I’ve always enjoyed Melbourne’s crisp autumn mornings that often warmed into sunny days. So I was surprised to find that I wasn’t adjusting to the cool weather. It was getting too cold in Melbourne and the tropical warmth of Airlie Beach beckoned.
We enjoyed our short visit home. It was fun catching up with so many friends and family, hearing their news and telling them about our adventure.
We returned to Airlie Beach last week, excited to be travelling again. It was a chilly 9°C when we left Melbourne and a sensational 24°C when we arrived at Airlie Beach. But the good weather wasn’t going to last. Rain was on its way, a lot of it, and we had to be prepared. We expected to be holed-up in the marina for some time so we stocked up with plenty of food and filled the water tanks. We also fixed the leaks we found on our trip north from Melbourne. The rain started Wednesday evening, just a light shower at first that increased to a steady rain. Not a deluge but it just didn’t stop. It rained and rained, pretty much continuously for 48 hours. We collected 185 mm, about three times the amount Melbourne typically gets in a month! At times it sounded like water was dripping everywhere inside the boat but it was mostly just the echo of water sloshing all around outside. We had only a handful of annoying leaks when the rain was at its worst.
Life in our “submarine” was quite pleasant actually. We had plenty of time to read, watch TV and mop up drips. We tried all the games Catherine brought along for rainy days and I thought they were a lot of fun. Catherine thought that I was being too competitive; if that was true then it must have been the pernicious effect of prolonged confinement.
It was a great relief to see the clouds break in time for sunset on Friday and to step outside into the fresh air.
The weather is much better now and we’ve spent most of our time catching up on the never-ending maintenance and repairs: winches, blocks, jib furler, anchor chain, teak and more. For us it’s a labour of love, but for you it’s just boring, so I won’t go on.
Debonnaire 