetchingly, Pete’s big bright yellow rain slicker over my nightie, topped with a very wet Tilley hat, I met a couple, sheltering from the rain on some plastic chairs, with their dear old Weimaraner.  They are living on a small yacht in the marina, and they have to take their dog off every so often for his own ablutions.  They were very keen for an early morning chat.  Julie is originally from Tasmania, and is in fact a granddaughter of our former premier, Eric Reece.  A very lovely grandfather he was she told me, and I can well believe it.  Chris asked me a bit about 2XS, and was very relieved to hear that we use it a lot, as a boat, and as a small floating home.  He said that lots of the boats here in Sanctuary Cove sit here in pristine splendour, and rarely go out past the Couran River.  Recently Chris and Julie were invited onto a luxury yacht for a glass of wine.  “Good-o,” said Chris, “We’ll bring a bottle of red.”  Oh no that was the wrong offer!  “We only drink white wine on the boat,” said their host.  “Red wine might stain the whiteness…”

We spent the morning watching the downpour.  At twelve the rain eased a bit and Pete took me to lunch at George’s Paragon Restaurant where we once again had a most delicious meal.  I had an appointment at the medical center at 2.15 to have my stitches out.  This was NOT fun but the receptionist/nurse was a pleasant woman and we had a nice chat about grandchildren (hers are Amber and Madison.)  Stitches in my wrist, in case you need to know.  I had my yucky growth thingy cut out when I was in Hobart.  This after about eighteen months of treating it most nonchalantly.  I did take it to various doctors and nurses over the year and a half it was growing gaily on my arm, and had it treated with dry ice quite a few times, unsuccessfully, and then burnt out in Vanuatu.  This was successful for a while but the horrid thing grew back with renewed vigour.  I took it back to my local Hobart Medical Centre in January where it was greeted with a startled squawk by the owner of the practice.  “Why haven’t you had this seen to before?” he said, crossly.  “You have almost left this too late!”  Well I manifestly had tried, as he could see by looking at my computer record, so he stopped being cross and swiftly cut and stitched.  I had to ring him yesterday, to see the results of the pathology tests and it is all good news.  Yes it was a nasty cancer but yes he got it all and now it is gone forever.  No more ugliness on my wrist!

After that we climbed into The Uterus and went off to various boaty-shops looking for this and that useful item.  A cup of tea with Cam in Runaway Bay and then back to 2XS to replace the throttle cable.  This was, I think, a mammoth task.  Pete is very handy and competent but it took him a lot of dark muttering from the depths of various parts of the boat before it was all done.  Well, nearly all done…Yes I did help, marginally, but pulling and pushing here and there as directed, and by debating whether various cables were (ahem) red or orange.

I stopped writing yesterday at about four.  We were on our way, via various boat-y shops and a provisioning trip to the supermarket, to Tim and Sally’s.  On the way we had a lightning visit to Sarah, one of Pete’s daughter Nicole’s closest friends.  Sarah is a beautiful girl and she greeted us happily and warmly, as if unexpected guests at 5.30 was JUST what she wanted on a rainy afternoon.  Her three lively children, aged 7, 5 and 3, were leaping in and out of the swimming pool in the rain.  What was causing them even more joy and delight than the pool, however, was a small splashy flood on the back terrace.  It did look like so much fun I almost stripped off and joined them sliding around in the puddles.  Sarah was very pleased because we had come in person, she said, to RSVP to the invitation to her mother Kay’s 70^th birthday party on the 26^th of February.  She made a tick on her list and poured us a reviving glass of white wine.

We arrived at Tim and Sally’s at 6.00 instead of 5.30, and found Sally in the splendiferous kitchen cooking up a storm.  She had decided against Chinese take-aways and had prepared a fabulous roast dinner for Cam, Del, Amy, Pete and me. 

Yes we will have to leave the Gold Coast soon, before we wear out all of this wonderful hospitality…

And when are we setting forth??  Well we spend a lot of time anxiously looking at weather reports and listening to alarming and/or reassuring accounts of what it is like Out There beyond the Broadwater… Nick at the Harbour Master’s office says, “Don’t go, mate.  There are 5 metre swells out there!”  And Chris, my brother, cautiously mentioned that the rivers in northern NSW are in flood and that this might make things just a bit difficult for getting into anchorages or marinas.

But right at this moment the rain has stopped, the wind has abated, and all seems quiet on the eastern front… We will reassess tomorrow.

