Leaving Tomorrow for Great Barrier Reef

Friday, May 11, 2011

Not sure we will have time to post anything tomorrow (Saturday) as we plan to leave fairly early in the morning.  We are headed to Lady Musgrave Reef which will take us about 48 hours going fairly slowly. It's about 25 miles offshore.  Estimated time of our arrival there is Monday morning.   There aren't a lot of winds predicted until Monday and then some seas as well, so we should be tucked into the reef by then.

Our list with the exception of fixing our little refrigerator has been pretty much checked off.  I guess we will have to make do with the one fridge as our part didn't come in on time.  C'est la vie!  I'll turn Spot on in the morning if you are interested in tracking us.

Happy Mother's Day Mom, and to all of you other wonderful mothers out there.  Cheers!

All is well with the 2 Sail R's aboard SV Worrall Wind

Before and After WW's Bottom Cleaned

Tuesday, May 8 to Wednesday, May 9 - Scarborough Haul Out

Loads of jelly fish and the possibility of trolling sharks in the marina kept us out of the water to dive on the boat and do routine maintenance. We decided to have the boat hauled out for 48 hours for a quick look over, zinc change,  and touch up.  Sure glad we did!

The bottom paint looked pretty good, but needed some touch up here and there around the waterline.

What was really a shocker was the condition of our propeller, bow thruster, and rudder mount.  The critters were having a real picnic.  Almost 1 year to the day, we had had a complete cleanup and bottom job.  The water in the marina in New Caledonia and here has not been the cleanest, plus we have been just sitting and stagnating.  We contracted with the boat yard to do the cleanup work.  Here are some of the before and after photographs.

Bow Thruster Before

Bow Thruster After

Is that the Prop?!  Crikey!

So Encrusted - The Folding Prop Couldn't Open!

Major Case of Prop Constipation

After Pressure Wash

After Prop Speed Sealant Applied

Aaaaah!  Much Better!

Rudder Mount Before

Rudder Mount After Pressure Wash

Rudder Mount After Touchup

While the boat yard worked on the bottom, Russ polished the hull, and I stowed the $800.00 worth of non-perishable galley goods we purchased the day before.  By 1:00 p.m., about 28 hours after haul out we are ready to go back in the water!

This needed to be a quick in and out as our freezer and refrigerator do not work while we are out of the water.....they are a keel cooled system which means the keel needs to be in water.  Additionally, while we were able to sleep on the boat and have electricity, we can't use any of our water and let it drain out because the bottom of the boat needs to stay dry.  So after 24 hours plus, things are starting to warm up and the sink is full of dirty dishes.

We are just waiting now to splash down.

All is Well with the 2 Sail R's on SV Worrall Wind

Count Down. Sailing to Whitsundays...This Week.

We are finishing up our projects, provisioning, getting hauled out, bottom washed, zincs checked, prop cleaned, and anti-fouling bottom paint touched up this week.  Weather and tides permitting, we hope to take off this coming Saturday, May 12, and head north towards the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef.

Once we leave, we will be traveling for about 2 weeks with some overnight passages and day sails to various anchorages along the way.

Needless to say we are getting excited about our trip, looking forward to warmer waters, snorkeling, diving, and entertaining visiting family and friends this season.   At the same time there is always an anxiety of throwing off the bowlines and leaving a safe harbor.   Only a few more days of no-worries sleep, long walks, bicycle rides, and being connected to the Internet.

We'll turn on Spot so you can track our journey.

All is well with the 2 Sail R's aboard SV Worrall Wind.

Land Holiday Is Over, Getting Ready for Whitsunday Holiday

The "Broken Hill" Looms in the Back Ground 
of the Town Broken Hill

Life is tough when you return from one holiday only to get ready for another.  We returned from our land travels on Monday, April 16...unpacked, April 17...grocery shopping and stowing goods, April 18....laundry and boat projects, April 19 Blog day and boat projects.  Worrall Wind was dry and in good shape when we returned.  While Matilda is cooling her wheels in the marina parking lot, we are now in the midst of getting WW ready for her voyage north (cleaning lockers, moving stuff around, putting in a new galley faucet, repairing the bar-b-que, and the list goes on).  We got our bikes out today and plan a little ride, later this afternoon.

We are excited that we will have visitors while we are in the Whitsundays.  Our son and daughter-in-law will be flying into Hamilton Island in early June, and our friends the Brambles will be joining us in early September.  We can hardly wait, but in the mean time we're getting the boat in ship shape and unloading the V-berth, and forward head for guests.  Matilda will become our temporary garage while we are at sea.

