Had Kelly, Rod's 2nd cousin come for a visit yesterday, was nice to catch up. 2nd lot of windows went in on starboard side tops & aft, lowers & windscreens to go. So the process is paint area black between the windows that are being joined. Put the foam tape in place & put tape around the internal position of windows to mark area, remove the windows again & sand the area for the silicon to go on. Put windows back on with spacers, line up & hold in place & then secure with timber wedges glued onto tape on the surrounding area & put in timber supports at ends. Keep in shade for 7 days. On a brighter note we are expecting a visit from "The Tramps" who we've not seen now for months (was going to be the end of October) looking forward to catching up & having a bit of a break.

Well Christmas has come & gone and we're still plodding along. Now have everything back in place on deck, funny how nothing wants to go in easily though! Pulled off all the corflute around the cockpit, no more tiny little entrance & don't feel quite so trapped anymore. Today the corflute is being pulled off the windows cut outs & the new windows are going in, so great to be able to pull off yet more tape, start cleaning up inside & return to normality after nearly 8 weeks. Had slight delay with trip to the Dr's for some antibiotics, I managed to get Cellulitis in my big toe from the non drinkable water with all it's amoeba's & bacteria swimming around, so explains why my toe has been numb for 5 weeks, who knew!!

Rods just finished replacing poly in 1 cabin hatch, 1 to go, just handrails to go on now & we get to mask up all over again, must be on our 100th roll of tape by now, fingers calloused just from tearing off tape! Tip for anyone doing this it's 4 times harder to remove tape after it's had a spray job, than removing & replacing it. Removed all tape from around track & rails for trampoline. Cracked a sad Saturday & pulled out our inflatable bath, bubbles galore, wonderful change. We're so close but we will be looking at water probably around the 11th (7 days for stupid windows, min 5 days deck), will it ever end)!!

We are starting to get back that which looks like a boat. All hatches, lockers & lazarettes are in (although slight closing issue on fwd laz) which we figured, Rod will sort it. 1 pulpit & 2 sets of staunchions to go, then tie up & tape, tomorrow. Black paint for under the joined windows are painted & all windows are here (bit of a hiccup there, stay tuned)! Bedroom hatches yet to be done, more Sika (Rod's & Sika do not play nicely together). Mast steps are on, exit blocks in, radome on, lights partially wired/tested. Handrails sanded (more hand sanding), scrubbed clean & ready for painting. Christmas closure for most Companies here including the Chandlery & The Galley for food so have to make sure we have all we need. Made use of corflute & tape so we now have a Christmas tree & discovered a message Garry left for when we were pulling up yet more masking, well done, good chuckle in the conditions he knows we're working in, thank you, cheers.

Well today is the 17th of Dec, the 6th week, the date we were booked in for & hopefully completed. Thats not happening anytime soon, we are effectively waiting for paint to dry & doing jigsaw puzzles with all the bits & pieces that need to be put back on, matching up w/ their little bags of pk's, m/threads, nuts & bolts. Nearly finished cleaning/polishing staunchions, pushpits & pulpits to go on tomorrow & start masking up borders around everything, prepping for more sanding (yippee), ready for non-skid paint. The paint is too green for windows to go in now, won't be until the 27th! Rod's started putting in exit blocks & locating wires for lights. Windows are cut & we had poly carb for hatches delivered (not drilled) so add to the list (the drill holes are for the press studs the shade covers go on). I'm currently equating this job of ours with us being on the last 200mtrs of a 1000mtr marathon. Not broken us as yet, but a few melt downs have ensued!

Rod returned to boat at 5am (Zac's team (Spraytech were busy painting, starting at 4 am), then breaked 10 mins later after Rod arrived finishing 2nd coat, all finished by 8.15 this morning. Mast looks sensational (well done moi), deck has a few issues, Zac I'm sure will attend to on Monday. Wed/Thurs for non-skid, windows Thurs/ Friday. Next finish polishing up pushpits/pulpits & staunchions, get them prepped to bed down on deck, then mark out & mask up & woo hoo, more sanding for non-skid, ain't life grand! This is a big job we've undertaken & we're hanging in there, just have moments of argh!!! Neither of us have ever worked harder in our lives pulling 18hr days, tis ridiculous! She's however look pretty shiny!

At Coomera Motor Inn now, tired & greatly disappointed. Thursday was a no go with painting as not enough hours in the day to wet wipe, hose down, re-tape etc, etc, especially after Rod whilst blowing off boat went straight through the hatch, (dettol wash, ice in clean rag & taped up with "cheap" masking tape), rather colourful bruising to follow. Re- booked room for tonight as spraying was happening today, then just as they got to the boat the pitter patter happened, then all out torrential rain, humidity to high & paint job would de-laminate so now they're going to spray at 4AM tomorrow (we hope & whilst we're blissfully sleeping in motel). Puts everything back as non- skid paint won't go on until probably Tuesday now. Windows have to go in Friday so who knows if that will all happen as Jessie (& everyone else goes on holidays on the 20th) 😟

5th week in shed today, not painting now until Thursday, chasing pin hole "fairies" ergo more sanding! Ripping off all tape & plastic & re-masking. Rod cut off trampoline today much easier to mask up, new one on it's way and we now have a 20' container to put everything in (that was fun) so we can have an empty, dust free shed. Hatches are completely sanded & taken to spray booth in Jessies cart, basically boom, furler & esky left in shed. Will be another late night.

