Drifting along......
09 October 2017 | Exmouth Western Australia
Sunday 1 October 2017
Hello!
Well it looks like the rudder shaft has been bent backwards causing it to snap. Therefore it isn't the fault of the guy who welded it but happened when we hit that sandbar in Mandurah. (Terry had to apologise to the welder!) No wonder the steering was wonky and the autopilot was out so many degrees! We were extremely lucky for it to stay together enough during our time in all of those rough seas, cliffs and reef!!!! To get a new one (which we have to do) will be VERY expensive....one quote came in at $12,600 something!?! ..... so we contacted our insurance company and are waiting on one more quote before they let us know if they will cover this....or have to send an assessor out to look at it.....etc.etc.etc.
This morning we said goodbye to the wonderful couple I had mentioned earlier; Chris & Natalie Hale with their two boys Josh 10 and Sam 8. Such DARLING polite boys. (ALMOST as good as ours but not quite!) They bought a sail boat in Brisbane and took 6months off to sail it home (to Perth). They stopped in here for a week of rest and reprovisioning. A few days later, a solo sailor came into the marina with engine trouble. His name is Gordon and we all got along so well. Chris and Nat hired (rented for you yanks) a car and offered to take us into town to get our gas bottle refilled. It would have been a bit awkward on the back of the bike so was much appreciated. We only use gas for our stove and oven so keeping two bottles means we rarely run out altogether.
There is a club house up from our boat called Exmouth Game Fishing Club (EGFC) which opens for drinks and meals on weekends. This last Friday all seven of us went up for a drink and a meal. We had a fabulous night - great company; delicious, reasonably priced food; and a spectacular sunset to top it all off.
Since the Hales were planning to leave Sunday morning (today) we all decided to watch the footy grand final game together in town at one of the pubs called the Pott Shot Hotel. We got a taxi to pick us up and managed to score a table outside in the shade with a perfect view of the screen! I saw this young guy come up where we were and sat down approx. 2 rows in front of us. He looked so familiar to me....I just KNEW that I knew him.....only to discover that he was my favourite footy player in "my" team The West Coast Eagles!!!!!! Jeremy McGovern! I mustered up the courage (after the whole game was over and I had had my allotted 2 light beers) to go up to him, say "hello you are my favourite player" and I got my picture with him. He stood up and I instantly shrunk to a dwarfed size old lady dribbling out the side of my mouth! (that's what it felt like anyway!) I had no idea I was such a football (Aussie rules) groupie! It was a fantastic day! Sam and Josh were impressed even if my HUSBAND was not!
Monday 9 October 2017
I just realised that I havent posted anything for a long time. That must be because nothing much has been happening. We received a second quote for the replacement coming in at $6,000 cheaper than the first. So we minimise the time waiting, we decided to pay for the replacement outright and then deal with the insurance company later. They sent an assessor to see the rudder, but we havent heard anything yet. The work began last week so hopefully in two more weeks it should be ready to be sent back up for insertion.
Our days have been passing by rather quickly believe it or not. We have been doing jobs on the boat that we hadn't had much time to do before our maroon-ment! (just made that up!) Terry has fixed three pumps; repaired flat bike tyres, cleaned out hatches polished the stainless steel all over the boat; all with a fishing line out the back! I cleaned out the fridge and defrosted the freezer; washed out some of our undies, scrubbed the shower amongst other odd jobs. We manage a ride into town once a day too keep our joints oiled!
Last night we went up to the EGFC for a fish and salad burger which we split. It was nice and tasty! In the evenings we have been gorging ourselves on the BBC series "As Time Goes By" with Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer. Very funny and heartwarming with extremely good acting. A "must see" for those of you who havent seen it. Especially YOU my mama!
Oh! And the answer is NO - not one fish has been caught off of the back but it's like lotto - gotta be in it to win it!
Time for our daily bike ride. Once we have heard more on the rudder front I will keep you all informed