It has almost been a month since our last blog and a lot has happened in that time, some good, some bad and some in-between.
It looks like the cyclone season has finished in this part of the world and by the number of cruising yachts going past us as they head north up into the tropics along the east coast of Australia, there are a lot more people who believe that the season has moved in the right direction.
We are still unpacking our shipping container and working out where our furniture is going, slowly but surely, we can see the end in sight.
It looks like we have some un-planned maintenance to do on Annecam and we are not sure what we are up for until we have her hauled out, we have left the marina here in the port of Bundaberg and have been anchored right in front of our home. We have the use of an almost brand new floating private pontoon with all the bells and whistles as soon as the owner heads north for the season. I take our dinghy out every day and jump on board to check Annecam and at least once a week I lift our Mantus 65 anchor and do a complete re-set to make sure that the wind and the tide have not dislodged the anchor and up to now it hasn’t but it’s always good to be sure. The last anchor re-set that I did I’m not sure what it was but something fouled the propeller stalling the engine with a bang, so it will be a haul out for Annecam just to see if there is any damage.
We drove up to a place called 1770 named by Lieutenant James Cook, later to become Captain James Cook, it was a beautiful day for a drive from Burnett Heads, up through the cane fields and the forest to 1770. While there we caught up with a cruising friend Peter, he was in the marina with us and now he is anchored up there and loving it, as he said this is a great place for single cruisers, we are not sure what he meant but we are sure you can figure something out. We had lunch together and talked about what we’d been doing, it was a great catch up.
Just as we were leaving 1770 we spotted a young couple trying to hitch a ride to Hervey Bay and as we were heading in that direction we offered them a ride as far as Bundaberg. Hannah from Germany and Uri from Israel had only been in Australia for a short time and to make their money last as long as possible they tried to hitch hike instead of paying for public transport. It took no time at all and they were calling us “Mom and Dad”. They told us all about their travels all over the world and what they did before traveling. The were very interested to hear about our journey on Annecam and they were amazed to hear that we have six children and four grandchildren. This morning we received an email from them to say that they had arrived in Hervey Bay safely and they attached some photos that they took as we dropped them of in Bundaberg.
The photo is one that they took with the beautiful Hanna, Cam, Annie and the handsome Uri.
“In life always be thankful for friendships old and new, be prepared to help even if it’s not obvious at the time, life will repay you ten times over in the subtlest ways”