Just finished sanding, for the night!!! Getting very close to no more hand sanding at least. 50 litres of high build epoxy primer went on (4 coats), think we've sanded 25 litres off, fingers are kaput! Mast is finished, deck pretty much done, 4 little lockers &1 hatch to go, can't do anymore tonight. Rod just mentioned antifoul, geez we have to sand that too, heavens, might hire a little man for that. So mast steps are polished & painted, screws are nearly cleaned & sorted, buying replacements for all that are flat head screws. So the plan is (unless our sadistic painter tells us to do more sanding), we will finish tomorrow, hose down inside the shed, re-tape dodgy bits, cover everything downstairs, blast off, wipe down in fresh water, tack off & spray the topcoat (woo hoo) just the gloss surrounds on Tuesday, then wait for it, more sanding & masking up for non-skid paint possibly Friday ......will wait with baited breath. Huge thank you to Glen & Leonie for putting us up for the night at Surfers Paradise, wonderful respite, great sleep, no schwarf!

Day 35, bit of a daunting day with so much to do, on top of all the sanding yet to be done. When we booked into The Boatworks Alana asked how long are you planning to be up, I shrugged & told her the work we planned to do so she booked us in (lock up) for 6 weeks thus it became the 16th December, the date to "aspire to". Well that's just never goimg to happen now & we will most certainly be on the hard for Christmas (plan on making a Christmas tree out of all the Corflute & masking tape (we have 5 colours) because we're going to have to re-tape again so just add fairy lights, wo lah pretty! So we have achieved a fair amount & asked for some help tomorrow to move things along. Also working my way through polishing the 32 mast steps & masking those up as we're going to give them a spray job too (can't have dodgy looking steps with bright shiny new mast - not after all this hand sanding).

4th week in shed today, the nightmare continues, but we CAN see the light! After sanding all weekend, getting everything up & covered completely, vacuum deck, cabin top etc & blow off boat, repair tapes & hose down shed (finished at midnight). We finally got boat primed on Monday, (that is after we had to re-vacuum, wipe down everything including mast & 10 hatch covers/lazarette with a damp cloth & then with tack cloths), t'was exhausting! Also had to get bags packed for overnight stay in CLEAN hotel room with bath (had 3 of them), was a lovely evening. Came back to nightmare this morning where they promptly covered the boat with a guide coat (think black soot)! We get to sand that off now, no chance that will be finished by Friday for Topcoat so there goes our weekend, but still we are getting closer.

To quote Garry, "Groundhog day", more sanding, who doesn't love hand sanding a 15mtr boat & 16.5mtr mast!!! Still not perfect, so no priming now until Monday, gives us all weekend to sand, bye bye weekend in hotel w/ spa & massage. Today was the day to remove our cabin hatches, no more fresh air, upon removal, decided to add to the job by removing the acyrlic more scraping of Sika, woo hoo, poor little fingers. Window templates are now made up & get cut along with replacements for hatches.

Day 22, The guys are still hard at it, with lots of hand sanding, more bogging, priming & sanding, the daily merry go round for them! I have now acid washed, wire brushed & removed Sika from roughly 500 screws, ring pulls, hinges, nuts, bolts & washers! Full 4 coats of primer to go on maybe Thursday if sanding completed. Currently looking for accomodation with spa bath & massage! Garry & Rod helped me remove stickers & finish sanding on my paddle board, with awesome Jess spraying primer & topcoat with our paint...colour me happy!

Day 20 in shed & much has been done, the shed has been closed up for spraying, we are now fully cocooned, the mast has been fully sanded, etch primed, undercoated & bogged. All masking has been checked or renewed. The windows & deck have been sanded, faired & primed ready for high build spray possibly Wednesday. Very long days, very tiring, and spiders have taken up residence everywhere!

Day 16 in wonderland! One really should keep empty rolls of tape, heaven knows how many have been used. I've not mentioned as yet the carnage inside, every internal side of windows had to be taped, corflute cut & more tape, then more tape to stop leaking area's of fibreglass coming inside, thankfully only a couple of blow outs there. True to his word Jess & Horst have worked like slaves (hard work keeping up with them, trying to replace tape on inside as Horst is sanding on outside)! The spray bog has gone on today & get's to sit for 2 days for more sanding with Friday being priming day. Garry has been pulled in many directions on mast, then upstairs to mask (up & down we go between jobs, depending on priority). Pressure on now to get mast finished & garnet blasted by end of tomorrow for priming, with all stainless sparkling now on mast after Drifter with toothbrush & masked up! Horst actually met up with Double Bubble in Maryborough & spoke at length with previous owners Bob & Maureen!

Have retired once again under the boat, another day done as we approach our 3rd week in Coomera & 2nd week on the slip! Much has been done, SO MUCH, Col's onto the rigging, all good there, tick! Everything removed, bar part anchor winch (part section had to be for spraying access, & huge kudos to my husband, poor love, upside down, in full sun in overalls trying to remove final screw) track stays on, cars still to be taken off however! Windows have been glassed & bogged, tomorrow big day, torture board's for Jess & Horst, better them than us! I've nearly finished sanding 2 fwd lazerettes & 7 hatches, (gotta love hand sanding)!!! Teak fore deck sanded. Lots to do still with spray bog going on Wednesday apparently, 8 months today since we left, & yes we are still "Living the Dream"! Have awesome brother who is flying in from Perth tomorrow to lend a hand, so huge kudo's to Garry too!

