
But finally, we're looking at gentle wind patterns for a few days, and planning an escape on Thursday morning.

We hadn't planned on a break that long, but for all that, we've managed to keep ourselves amused.
There are 48 hour restrictions on how long we can tie up to public wharves, so we've joined the little group of local boat owners who move around from place to place to keep the Port Authority happy.
We were fortunate to have moved up the lakes to Paynesville in time for their annual Music Festival weekend, which was great.
We've become accustomed to living on the boat, and not having a car. So our lives revolve around the boat and wherever we can access from it, either on foot or by dinghy.

We've met lots of really interesting people, both locals and cruisers, and had time to potter around the boat and perform lots of little maintenance chores. And yes, we've eaten a lot of seafood and read a lot of books.
We were keen on finding an extra crew member for the Eden run, so after the Torquay crew excused themselves for various reasons, we started looking locally....and found the diminutive Pete Malone, who resides on the pier on his little ferro-cement converted fishing boat.

So, he's moving aboard tonight for the planned 5 a.m. getaway in the morning through the bar.
We've studied the weather intensely. It looks as if we'll have an easy run, but who knows? The Beastly Easterlies are still lurking out there somewhere...
Wish us luck!