Thanksgiving Lunch on Scotland Island.

Plan A was for a Thanksgiving Day feast to be in the form of a gathering on the beach at Towlers Bay. The weather wasn't being cooperative so the venue was changed, after much consultation among the American girls, to Scotland Island. This was just as well because I'd hate to guess how the 9kg turkey was going to be transported.

Judy from Goondawindi II, one of the ring leaders and the venue host.

Everyone chipped in, which pretty much meant that everyone ate way, way, w a a a a a y too much. All offerings needed to be sampled. Heck, someone had to do it! The Bloke was up for it and so was everyone else. We began with our contribution of small sausage rolls which although not traditional, were eagerly gobbled. No leftovers for the poor Bloke.

 

Part of our problem might have been the size of our wine glasses!

We retreated back to Zofia almost unable to bend in the middle and declared drinkies and dinner to be CANCELLED.... Possibly indefinitely!

In Pursuit of The Elusive

The Bloke must be recovering from his operation because he today, wanted to go on an excursion to find a Sausage Roll. A malingerer he isn't, so it was off to catch the 144 or 143 bus to Spit Junction. Surely another worthy Sausage Roll could be found? Even the crew of Easy Tiger were trying to assist by conducting some advance surveying up the coast at Rosslyn Bay Marina Café, Yeppoon. Luckily for us, the $8 offering there didn't get a recommendation because his convalescence would possibly have been compromised still further by the urge to sail rapidly northwards. The Urologist said no golf or tennis for  6 weeks - no mention of sailing!

The Mews - Spit Junction

Last week, we discovered a rather nice coffee shop which we thought worthy of a revisit. What a lucky day, they sold home made sausage rolls. Staff informed us that they'd won a gold medal at the Royal Easter a Show. Oh, Happy Day! The Bloke could hardly believe it. So we decided that it warranted a proper photo.

Drumroll... Where would it sit on the Table of Fame.... Will the Tasmanians be knocked off?  You'll have to wait for the Bloke to update his Table of Fame but here is what it looked like.

Not What the Doctor Ordered - Boat Maintenance!

"Take it easy and don't do anything too strenuous". We've all heard that bit of advice before but this was the directive from the Bloke's favourite Urologist. So the post-surgery recovery goes like this:- One day not much. Second day boredom. Next day too much. Following day, recovery from the day before. Then boredom. Then too much activity followed by a day of recovery and so on...

We'd noted during our routine inspections of the boat that there was a little bit of sea water accumulating in a small bilge compartment near the exhaust/seawater elbow bend muffler. It wasn't much, probably not even 250ml but we do like a 'dry' boat (not to be confused with an alcohol free boat) and we prefer seawater outside the boat rather than in it. So with not very much other than  'recovering from surgery' on his agenda, the Bloke decided he was feeling quite 'up' for a little bit of boat inspection work. What might be the source of the water? Step one; is it salty or fresh? We'd just had huge amounts of rain. We were delusional of course, this particular bilge area is made up of several small tray-like areas specific for capturing leaks from the propeller shaft, gland and motor; water found here could only be sea water. Just checking!

Lots of careful sponging and groping around hose pipes and clamps and the Bloke was pretty certain that the culprit was the exhaust/seawater elbow bend muffler. Research on the internet revealed that Jeanneau owners have frequently reported a problem with the exhaust/seawater system. There was a recommendation that a manifold be replaced due to cracking. A manufacturing problem with the Yanmar engine. A diesel mechanic recommended that the part be replaced every 500 hours. Great! That might mean that we were long overdue a replacement if our manifold was one of the faulty ones. Whoo spooky. The Bloke's scrutiny of the area suggested that the manifold was not one of the 'bad lot' and was not the sources of the leak. What else could go wrong? "We'll dismantle it a bit and just tighten things up". What could go wrong? As usual, this activity was in a space requiring a certain amount of contortion and although it was agreed that this job was not critical, once the tools were assembled there was no turning back and no possibility of waiting until the directive to "Take it easy and don't do anything too strenuous" was lifted.

