Maddie's First Sentence

At 21 months Maddie has developed a charming little shrug of the shoulders to accompany her first sentence of..... 'I don't know'..... She strings this together with 'Oh dear' to come up with 'Oh dear, I don't know'. Sometimes she emphasises the 'Oh' and comes up with "Oooooooh dear', other times she emphasises the the 'Dear' to come up with 'Oh deeear'.

The above with her newest word 'Mine' means she is fully equipped vocabulary wise for the next 21 years.

Visit to Shepparton

Before we head north again to join John on Spirited One in the Whitsundays for two weeks we decided to visit Steve, Regan and Owen and give Steve and Regan a night off.

Owen had an great adventure climbing up the radio tower located in the central business district of Shep.

Spirited One Delivery from Sydney to Harvey Bay

Just back home after helping deliver Spirited One from Sydney to Harvey Bay. The trip 500 nautical mile was particularly rewarding as John had indicated interest in some off shore sailing and joined Kevin, Jac and me to do the delivery. The delivery took 4 days. On several occasions we considered stopping as the forecast for 'several low pressure systems passing through NSW over the week' with strong wind an gale warnings current. We fortunately managed to stay just ahead of the bad weather, which caused havoc in Katomba (west of Sydney) bringing down trees and power lines and stopped trains for several days.
It turned out to be a 'champagne' trip with lots of whales and dolphins to see as we traveled up the coast. I heard a report that over 10,000 whales will make the annual migration this year and can believe it given the number we saw.
Post the trip, Vic, Maddie and Gaye joined us for a holiday in Noosa Heads. It has been over 30 years since Gaye an I have been to Noosa. It is still a delightful place. Viv an Nole have recently moved there from Melbourne and invited us to a very enjoyable lunch in their new home.

A Couta Boat On the Way

Clive had some plans of "Ariel', a Couta Boat which is still sailing out of Queenscliffe. Named after the baracouta fish which the fishermen sort just outside the Rip, the Couta Boat was first built in the 1880's. A simple but rugged boat, constructed (when available ) in New Zealand Kari, couta boats were generally about 26 ft long and rigged with a lug sail before motors were introducted in the 1920's.

I have started a model and just removed it from the moulds. I was able to get the planking details from an actual boat located at the Queenscliffe Maritime Museum which had the paint stripped from the hull,

and when there had a close look at a model (built by Arthur Woodley in 2002) on display.

I don't think I will be able to match the level of detail Arthur applied to his model, but hopefully will meet the ever demanding standards required by Ratline Industries.