Learning Patience

3rd March to 17th May, 2021 (11 weeks)

Why we are waiting
Our main sailing goal is to cruise the Queensland coast. We expected to have down time during the cyclone season and of course Covid has limited our options a little further. What John and I didn’t expect was to be waiting for warranty work for lengthy periods. Last year we waited quite a few months for the starboard motor to be replaced.

This time all the house batteries had failed which meant we couldn’t sail if we wanted to. There was also the matter of a non-compliant gas system. The 11 weeks wait, therefore, was a great exercise for us in learning patience, valuing the importance of good record keeping and correspondence and learning to take things as they come.

Mum
It was probably good timing that I was around when Mum no longer was able to live independently. Life for Mum at home was becoming very problematic and after the fall she eventually made a decision to go to a place where the practical aspects of life would be done by someone else. The family FaceTime meeting was helpful – Mum had never used FaceTime and some family members became a bit too silly with the filters.

Fortunately, Mandalay Retreat had a room available. The room was very spacious with ensuite, kitchenette and patio that led to the gardens. It was also very close to Paul’s place and Mum’s old stomping grounds so win-win.

On moving day Paul and Ness, Dave, Clare and John and I moved a lifetime of gear plus multiple furniture flat packs into the room. We had Thai and a firepit at Pauls to recover. The second day we continued with the work. Clare supervised the flat pack production and we finished off with some sparkly. That was one massive weekend.

Obviously, this was a difficult adjustment for Mum even though she knew it was for the best. Everyone did what they could during the transition. Mum, who goes out every day for some “essentials” did not do well with the on and off lock-downs. John and I took her out for a few drives around the area and lunches and picnics. On Labour Day we drove to the Tamborine mountains, had a walk around the Botanical Gardens and had a yummy picnic lunch. We returned via Mt Tamborine Village and Beenleigh.

Us
Our life, tied up at Manly marina seems to exist of going to the supermarket, Dan’s, Bunnings, a chandlery or a doctor. I suppose though, when you need to fit a whole year of routine activities into a small portion of time, that’s how it is.

One has to be very careful going out on shopping trips. I accidently put white zinc on my mouth instead of lipstick. It was only once I got in the car and saw myself in the side mirror that I discovered this bizarre look. John, of course, didn’t say anything to me as he thought I was wearing white lipstick on purpose.

We were fortunate to have Paul and Ness’s place available as a drop-in centre as we could drop Tallis off for short stays with Roxie. They also hosted “mother” events like Mother’s Day with all the

mothers – me, Ness, Dos and Mary. Looking back, John and I were able to do quite a bit socially in between lock-downs.

At the marina we met up with friends on a regular basis and we walked the Wynnum Manly esplanade multiple times. Tallis loved it. We went to the markets and to our locals the Celtic Corner and the trailer boat club. We caught up with Chris and Tanya Ghea, his father and aunty at Tides which is a nice little restaurant/bar at the end of the jetty. We got some side-clears made for the boat so that we would be more comfortable during wet weather (what a good investment that was with the strong La Nina to come).

We started a trivia team called “I Like Wine” which had to be changed to “I Like Wine and Gin” when Louise joined. Eventually all her family and neighbours joined and we finally got to beat the Shaggers, the previous long-term winners.

Only once did John and I manage to take the boat out during this time. Chris Ghea and Ann and Tom came on board for the day. We had a lovely day out on the bay to Peel Island with a pretty hairy

berthing at the marina. Another day we did a marina tour in the tender but that doesn’t count.

Further afield we lunched at Hog’s Breath a Raby Bay, Opas at Victoria Point with Paul and Ness, Cleveland RSL with Dave, Clare and Mum, Eat Street with Paul and Ness, Cleveland Sands with Clare, Sailing Club with Paul, Ness, Clare, Aunty Colleen, Karen and us, and of course Clare and I managed meatballs at Ikea when we were there. We saw a few movies – The Courier and Nomadland. Another day we drove to the NSW border and back checking out Harbour Town and Surfers and had lunch at the Northcliff Surf Life Saving Club.

