Mooloolaba
13.08.2007
Sailing to Mooloolaba … Gonzie is quite sick and is
sleeping inside. I’m staying outside and reading. We were getting some southerly
wind today, going almost downwind. As the wind is from South it is quite
cold.
Passing Cape Moreton I saw a whale flapping its tail far
away. A small fishing boat got closer to him to have a look, but we were going
the opposite way; also we hope to see more whales in Hervey Bay, where they stop
during their winter migration from Antarctica.
Entered Mooloolah River at dark and docked into the first
berth we saw. The marina office was closed by then and we will check in
tomorrow
14-20.08.2007
Mooloolaba is a nice town so we decided to stay here for a
week and recover from the flu. Also we had to do antifouling eventually and fix
the toilet seacock. A nearby suburb Kawana has good and cheaper compared to
Sydney boatyard (next to Lawries Marina). There is a waiting list for a space in
the boatyard but we were lucky to grab a spot in 7 days.
I’m feeling a bit annoyed with this perspective as I want
to get to the islands as soon as possible.
Next day we were feeling better and went for a walk around
Mooloolaba. It is a nice holiday place with a long beach and lots of cafes and
shops along it. I’ve never heard about it in Sydney, and Noosa which is not far
from here, is more famous. There are lots of families with kids I guess they
come here for a holiday from Brisbane.
There is a big aquarium here called “Underwater World”.
Apparently, according to lonely planet travel book, it is the biggest oceanarium
in the southern hemisphere. My favourites are seals of course. They look at you
with big innocent eyes and are quite intelligent.
The shark aquarium is also quite impressive: it is in the
form of an arch and you can see grey nurses and stingrays swimming over your
head.
The next few days the weather turned bad and it was raining
all the time non-stop. We were sitting inside the boat watching DVDs and
reading. I was feeling bored.
I went to the local hairdresser to cut my hair and do
eyebrows. The girl who did my hair was quite good and made me look like one of
the actresses in the Russian movie I watched.
21.08.2007
The sun finally came out and we drove the boat towards
Lawries Marina where shiplift is located. Kawana Waters Canal (that’s what the
river that leads to shipyard is called) is very nice, expensive houses at both
sides and each has a boat moored next to it. When the boat was lifted we went to
Kawana shopping centre for lunch and also bought more DVDs.
When we got back and the boat was already on the slip with
the bottom washed from barnacles. Then a worker came to sand it. It was supposed
to be painted today, but the rain had started again and the work was put
off for
tomorrow.
At night the wind picked up quite a bit and the wind
generator went nuts. It was blowing around 50-60 knots and the wind gusts hit
the boat with horrifying sound. I hoped the boat would not fall from the slip.
Extra support was added to the boats before the wind came and a few other people
were staying on their boat as well at this time.
The next few days it was still raining. We are sitting
inside all the time: I’m studying for CPA and watching movies in between. In
fact, I haven’t watched that many movies in a row before.
26.08.2007
Here comes the sun and Gonzalo painted the boat. I was in a bad mood as while trying to help him spilled
paint on myself, so instead I was sitting inside the boat and studying
for CPA exam. We were going to put on second coat but it started raining again –
how unfortunate!
29.08.2007
Finally the weather gave us a break and having finished the
second coat yesterday we met Yanmar mechanic to help Gonzie align the engine
shaft properly.
The boat is back in the water and it feels good to be off
the slip. Gonzie and mechanic did some tests on the shaft alignment going around
the river and not paying attention to the receding tide and ran aground near
some pylons. The good news it was just sand and it didn’t take long to get off
the ground, the bad news the layer of freshly coated pain was surely scraped off
from the bottom of the keel.