Tuesday 24^th January

A day of rain rain RAIN, interspersed with light showers for a few minutes before more rain rain RAIN!  I had it go to the ablutions facilities early this morning in the downpour – no choice at all… I couldn’t find any of my many umbrellas so I put on a light sundress, rammed on my Tilley hat, and squelched across the salubrious café precinct of Sanctuary Cove to have my shower etc.  I was just as wet as when I stepped out of the shower when I got back to 2XS.  But it didn’t matter – it’s not in the least cold, and humans are, after all, entirely waterproof.

We had plans to replace the steering cable which has been causing a lot of unnecessary grief.  But it was far too wet all morning so we lay on couches and read books and got very dopey until the rain eased enough for us to be able to venture forth and make a provisioning trip in The Uterus to the nearby supermarket.

It is now 4pm and the rain HAD eased off enough for Pete to start removing the cable, with the occasional bit of help from me – wobble the red cable in the starboard aft locker! shouts Pete from below, while I do mental calculations – starboard…aft… aha! right…back… But as I write it has started to POUR once again…oh deary me… We are expected at Tim and Sally’s at 5.30, for drinks and Chinese take-aways.  I think they will be getting very wet and bedraggled guests.

Monday 23^rd January

Not as much WonderfulWildlife (or GolfClubLife…) as yesterday.

We started the day with a trip to the post office, to send photos – at last – to the people on Ramata Island (Solomons), and to send the book about the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race disaster back to Don and Marilyn in New Zealand.  By the way, Claire (WonderDaughter of the Day) taped THE episode of the Bachelor which featured Cool Change, and we watched it when we were in Hobart.  Glimpses of Don and Marilyn, in the freezing wind… No footage, unfortunately, of Don rushing to rescue the bikini-clad constant from near loss of bikini top in aforementioned freezing wind.

I mentioned, casually, to Pete that I was thinking of buying new bathers– my lovely flowery blue top, bought in Sydney half a decade ago, is disintegrating.  Well he had to come and help, didn’t he???  I tried to tell him that trying on bathers is in the top #5 of stressful situations for women but he paid no heed and settled himself happily in the bathers shop.  He rejected my pink check Jets selection with a swift glance, but did let me try them on, with some others, carefully chosen.  I won’t make too much of the experience.  It was all quite pleasant, really.  I have read side-splitting accounts by talented and witty women from around the globe who have had much worse moments in changing rooms.  I am a standard size, and when I tried on a black and white ruched stripey number with a jaunty bow, slightly retro (50s) in style, I was mightily relieved when Pete gave it the thumbs up.  He was right…I tried on the cherished pink check Jets ones and… they showed a (large is the wrong word…) portion of UNDERSIDE of boob – NOT a good look.  Well…I didn’t think it was… So, out with the credit card!  Pete had thought he was going to buy this item for me but he blanched at the price tag while the (not-so-young) saleswoman hissed at me, “Men!” as she swiped my card.  He did make a nice contribution but…it is hard to persuade a person who is careful with his $$$ that $149 is a reasonable amount to pay for what is basically a reinforced stripy ruched singlet… (In case you want one…it is lovely and comfy and serves very well as a quite stylish top with a black skirt – SeaFolly, if you want to get one… from Calypso in Sanctuary Cove…I have been wearing mine happily all day.)

We wandered around happily and spent some very happy time in an art gallery – DeLozzo, I think.  We loved the mother-father-daughter art work and I lashed out and bought…three postcards, for my darling daughters…We finished our time of benefiting the economy of Sanctuary  Cove with a cup of coffee at the Yacht club.  (Alert!  Mistake!  Do NOT buy coffee at a yacht club; buy coffee at a CAFÉ!!)

Kind Tim and Sally had once again left their ute (The Uterus) for us to beetle around the Gold Coast.  Off to various shops…lalalala…Muirs Engineering, Mitre 10 for gas, around the now-familiar traps.  I wanted to replace my lovely inflatable Black Wolf waterproof pillow (no longer inflatable…too many people have sat on it; I should have kept it for MY VERY OWN.  I am no longer into sharing and caring!!!)  We found the very Anaconda shop where I had bought it last year and…guess what – they no longer make this particular item.  In fact, our wide-eyed shop assistant assured us they had NEVER made one in this size.  Only ever TINY ones.  Eventually we found another shop assistant who said, “Oh yes, we did have them.  Yes, in that exact bin where you are gazing so longingly.  But…they were too popular so we no longer stock them.”  Or words to that effect… We gave up and descended upon Cam and Del for a soothing glass of wine or two.

