Year 3: Settling In
Date: Wednesday, May 7, 2008; 5:30 PM (sunset here)
Weather: Beautiful, Warm Days
Location: Bundaberg, Australia

We arrived here in Bundaberg on Sunday evening, but it really took us until today to start to settle in. We’ve unpacked all the bags we brought from the US and have stowed everything away. I have been working inside the boat getting her ready to sail and Mark has been working above decks. We took all our lines down when we left to protect them from UV damage and it has been quite a job getting them all reinstalled. Our sails have been in for repair and they are not done yet. In fact, the first
canvas person we left them with went out of business while we were gone and we had to find another sail maker to come get them and do the work. We have called constantly since returning and were only able to reach that person today. He had never picked up the sails, so that was done today and he says the sails will be ready tomorrow. We hope to leave on Saturday, so we just have to have faith that he will get the repairs done and the sails returned.

If you have been following our logs you probably know that last season we traveled in companion with Paul and Marie Miller on Ranger through Fiji, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. When we reached Australia, Paul and Marie sold Ranger and they are now settling into their new home in Rockaway Beach, Oregon. After we returned to the US and after Ranger was in the possession of her new owners, Paul and Marie stayed on Windbird for a short time. While putting things away today, I found all sorts of goodies
that Paul and Marie left for us. I felt like a little kid in a candy shop. Among other things there was a travel iron that I have needed desperately for sewing, lots of canned salmon (one of my favorites), Wright’s Brass Polish that I had borrowed last season and loved, and Clorox Clean-up (another of my favorites not available in this part of the world). So thank you, thank you, thank you to Paul and Marie. Yesterday Mark and I went to town and started buying provisions for this season. Marie,
I missed you so much! We made a great team and love him as I do, shopping with Mark is just not the same. I know we will make new friends this year and reconnect with others that we already know, but we shared some very special times with Ranger and we will miss them so very much.

The other boat that we sailed in companion with for much of last season was Scot Free II and they are here at the marina. Donna and Gerry were planning on leaving tomorrow, but they have decided to wait and leave with us on Saturday. They met an Australian couple here that have been very helpful in terms of planning for the trip north through the Great Barrier Reef. We were on Scot Free for sundowners this evening and met the Australian couple. Donna and Gerry then came over for dinner and will
be going into town with us tomorrow for the final provisioning trip. We have rented a car so that it will be easier to get the heavier items out here from town. We plan on going in very early so I can make a video Skype call to talk with Sam. Our 8:15 AM is his 6:15 PM, so we will call just before his bedtime. This will be our last chance for a Skype call for a while. We are just not sure where or when we will have high speed internet as we go up the coast.