Week 1 in shed, much accomplished. Rods mate Glen kindly came to offer a hand, bringing milk & lunch, removed 32 steps from mast (96 rivets) & cleaned up bases of push/pullpits & staunchions, they just need a polish up now, so tick, & much thanks. Deck & windows ready for bog. All halyards removed & washed, chain locker emptied & out of the way for spraying.

Well day 4 has ended with deck chairs & cold ale under the boat. Jess & Horst worked flat out from 7am (we started @ 6) until 2.30pm with all but windscreens removed. Windows sanded back to trim, fibreglass has been ground out, 529 wall plugs removed (there in lies the problem, little star spread capillaries starting to travel, but that was the way it was done 25 years ago. All holes glassed, peel ply on & ready for bog (the green one). Worst of the work has now been completed all hatches sealed off! Have 4 fans running & our A/C's are salt water cooled, plan on bringing the bath out shortly with lovely G& T!

Day 3 of hell, ha! Who's idea was this? Have removed all lower windows & nearly finished removing all the sika, 4 to go. Masked everything up including cockpit (boxed in) most winches etc, masked. Weird flying bugs everywhere. Just stopped work outside, time for shower, heat up pie for tea, then clean up disaster inside until midnight again, 12 hour days at work have got nothing on being on a slip!

Day 2, have all pushpits, pullpits, staunchions & bollards removed. No lifeline rails! 4 hatches removed, 2 to go, 2 solar panels removed and what feels like to my fingers a zillion tubes of sika scrapped off. Top row of windows bar 2 taped up for sanding on sides. All but top of coach house non skid sanded, thanks Jess & Horst. Have had my very first drive of a buggy Jess let us borrow & delivered cockpit cushions for recovering after drawing up & calculating metrage. Skipper coping under duress of painful dodgy foot since 10am.

9.30 kick off this morning, into the slip pen ready for the travel lift to take Double Bubble up out of the water & into the shed (1st time in one), not fighting the elements for the next 6-8 weeks, in the wet season! All went super well (gave the slip guys cake before they lifted us - got great pressure wash, with clean shoes, awesome, less sanding)! Have removed 542 screws & 26 bolts from our windows this afternoon, these being replaced with new glazed ones, 31 in all, stay tuned on that one! Replacing the polycarb in the hatches also, so uniform in colour & reaching 22 yrs ish! Now off to remove all lifelines, push & pullpits - woo hoo! Must say huge Thank you to Michelle for her help & loan of tarp, horses & super cute (girlie) cordless drill not to mention her fab curry & prawns xx

After lots of stress, humidity & winds this morning Col & Jess arrived from QuinRig & started the process of de-rigging Double Bubble with skipper. Naturally winds started to increase as the time got closer for the crane to arrive, it settled down just in time for us to nip over into the slip pen for de-masting with the help of Jessie from All Sea Management, whip out the mast, rig, & furler with the crane & get back to our pen just as the rain began to fall, ye ha! Step 1 complete.

Making progress dismantling the boat, sails removed, wiring disconnected, crane booked for 4pm Monday for mast/rig removal (please no wind)! Onto hard Tuesday 9.30 & into the shed. Had lovely catch up bbq with Andrew & Trish off Sengo last night prior to their departure today. Then Glen (the cook who worked w/ Rod on the Accolade) & his wife Leonie arrived for a visit & we had a very nice lunch in "The Galley" here at the boatworks before more dismantling this afternoon.

We have arrived at "The Boatworks" on the Coomera River which will now be our home, pretty much until Christmas! We have decided to go ahead with the replacement of our windows which are currently bolted in, altering the style & reducing the number by half to 14. Not content with that alone we may as well paint the deck and lets not forget the obligatory antifoul job too, oh & did I mention the rig being dropped & mast coming out, may as well paint that too argh! At least as members of "The Shaggers Club" we get 10% discount, bonus!

Up anchored early with the tide to take us down further south searching for northerly anchorages, which were either taken or non-existent! Went for a wander up the Coomera River, quite pretty, still looking for a spot, past Sanctuary Cove with their mega boats & wound up at The Boatworks. Its their..."Christmas Party" this afternoon so can't meet up with tradies so will return on Monday for quotes to replace all our windows! Now anchored off Tulleen Island.

We received a surprise guest this morning onboard, who then followed us as we went ashore for a look around & a stroll along the beach. We met up with a couple who, it turned out, 33 years ago lived in the 2 storey units opposite our berth in Adelaide! We have now moved further down the Broadwater to the Gold Coast and anchored above Roes Kemp on Sth Stradbroke Island for the night leaving the continual "Blow flies" I now call Jetski's at Tipplers.

We have just cruised down the main channel of Moreton Bay into the Gold Coast Broadway and anchored at Tipplers Resort, lovely day, lovely spot! With the upcoming Vodaphone 600 Car race on this weekend, it will be interesting to see how many arrive here!

