Monday 22nd October
I think this is our 11th day in Mackay stuck fast to the marina berth while the wind blows like a bastard from the direction in which we’d like to travel. Looks like one more day to go and then we’ll hoist all sail and go with the north easter. That anyway is the plan. The other really cunning plan, a plan so cunning that you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel, is that I plan to reverse out of the harbour. That way the angry weather god will be fooled into believing we are actually traveling north thus causing the wind to blow from that direction. Let you know how it goes.
The good thing about being stuck in Mackay is that there is a Surf Club, a Yacht Club, a tavern and a path connecting them.
We have varnished everything in sight, cleaned the bilge, changed the oil, lubricated the quadrant, tightened the stern gland, then loosened the stern gland because I’d tightened it too much. We’ve charged the batteries, fixed the loose connection in the water pump, cleaned out the lockers, swung the compass, checked the oil, water and raw water strainer 73 times. We’ve even polished the topsides and checked every cell in every battery with a hydrometer. I’ve done every cryptic crossword in every newspaper, read a library and composed three piano concertos. Alright Concerti.
The Beefburger at the Yacht club is called a Big Kahuna.
Apart from that I have nothing to say.