Ok so it isn't a race but hey the analogy still stands. As we are entering a new phase in our valiant attempt to escape Sydney and spend a while enjoying an idylic lifestyle of cruising, sunsets and sundowners I thought I'd start a new Blog. Laani has finished work, I have 25 shifts left until I finish up on the 23rd December, sure life is great........... if only! I think Sheryl Crow put it best when she uttered the lines "nobody said it would be easy but nobody said it would be this hard". To be fair, thats a lie, every man and his dog said it would be hard but jeeess how about some details people. Let me regail you with an example. Water tanks are leaking, not badly but enough to be an issue if your stuck at sea for 4 weeks. So take them out and put new one's in, grand. Only the boat is actually built around the tanks so thats not an option. Ok, so I have to fix them but its impossible to access the inside of the tanks, the only way in is a small inspection port. Anyway to cut a long story a bit shorter lots of looking around and talking to people and maybe this stuff called microseal will do the trick but its only available in America. A couple of e-mails and phone calls later and a gallon of the stuff is on its way. Foolish to think that ordering it would be straight forward, no it has to go on a plane so it has to be specially packaged at great expense and I have to pick it up personally from the airport. Arrive in the airport and get told I can't pick it up I need a broker to pick it up! Couple of hundread dollars later and I return with a piece of paper from a broker which allows me to pick it up, grand job, now just pay the release fee and park around the back. More cash and hop in my little Festy (think 1980's square Ford Fiesta only smaller). Vroom vrom around the back of the depot to be greeted by an army of HUGE trucks all picking up stuff. Some guy directs me into a loading bay where little Festy is dwarfed by two big monsters, for those of you that have been to Australia you'll know when I say big truck it means BIG, not your average supermarket delivery job. About an hour later a forklift comes out and the guy drives to the edge calls out my number then looks over the edge and does his best to hide a laugh as he digs through the pallet and pulls out my one small measily drum. To top it all off, the original $60 drum ended up costing me a full day and close to $400 by the time I got it home and then the feckin stuff didn't even work, the tanks are still leaking! Thats the short version, don't get me started on actually getting inside the tanks to paint them. And thats one of the more light hearted dramas that has besieged us over the past couple of months. I'm not going to even mention registration, well not yet anyway, fingers crossed. As for the HF radio, arse to that. I should have bought shares in Bunnings (local hardware place) and as for the chandlery up the road, I reckon the guys will retire to the Witsundays in style when we evertually get away.
Still its not all bad. I did manage to sneak in a race to Southport and about two weeks racing in Hamilton Island (3rd in the Australian IRC nationals thank you very much) since the last time updating this blog so I don't really have grounds for complaining. Also Laani has become the master painter, I was away on a course for a few days and returned to find the forward cabin re-painted! Her only problem is that now she has set the standard high I'll expect no less on the rest of the boat :) Things are getting done, the A-frame for the solar pannels eventually materialised and we now have furling gear on the headsail and a shiny new headsail to go on it. Just have to get around to wiring up the solar pannels and actually going for a sail now. There is a long expensive list ahead, HF radio, painting, fix 2 windows (feckin things cracked), registration, new batteries, self steering, new liferaft, water tanks???, charts, $$$$$$.......... the list goes on as the time ticks away! At this stage we are still gunning for mid January but it could be revised to late January, well we are away for Christmas and will need a break before setting out on this very relaxing life, mmm I'm sure.