Wed 31st Oct to 2 Nov 2012. 20 NM.
After spending the week 23rd Oct to 30 Nov in Sydney, attending to family matters , paying some accounts , ensuring that the house is ok and catching up with family and friends, and in the rear admirals case , going to work every day , on 31 Oct. rear admiral Julie and Capt Barry caught an early morning flight to Hamilton Island and caught a connecting Cruise Whitsunday ferry to Abel Point marina , Airlie Beach and reboarded LAST WORD just before midday.
A quick check of LAST WORD revealed that the power was on ( and had not been off for any extended period whilst we were away), and that the starboard water pump had been either rebuilt or replaced during our time in Sydney. It turns out it had been rebuilt instead of replaced ( all under warranty ) as there were no replacements in Australia, and they cost about $4,000. Capt Barry checked that all the valves and other engine bits and pieces were in the correct positions so when he started the engines there would be no issues. Once , after the engines had been serviced Capt Barry found the raw water inlet ball valve had been left shut off, and that would have made life interesting on engine start up. So a careful check each time after some service fellow has been on board is always a good idea.
That after noon rear admiral Julie and Capt Barry went shopping at the local Cannonvale shopping centre to stock up on food and drink for the next week or so. We met the marina manager, Richard Barrett while waiting for a taxi to the shops , and Richard insisted on driving us the short distance ( which he did ) . It does not get much better than that.
As rear admiral Julie was departing LAST WORD the following Saturday (to fly back to Sydney) and i was being joined by a friend, Phillip Rattenbury, for the passages to Bundaberg, and possibly beyond to Surfers Paradise , rear admiral Julie had Capt Barry message Phil for his list of preferred food.
We returned to LAST WORD with our shopping and Capt Barry borrowed a trolley to load the food and drink into and we made our way to the boat ( nearly losing the trolley down the steep ramp to the berth arm ).After packing away the goodies we had an early dinner then watched the first of the three Lord of the Rings movies and went to bed.
The following day, Thursday, Capt Barry spent at leisure at the Abel Point marina (with rear admiral Julie on the computer and phone all day for her business , Bead Them UP ) , then we watched the second of the three Lord Of the Rings movies.
On the Friday , after another morning at leisure, we departed for Hamilton Island.
There was a 15 to 18 kt wind from the north and a 1 m sea, also from the north, which made the passage, east , coming out from Airlie Beach and across Whitsunday Passage, a little wet and lumpy, but once we turned for Hamilton Island it was a more comfortable ride. We arrived at the marina berth at 3.45pm and Capt Barry gave LAST WORD a quick wash before we enjoyed drinks , in the setting sun.
That evening we watched the 3rd movie in the Lord Of the Rings series then retired to bed for the day, knowing that men,, elves and dwarfs had banded together to make the world safe, once again.
TRIP; 2.3 hrs, 80 L , ave speed 8.3 kts , ave fuel 37 L/HR
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