With most jobs completed on the boat and a bush turkey proofed garden at Michelle's we have finally escaped the marina and returned to anchor at Raby Bay for the upcoming storm. The loudest thunder and threatening skies surround us, with drizzle just commencing, we will probably hang here for the next few days.

Day 2 on slip. All hatches, staunchions, pushpits, pullpits, bollards removed. Hatches & half the windows taped up inside, with all pic frames, bottles, curio's etc on ledges, boxed up. 2 only solars panels removed, thankfully 3 can stay. Almost all non-skid sanded, just cabin top to go,thank you Jess & Horst. December 17 here we come (my ever so hopeful departure date from shed). Did I mention my 1st drive in a buggy to deliver cushions for recovering ( after drawing up & calculating qty needed w/ design flowing correctly. We have achieved a great deal today even w/ skippers blown blood vessel in foot @ 10am this morning!

Just an update, since we planned on getting a few jobs done on the boat once we arrived at Brisbane, a boom bag made for our rolling furler, & few other jobs done by Quinrig (Rods mate from Adelaide). We got a very good deal on a monthly rate in the marina here giving us an opportunity to potter, shop & garden at my friends, with 2 weeks to go before we get back out there!

With the threat of severe thunderstorms, lightning & hail storms coming over the next few days & visitors changing plans we decided at 9am to come in to Newport Marina today, so off we went into the northerlies which ended up being 30 knots, tides against us, hideous trip doing barely 3kn(so not happy, extremely stressful). Finally arrived in marina and safely tied up with the help of locals (thanks Mandy for that). So low and behold with drinks in our hands we look around and we have moored directly in front of another boat we know from Adelaide who left 7 years ago, Gypsy Lover!

We have just moved over to Horsehoe Bay, Peel Island, tucked in from expected Northerly for the next couple of days, away from the maddening weekenders and their jet ski's!

Have left Macleay Island and gone back to Raby Bay this morning for another change in wind direction this afternoon. Bit to windy to venture off into town in the dinghy at present, and with Gale warning on for tomorrow, will just hang on anchor for the duration of the storm & catch up on work & continue with horrid flag.

We woke up yesterday to a complete fog out, and then a jet ferry who lost his way & ended up doing a 360 right in front of us, travelling outside of his track, passing by an hour later inside of 5mtr (commuters freaking, taking happy snaps)! Then up half the night with boat spinning on anchor we decided to move around today to Perpulpa Bay, Macleay Island, tucked in from a South westerly for the next few days.

Well having left Blakesley Anchorage this morning we aimed for Silver Sands for overnight anchorage & upcoming NW. Having anchored there, tide would have made it uncomfortable in expected 30kn winds tomorrow, so we continued downstream & ended up effectively circumnavigating our very first island (hysterical) took all day and have ended up anchored between Lamb Island & Karragarra Island just on sunset!

Didn't much like Deanbilla, bad vibes so we haved moved downstream to Blakesleys Anchorage, near Canalpin, Nth Straddie, much nicer, off in the dinghy to explore.

We left RQ Yacht Suadron yesterday to Raby Bay for the night to collect a book of maps this morning and have now moved over to Deanbilla Bay on North Stradbroke Island for a bit of a look about, wander on beach etc.

We have parted ways with "the Tramps" & will meet up at the end of October. The time has finally come for new batteries (the others lasting 11 1/2 years - gotta be happy with that). So we have gone into the Royal Queensland Yacht with 597 berths, for 1 week (having successfully lassoing marina) to change over & get a few jobs done.

Have picked up our visitors at Raby bay, welcome Auntie Eva & Peter and cruised back to Peel Island for the evening with the "Tramps" and had a lovely afternoon/ evening together away from the wind and will return back to Raby for drop off this afternoon then back here away from next blow. Expected top of 27 degrees!

Still anchored in Raby Bay, as is close to Cleveland, shops & visitors. We had a dinghy come up to us the other day, calling out, "G'day Kath", turns out to be a friend from Nth Haven Marina who took of sailing 9 yrs ago, had a great catch up on local knowledge. Have been into town for supplies & ride out the blow, then had another visitor who braved the sea (quite blowy) to come bringing new charts & spend the night, with upcoming trip to "Bunnings" today yeah!

We have up anchored with Alcatraz and moved over to Raby Bay anchorage to go into town (Cleveland, 29km from Brisbane). Tramp II have gone over to Macleay Island, all protected from upcoming expected Southerly of 30 knots this afternoon.

Finally anchored at 26.5hr's later (approx 4.5hr trip up "The Broadwater" after arriving at Gold Coast) all a bit weary especially after birthday event the previous day. We have come up stream to meet up with Dave & Sue from Alcatraz & tuck up away from northerly until tomorrow. Quick drinks on Tramp II for Ali's birthday & early to bed.

Hi Auntie, well woo hoo, we've just hit the 27th parallel, offshore of the Gold Coast, Queensland, yeah! Been stooging at 3kn for last 2hrs waiting for daylight & an ingoing tide into The Broadwater to an as yet undetermined anchorage along with Tramp II (Birthday girl Ali) & "Enough". We are just a short distance (4hr) away from "Alcatraz, yeah!

We have had a smooth and sunny motor/sail up the coast from Iluka, with whales and dolphins about. Passed Balina as the sun set and have just now passed Cape Byron the eastern most point of Australia under a clear moonlit sky, all is good!

