Don't know how to say this but here it is, we are still here at Mackay Marina awaiting the final touches of repair work to be done. We had hoped to be gone yesterday for the northern coast with the other ARC boats. Tim just couldn't get the boom bag right or the new code zero up and adjusted in time before the weekend. So here we wait for Monday and Tim to complete the work. That is the way of the boat. Yes, we are disappointed but we have to remind ourselves we are still in Australia. This is a wonderful place to be stuck and the people have been wonderful.
It works out that we have this time to find freshwater leaks from the plumbing system. Bill has gone off today to find a new faucet for the sink that was causing all the water in the bottom of the cabinet and under the bilge. Guess if we hadn't had the time to do our cleaning we wouldn't have found the problem. He also had the time to fix the leak in the forward head coming from the main freshwater hose. All my sheets and towels suffered a soaking in the process. Yesterday, Matt and I did the best we could to fix the dodger and bimini that was in sad need of repair. Today we hope to wash down the boat and give her a good cleaning.
The problem is that we are somewhat behind schedule with the rally and other ARC boats. We have 1500 miles to Darwin. That is a long way to go. This is a good time to practice being in the moment and being happy with the place you are at right now. This is the time for patience. There is this tendency being with the rally to rush through places so one can "keep up". We figure we will catch up in due time but we don't want to miss seeing everything in order to accomplish that. All the Aussies tell us this is the best part so we really want to see the best features. We will report on the places we visit. I don't want to say where we will end up and then I won't be disappointed.
Brown-Eyed Girl and Jeannius left yesterday as planned. They are moving up the coast. We hope to see them along the way. Ocean Jasper is waiting for Monday too as they have some projects they are working on too. This hopefully is our last day in Mackay and it is sunny and no wind. There is no humidity here compared to home right now.
Crazy Horse and crew