It's been a couple of months now since we arrived onto the Gold Coast and moved aboard the new boat. Since that time, we've had her out of the water for some maintenance, had a few cruises up the Coomera River, taken her out whale watching with the grandkids, and generally just learned how she works. All of this while I've also been busy handing over "Endurance" in Darwin, and we've looked after lots of visitors, had some great social time, and dealt with a lot of personal business both here and at home. And I've squeezed in a few waves on the beach break across the road, too. So its been fun, and we've both enjoyed the time on the Goldie.
We've had a dead generator repaired, bought a spare fold-up dinghy and found where to stash it, sorted out the fishing gear, and bought lots of stuff from Bunnings. I've had an electrician replacing dead instruments and had an "AIS" transponder installed and linked to our navigation system, so that now we can "see" other ships in the water and know who they are, which way they're heading and at what speed. And they can "see" us, too.
I've hoisted a radar reflector and the HF antenna, and got my head around the HF radio, studied and re-contracted the satellite phone, hoisted the Gennaker and sussed out most of the running rigging. Mary's been busy too, with a host of stuff inside the boat.
So, gradually, feeling like we're ready to start moving North.
Which we're doing later this week, plodding up the Main Channel inland of the Stradbroke Islands and into Moreton Bay. We're hoping for some consistent nice weather to make for Mooloolaba, where we'll lob until it's particularly benign to make the scary crossing of the Wide Bay Bar, to the south of Fraser Island.
We've had a dead generator repaired, bought a spare fold-up dinghy and found where to stash it, sorted out the fishing gear, and bought lots of stuff from Bunnings. I've had an electrician replacing dead instruments and had an "AIS" transponder installed and linked to our navigation system, so that now we can "see" other ships in the water and know who they are, which way they're heading and at what speed. And they can "see" us, too.
I've hoisted a radar reflector and the HF antenna, and got my head around the HF radio, studied and re-contracted the satellite phone, hoisted the Gennaker and sussed out most of the running rigging. Mary's been busy too, with a host of stuff inside the boat.
So, gradually, feeling like we're ready to start moving North.
Which we're doing later this week, plodding up the Main Channel inland of the Stradbroke Islands and into Moreton Bay. We're hoping for some consistent nice weather to make for Mooloolaba, where we'll lob until it's particularly benign to make the scary crossing of the Wide Bay Bar, to the south of Fraser Island.
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