We have crossed the bar with the Tramps and are now on our way, Queensland here we come!

Came back to Maclean for the night & stores, then back to Iluka, up early for the markets over at Yamba & a day wandering the town. Met up with the American couple from "Enough" for drinks on Tramp II. Lots of prepping (75 handmade rum balls) for birthday boy yesterday and Bbq onboard w/ Tramps, Ke Sera & Enough and had a lovely afternoon/evening soiree. Readying ourselves now for departure to Gold Coast 20hr overnight sail!

Travelled upstream to Brushgrove, free mooring, with Tramp II rafted alongside us. Dinghy trip over to the Bushy hotel for tea, very nice. Attempted to go on up to Ulmara (still blowing easy 30-40kn), too hard to moor in that so back to Bushy then caught bus in the next day for a visit to the galleries & op shops, back in time to watch The Power win, woo hoo!

Didn't get under Harwood bridge had to wait for opening finally at 6.15, (really eerie screeching) then lassoed up to the wharf in the dark (no more jumping off for this girl) with Tramps rafting up for overnight stay. Carried on up to Maclean (the scottish town) with tartans on the lamp posts. Moored up behind Liberty 2 and joined them for drinks and a very pleasant evening. Met lots of lovely people on the marina before departure to Brushgrove for the night, it sure is pretty along here.

Travelled upstream to Harwood waiting for 5.00pm bridge opening under the Pacific Highway. Absolutely stunning day.

Arrived safely in Iluka 11am, lovely night, all good, bar relatively user friendly, leads really hard to see! We will spend up to 10 days exploring the Clarence river before moving on up to Bryon Bay!

Motor sailed through a clear starry night, with calm smooth seas. We have passed "Look at me now Headlands" (too cute) and are now in The Coral Sea! Water temperature 21.4 deg, another 3.5hrs to go.

Departed Coffs Harbour with Tramp II 11.30pm for night sail for flood tide entry across the bar into Yamba/Iluka eta 11am. Spent most of my time resting foot for this "leg", managed a hobble down for lovely hamburger & ordered "fender step", supposedly will make life easier tying up vessel in the future! Turns out that another chap broke his actual foot at Coffs whilst we were there, so a lot longer recovery for him.

Arrived 1.30pm yesterday into Coffs Harbour Marina after losing wind along the way. Have great photos coming into entrance, thanks Renae! Went for a sixer jumping onto marina tying up, few injuries. A couple of 30kn days ahead of us now so will stay in here. Got a lift to the hospital by Craig from the marina & it's official 1 broken toe!! Need to learn how to lasso low slung cleats or ask marina office for assistance!!

With winds & seas as they were yesterday we decided to sail (along with the Tramps) straight through to Coffs Harbour, keeping close to the shore, and have just another 25nm to go. It was a clear starry night with minimal swell & 10kn of breeze making for a lovely sail averaging 6kn.

We have departed Port Stephens for Forster/Tuncurry eta 1600hrs. Albatross, whales & sharks abound, sun is shining with pleasant seas!

Having left Fame Cove we returned to Nelson Bay for 2 nights and we have been reunited with Tramp II & now moved around to Shoal Bay for departure tomorrow.

Have finally left marina ($500 later $200 for fuel), just too windy to get out of marina! We have had a lovely spring clean whilst there with 6 loads of washing, sun shining, cleaning & servicing all, just stupid cold wind when off the boat, so now back at Fame Cove for 2 nights, for hopeful departure Wednesday (Thursday to Forster/Tuncurry)! Anchoring is verbotten in Port Stephens due to seagrass destruction so only 5 courtesy moorings all at Fame Cove. Back to making my flags!

We have been stuck in Fame Cove for the last 8 days, weather is just gale force up & down the coast & looks like another week of it still. We have had white caps & 40kn winds in the cove for most of the time, using up our supplies so skipper has braved the seas & brought Bubble over to Corlette - Anchorage Marina for $100 overnight stay to get supplies. Very tight maneuvering in here with 20kn pushing us back as we tryed getting into pen, thankfully we had Dane from the marina help us tie up.

Still tucked in at Fame Cove, weather all over the place, completely fogged in yesterday morning & then beautiful 26 deg all day. Today, drizzle as we went back into Nelson Bay to drop Michelle off after a sail up the coast & lovely 11 day visit. Alcatraz have departed, with as yet unknown destination.

Caught up with Alcatraz for a bit last night, then early night. Off to laundromat this morning, then moved boat around to Corlette to the Shell museum, which was very nice. Have just picked up 2 moorings at Fame Cove, have the place all to ourselves (with Alcatraz) over to theirs for joint dinner.

We have arrived safely at Port Stephens, all very calm, sun just starting to set. Our new crew member did very well, not being sea sick & watching out for whales. Well done.

Just turned off Point Stephens heading into Port Stephens. Whales, whales & more whales. Skipper was showing signs of stress & then came 2 very loud, low flying & very fast jets giving us a buzz. Several hours later they came around again, excellent! Alcatraz is still here & have saved us a spot in Little Nelson Bay, bravo!

We are finally getting to depart Lake Macquarie for Port Stephens after 2 weeks of strong wind warnings, bar crossing/channel warnings & then stupid northerlies which of course put's it straight on the nose!!! So here we sit at the Swansea bridge awaiting 9am opening, expected eta Pt Stephens 1700hrs.