Manifold looking good

Air extractor in the foreground.

The effort of separating the black pipes from the elbow box have pretty much separated the Blok'es pipes.. doh!

Of course the job could wait. The boat was not being flooded and the ingress only occurred when the motor was running. At present, this is mostly just to heat up the hot water system and assist with a bit of battery charging. It could definitely wait but once you've seen the problem you can 'unsee' it and the Bloke felt compelled to see the task through. Leaving things semi-dismantled to effect the repair in stages just isn't the Bloke's style and he professed to feeling so much better. Mistake!

The job ran to pattern with sockets and nuts frustratingly dropping into impossible-to-retrieve places. Thank heavens for the telescopic magnetic probe I bought, for no particular reason, at the $2.00 shop. It's been a life saver so many times!

How we love this telescopic thingy.

Escapee socket attached... yeh!

The culprit for the leak was eventually located. A perishing gasket. Attempts to replace it would normally be complicated except for the Bloke's cheeky personality. There is a 'Little ship' in the marina. Talk on the jetties is that it was formerly owned by Dick Smith and had been built to do some research in the Antarctic. It's certainly huge and constantly being washed and polished by an attentive crew. The Bloke reasoned that a little ship like this would definitely carry 'spares' for it's ocean adventures and might have a suitable gasket they could offer until a replacement could be sourced. Better still, it turned out that the ship's workshop had a gasket cutter and the crew very generously manufactured a replacement in a jiff! What luck. I think it will require a 6pack of beers or a tray of pumpkins scones for reward. What's your vote?

The repair is now completed and tested and without doubt the next couple of days are going to be 'recovery days'. The little job, as usual, turned into a BIG JOB and I'm just hoping that the Bloke hasn't burst a gasket of his own in the doing of it.

Remembering Rememberance Day

So, this year at the 11th hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month, we were on a Sydney Transit bus. At 10:58am  an announcement  came over the bus radio from the operations base instructing drivers to pull over at the very next bus stop, switch off their engines and observe a 1 minute silence for Rememberance Day. Our driver complied, allowing us to also hear a broadcast of a bugler playing the Last Post. With the exception of a couple of Asian tourists, who couldn't be blamed really for being unaware of what was happening, everyone was duly respectful of this moment and what it represents. Just stunning. We were moved to tears!

Prostate Cancer Pin-up Boy, November 2015.

11/11/2015 - A day to remember, or is it a day not to forget or even an unforgettable day? This year, for us, all of the latter apply. From this year forward, Remembrance Day will have another and quite unconnected significance for us. The Bloke attended his post-operative doctor's appointment. Robotic keyhole surgery to remove a cancerous prostate was confirmed to be successful.

Phew!

We'll spare you the gritty detail unless you'd like a private conversation but like to take the opportunity to remind all you fellows out there, to take Prostate Cancer seriously and not evade medical checks like sissies! 3,000 premature deaths are annually attributable in Australia to this cancer. It need not be so.

In June this year we'd calculated that 4,100 nautical miles had so far been traveled on our mission to circumnavigate Australia. In the circumstances we are so glad that we took off in 2013 and not waiting for official retirement age. Since June, we have restricted our voyaging and spent 5 months around Sydney enclosed waters and Pittwater to facilitate a medical journey. Surprisingly, we've added a further 400nm to our log just around here! Very happily too, sharing some of these miles with Bullet, the Professors Martin, also Sister-in-law Jan and the 'General'. Sydney sailors are lucky indeed to have so many destination options without much of an ocean challenge. We've seized the opportunity to savour some of these cruising grounds, reconnect with friends plus add some new ones. We have so much to be thankful for.

For now, we are in recovery mode and rewriting our sailing plans for 2016 -  in the sand at low tide of course!

General Alert!