Enough of that, here are some of the last photos we took on our overland journey from Broken Hill, April 11 and 12, to Brisbane.  Broken Hill is a mining community.  It's name derived from all of the broken rubble pulled out of the ground to make the hill.

Lovely landscaping

Miners' Memorial

It's a picturesque little town with "romantic" street names like Bromide, Iodide, Oxide, and the like, but the hill is just plain ugly and stark.

 Hundreds of miners have lost their lives here, not only from accidents, but all the kinds of "osis" diseases of the lung attributed to breathing years of mine dust.

Easy to Feel Small in this Big Country.

The actual town of Broken Hill in the shadow of broken hill is inviting and busy.

After our visit to Broken Hill, we drove out to the Day Dream Silver Mine and took a tour of the mine.

The mine is no longer operational, but an interesting tourist attraction.  To get to the mine, we had to drive on a dirt road for several miles with two gates that needed to be opened and closed along the way.

There was a car behind us that had been eating our dust, so we opened the first gate for them and they carried on, opening the second gate for us.  After eating each other's dust, we introduced ourselves and spent the rest of the afternoon together exploring the mine, driving to Silverton to take the "TEST", and watching the sunset at Mundi Mundi.  Our new friends are Carolyn and Drew from the Blue Mountains in Oz.  We hope to catch up with them again next year when we tour their environs.

Day Dream Silver Mine Photos:

Ready to Go Down

Tight Squeeze.  What do you see Russ?

SILVER!

Silverton Photos:

Mad Max - Road Warrior Movies with Mel Gibson were filmed here.

We took the famous pub's "TEST" and passed....
We were promised a free beer!

We Paid for the Indignity by Donating to a Charity.

Could we drop the balanced potato
 into the funnel tucked into our pants?

Maybe not, but we passed anyway....wet pants and all...
Need I say more?  Notice the size of the free  beers.

Chapel in the Late Afternoon

Mundi Mundi Photos:
Mundi Mundi is supposed to be one of the places on earth where the horizon is so flat, one can see the curvature of the earth.  Hmmm.  Ok.  We couldn't see the curve but did enjoy the cloudless sunset over the desert.

New Friends, Carolyn and Drew

The following morning, we left Broken Hill and Headed for Bourke which is considered the gateway to the Queensland Outback, called Matilda Country.  We arrived in Bourke late afternoon after a long drive.  The drive because of the recent and unusual rains and flooding in the desert was quite lovely.  Mobs of emus wandered about, there were still areas of standing water, and the gently undulating pastel green grasses were beautiful.

Did you know that multiple emus
and kangaroos are call mobs?

The grass was glowing in the afternoon light.

As we came into Bourke, there was a field with
hundreds and hundred of colorful Galahs.

We were on a street near the Darling River, when a woman waved at us and called out, "You're doing what I would love to be doing...traveling."  Since we were a little lost and looking for a caravan park, we asked her for some directions.  Anne-Marie and her husband Phillip are proprietors of the Diggers on the Darling Restaurant, and soon to be event/conference center for Bourke.

We returned the following morning to Diggers (term for WW1 Vets)  for a tour from Anne-Marie's husband Phillip.

Phillip

The Darling Came Up to the Top of the Levy
During Recent Floods.

They have many exciting plans for converting the Returned Service League (Veterans), Hall and the adjacent town hall into a multi-purpose conference center, while still maintaining cultural heritage of the RSL. Looks like hard work.   Currently, the restaurant and deck are open.  We enjoyed a great breakfast here before heading to Moree.  Good On Ya! Anne-Marie and Phillip.  You're doing a great job.  You deserve a little holiday.  No wonder Anne-Marie looks forward to a little traveling.

We took a few photos on our way to Moree,

This is the last cotton-picking photo of the trip.
(Looks like popcorn!)

but since we had come through here and Toowoomba, taking photos at the start of our Waltz with Matilda South, we are now out of photos!  Bet you though they would never end!  We spent an enjoyable afternoon in the thermal pools in Moree on Saturday, and had a great Mexican Fajita dinner and went to the show to see Mirror Mirror in Toowoomba on Sunday.

So that brings up to the present.  We hope to leave for northern islands as soon as the weather looks promising, but have paid up here at the Marina until May 9.  So anytime after that we will be on our way.  Most likely, we will not post much until we leave.   Drop us an email.  We'd love to hear from you.  Cheers everyone.

All is well with the 2 Sail R's on SV Worrall Wind.