We moved from Valentines over to Bennetts Park this morning. We had a lovely lunch at the Bowling Club yesterday & a stooge on up the creek at the back. These guys all have their own varying ideas of boat ramps come "launch pad's" in their backyards. Lovely sunny day today with a green lawn area where the skipper finally got to play with the drone again (about 3rd time since purchased), not quite ready for lift off whilst at sea! Should also mention our dolphin was back playing at midnight & has turned again this afternoon as well, had a field day yesterday, full belly flops for ages, too cute.

Yesterday we had a special arrival with my friend Michelle flying in from Brissy to Newcastle and then she "Ubered on down" to Wangi Wangi RSL for dinghy collection on a very rickety (closed) jetty! It was all champagne & sunsets, then Rod got news that his good mate Horris had passed away, it appears a sudden heart attack, no warning. Take every opportunity to live life, don't waste a moment!

You can only stay on courtesy moorings for 24hr's at a time so having stayed 2 nights at Croudace we have moved back to Pulbah Island, being the weekend most other moorings taken! Weather is just awful, windy, cold, wet & miserable so stuck in the Lake for another few days before we can move on up to Port Stephens.

Spent the day, re-fuelling, 120ltr's, water & stores, 3 trips! Coles so much cheaper than horrid IGA's we've had to buy from in the past. Now moved over to Croudace Bay avoiding SW blow tonight.

We have moved from Pulbah Island over to Rathmines to collect our mail. We were escorted by the friendliest dolphin who upon dropping the anchor decided he had his very own scratching pole by way of the anchor chain. He was having a great time pulling on the chain, rolling over & under, even tryed his hand (or should I say his back) on the dinghy straight under us, very interactive!! We have now tied up at Toronto Marina, with shops, fuel & gas having got the latter already, & skipper taking me out for tea, woo hoo!

Moved over to Pulbah Island, lovely secluded bay in the lake. Catching bream & silver whiting, none keepers, still trying for another big flathead, skipper just lost the lot, hook & all! Been for a stooge in dinghy & walk on beach, looks like Chilli Con Carne for tea!

We have moved from Wangi Wangi, we we're going to Belmont for some shopping but blowing 30kn to hard to get alongside marina, so moved on over to Rathmines (were apparently dad did his RAAF Communications course) & have anchored just before it started raining, perfect timing.

Just picked up a mooring out front of the Wangi Wangi RSL, all good with skipper traversing channel expertly! Saw a runabout going out of the channel with 2 big, dead sharks hanging off the back, being taken out to sea for dumping, don't think I will get on my paddleboard here!

Just coming alongside Moon Island for a left hand turn into Lake Macquarie where you have to navigate a channel and across a shallow bar and await the Princess Highway bridge to open. Sailed through massive pod of whales, still trying to get a good photo.

Very sloppy getting to our next left turn in the direction of the sun, nasty black clouds heading into the river.

Departing Hawkesbury River for Lake Macquarie eta 1400hrs will meet up again with Alcatraz at sea. Tramps arrived late yesterday and will hang here for a bit more Sol fest! Amazing to have contact from people recognising Double Bubble (Dutch). Never heard back from Sherjk the other builder which was a shame.

Woke up to 7 deg this morning with no sunshine, good thing about a movable home, start the engines and get out to where the sun is shining (ha) so on the move early down to Smiths Creek. Good thing too as a runabout came alongside asking if she was once called Double Dutch, which she was, it was only the Grandson of Hugo & Ricki one of the couples who built her. He remembered following the boat on the truck with police escort down to where she was launched, amazing!

Just leaving Palm Beach having had Garry picked up in motor launch for his awesome sea flight. Sun is disappearing and dark clouds are looming overhead, so here's hoping he has a safe flight back to Sydney. He has left us with various additions to the boat, homemade hammock, a portable clothesline etc, even a kite, so adieu brother & thanks for the memories, cheers

Being that I' ve had no signal these past few days I have missed uploading some great shots so as we aim towards First Head (& I have reception) will quickly upload some of mine & edit in some of Garry's later.

Heading around to Palm Beach where Garry is departing via Seaplane to Sydney for a few days touring. We have been tucked in some very scenic little bays.

Met up with Alcatraz for fun night yesterday onboard the Bubble & bacon & eggs onboard there's this morning. Currently in Cowan Creek inside of Hawkesbury River, reception is very spasmodic. Our friend & previous owners daughter (Ricki) received an email from her friend, with a picture of Double Bubble taken in America Bay on Sunday seems they remembered her parents boat, - it's a small world after all (sing it)!

We have departed Manly enroute to the Hawkesbury River eta 1300hrs, we're we get to catch up to Alcatraz for a couple of days, prior to the "Tramps" joining us too! Sing the song - Gypsy's, Tramps & Thieves....ha!

We have just pulled up a mooring in my home town, Manly yippee! The shark nets are still here that I apparently floated over in my duckie! So were off to the shops!

We have moved on from Taronga zoo mooring and left "The Tramps" whilst they stay in Sydney to catch up w/ friends, had a great fun night saying goodbye prior to departure today. We have now picked up a mooring at "The Spit" were I have always wanted to live. So I have now baked a cake in my home here with "The Spit" as my address! Can tick that off the list ha! Oh, ps it's raining again!!

