Sailing Olivia 2019

A New Sailing Season Begins      26th April - 3rd May 2019

Scarborough Marina



The sun rises on a new day and a new sailing season, Scarborough Marina

Karin dropped me off at Perth Airport at 9.30pm ready to board the midnight flight to Brisbane, then on to Scarborough Marina where Olivia had been residing for the summer. Peter had gone ahead 5 weeks earlier to do some routine maintenance, such as antifoul the hull, service the motor and install a new echo sounder. He also had some jobs to do for me, mainly find a bicycle shop that could sell us some fold-up push bikes. I have been wanting one of those for a while now. He also had friends Robin and John from WA join him for a fortnight of exploration from Moreton Bay down to the  Gold Coast.

At Perth Airport I met Audrey, a sailing companion of many years, who was taking 5 weeks off work to help us sail Olivia to New Caledonia. We have planned to go to New Cal for some time and this year is the one! Our plans are to set sail for New Cal as soon as the weather allows and if time permits perhaps do Vanuatu as well, before heading back to Townsville later in the year. We have been in contact with Bob, the weather guru, from New Zealand, who is renown for his weather routing advice for sailors transiting the Pacific Ocean. We were anticipating a departure today, Friday 3rd May, but Bob tells us that strong headwinds are expected in a few days, so we are staying put for now.

Scarborough Marina is a good place to leave Olivia over the summer as it is one of the cheaper marinas in Moreton Bay and it has an excellent lift out facility for maintenance. The staff are friendly and the amenities clean, fuel jetty accessible at high tide (for us), and the shops are an easy bus ride or long walk away, depending which takes your fancy.

Audrey grazing on fungi on the way to the shops!
Actually she was taking an artistic photo. 

Our walk to Redcliff took us along the seafront for five kms of parkland and on the way we discovered that the Faraway Tree is actually in Australia. I knocked on the door, but no one was at home.

We found the Faraway Tree.  It's at Scarborough!

A Trip To Brisbane

We had a spare day so we decided to take the train ride into Brisbane city to find the AEC Office so that we could do our absentee votes and get that little job out of the way. Having accomplished that we found a money exchange and purchased some petty cash for New Caledonia. Our $200 turned into 13,000 SPF. We could easily be multi-millionaires there!!! After the conclusion of our business we decided that lunch on the South Bank was in order and we enjoyed a leisurely walk through the parkland.

South Bank

 

Having accomplished all we wished to do in Brisbane City we made our way to Central Station to catch the train back to Kippa Ring, then the bus onwards to Scarborough. Things did not go according to plan. Firstly the bike shop rang Peter and informed us that the folding bikes had not yet left Melbourne and would not arrive in time for our departure to New Cal. Big disappointment!!! Order cancelled! Then when we were still five stations short of our destination an announcement informed us that there was a problem with the overhead power lines ahead and that passengers would have to disembark and continue by bus to our destinations. I won't swear here, but we did.... However, buses were quickly provided for us to continue our journey, although somewhat extended due to traffic building towards rush hour. Finally as we arrived at Kippa Ring Station as our 699 bus pulled away before we could get off the train/ bus. Damn!!


Folding Bikes Arrive

Hooray!! Postponement of our departure date has meant the bikes are here.
The folding push bikes arrived yesterday evening, after much anguish because we thought they would not make it before we left. They had to come from Melbourne. The postponing of our departure date meant that the bike shop could get them to us just in time. They look beautiful and I can't wait to get on them and go for a spin. We had better read the instructions as the one we took out to try, definitely did not go back in the bag quite like it was packed before. We all had fun trying it out on the pontoon, scaring the onlookers as we wobbled our way along. Something about a narrowish walkway, water each side, made me nervous.



Maiden Ride: Spectators Audrey, John, Colin & Issy

Peter had already made friends with John (English) and Colin and Issy (Scottish) who were berthed either side of us. Both of these boats are on their way to Thursday Island for the Indonesia Rally leaving later in the year. Such interesting people, with world sailing experience make us feel mere novices. We have had a great time socialising with them and other yachties from France, USA and Canada who have sailed in here and briefly shared time with us. It has been sad to say goodbye this morning as we departed for Tangalooma Wrecks on the western side of Moreton Island before motoring (probably) south to Southport, on the Gold Coast, where weather permitting, we hope to check out next week.

My first blog for 2019 will have to contain a big thank you to John who ferried us to the shops for our stores, in his hired car. Also to Issy and Colin for being such good neighbours at the Scarborough Marina during our short stay. Safe Sailing friends and hope we catch up some day.



Audrey has a go