Another In-Between Time - March 2016 to end July 2016

Have you ever been walking/driving down the street and noticed someone who is so deep in thought that they seem to be a million miles away . . . and have you ever wondered what they are thinking so intently about ?

I have been back on the Gold Coast now for around 4 months and have found myself in this position many times - wondering what I'm doing here. Hope Island Marina, as you can see from the pic above, is a great place to be moored and I have many friends here but I am restless and just want to get going again.

But first, as always, there a many things to be done before we can go out the seaway/bar and turn "Left". That is what this blog is about, and as I am one week away from going thru that seaway, I thought I would get this "in-between Blog" out of the way so as we can start a new chapter on our trip north. - SO HERE WE GO!

Firstly, prior to leaving Port Macquarie, I had Ben the Diver down to check my anodes and antifouling and was told that I urgently needed to get new anodes on to Fete, so I booked into Boat Works and had her lifted out to do another antifoul and the anodes checked. Well the anodes were all good with the exception of one which we replaced.
For those of you who are unaware of Boat Works, it is billed as the Best Boat Yard in Australia, and I for one agree with their statement as it has improved 10 fold since my last liftout a couple of years ago - Check it out.

The facilities are 2nd to none other that I have been to here in Australia and better than a lot in other parts of the world . With the antifouling done, over the 3 days, it was time to return to the Marina & complete other jobs on Fete.

Time was sure going fast and all of a sudden April and May have come and gone, and here we are in June and I am still at Hope Island.
Although I feel in a rut of sorts trying to finish Fete off for the upcoming trip, it was good to know that the T(h)urd finger crew were still having their Friday BBQ's.
As you know from one of my previous blogs, Sparra and I share the same birthday and I think this was his party with the crew.
This is only thing I miss about Port Macquarie, this crew and their friendship -
Happy Birthday Sparra!!!

As always, food plays an important part of life on Fete and I found some new recipes for the much milder winters here on the Gold Coast.

Left: Chicken Stroganoff

Right: Sticky Chinese Pork Stirfry

           

            Speaking of food, these dolphins came into the marina chasing the schools of fish that are in abundance here, and as you can see at left, this lucky one had a nice bream for dinner.

As always, plenty of friends come over on their way thru the coast to say hi and at left is Marie and Rick of the catamaran sv Swaggy - ( I think in a recent post, I called their boat "Shaggy"), from Port Macquarie - Members of the T(h)urd Finger.

Rick & Marie are currently in the sandy Straits on their northern trip and I hope to catch with them in the next couple of weeks and have more Sundowners . . .

Another old friend and her husband, Trish & Robert Budd, owners of this beautiful Shannon called sv Bristol Rose, also dropped by to catch up. Robert & Trish bought the boat in the States and spent 2 years sailing her back to Australia you can see their story on their blog site - just google sv Bristol Rose and you should find the link to their site.

Bristol Rose is also here Hope Island Marina.

So as the sun sets here over the marina, Fete is finally ready for her northern trip. YES, all the prep work has been done, provisioning finished - we are ready to go as you can tell from the pic at left!!! 

Once again the crew  will consist of that intrepid explorer and world famous chef, Russell (Ian Waymouth) and me and I am looking forward to leaving in 6 days time . . .

So until next time . . . from somewhere up in North Queensland . . .

Cheers as always!