Big news, sad news, happy news, and it's all the same news: Fly Aweigh is flying away.

We've had a fantastically busy Christmas holiday here in Sanctuary Cove, with the shopping activity quite active despite torrential rains. Couples and families routinely meander through the shops and wander the docks, dreaming and scheming. We're part of a display of Catalina Yachts, and as such, are frequently scrutinized by curious window shoppers, feeling much like zoo animals behind our tinted glass windows. And somewhere in the shopping frenzy along came Nick and Susie, experienced cruisers with a circumnavigation under their belt in the mid-80's, active mariners and owners of numerous boats since then.

It all went rather quickly, and amazingly smoothly. We got an offer, countered, they counter-countered, we counter-counter-countered, and a price was agreed upon. We took Fly Aweigh out for a sea trial a few days after Christmas, on what turned out to be the wettest day of the week. But we're all hale and hearty, and toughed out the weather while we tacked and jibed on the muddy river, and even had a chance to reef the sails down as the winds picked up on the return trip. And to cap off the event, Allan ran aground. Just a few minutes earlier, somebody on board -- I think it was Nick, had commented that anyone who says they've never run aground in these parts is lying. Sure enough, as we cleared a well-marked buoy at what we thought was an adequate distance, whump! Fly Aweigh came to a soft stop in the sticky mud. I hooted and hollered and we all laughed as Allan backed us up, effortlessly saving the day, and we high-fived as he added another feather to his been-there-done-that cap. Norm told us of a couple who sailed all the way from Florida without incident and ran aground in that same spot, just around the corner from their final destination. They need to move that buoy, but that would eliminate the fun someone is no doubt having watching unsuspecting boats get stuck in the mud.

The next day Nick and Susie invited us to join them on their current boat, a 33 foot power boat, for an outing to Dux, an outpost of the Southport Yacht Club along the river. A large beach, campground, and picnic area have been in the care of the yacht club for decades, providing a delightful anchorage for weekend escapes. Nick gave us a great tour of the river while Susie pointed out local bird life. At Dux we dropped anchor and dinghied ashore, took a walk in the hot sand across the spit of land to the other side, where the sea was tossed and green, the beach windswept and barren; beautiful, like a moonscape. Back at the campground we dove hungrily into a lunch of cheeses, meats, olives, baguette and wine, while the wild wallabies roamed about on the lawn and a huge 6-foot monitor lizard (aka gouanna) skulked about, rummaging for food in the trash cans and climbing trees. There's a sign in the picnic area that warns against feeding the wallabies, gouannas, and kookaburras, not a common sight for most of us.

Yesterday we had a surveyor aboard for most of the day, and Fly Aweigh was hauled out of the water to check the hull, keel, rudder, prop, and all the other things that lurk beneath the waterline, and maybe put a few coats of bottom paint on her while she was "on the hard." Allan and I were prepared for 3 days of life on the hard, which means climbing a rickety and precarious ladder to get on the boat, not being able to use the plumbing or generator, and being miles from anything but industrial marine stuff. Susie felt so bad for us having to suffer such a fate that she loaned us her car for a few days so we could get to decent restaurants and run a few errands. Actually, we were sort of looking forward to it -- another experience to put in our resumes, an odd sort of way to end the adventure. But as it turned out, the bottom paint has held up fantastically well in the last 18 months, and Nick decided to wait until next year and do a more comprehensive job before he and Susie leave for Vanuatu.

Which brings me to the next thing: the soon-to-be-former Fly Aweigh will continue her journey, exploring the Queensland coast for a year, then off to Vanuatu, which Nick and Susie fell in love with in the 80's when they were there, and next to Indonesia and perhaps beyond. Our time in the last week with these fun people has made us feel so comfortable that the whole journey has gone just as it should and Fly Aweigh will go to good people. Things are ending as beautifully as they started, and much less stressfully.

We're so confident that we bought our tickets to New Zealand last night, leaving Wednesday the 12th. One more week on Fly Aweigh, finalizing the last of the little repair details, packing up the very last bits to ship home, stuffing our thrift store rolling duffels with all we'll need to camp in New Zealand for two months, saying goodbye ("this will be much harder than you realize" Nick warns us) to our little floating planet, and heading off on the next adventure.

The blurb will continue, despite the fact that it's sponsored by SAIL blogs and we won't be sailing. Hopefully Tim, the Sailblogs webmaster, won't kick us off as we camper van our way through the roughs and wilds of New Zealand. Until then, 6 more days as the Captain and Admiral of Fly Aweigh.