Going Home! (April 2014)

We left the mooring in Brisbane this morning about 10am. We had a very good last night in Brisbane as there was a huge festival called Riverfire. Brisbane set up barges full of fireworks all along the river in the city. At 7pm they had the most spectacular fireworks I have ever seen. All around us were fireworks, from barges, buildings and the bridge next to us. The show lasted 25 minutes and was a perfect last night in Brisbane. We had a couple from Germany on board, Julian and Jenny, whom we met the night before.

This morning it was time to let go of the mooring and get to Redlands City Marina where we will be hauled out at 6am tomorrow morning. Tides here are 6 foot plus and everything you do must be timed with the tides. We motored 33 miles southeast in 20 knots plus of southeast wind on the nose. It was a very wet ride as the tide was pushing into the wind making the 3-4 foot seas very choppy. The channel in is very shallow and we touched bottom a few times with about a foot below high tide when we arrived at 3pm. We made it without going aground though so our record is intact with almost 12,000 miles sailed and not once being aground. Of course we have to get into the marina in the morning but it is only 1/4 mile down river from where we are now. Haul out time is 6am, you would never see that in the Virgin Islands! High tide is 6:30am so Peter, the manager, want to get us out right before the high tide.

We are now anchored just upstream of the marina in a deep hole, 12 feet. We have one anchor out and a line to a tree to keep us in the middle of the stream. I feel like we are at a hurricane hole as the river is only about 50 feet across here. Eric has a handline in the water hoping to catch something. He is frying up some steaks for dinner now, yum.

The surveyor will be at the marina at 10am and I am anxious to see how that goes. I have a bad listening of marine surveyors along the line with banks and insurance companies. In the states they tend to be very conservative, by the book and look for absolutely anything that may be not be 100% like new. Nirvana being 41 years old now should present a good opportunity to find some things. I have made up my mind that I will not be brought down on my price no matter what is said. I will whatever I can that is reasonable but it is what it is and take her or leave her. At $30,000AUD she is a steal. I will post another update when I have more information.