Day 193, Year 2: A Whirlwind of Activity
Date: Saturday, November 3, 2007
Weather: Very Sunny and Very Warm with Lots of Wind
Location: Bundaberg Port Marina, Australia
The Port-2-Port activities just keep on coming. The first activity today was a boat “yard sale” up by the rally tent. Everyone brought up the boat gear they wanted to get rid of, and as always, one person’s junk is the answer to another’s dream. We sold our wonderful Dahon folding bikes. They went from Windbird to Freebird. We loved them but used them so little that it was getting harder and harder to justify the space they took up in the v-berth. We bought a solar panel to replace the one
we lost on our passage from New Zealand to Fiji last May for less than half the price of a new one, so it was a good morning for us. While Mark manned the sale items, I came back to the boat and started to get ready to sand and varnish the cap rail around the cockpit. Doing this required taking down the dodger and bimini with all of the hardware that holds it up. I got started but was really glad when Mark came down to get something off the boat. It was only with his help that I had any hope
of getting the job done. We moved the dodger and bimini to the front of the boat and I literally just threw everything else from the cockpit inside the boat. By day’s end, I did get the cap rail around the cockpit sanded and varnished but inside and out, Windbird looks like a cyclone hit. There is stuff everywhere, but it will just have to be that way until we finish varnishing and can get things back in place.
Mid-afternoon, after sanding but before varnishing, we went up to play our semi-finals boule game, This time we lost. We played against Anna and Clyff of Koncerto and learned many new things about the game. They knew all the rules, and they also knew all of the nuiances of how to play the game. So no finals for Windbird, but we have learned to play a new game that is a lot of fun and can be played on beaches anywhere. When we finished our game, Pure Chance was waiting for Scot Free II to show
up to play the last game of the semi-finals. When Scot Free didn’t come, Mark went out on the dock to get them. Unfortunately, Donna had fallen off the boat onto the dock and bruised herself pretty badly. There would be no boules for them today, nor would they attend the Pot Luck. We just hope Donna recovers quickly and doesn’t have any broken bones. The last activity for today was a Pot Luck dinner. When I stopped to fix lunch today, I made an artichoke-rice salad to take. I was also going
to make some salmon cakes, but I ran out of time. It is a good thing as there was way more food than anyone could eat.
Tomorrow’s activities include an early morning bus trip to Bundaberg to go to the Sunday market. We’ll return from that, continue the boat work, and then go to the late afternoon rally dinner. We are supposed to dress up for this one which could be interesting since most of us don’t have dressy clothes aboard. But then, cruisers are always so creative. I’m sure we will all find a way to look extra-special for the event.
