Greetings from a land where nothing ever dries out, the barometer never moves and the midgies welcome Sally as a moving feast. Shit it's humid, even the locals are going troppo.
Arrived here Mar 17 to find that the electrons had escaped from the batteries and the 240 Volt RCD had crapped out meaning the battery charger wasn't working. Added to that the high capacity alternator that had been delivered for us wasn't what I ordered and our electricity woes compounded. Found a sparky to replace the RCD and we crossed our fingers that the batteries were recoverable. they eventually came up OK and seemed to be staying there so we went ahead with the planned haul out. We checked into a flea bag motel and left the power off the boat to test the batteries holding power. 24 hours later and they were still up so we saved ourselves some dollars there.
Rain started as cyclone Debbie approached and that held up the respray of the anti foul. However, job was eventually done and I repitched to prop prior to prop speeding the shaft and propeller, Can't wait to see how fast she goes now!
Back into the water first thing Monday and I have to say that the yard here is fantastic. Not cheap but the boys are great, do a good job and are very helpful. By now Debbie is "doing Dallas" and we are marina bound. Back staying on the boat and doing lots of odd jobs, Looks like next week before we can creep up the coast. Next stop, Round Hill creek and than Pan cake creek prior to Gladstone and INSIDE Curtis island. Should be fun watching the fence disappear under water at the cattle crossing before we sail across the narrows and up into Keppel Bay. Bit embarrassing if we get it wrong and get snagged on a fence! Then up to Port Clinton. Pearl Bay and the Percy's and by then, perhaps, all remnants of the cyclone will be gone. By the time we get to the Whitsundays we might be the only tourists around (and I just finished re reading "On The Beach")! Won't be a lot of fun until the bloody rain stops- perhaps it never does up here. Still, better here than Airlie Beach, looks like boat soup in the marinas there.
Bundaberg Port marina is a nice enough spot and has all the mechanical services you need. There's a restaurant (run by captain Grumpy), good laundry and bathroom facilities and the aforementioned hardstand. It would be pretty exposed if the weather got bad and it's about 15 kms from Bundy so a bit isolated. Good bus services (including marina courtesy bus) into town. Burnett heads is close by and the local IGA has a courtesy bus so that's handy.
We hired a car from the marina ($49/day) to relieve the cabin fever while we're confined to quarters. Went for a run into Gin Gin (nothing to see here) and into Bagara which looks like the retirement village for the Bundaberg folk. Not a bad joint but I wouldn't want to live there. Saw the Mon Repos turtle hatchery, which is about exciting as it get hereabouts - it's a bit like Toledo Ohio, I spent a week there one day.
For now it's just a matter of waiting for the weather to sort itself out before we build up steam and cast off. I'll sort out how to get photos off the camera and the phone and onto this blog soon.
That's about it from Bundbloodyberg and we'll talk to y'all from somewhere further north.