We have turned around & gone back under bridge as anchorages a bit to close for comfort in Blackwattle Bay so we have come over to courtesy moorings at Taronga Park Zoo which should give us a much better view of Vivid light show with Opera house in our sights. Weather sure is 100% better than last Monday!

Gone through the harbour and under the Anzac Bridge (through the gab below) and around to Blackwattle Bay to anchor just down from the Fish Co-op, & Johnno who we met in Eden & again in Bermagui.

After days of endless wind & lots of rain we have finally been able to go ashore & collect some supplies & have now departed from Rose Bay passed the Chinese Warships (& ours) into the harbour having just gone passed the Sydney Opera House and under the Sydney Harbour Bridge woo hoo!.

Arrived in Sydney on mooring in Rose Bay opposite the Sydney Harbour Bridge...woo hoo! Have front row seat's to Vivid Light show on bridge, bit tricky trying to take night shot's with boat rocking.

Just turned the corner passed Hornby Light into Port Jackson, rather unpleasant trip, swelly, rainy. Skipper navigating beautifully. Passing "the Wedding cake" beacon.

Had a refill of fuel, water, shopping, several loads of washing & general clean up whilst at Cronulla marina. Had a fun night with the "Tramps" for Sol's birthday yesterday and are now off to Port Jackson, Sydney harbour!! Eta 1300hrs WOO HO!

Arrived safely at Cronulla marina, end berth for 2 nights. Time for collecting of stores etc. Lovely to have sun & warmth!

Tucked in at Sth West Arm, in a lovely protected bay, like a mini Refuge Cove. Had a lovely day of sunshine getting here yesterday, with lots of boats on the water. Went off in the sun this morning in the tender to do a spot of fishing up the creek, half an hour later the clouds came over, temperature fell & the rain started, so the fish are safe today.

On the move from Jibbon Beach to Bundeena with their little ferry that goes to Cronulla. Boys off in tender to outragously expensive IGA for supplies, then move over to wait out a nthly front to Sth West Arm, Port Hacking hoping we can fit under cables. Lovely day, warm & sunny finally in shorts. Some amazing properties along waters edge & plenty of speeding boats. Skipper found a house for us, very flash. Lots of elevators etc down from houses to boat launches. Came into lovely little cove away from the maddening crowds, very nice.

Arrived safely in Port Hacking, slow sailing to begin with overnight, then sloppy w/ 20knots on the beam, super..not!

Have decided to bypass Jervis Bay and go overnight straight through to Port Hacking ahead of the next front, then onto (drum roll please) Sydney. We have had a couple more whale sightings & dolphins along the way, they taunt you for photo op's then dive off, little sods! Pretty cool rock cliffs along here, like some weird stepladder. We have just passed Point Perpendicular lighthouse our eta to Pt Hacking 6am tomorrow.

Departed 0630 hrs for Jervis Bay eta 1600 hrs. All foggy over the hills, bit chilly, looked quite pretty.

Arrived safely Batemans Bay, rather pretty. Picked up a mooring (eventually), no lead line on it & can't get boat hook through little eye & slides off plastic, you have to pay $40 for it too, very poor! Picked up 2 more lots of weed around props, both sides, getting to be a royal pain. Saw a few whales splashing about to far for any decent photo's & had a happy pod of dolphins escort us into the bay.

Departed Bermagui bound for Batemans Bay eta appro 1500hr. Spent yesterday with domestics. Had general tidy up, re-stock food, fuel etc. Catch up with the "Tramps" & check in with Alcatraz who are now in Sydney. All being well we will spend tonight at Batemans Bay and move on tomorrow to Jervis Bay.

Arrived safely in Bermagui, tied up on wharf with much appreciated assistance from Water Police. Saw a number of small whales jumping about enroute and skipper spotted a shark right beside us. Have tied up right out the front of the...wait for it " Har Bar", how clever!

Have had another couple of lovely days, sunny & dare I say it "warm". Had great anniversary day yesterday where Alice worked, Garry went kite flying & exploring in "Ralph", their tender. Rod went fishing with Sol in "Little Bit" ours, and I had a great time yelling on my own at the footy! Go the Power....geez! All ended back on Double Bubble for another great night (poor liver)! Departing 7am for Bermagui tomorrow, warmer weather still to come (colour me happy)!

Off "in a cab" ( no more climbing hill's for these knees) to hairdresser & walk back, whilst Garry & the "the Tramps" go to Whale museum to see Old Tom & skipper sorts boat ( read plays with flight simulator)! Move boats off wharf and anchor at Boyd town, get settled & dinghy ride to Seahorse hotel on the beach for tea. Have the best oysters ever here & enjoy a lovely meal in the warmth until you get to go back in dinghy (read - wade in really cold water)

Entered into East Boyd Bay in the dark, a bit of concentrated night navigation trying to pick which lights are which, but once leads were sorted the skipper skilfully had Bubble safely anchored after 38hr sail. We arrived with last 4 beers & a bottle of champagne, so 2 congratulatory drinks each, then sleep. Woke up to a lovely morning, in a tranquil bay before moving boat around to the northern wharf where Tramp II rafted up to Double Bubble. Proceed into town up "yet another hill" with rubbish & washing, have lovely brunch whilst machines on, suss out shops & re-stock vessel, catch cab direct to our front gate on wharf, hooray! Have sundowners and lolly gobble bliss bombs, long overdue showers & great nights sleep.

