Well, how to summarise the past two weeks? First, our trip to Sydney. Well, Libby our car, lovingly and speedily made road worthy by Mark a week before served us well and didn't overheat at all in her 24 hour round trip. Unfortunately, $600 didn't buy us air conditioning that worked, but with the windows wound down, at least the hot air circulated and blew our hair around. When we got back up to Brissy, we looked into getting the air con fixed. $800. I think we'll stick to the wind-in-our-hair cooling system.
It was so so lovely to stay with my cousin (once removed?!) Lynda and Keff in their gorgeous house on the North Shore. The kids in particular enjoyed feeding the parakeets and cockatoos on the balcony every morning. New Years Eve was crazy in a Sydney craziness, where we joined the crowds to watch the fireworks when we should have been responsible parents and put Lochy to bed early because he had been puking all day, but GODDAMN, we had driven 12 hours to see the fireworks. He did enjoy them, luckily!!
And so on to Pegasus. I found out this week that I am not a grafter. For 9 days solid, we worked from 7am to 7pm antifouling, cleaning the bilges til they shone, putting new rudder bearings in, installing a new sail drive, buffing the inside of the keels, putting stuff in storage. And I hated every minute of it. I moaned quite frequently and had at least 2 meltdowns during this time. By when Pegasus went into the water today and Mark put the starboard engine into gear AND IT WORKED, every minute of it was worth it. The folk at Brisbane ship lift were amazing and even stopped the clock on Tuesday for the daily charge so we didn't feel pressured into putting Pegasus back in before she was ready. So, I would highly recommend Brisbane Ship Lifts if you have transport and don't mind the sand flies.
Now, we are anchored in Brisbane river right next to the swimming baths where we have been seeking refuge for the past three days. And when the wind turns, we will head up to Mooloolaba and put the boat on the market once we have imported her. The end of our trip is nigh!!