We are now back on the boat…Pete is trying to fix the TV, with the new aerial he bought in JB along the way, so we can watch Lleyton Hewitt play against…well play against the man who is probably THE WINNER.

Are we leaving tomorrow?? 

Who knows…Pete is going to put in a new steering cable thingy.  Cam will arrive at the crack for dawn to help.  And the weather may be kind.  Or not!

I have rung John Miedecke’s (godfather? Uncle) Darv Wilkins, who lives in Tweed Heads, and who lived for many years in New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) and was part of the administration – maybe he was the administrator?? Anyway he was part of the Condominium aka the Pandemonium… We are hoping to meet up as we head south… this WILL happen!!  I am getting very fond of the Gold Coast, mind you... This evening we drove back up the avenue to Sanctuary Cove and…some of the flower sculptures were lit up red and green.  SO pretty!

NEWSFLASH: Pete has fixed the aerial!!  He is very happy… And he is a winner!!!  Tennis is GO GO GO!!!  Lleyton???  We don't think so but....

22nd January

Sunday 22^nd January

Yesterday we abandoned 2XS on the sandbank and spent the late afternoon and then the evening with Cam and Del in Runaway Bay.  Cam’s delightful granddaughter Amy was there too; she is ten now and I enjoyed showing her Scrabble on my iPhone.  She was very taken with it and very speedily found the Best Word (cheat) function.  I very nobly pretended that I REALLY did believe she had come up with words like optimus and zebu.  I did unkindly say, “Goodness, Amy, zebu!  Great word, great score.  But…Do you know exactly what a zebu is?”  But most of the time I went along with it. 

We had a wonderful seafood feast – Moreton Bay bugs, prawns, oysters from the Hawkesbury, and fish fillets for Amy and Del who weren’t all that keen on the shellfish.  Cam kindly drove us back to Bum’s Bay, where we were able to wade out to 2XS, still standing proudly on the sandbar.  This morning the tide was very high and we were able to float on out of the bay as if we had never been grounded.  (Or sanded…)

We are now – guess where?? – back at Sanctuary Cove Marina.  This time we have a berth just a bit closer to the bathroom facilities, which is very pleasing to me.  We can’t head south yet.  Something needs to be fixed on the steering, and in any case the wind is blowing entirely the wrong way.  Conditions out there on the ocean, or so we hear, are Not Good.  There are worse places to be stuck than Sanctuary Cove…

Cam, Del and Amy were here this morning, visiting Tim and Sally at the nearby boatyard, where they are doing hard yards on their beautiful boat, which has A Problem which needs much backbreaking labour.  They met us at 12 and Cam very kindly shouted us lunch at a lovely café – Sanctuary Cove Village is all stylish little shops and cafes and restaurants.

After lunch, Cam got the car and said, “OK, everybody get in.”  Del and I started to move towards the car and then I, suspiciously, asked why…2XS was only a hundred or so metres away – why were we getting into the car??  Pete and Cam looked at me with big round eyes.  “Well we are going to look at Tim and Sally’s boat, of course!”  I baulked at this – I have seen Tim and Sally’s gorgeous boat, an Alaskan, all gleaming woodwork and stainless steel, and I have admired it immensely.  At their place, tied up cutely to a pontoon.  I did not want to see it up on a hoist, with its poor beleaguered underbelly in full view, and with poor beleaguered Tim and Sally scrubbing and painting and sanding.  Nor, did I imagine, would Tim and Sally want us standing around gawking and not being able to do anything helpful.  I dug my heels in and said to Del, “I would much rather wander around and look in the shops.  What about you?”  Oh what a difficult question…she scampered around to my side of the car, eyes bright, and within seconds Amy had slid out of the back seat and was standing firmly at our side.  Pete and Cam looked so bewildered – how could we prefer to wander around looking in lovely little boutiques to standing in the hot sun looking at Tim and Sally’s boat on a hoist???

As it turned out they had a perfectly lovely time watching Tim and Sally do the hard yards, while the breakaway group enjoyed itself in a perfectly pleasant and mild manner.  We looked in every shop, admired every item of clothing and footwear, gasped at prices - $459 for a pair of denim shorts!!! – and had a delicious icecream while sitting and listening to a very nice singer called Rhydian Lewis.  (I have his card – he “specialises in Frank Sinatra, Michael Bublé, Dean Martin and Paul Anka.”  Ofcourse!)