What began as a 2 day visit finished up a 3 night affair and there could just be 2 pairs of kidneys being checked into rehab as a consequence. The Bloke's brother, 'the General' (an organiser of note) and sister-in-law Jan, made a visit with us on Pittwater. We were delighted to share with them as many of our favorite spots as time allowed. They had such a good time that they stayed for a bit longer which meant we could go deep in.

 The proof of life 'selfie' sent home to Mum.

The General and the Bloke leaving for a spin.

Ashore at Bobbin Head

 

Shep joined us for lunch at Bobbin Head with a special delivery.

Just in the nick of time, we were almost out of wine.

The extra night meant we could visit our most favourite of locations 'up the creeks'.

Smiths Creek.

Peter and Debbie's latest fleet addition - Novae, just happened to be there too.

  

Thanks for visiting Keith and Jan... and the Bloke thanks you for the hangover too!

Ticking all the Boxes

Our trip down to Sydney Harbour to take up a mooring for 3 months met a lot of criteria.

• Low swell TICK
• No strong headwinds TICK
• Current running in our direction TICK. 

To top it off we must have ticked the Eco-tour option because we spent 45 minutes following a mother and calf whale just north of Sydney Heads. Too special for words.

A whale tail or two.

Baby showing off

We haven't got sick of entering the harbour it's just so very spectacular.

 View of South Head

 Homes in Port Jackson nestled up alongside a navigational beacon.

We also watched the water 'boiling' with schools of fish just inside the heads.

We'll be in on a swing mooring for a few weeks, so it's nice to grab some nice ocean memories for the duration.

Stepping Out

We have heard that there is a craze for people to wear a FitBit to monitor their daily/ weekly/ monthly activity as measured in steps. If we'd embraced this fad we'd probably have exploded the device the day we decided to take the steps from Palm Beach to Ocean Beach. Not including the walking along a roadway to the steps that take you down from the ridge you've just ascended, we estimate there are some 700 steps each way. A two-way total of 1,400. This figure could have been more accurate if I wasn't actually in a state of semi-distress while counting.

We began at sea level and we're only half way up.

OK, so now we head down.

 

 

Oh lordy! Sea level on the ocean side.

Contemplating the trip back!

Plan 'A' had been to do this 'walk' today and then the Barrenjoey Walk the next day. The plan was revised on an 'urgent needs' basis. Our calves needed to recover from their very cramped and stiff status before we could even think of any more billy goat trekking.

Time For a Change - An Oil and Filter Change

More from the catalogue of performing boat maintenance in exotic locations; our engine hours showed that it was once again time for an oil change and to replace the filters. This was a job last performed in Tassie so we were a bit rusty. Why for example did The Bloke forget to wear his overalls? Possibly he was signalling that he wanted my involvement laundering diesel smelling cloths. As it turned out my help was required to provided a girlie perspective to problem solving when things were not quite running to plan.

Extracting and replacing the oil in the motor and gear box was simple enough. Certainly providing sufficient confidence that the rest would be a doddle. Ha!

Removing the little rubber gasket at the head of the fuel filter was the first challenge. A variety of screwdrivers and colourful language were no match for the right tool. While probably not your textbook device, a little cocktail fork helped prize the little sucker out of it's groove. A girlie trick.

Hooray for the cocktail fork.

Spare gaskets

 

These two parts do look identical, however the one on the right is ever-so-slightly taller. The bolt that holds it into place, it turns out, has a very fine tolerance level. We overcame this by using the old filter with a NEW gasket hoping that it would become squeezed a little in the process. It did! When the newly squeezed gasket was placed on the new filter, the bolt 'grabbed'. SUCCESS!

It probably seems like 'no big deal' but here it is 'in situ'. It's a bit like doing surgery through a letter box and we hope we can recall these tricks, plus the overalls, for next time.

Boats, Booze and Bad Manners

Let's set the scene......

