15th june 2017 - Hobart to Cairns - back on 2XS

Thursday 15^th June 2017

We are back on 2XS again, again, after many happy weeks back in Tasmania. 

We have left it all behind for four months…Winter in all its glory;

Dark MoFo and all its dark charms.

Our families and friends….

Time for another bit of a boat adventure, followed by some serious Northern Hemisphere gravelling.  Time to reactivate The Blog!

But maybe not a very long blogpost today…It is only 5pm but I am totally exhausted.  I got up at 4am and rushed around briskly washing sheets and finalising departure preparations.  We were at the airport by 5.15 (thank you poor sleepy James.)  The plane was due to leave at 6.10 but…at 10am we were still sitting, slumped, at a table in the Hobart airport.  Every now and hen we would get a Qantas pep talk.  First they apologised profusely because we were delayed one our – fog on the runway in Sydney.  Then, mysteriously, another hour delay due to “crew sickness.”  Then…nothing until they loaded us onto a Virgin plane at 10.  It didn’t really matter; we still got our connection to Cairns and we still got here at 4.30.  Not sure why we are exhausted… probably because we went through security so many times as they changed their minds about our Hobart-Sydney flights.  Maybe the scanners drain human energy!! 

So at the moment we look a bit like this….

7th May 2017 - Blue Water marina - rain - Kewarra Beach - Trinity Beach - Tavern - Cairns

Sunday 7^th May 2017

Blue Water marina

Cairns Qld

So…yesterday I went for a beautiful walk. 

I saw beautiful trees

and I collected a gorgeous big seed pod, photographed here, tastefully, next to my (size 7) foot.  For reference.

and I took a photo of Ken Next Door (SV Alkina) way up his mast.

Today…it rained, and occasionally poured, all day.  Ken spent a lot of time up the mast today in the pouring rain.  Not so much fun!  (No photos of this; I didn’t want to get my phone/camera wet.)

So…this afternoon the rain cleared a bit and Pete and I set off on An Adventure.  We walked 10.95 kilometres (17710 steps - I LOVE my step counter app!!)  Blue Water marina to Kewarra Beach and then Trinity Beach.

I showed him the landscaping I had seen yesterday, done with much love.

and some beautiful flowering bushes.

Pete Attenborough saw a family of large marsupials.  He thinks kangaroos, 5-6’; I think Agile Wallabies but I am more than likely wrong.  Loved them regardless

of nomenclature!!

Up and over the hill and along Kewarra Beach, past beautiful glorious houses including that of our friends Rosemary and John. 

Lovely windows in their guest bathroom

I couldn’t take photos because it was very rainy and my poor phone didn’t want to emerge from its hiding place in my plastic pouch in my golden bumbag…(LOVE my new bumbag…$20 from Typo!!)

We sheltered from a very heavy downpour in a very convenient pavilion.  And there we met the most lovely dogs – brown border collies, Zena and Ziggy, totally adoring of and responsive to their hippiechick owner.  (And not the least bit interested in us!!)

Then we walked aback along Kewarra Beach, hoping to get to Trinity Beach.  I knew there would be a tavern or two and that was my goal!  Ten kilometres and maybe a cocktail!

But first we had to negotiate a bushy prickly  track

And a very mangrovey creek

And a big high fence leading to The Burbs!!

Eventually we did get to Trinity Beach Tavern, where we had a drink and a trio of chips.  And a lovely bus back to Blue Water where Pete and I met a very cheery small ukulele-playing woman called Jan.

And now…couch time!

6th May 2017 - Blue Water marina Cairns - 2XS on the beach - scrubbing the hulls

Saturday 6^th May 2017

Blue Water marina

Cairns Qld

We are paying the price for our exertions yesterday…achey limbs!

But it all went well.

2XS sat gallantly on the little beach while we scrubbed and scrubbed at her hulls.  No crocodiles emerged from the murky water to terrorise us.

Restoring the hulls to rusty red

The slime and grime was relatively easy to scrub off.

Just a bit more under and then around the corner

Pete’s shorts did not survive…

We were back on our F13 pontoon a bit after five.

Time for a beer (and ultimately dinner) with Neighbour Ken, who brought us some Doritos and a roast chicken.

He had some very funny stories…One not so funny but memorable involved 5 kilos of frozen prawns which he left in the freezer on his beautiful Outremer (catamaran) Alkina while he went back to Melbourne for a few weeks…The power went off and when he returned he found his lovely boat two inches deep in maggots which had been thriving on the ooze seeping out of the freezer…Pete went pale when he heard this.