In the late afternoon Cam, Del and Amy went home.  I bought Pete a beer and sat him down to listen to Rhydian, for whom I bought a cup of coffee.  He came and talked to us after his gig, and told us about the fabulous pool at the Hyatt, just around the back of the marina.   So Pete and I got back on the trusty bikes and rode along the path to the Hyatt Hotel grounds.  The pool looks gorgeous – crystal clear blue water, with a white sandy bottom and (fake) beach.  There doesn’t seem to be anything preventing the likes of us from sneaking a swim so maybe tomorrow… I actually have my eye on some Jets bathers in one of the boutiques – pink and white check, very fetching – in Jets bathers nobody would ever suspect I wasn’t a Hyatt guest, would they??

We were on a mission to go to the supermarket, so we rode off along the beautiful winding Sanctuary Cove avenue, with its hauntingly beautiful flower sculptures, huge banksias, symmetrical palms.  We became aware of a path running parallel – aha, a bike track!  I am so law-abiding I immediately wheeled my bike through the bushes so I would be on The Correct Path, and Pete followed shortly.  It was a lovely wide concrete path, winding its way picturesquely through…oh no…a huge golf course… At first we were entranced – kangaroos!  Oh look!  Another one!  And another…dozen!  They were fabulous, many with big joeys lolling nonchalantly half- in half-out of their mothers’ pouches.  Big grey ones, big red ones.  And all equally fascinated by the sight of us.  They stood up tall and gazed at us, with their big ears pricked.  “Oh look!  People on BIKES!  Oh the horror and the scandal!”  Because we soon became aware that we weren’t supposed to be on the course at all… A few people pulled up in their golf buggies and said, “You’re not supposed to be riding on the course, you know.”  Well yes… but how could we get OFF the course??  It was such a maze of tracks.  By the time we finally burst out of Golf and Kangaroo World I think a dozen buggies had veered towards us to shoo us away…

Once back on the right track we found a big Coles supermarket and bought a few items.  Now we are happily back on the boat.  It has been very hot – no more need for my ugg boots, they are back in the cupboard.  It has been raining, and it is now a very pleasant temperature.  I just had a lovely hot shower in the (nearby!) amenities block, and Pete is listening to the cricket.  All is well in 2XS World.

Saturday 21^st January

Happy second birthday darling Zoe in Tasmania… At the moment, No. #3 of 3, soon to be No #3 of 4…

We didn’t rush about yesterday.  I read a lot, and Pete talked to his computer a lot.  At about 6 our Tasmanian/Gold Coast friends Tim and Sally came for a drink; little did they know that we were going to keep them captive until late – Pete had prepared a large a hearty meal.  We had a very pleasant evening and woke early so that Pete could steer the boat onto a specially reconnoitered part of the bay, above a sandbank.  He was very keen to get a good look at the underbelly of 2XS.  Was there or was there not a mysterious bit of something or another wrapped round the propeller shaft??  I had already tried to look, when swimming in the not-very-translucent waters of Tipplers Passage, and had seen nothing.  Well…it turns out there was nothing to be seen… But it is good to be able to look carefully at all of the sea-life making a home on the watery underside of the boat, so it has been a worthwhile exercise.

We are now sitting stranded and sanded high up above the beach.  Children are playing in the shallows, dogs chasing balls, people are fishing, horses are being exercised, with 2XS providing a large and majestic bit of shade from the sandbank.  It is quite comfortable but we are on a bit of a slope.  Never mind, when the tide comes in, we will be afloat again.

There are many sandbanks around here in the Broadwater, and many boats run aground.  Tim says there are two sorts of boating people: those who have run aground, and those who lie about it.  Sally says, there are two sorts of boating people: those who haven’t run aground, and those who are about to.

We left 2XS to cope with the sinking tide and went for a long bike ride into Surfers Paradise.  Surface Paradise, as my poor dear Claire used to write, longingly, in her school story books – all of her friends, it seemed, went to Surface Paradise and had a magical time at Dream World, Wet World, Sea World, Movie World, Lalala World, and Shopping Heaven.  Many of them – sob – also went to Bali… We never could afford anything of the sort and went every year (many thanks to Dad and Fleur) to the Château at Coles Bay.

