Urchin breaks ranks

It's true enough that the tail end of our visit to Hopetoun saw the weather deteriorate and B1 had a number of chats to give his Plan A and Plan B if the weather got much worse. Plan A was to tie up to the jetty and if we wanted to follow suit we would be welcome to take the south side of the jetty.
We stuck it out on Saturday night and the Bloke opted to do anchor watch topside. In many respects it was less worrying than remaining below where every tug and slooshing on the hull got exaggerated in my mind. We were side on to the swell. If I'd known this I'd have worried less. By dawn the Bloke awoke and found Urchin gone - until he'd finished a 360 degree scan. There she was nestled up against the jetty!

Urchin on the jetty. Boyo, the committee is going to award them the Green Jacket for this one!

For their trouble B1 and Maree had already had about 12 groups on board Urchin by 8:00am and there was a steady queue for the remainder of the day, particularly after news had spread that "one of those boats in the bay" was now accessible for a closer look!

Sick of the bouncing and slop the Bloke and I went ashore while it was calmish for a cooked breakfast and a walk and a little more photo documentation.

Sometimes the signs say it all!

Meet Macky the Hopey resident Magpie

Macky - pictured here, is a tame Maggie. He walks around outside the IGA and up and down the main street like he owns it and walks in to the shops, sings a little tune (that I've never heard a Maggie sing before) and claiming some treat, walks out again and off to the next feeding possibility. The song is sung, the prize claimed etc... SWEET!

The morsel of toast offered by the Bloke was paid absolutely no attention. The Bloke and his crust were not a part of this game.

This is not the original hotel - Hopetoun got it's current name in 1901

The Port Hotel and the original Hotel (which is now the Elders office and is heritage listed) were constructed from stone from discarded ships ballast. Canadian cedar was used for much of the joinery and came from the whaling boats. Bob and Terri Pens who own the Elders Hopetoun franchise have a boat at the Mandurah Marina so we were glad to be reacquainted with them when we visited and they gave me a tour inside their building. The adjoining bakery was also the former site of the original power station. Funny how things go a full circle. That bakery was now powering up the Bloke with sausage rolls, pasties etc... Steve jokes that the Bloke is doing a 2nd PhD on Sausage Rolls... and the verdict? Not in the top 10 but the pasties are good.

The yellow buoy indicates dangerous underwater hazards, hence we are moored a long way from the shelter of the sea wall. In fact the sea wall shelters a reef! What IS the point? It will go some way to explain why yachts seldom visit.

This church is shared by the Roman Catholic and Anglican congregations. Nice.

East Tiger had a dusk drama when the wind swung to the West and she rode up over the mooring. Steve attempted a dinghy solution but Leanne was truly awesome. Diving into the water, she stood on the leads to unhitch them from the mini cat keels to save the day!

This is how Hopetoun saw us from the sea wall. Thank you to Dene Bingham, Photographer - Hopetoun -Dene's website