The Last Few Days At Boat Works 26th - 30th May

Tamborine

Green Lane coffee and scrumptious,  fruity raisin toast

We borrowed the Boat Works courtesy car for the weekend and on Saturday drove the windy, scenic route 38km to Tamborine Mountain. Of course the first thing we did on arrival was find a coffee shop. Green Lane Coffee Plantation has a café serving their own home grown coffee and yummy looking cakes and food, in an old restored Queenslander. The coffee is the nicest I have ever tasted. No burnt taste, just beautifully smooth with a delicious coffee flavour. A 'Crop to Cup' tour is available, but we decided to spend the rest of the morning wandering along the Gallery Walk 7kms away perusing the shops.

The Gallery Walk is a strip of touristy shops selling mainly 'stuff' from China etc. You can find it all over Australia's touristy places. It generally has a bit better quality touristy bits and bobs, but we thought it was very disappointing. We only found two artist galleries with paintings. Our anticipation at several glass outlets was short lived as these also proved to be mass produced imports, not local  productions. The best shop was the German Cockoo Clock Nest with their wall to wall cuckoo clocks, grandfather clocks and various other styles of watches and clocks. They also had a range of toys that I have not seen since I was a kid, like tin spinning tops, music boxes, wooden puppets and many other interesting toys. By that time we had had enough of shopping and we thought we might find a café for lunch at the Botanic Garden. The garden was lovely, but no café, so we decided to drive back to The Green Lane for a focaccia toasty for lunch. What a good idea. It was just as delicious as our earlier coffee.

Over $16,000 for this Grandpappy

Just a small sample at the German Cuckoo Clock Nest

 

After lunch we drove further on through the scenic, hilly roads until we came across the Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk. We paid our $16.50 (Seniors) each and set off along the metal bridge structure. Quite soon we found ourselves high up in the treetops as the ground fell away below us. The walkway has a grid to walk on so you can see clearly the vegetation underneath. At one point I felt uneasy looking down from treetop height, but could only gaze in awe at the beautiful, straight, tall trunks of the gum trees surrounding us. Part of the walk is on bush paths so you get a view from above and below. It was well worth the visit.



Tamborine Mountain Botanic Gardens

 

Time was moving on so we drove our trusty little Hyundai Getz back to Boat Works for a Tavern meal with Jim and Jan from Par Des Chat, Gary and Anne from Chances and Neville from The Bossa Nova. What a lovely day after our nine days of boatyard living. On Sunday evening we had a BBQ at the new BBQ area provided by Boat Works down by the river. We feel like we are settling into a way of life here.



Skywalk - It's a long way down

Finishing Touches

Ready to go

By Monday morning Olivia had just a few finishing touches to complete before she was ready for her launch back into the water. Her rudder needed some fill where the bolts had been removed, then antifouling. Finally the prop was to be painted with Prop Speed . Peter and I walked to the Oxenford shops, partly for exercise and also for some cash while the last jobs were done. We had a relaunch time of 8.30am on Tuesday. After 13 nights on the hard at Boat Works, we finalised our account and jumped on board for Olivia's relaunch. Russ from Nautilus Marine accompanied us to burp the dripless seal gland and make sure we didn't sink. Everything was fine so we motored off to the Gold Coast City Marina where there is easy access to fuel and water.

Olivia on her way back to the water

Now we are anchored in the Coomera River for two nights as it is easier for me to catch the train from Coomera Station to the Brisbane Airport. The bus to the station stops near The Boat Works front gate and drops me at the station 3-4kms away. The train journey is an hour and a half, via Brisbane City and I don't have to change trains. The Seniors train fare is $28 with no taxi needed from here which is a bonus. Peter is going to motor back down to Southport, about 2 hours, where he wants to visit Whitworths for a FEW items - Can I trust him???? He is then going to make his way slowly up The Main Channel to Moreton Bay over the next three weeks while I am back in Perth and Albany. No more Blog for 3 or 4 weeks.

Trying out the new motor. He's happy.