There were bike paths all the way, and no hills at all, so it was a very nice, easy ride.  We stopped for coffee and watched people coming and going from the beach.  People all shapes and sizes!!  Some looked like supermodels, male and female, others…well others were just a bit on the boombalada side of the spectrum.  Fascinating!  Some of the thin women had enormous bosoms, enough to make one’s eyes pop.  It’s all a bit unfair.  It is now within most women’s ability to buy a splendid set of breasts, so instead of being impressed, I now look carefully and think, “They can’t possibly be natural!”  In the past I would have been consumed with envy and wonder, now I think, ho hum.  I don’t think any such ho hum thoughts cross Pete’s mind, however. I think he is just impressed and admiring, whether or not the bosoms are fake or natural.  

Friday 20^th January

Actually it is still Thursday….We have got very dirty at the Gold Coast City Marina shipyard.  Pete and Steve, our extremely helpful mechanic, have turned various shades of tomato and beetroot red as they struggled down the hatches with various engine parts.  And I got all manner of rust and grime coating me from head to toe, from close encounters with the rusty old anchorchain.  First I had to pull it out of its locker, and then I had to remove its remarkable dreadlocks.  How can an anchor chain get so very twisty? 

Eventually we got the bikes out – their first time off their bunk since Espiritu Santo!  They needed their tyres pumped up, and mine has disconnected and discarded its gear indicator, but other than that, they are in prime condition.  Well, they were in OK condition… Steve took one look at us trying to pump up the tyres, and led us off to his workshop, where he filled them to capacity with his compressor.  Then he got out his anti-rust squirty bottle and carefully went over the chains and gears so now indeed they are ticketyboo.  So lovely to ride again!

Pete has a new gypsy (anchor winch) from the gold Coast offshoot of Muir Engineering, a short bike ride away, and a new guide thingy for the chain – glorious and shiny – to glide down, but nothing is all that simple… One of the stainless steel bolts has sheared off, exactly in the position where the new gypsy has to be screwed on.  I am, I am sure you are surprised to hear, no help at all.  I stand around poking my finger at it and saying, “Are you sure we can’t squirt it with Steve’s grease gun thingy and just, ummmm, unbolt it?”  My next helpful act was to get out the binoculars and to trill away with great enthusiasm because, on a big pylons right near the boat, sits a small sea hawk with a fish which I saw it catch with its very own talons.  And on another pylon under the trees is…a great big sea eagle fluffing its wings in the sun!  I have now left poor Pete alone with his shiny new things and a cordless drill, with which he is trying to McGuyver a solution.

Friday

If I am tired, Pete is EXHAUSTED.  He worked away like a galley slave from morning until the end of the day.  Wonderful Steve, the mechanic, stayed on to help with removing the old anchor chain and winch (gypsy) and getting the new one installed.

Pete did manage to drill out the stainless steel screw, while I lay on the couch with my book and a big painkiller dissolving on a glass of water.  (I had hurt my back hauling the rusty old chain; my strong painkiller from Vanuatu worked a treat, even if it made me very dopey and useless.)  By the end of the day, everything was in place.  Michael, from Muirs Engineering, and Steve, were wreathed in smiles, as well they might be after all of the effort expended.  The new chain is a thing of beauty, Australian made, strong and gleaming, as yet unpolluted with mud, weed, rust, crustiness. 

And what of the old rusty chain, I hear you cry?  Michael form muirs was prepared to take it away in a big oil drum, to be taken to the scrap heap.  But… Waste not Want Not is the Headlam motto.  Think how useful this chain will be, on the farm!  I had retired from chain-hauling duties, injured in the cause, by the end of the day, so Steve and Pete lugged it out of the water and put it in Michael’s oil drum on the rear deck.  It looks just lovely…

We stayed tied up to the wharf at the marina; we were much too tired to move, and they very kindly turned a blind eye and didn’t charge us or shoo us away.  A big green dredge turned up at a bit after 6am this morning, and very politely waited for us to untie and move off.  We cruised back out of the Couran River and we are now anchored in a lovely little bay behind the Spit, nestled up close to the back door of Sea World, with the gleaming spires of Surfers Paradise as our backdrop.  Right next to the boat is a sheltered little beach, with toddlers frolicking, dogs, well dogs are dogpaddling, horses being exercised in the shallows withe bikini-clad teenage girls happily astride.  We have plans of taking the bikes ashore and doing some energetic things, maybe riding into Surfers, but for the moment, the couches are very attractive…