Day 204, Year 2: Work Continues
Date: Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Weather: Beautiful Day–No Rain
Location: Bundaberg Port Marina, Australia
Yea! I finished varnishing the cap rail today, so tomorrow the dodger can go back on and life can be a little more normal again. We spend so much of our time in the cockpit, but without a cover over it, the sun is just too intense here to allow us to be outside. Mark stripped the aft bathroom floor today and I put two more coats of varnish on the wood in the shower stall. I’ll finish the varnishing in the shower tomorrow but start the varnishing process on the floor and the teak shower grate.
Mark and I both worked on sanding that (the shower grate) today and I also started sanding the handrails on the deck. Mark also installed a new anit-syphon valve on the enine salt water system and installed a new faucet for the anchor wash-down hose. The little jobs just go on and on.
At 4:30 this afternoon I came in from sanding the handrail on the port side and I was exhausted from being out in the hot sun. I told Mark that I needed some good old rock ‘n roll to keep me going, so he got out the Creative Zen (like an Ipod), plugged it into our sound system, and put it on 50’s music. I had a great time dancing and finishing the bathroom varnishing to Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Little Danny and the Juniors.
Dinner was on Ranger tonight. We had some of that fifty-plus pound Wahoo Paul caught on the way in here two weeks ago. Marie was able to fit it all in the freezer and we really enjoyed what we had tonight. We talked about how little time we have before we both leave here. Paul and Marie leave next Friday for a six-week jaunt around Australia and we leave either next Friday or the following Monday for Bisbane. We talked tonight about how much longer it takes to do things on a boat than it does
to do the same thing in a house. If you want to varnish something in a house, you can usually go out on a shelf in the garage or in the basement and get the varnish. On a boat, everything is stored away and you have to move one thing to open another and then move something else to get to what you need. It is a challenge, but one that is well worth it. It just takes time.
Tomorrow really is “tourist” day. We are going to Bundaberg with Paul and Marie to visit the Botanical Gardens and the Hinkler House Memorial Museum. Bert Hinkler is known as Australia’s greatest pioneer solo aviator and we will view the collection of memorabilia in his English home, now museum.
