Fabulous Farewells and we're finally on our way! PLUS surprise friends from RPAYC in Lake Mac!

WARNING:  This is a long blog post...but there was so much to catch up on!!  Shorter ones to come...but these things are important.


The week just past has been a whirlwind of activity.  So much so that, as I type this right now, it seems like everything has mixed together into a kaleidoscopic blur...its hard to remember everything.  But in amongst it all there is one face that keeps coming back again and again...goodness it was so hard to say "see you later" to this love...our beautiful Molly.

Miss Molly and the "you're not really planning on leaving me behind for so long...are you?" look.

A week ago Saturday we had a busy day with our final seminar at the yacht club and then a farewell dinner party with friends. 

The seminar was amazing...a fact filled session going over all the navigational elements that we need for the trip north.  Rob, from the club, put the whole fantastic presentation together.  The sheer breadth of information was excellent.  Mr G and I feel very lucky to have been part of the course.  All the seminars and presenters at the club leading up to departure for this Coral Coast Cruise have been so good.  Hearing all the facts and meeting so many people from the club has made the reality of this adventure seem so much more "normal" to me.  I certainly am not going into it with the sense of dread I once had.

The dinner party with friends Jenny, Keith, Leona, John, Jenny and Chris was a hoot!  The food was wonderful and the company outstanding.  I don't think I've laughed that much in a long long time.   There were gifts, lots of champagne and after dinner risqué old rugby songs.  Hysterical.  And the love from everyone and well wishes were so good and so welcome.  We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends....and our neighbours have been wonderful as well.  This kind of BIG event certainly brings you closer to the people around you that you like so much but have never spent time with.  We... meaning us - me and Mr G - and probably a lot of people in general ... take those around us too much for granted much of the time.

And then on Tuesday I participated in one of those 'once in a blue moon' dinners with the women and man I worked with at Fox.  God, I love those dinners.  We had another lovely night which clicks into astonishing catch up times full of mutual friendship so easily.  Sarah and Kate gave me a St Christopher medal to wear for this adventure.  It's now forever a part of my necklace with Mr G's pearl he gave me for my 50th birthday.  Loved it!  Thanks Ken and Ladies!  See ya'll soon.

Lovely, wonderful people...love you all so much!

A huge THANK YOU to Stephanie and Bladen for being great friends and moving into the house to take care of Miss Molly for us!  Stephanie used to be my personal trainer and we became great friends.  This past week we had a chance to be roommates as they moved in and we moved out and I loved having them there ... especially the times Steph and I had to just talk one on one.  Love you!

The lovely Stephanie and Bladen.

Through the week every day was spent getting the boat ready for a club safety audit and departure.  There's so much to tell but, really, its just minutiae when looked at it in any detail...you don't want to know about it.  The most important thing is we got it all done...and we pushed off from the marina at 8:00 this morning...finally the big day had come. 

The first day of any big journey always - for me anyway - brings a mix of feelings, emotions and expectations.  You could certainly say that about today.  As we prepared to leave this morning we were both excited.  Mr G about getting out of the marina and on the way to a good sail.  Me about the adventure ahead, really stepping out of any and all comfort zones I've ever had.  Additionally I wasn't any too happy about setting off in 2.5 and 3 metre seas.  The sail was good --- a fine wind to keep us moving at a steady 6 knots for most of the day...but the sea was messy with a surface chop and big swells.  I had a bad case of mal-de-mer for half the day.  But the sun was shining and we made it to Lake Macquarie in good time... in over the bar with no hassles, made the 5 o'clock bridge and tied up to meet David - our friend and boat builder, his wife Corinne and their children and some surprise friends!

The surprise friends were Peter and Sue Crawford....we had missed them so many times while in the RPAYC marina.  They have a boat just like ours....and when we were thinking about buying a Bluewater 420 we were introduced to Peter and shown around his boat.  They are fabulous people ... it was good that we finally caught up with them before we got too far north.  We tied the boat up to the dock at the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club and shared a drink and dinner.  Good times again!




Fantastic night at the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club!

So all in all its been a TRIP so far...and we're only into day one.  We're spending a couple of days here in the Lake with David and his family and building team and then it's off to Port Stephens.  Much love to everyone who made this departure possible and apparently so easy to contemplate and make a reality!