It's Thursday May 9 - we are snug in a berth in Coffs Harbour Marina and loving it. We pulled in just before dark last night. Co and Carla from "Lotus" had arrived from Camden Haven earlier in the day and they caught our lines, shortly after which Peter Walduck arrived (just as the drinks locker was opened). We had a few sherbets and a debrief on the sail from Sydney, and a very good sleep.
Today Peter loaned us his car and we drove to Dorrigo to look at the Dangar Falls and the Rainforest Skywalk with Co and Carla. It was a great day, with perfect weather. This was a useful distraction for Co, who is trying to sort a major problem with algae growing in his diesel tank and shedding scale, which is clogging his fuel filters. This is a dreadful problem which can cause the engine to suddenly fail without any forewarning, often in rough weather when the boat and the tanks are being agitated severely, freeing the scale into the fuel.
We have a couple of maintenance tasks on the boat but nothing serious, so will be able to relax a while before heading out to Noumea. We want to catch up with the Carters in Kalang and get a few truckloads of pumpkin for the voyage, and will be seeing the genial Billy-Jo at the Observatory, and do a little reading on the side.
By the way, in case anyone has been alert enough to notice the discrepancy, Sailblogs dates our posts by UTC (GMT) and so their dates and times at the header on the blog may be a day behind our actual entry times - it's not the gin affecting our judgement!