We have made it to Queensland, to The Boatworks and finally to The Bossa. What a crazy time it has been.
Our annual March maintenance visit to The Bossa passed us by,along with our planned May departure.
When Queensland announced they would review opening their border on July 10, little did we think they wouldn’t include
travelers from Victoria. But they did. Then NSW followed with an announcement they were going to close their border to Victoria as well.
Borders, border passes, masks, curfews, social distancing, fines and pandemics. Hey … we are in Australia!
We made an 11th hour decision to leave Victoria and get to our boat. Our plan was to enjoy NSW by road over a few weeks, dropping in to Shoalhaven Heads where friends very generously offered their empty house, followed by a few days at Crescent Head with our friends Jan and Jim (ex Pas De Chat). We didn’t plan on hitting a deer along the way, but after considering a plan a, b and c, we decided to continue motoring north in a combination of hire cars and our friend Gerry’s car (the mighty Magna). Our Territory was loaded up so you can imagine how our little Kia Ceratos coped! We were determined to get to our boat here at The Boatworks. We spent the required time in NSW and then armed with our Border Declaration and paperwork we crossed the Queensland border on the 21st of July.
We have very generous friends at Shoalhaven Heads. Thankyou to Jo and Kevin (Vivacious) for a lovely 10-day stay and to their friends Bob and Karen for the loan of a car and their hospitality.
It was great catching up with Jim and Jan in Crescent Head as well. We hadn’t seen them since they sold Pas de Chat. Their house had a great view of the surf and the inlet. Such a pretty spot. Think I could live there!
When Gerry our friend (Aquilibrium) called Neville on that Monday morning (the day we left) and asked what our plans were, a new plan was hatched between them. Let’s go! Gerry left Paynesville about the same time we left Somers. We met up at Cooma having crossed the NSW-Vic border earlier in the evening. We then went our separate ways knowing we would meet again at The Boatworks where both our boats were stored. Gerry had dropped his car at Newcastle after joining his friend Robyn in her motorhome and very kindly offered his car to us. (Ours was unfortunately being repaired in Cooma after the incident with the deer.) So it was a hire car from Cooma to Shoalhaven Heads, and from Shoalhaven Heads to Newcastle, then the collection of Gerry’s car to The Boatworks via Crescent Heads.
If you’re confused, you can only imagine what a logistical nightmare this was for us! But we made it!
… and we are not complaining about the jobs! We got here and with what is happening in Victoria, we are very lucky. Our thoughts are with our family and friends doing it tough at home. Hopefully our travels north do take place but who knows what’s ahead in these unchartered waters. And just maybe, our family and friends back home can enjoy our travels knowing their turn will come soon.
Hope to meet up with you along the way. Just made it to Lady Musgrave. We were at Lady Elliott overnight but it was too rough!
Few things to still sort but hopefully we’ll be heading north soon. Enjoy the reef!
Well done you two! A big effort, but you must feel so happy to be back with your boat (our landlord/waterlord Hoppie is pretty depressed by the fact that he’s down here and unable to get to his boat up there.
It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out down here. To date we’ve used the time to do a bunch of boat projects – radar, solar, batteries, canvases, washing machine etc, and all the bits for our diesel heater system arrived last week, but at the moment I dont think we can go down to the boat to install.
All the best and good sailing, Bryn & Kerry
Thanks Brynn & Kerry. Do feel for our friends & family at home. Few more jobs to do – seemed to have been an endless list this year. But so glad we managed to get here. Stay safe. A&N
hi
at least you are there on your boat hear we are not allowed out no access to yacht club or any thing else
have to sit it out . hope you can get out and have some good sailing and great places you can visit
good luck stay safe
John
Thanks John. Hopefully you’ll get some joy out of our travels … when we get going! Another engine to sort first. Take care.