It's late on a Saturday afternoon and certainly after 4pm, by which time most boats will have taken a position in an anchorage. The evening calm is beginning to settle over Bantry Bay. As you can see, some boats are rafted-up ready for evening socialising.  But wait! here comes a little motor boat racing into the anchorage and certainly not observing the speed limit. Moored vessels begin to thrash on the wake that's been created. The HiFi is blaring and occupants all seem to be having a fine old time and probably have been drinking alcohol for quite a while. Just speculation of course. The Bloke waives, indicating they should slow down. Success. They slow down and decide to stop not far away and instantly throw out the fishing rods. They immediately switch pace. More beers are passed around. They are not anchored and the tide switches and the little rowdy boat is suddenly being sucked out of the bay and drifting towards a bigger craft on a mooring. No problemo, let's just fire up the motor and move on a little. Hang on a minute... big problemo:the motor won't start. That annoying, thumping HiFi must have sucked the battery down and the motor won't crank. Oooooops! Doosh-dooshing noise is doused. Now they are drifting into the bow of the bigger boat. What to do? Paddle, paddle, paddle and fend off.

 Yes, you are seeing correctly - motorcraft being paddled!

Owners of the bigger craft are properly annoyed, firstly by the rude and rowdy arrival of boozy crew and now by the prospect of a collision. They decline to assist and hide from the view of the boozy crew. We can see this. From the waterline, rowdy people can't.  Little boat keeps drifting. The sun is setting, rowdy boat people begin to put on whatever outer clothing they can find. Their bimini is unrolled to offer a further modocum of protection. The tide sucks them further out of the anchorage. Everyone is ignoring them and speculating how long it will take them to solve their deepening predicament. How long before they phone a friend, or radio Volunteer Marine Rescue? 

The last boat in the anchorage took pity on them and passed them a power cable to jump-start their motor. Bingo! The motor kicked over and the little boat departed quietly and at lower speed and minus the wash and bravado that was so evident on their arrival. 

It's wine o'clock. Hope this mob learned a lesson or two in boatmanship and how to better share the waterways. They got off with a bruised ego and are thankfully gone. Cheers to that!

September - Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

Every day of the year seems allocated to a cause or a thought bubble. For instance, September 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day.... aaaarrgh truly! Each month is allocated to cause too. October was Breast Cancer awareness month and September was Prostate Cancer awareness month.

The Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club (SICYC) have been meeting every year at Shag Islet in the Gloucester Passage (Whitsundays area of North Queensland) for a number of years now and the annual gathering of members is affectionately known as 'Shaggers'. There is an amount of irony in that name considering the beneficiary of their annual get-together fundraiser. Their nominated charity? Prostate Cancer research. The 2015 Shaggers muster saw a veritable migration of 700 yachts northwards for the rendezvous and Skipr.net and the Women Who Sail Australia Face book site were full of communications about sailing progress to get there in time and of course, how much fun they were having once at their destination. Some didn't quite manage to get there but have pledged to be there next time. The numbers are swelling year by year. One of  the marine magazines, Afloat, featured an article about the success and generosity of this club of yachtie/cruisers who impressively, since embracing this cause, have raised in excess of $250,000!

 Image sourced from Afloat Magazine.

For us, September has been more that just an 'awareness month', it is now THE awareness month. September is when The Bloke was confirmed to have prostate cancer - a bit if a 'bummer' and hence our being detained in Sydney for the time being. It's a testament to vigilance and over a decade of monitoring, that this incredibly common condition was picked up, since in this instance, it was totally asymptomatic. Lucky indeed are we, to have access to the some of the best diagnostics, Doctors and treatments in the country and luckier still, to be sitting this 'life storm' out in the waterway playgrounds of Sydney and Pittwater.

  

 The Spit to Manly Walk is quite well known and is going to feature strongly in The Bloke's recovery from surgery.  From the short part we have already sampled, it WILL definitely qualify as boot-camp!

Visit www.prostate.org.au for more info.

THREE FACTS ABOUT PROSTATE CANCER

In Australia, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men.

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More than 3,000 men die of prostate cancer in Australia every year.

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More men die of prostate cancer than women die of breast cancer.