There and back again.

The boat was lifted out of the water on Monday 16th August and deposited in the boatyard for her annual mini refit, antifouling etc. Life on board in a boatyard isn’t fun……you can’t use the loo for one thing and instead have to cross the boatyard to the Ladies after first descending the long wobbly ladder precariously attached to the boat’s side….. There is also no shower in this boatyard although the men have one (it’s still man’s world here?) and this means a very long trek to the shower block attached to the marina. No fun at all!

It was time for a break anyway and I’d already arranged to fly home for a couple of weeks to see as many people as I could (I would say “loved ones” but I hate that term!!) so I left the next day with 29 hours of travelling ahead of me and 3 flights, Mackay to Brisbane, then Hong Kong and London. The flights were OK, the food was reasonable for once and I managed to sleep a little as well as watching 5 or 6 new films. My main dread as is usual nowadays was catching a cold and, guess what, I did!! Oh well……..a couple of boxes of tissues later and having spent a happy week with my Dad seeing aunts, cousins, sister, son and in-laws too, I flew to Guernsey for the second week.
It was lovely to see so many people, family and friends (all very much loved of course) in such a short space of time. I had breakfast, lunch and dinner with company each time and most meals washed down with good helpings of the red stuff….no hangovers either! My hair was cut again as a treat…….perhaps just a little too short this time…..but it’ll grow back I’m reliably informed!

So it was time to leave again, this time facing over 40 hours of travel with 4 flights and many hours of stopovers at Heathrow, Singapore and Brisbane… I was a little upset that Qantas hadn’t changed the inflight films in 2 weeks meaning I was virtually forced to watch mostly rubbishy ones this time so I compensated myself by demanding more wine and told myself that it was 5o’clock somewhere even though it was probably 5am on the aircraft!

Back in Mackay where Dick had hired a car because the boat was supposedly crawling with workmen and therefore impossible to be onboard during the daytime, we did a little bit of the tourist thing by venturing a little way inland. My goodness, Australia is a big country!! The part of this continent we did is just a speck on the map of North Queensland but we still managed to see rather a lot, wildlife, scenery etc driving through vast sugarcane fields and up into the mountains of Eungella National Park. So yes, now I’ve seen kangaroos and duck billed platypus as well as too many birds to mention. I bought a local wildlife book in the end to help with identification. There are notices everywhere about the dangers from saltwater crocodiles and box jellyfish in particular but we haven’t seen any yet. I think I saw a snake (it was too big to be a lizard) which popped its head out from a hole in a rock……most of them aren’t dangerous according to the book. The insects I’m not so sure about however…….most things seem to bite, even the fruit flies!! Beautiful butterflies everywhere though.

Back in the boatyard and the work is progressing meaning that we should be back in the water in a couple of days ready to sail north for the Whitsunday Islands. I’m hoping the weather improves beforehand as it’s currently cold wet and windy……just like home really!