We had a big day out with Clare and Don with breakfast at the Pancake Manor (not as good as I remembered) and a few hours at a

Camping, Fishing, 4x4 Expo where there was a lot of big boys’ stuff but nothing that we wanted. We finished off with a few ales at the Celtic Corner.

John and I had a couple of mini-weekends away too. The first time we stayed at the Oaks on George Street. We did some shopping and tried out a few craft beer places – The Embassy Hotel, the local Irish bar and the River Bar. At South Bank we checked out the Art Gallery of Queensland and did a theme tour about Brisbane, then to the museum and then to Plough Inn where disappointingly they did not have Ploughman lunches.

Finally, the reason for the weekend, was a meal at the Alba Bar and Deli on Burnett Lane. Absolutely beautiful, though not particularly authentic tapas. The wine was far too expensive but the owner’s conversation and the feel of the place sort of made up for that.

Our second weekend away was to see the Broncos who had 2 years of woeful performances. We stayed at the William George Hotel on George Street an easy walk to the Caxton Hotel for pre-dinner drinks. At Suncorp we got good seats, ate very ordinary food, drank expensive beer and sighed at the score of 22-0 at half time. Miraculously they turned it around and won 34-26. Needing sustenance, we had yummy breakfast at the café next to the hotel 51st St Diner – a Benny Brisket and a Sweet Potato dish.

Our 60th Birthdays
After promising each other to keep our 60th birthdays and 30th wedding anniversary low profile I organised a small surprise party for John. If we had been in Alice Springs, we would have had the biggest party probably themed so I felt we should do something.

Paul and Ness agreed we could hold the surprise at their place. I had secretly purchased groceries, ordered pizza and arranged Shirley to make the cake. Now to get him out of the house whilst the last-minute preparations were being made and the guests arrived. Paul took John to Ness’s mothers house to check out the lights. It sounded so funny when Dos complained that her light wasn’t working but when John turned on the switch and it did.

It was a small but select group (Shirley and Russel, John and Rachel, Brenda and Marty, Paul and Ness, Louise and Maree, Chris Ghea and us). We had a lovely night, a beautiful cake and a hilarious speech from Jeff Camp. Don’t worry Jeff, we’ll get you back.

My 60th was much more subdued. I got lots of congratulations from friends and family and it was wonderful to feel so loved. I was in a real slump for the whole morning which is very unusual for me as I’m a glass half full type. John didn’t know what to do. Eventually I returned to normal and we had a picnic lunch at Colmslie Park on the Brisbane River – beautiful prawns and a slice of the cake Shirley had secretly made for me. In the afternoon we went to Temptress and met John and Raewyn from The Bach who we will catch up later in the year at Magnetic Island.

Later that week I ordered our Seniors Cards (sigh). I had my official birthday lunch at the Sailing Club, looking out over the marina and the bay and had a beautiful seafood platter. A perfect day.

Boat repairs
We were somewhat peeved that Seawind led us to believe Summer Breeze was gas compliant but when we looked for certification none could be found. They eventually agreed to replace the gas hot water system and Paul from Seawind came from Sydney to do the work. It took him, with a bit of swearing, a few days to install a diesel Webasto system. Now for certification. The gas certification man was very thorough, approved the hot water changes, fixed some minor issues and failed us as the oven wasn’t compliant. To say we were devastated and a little any was an understatement. In the end we had the oven disconnected allowing us to get a modified certification.

All of these repaired required us to extend our stay which cost money and was very difficult as the owner of the berth had returned and wanted it. Luckily there was a spot next door and he pulled in in his massive motor boat Ocean Rose. He was very understanding.

The major issue holding us back was failure of the house batteries. There was some secrecy about failures with Mastervolt batteries and Seawind agreed to replace the batteries and charger (nice of them) with gels versus AGM batteries. Of course, gels are larger and didn’t fit in the space available. With a little ingenuity (John) they were installed. None of this made sense to me however I understand that getting batteries, solar, inverters, regulators and chargers all working

well with each other takes some work. Apparently, the charger started to drain the battery so Paul had a zoom session with the company in Vietnam and reprogrammed the system.

Job done and finished late in the evening on the last day before we head off into the wilderness.

Hope it works.

Next: Passage - Brisbane to Burnett Heads