We were going to leave today but (a) Bill hasn't finished all the wiring jobs (tiller pilot and solar panels) (b) the wind is a strong northerly. It's been an exhausting couple of weeks preparing and spending oodles of money. We have enough food for a grocery store and enough medicine for a chemist!

I still have to finishe the cover for the extended settee and make the crockery and glassware safe in the galley. I spent most of today itemising the bathroom/cosmetic/sun protection items into tupperware containers so they wouldn't fall off the shelves making a big mess.

We had lots of nice dinners with friends and family this week. We've purchased a satellite phone which is great. If you send a message via the iridium.com website to our phone it is FREE! (160 characters) If you didn't get my email with the satellite phone number leave a message on this blog drive.

Not long now............xxxxxxxxxxxxx
October 21 - 27 th 2007

It was Bill's last day of work last Friday 19th. (He's officially on leave for a few months.) His brother John phoned from Vienna enquiring when we'd be in the Med. It's a long way from here but we do aim to get there! John has a friend who could arrange a mooring for us in Croatia. This may be a good place to leave the boat if we want to travel around Europe. (maybe buy an old van with a bed in the back) It feels like we're getting ahead of ourselves! I'm sure we'll be in Townsville soon then PNG and SE Asia before know it. (as long as the wind blows from the south!)

Well, we got some quotes on recovering the settees! Cloth was double price of a lounge suite and leather was 4 times the cost of a lounge suite so we will forget that idea for now. The pink velvet looks fine and feels nice to sit on. I have some left for the extra seat being mad by Steve. Perhaps when we get to Thailand we can have the settee recovered at a reasonable price.



We want to come back to see our new grandson at some stage early in 2008.(He's due 7th Dec after we plan to leave Townsville). Unfortunately we have to leave as soon as possible so we will miss the birth. We are already leaving a bit late in the season but feel confident we can get to PNG without bumping into any cyclones. Langkawi, Malaysia will be a good place to leave the boat and fly home for a few weeks. (probably Jan - Feb)



It's been blowing from the south all week! Hopefully a southerly will return when we are ready to head off. We finally got some of the rigging parts we need and Steve is giving Bill hand to get it all set up. This is so Bill can adjust the sails from the cockpit rather than always having to go on the foredeck. We had all our appointments with the travel doctor (They wanted to know which countries we were visiting - the receptionist was astonished and had writers cramp after our conversation) Several vaccinations and half the chemist shop later we carried 5 bags of medication back to the boat. (visa got another bashing). We sorted the medication into Tupperware containers in categories (stomach diarrhea nausea, wounds, sea sickness, painkillers cold and flu etc) We will be each others doctors! We also went to the solicitor. We don't plan on dying but thought we'd better have something in place before we go.



The sail maker arrived on Saturday with brand new sails! Bill says the new mainsail will go well in light winds. (good for up north) Gary Saxby the sailmaker said we could trade our old mainsail in PNG for a week's worth of lobsters!! It is too big and heavy so we are leaving it behind.



Next week we'll be doing the final preparations (including a lot of purchasing - ouch!) I just bought a portable sensor alarm from Dick Smiths for $27. This will be handy when staying in harbours where some locals may have sticky fingers. Placed in the cockpit it will sense human (and animal!) movement and send off an earpiercing sound. It worked for some other yachties with the intruder dropping everything and disappearing with 'Sorry madam...sorry madam... when the the lady crew appeared.



It looks like we've sold the Ipswich house. It should settle just before Christmas. The only thing left is the motorbike!

We are so looking forward to finally getting going. We've been living on the boat so long and it is now so full of our possessions we'll have to do some serious tying down and stashing away so we can sail! Next time I update the website I will be saying we have left for Townsville! (and drinking champagne)



Its count down time now! We hope to leave by the end of October. It's a bit risky at this time of the year with the threat of cyclones November on wards. Hopefully all will go well. We have read a couple of other cruisers logs who have successfully made it to SE Asia at that time of the year. When we get to Townsville (which would be interesting in the current weather conditions of strong northerlys!!) we will watch the weather carefully to get accross to Samarai Island (usually about 4 days). We are particularly interested in seeing PNG again as we lived there in the early 80s. Vashti was born in Moresby when Bill was a rubber plantation manager on Doa Plantation. We have heard that on the islands the locals like to trade for lobsters, fish, pawpaw, bananas etc. Items suitable for trading include clothing, batteries, smokes, fishing/snorkelling gear etc. A t shirt for a lobster sounds good to me!The plan is to get to Palau as quickly as possible as it is north of the equator. Palau looks really interesting - great diving, fishing and snorkelling.

We have a list of jobs to do and have engaged the services of our good friend Steve who has helped us over the years building and maintaining the boat. We've decided to enlarge the settee and shorten the table. This will enable us both to have a comfortable corner to lounge in! We are toying with the idea of recovering in leather. We'll see what the quote comes in at! It would be nice - considering we'll be living and looking at it for several years!

We've had a delightful time with our granddaughter Caylan who was down from Townsville. Our daughter Vashti had to go back for Uni exams. Caylan went back at the end of the week with her Daddy. Nanny Linda took her to Brisbane to the theatre, the city and to Ipswich to stay with Pa Bill for a couple of days. Whilst in the city we went to Boat books to purchase several hundred dollars worth of pilot books. It's so exciting to to have them on the boat - SE Asia, Red Sea, Turkish waters & Cyprus, Mediterranean France and Corsica. It feels so much more real now!

It's quite pleasant living here at Kawana Waters Marina. Although we are so close to the pub and boat yard it is much quieter than living on the river. It's a bit of a walk to the amenities block but hey we need the exercise!

My little blue MX5 is sold and we're also trying to sell the motorbike and Ipswich house. Liam has a new housemate - old school friend who plays the drums in his band. (neighbours may not enjoy that!!) The boys are happy and enjoying our house at Point Cartwright. We are lucky that Liam is there to oversea the house and mind our stuff. Sometimes I wonder why we have so many THINGS!