Yanks in America with Waltzing Matilda

Crikey! These Salty Crocs Are Big!

A thunder storm rolled through the marina this evening after a beautiful sunny, but sticky day here in Scarborough.  It's raining and the "just rained" smell is cool and fresh.  Today was a sad day for us as we said goodbye to one of our fellow cruisers.  Our friend Claudia left for the states today, via Japan to visit her daughter and family. She and fiancé Brian spent the night on Worrall Wind with us before heading to the airport this morning.

Claudia and Brian headed to airport.

Claudia and Brian have their boat up for sail and  are returning to the states, their voyage ending here in Australia.  We met this couple in the remote Cook atoll of Suwarrow, and have been with them several times in American Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and here in OZ.  We have had a lot of fun together crabbing, repairing a jetty, collecting trash in the middle of the Pacific, snorkeling, diving, playing games including Bingo with villagers in Vanuatu, fixing generators in remote locations, visiting schools, sight seeing, etc.  Brian is staying back a few more months hoping that the boat sells, but then he too will be returning to the states.  They both have some work years ahead of them.

Our first two weeks back in Brisbane have been busy, busy.

We spent the first week scouring ads and hunting for used camper vans in the greater Brisbane Area. Our little rental car was put to good use.  The price here in Australia for used vans is much higher than in New Zealand, and the vehicles seem to be in worse condition...lots of dents, rust, and backpacker abuse.  The vans have these big bullbars in front so you don't kill yourself if you hit a kangaroo...not something we plan to do, but there is a load of roadkill.

It's been quite warm here in Queensland (Australian State), probably 85-95 degrees with high humidity.  Finding a van with air conditioning was on our want list.  Before we could buy a van, however we had to open a bank account, have dollars transferred, etc.

After finding nothing in the immediate area, we decided to visit our friends Brian and Claudia on SV Skylight about an hour and a half north of Brisbane in the community of Malooloobah.

As it turned out, there were three vans in the area that were for sale so the trip had a double duty purpose.  To make a long story short, we bought a van but had to wait after making the offer for our American dollars to be transferred.

While we waited, we stayed on Skylight a few days.  We took advantage of the wait time to visit the Australian Zoo started by the Irwin family.  You may recall Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, who was killed a couple of years ago while swimming with a large sting ray while taping for his TV Show.   His mother and father started the zoo when he was a child.  Steve's USA television show made him and the zoo famous. Crikey!

The zoo is a wonderful place.  It is lush, green, and the animals have beautiful natural habitats to live in.  The staff are dedicated to keeping the animals amused, entertained, and engaged in activities so that the animals do not become bored and depressed.   We were able to feed the kangaroos, and pet the Tasmanian devils. wombats, and those adorable Koalas.

We also toured the rescue hospital on the site where injured animals are brought in for treatment by the wildlife warriors.  It's quite impressive.

Australian children returned to school after a 3 month holiday, the day we visited the zoo.  Consequently, the place had only a fraction of the normal attendance giving us lots of free open spaces and elbow room.

Yes we got to see our first Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, wombats, crocodiles, kookaburras, and koalas.  The animals here are not unfamiliar to most of us in North America as we have seen them on TV or in zoos.  But it is pretty amazing that this collection of unusual animals are only found on the Australian continent and nowhere else in the world.  The zoo is expanding to include animals that are endangered as well, including tigers and elephants.

No Rust on Matilda

Poptop, awning, previous owner Cheryl, and her grandkids

Stove on left, cabinets with no sink straight ahead

Russ aligns cabinets, installs water tank

Refrigerator on the right

Stove swings out on hinges for cooking

After our day with the animals, we were notified of our dollar transfer.  On Tuesday, we bid farewell to our friends and to Skylight, went to the bank for a check, picked up our "new to us" van, paid the seller, filled out the appropriate paperwork, registered the change of ownership, got insurance, and drove both it and the rental car back to Scarborough, stopping along the way to buy a 3 way refrigerator for the van (electric, battery, propane).

The following day, we took measurements of the van and then went on a hunt to find material to make some minor modifications to the interior.  Primarily we wanted to install a water tank, sink, hand pump, and new bench top.  The refrigerator didn't quite fit, so that needed some modification as well.  We hope to have the van finished up after Valentines Day.   The boat yard that made repairs on Worrall Wind for us is doing some of the wood cutting for us as Russ does not have a table saw to cut the bench.

Once the van is finished, we'll take "Matilda" who has been sitting on the sidelines,  a waltzing up the coast a couple hundred kilometers for a shake down run, then return to Scarborough where we will make final adjustments to Matilida, button up the boat, and head South to Sydney and Tasmania for a month or two.

While waiting for our parts to come for Matilida, we spent one morning in Brisbane extending our visa until the end of January 2013.  What took us nearly four months in New Zealand, took us 20 minutes in the very efficient downtown office of Brisbane.  They were quite friendly as we forked over $600 for the extension.  Ouch!  We actually plan to stay until we leave on the Indonesia rally in August of 2013, but in order to get another extension, we must leave OZ and return.  We may fly back to states and/or do some other out of OZ traveling for a bit.

That's it for now.

All is Well with the 2 Sail R's on Worrall Wind
and the soon to be 2 Travel R's on Waltzing Matilda