When we first left we had only one plan, to keep turning left and away from the cold, well woo hoo that day has finally arrived as we have crossed the border into NSW & rounded that corner & are now on our final approach into Eden. We have had very light winds for the last 38 hours, so of course it's picked up now for a pleasant sail, the skipper no longer playing that game!

It's been 8 weeks today since we left North Haven SA & I swear we have had like 5 days of full sun in all that time (don't mention the equinox please), check out the sky as we left The Prom yesterday! Our voyage across Bass Strait commenced with relatively calm sea's albeit a bit foggy as Mother nature did her thing culminating in a beautiful sunset. We sailed between some 18 lit oil & gas rigs throughout the night, speed 6kn and approximately 25nm out from Lakes Entrance, we watch the glow as they burn off their spoils. As we approached Point Hicks this morning we saw an equally beautiful sunrise.

Just passed Seal Islands, Bass Strait and thought I would share a few more pics of our time in the Cove. Amused myself whilst there by making a pair of "Happy pants" for Alice who did a lovely painting of Double Bubble in return. Had a great night aboard DB, and impromptu guitar playing sing along, great fun night, topped off with whiskey and a "wee dram or two! The skipper made a wooden plaque he burnt Double Bubbles name into and added it to the "Vessel Board" (a place set up where the cruising boats place a name plate of some description) Tramp II going for a wooden spoon with her name etched in. Garry carved a name plate for Keiths urn to remain in the Prom with the other name plates. As we continue our voyage through the Tasman Sea we will get to pass all the oil rigs that will be lighting up the sky tonight, Bream will be the 1st at approx 9pm.

And where off, along with Tramp II, out of the "no reception zone" but very beautiful Refuge Cove bound for Eden, NSW, our last "left turn" 220nm and a 48hr sail away, eta 8am Friday. It is a beautiful anchorage, away from the world, the rocks full of colour, the sand thick and squishy! You have to climb up to Telecom rock and maybe get a signal (not Optus) were upon we made new friends with Rod & Judy from Tringriz and met up later on their boat for sundowners along with Tramp II alternating boats & nights, where lots of fun was had by all. They were exceptionally generous upon their departure bestowing us with treats, coffee for Trampi, crackers, eggs, lime, lollies etc as they headed home Sunday to Lakes Entrance.

Prior to our departure our friend Alf asked if we could forefil his mates dying wish to have his ashes scattered between Wilson's Prom & Rodondo Island. With our initial onset of drama's upon leaving Adelaide we couldn't help but think that maybe he had a hand in them, but as we approach the southern most tip of Australia, we feel his peace. So it is that we now, in the early hours of the morning, raise our whiskey glasses & bid adieu to Keith Alexander Morrison, aged 52, Alf's friend and fulfil this wish. 39:11.000E 146:25.000S

Departed Cleeland, enroute to "The Prom"

Finally the day has arrived with the weather looking somewhat hopeful for us to make ready our departure at 2000hrs from Cleeland Bight and head 74nm to Refuge Cove, Wilsons Prom, eta 1000hrs Monday. We've been here 13 days but it has been fun, despite the weather (Cranium who knew)! Tramp II will be travelling with us and hopefully we will meet up again with Alcatraz who left 3 days ago.

All three boat crews came together onboard Double Bubble for sundowners, which kind of grew legs from there. First started with 1 pedicure for Sharne and another 5 to follow. When thoughts of food sprung to mind so did the word pizza with Sharne co-ercing her son & girlfriend to drive 40 minutes with pizza's for all, well done! Someone had contacted the "yit" website when he saw our boat was on the site and forwarded through a couple of shots he had taken from the beach in the morning, so a big "thank you" to Dennis, awesome shots, cheers. Had great yoga session on the beach this morning with the lovely Sue who is an excellent teacher.

Have had our friends from Alcatraz join us here at Cleeland Bight and now waiting for appropriate seas to be able to get around Wilsons Prom to enter into Refuge Cove (14hrs away) currently looking like Sunday for departure. Have awesome Chocolate factory here (40min walk), Dame Edna made out of tiny little choc's!

Rocking & rolling on mooring, 40knot bullets and pretty swelly. Biding our time waiting for this front to go through, wind generator getting a full on workout. Garry's been amusing himself with the rope we retrieved from the cray pot we had wrapped around our prop & turning it into a hammock, not quite happy with it yet so undone again now & Version 5 commences!

Hanging on a Vic Parks mooring in the bay on Anzac day, waiting for the next front to pass apparently 100mtr from Anzacs beach (missed that), will go over & inspect later. Guys got rather wet in the dinghy on their 2 mile jaunt across the bay yesterday to fill some jerry cans for a top up of our tanks, I couldn't take up valuable space in dinghy so had to stay behind, safe & warm!!!

Arrived safely after 28hr overnighter at Cleeland Bight, Phillip Island. Caught more seaweed enroute, efficiently displaced by skipper & crew & again, coming into Cape Woolamai. Pretty night sail through Bass Strait with diamonds on the water & sparkles in the sky until moon broke through. A rather daunting sunrise seriously looked like threatening rain, but all good.