ROLLING THUMBS

'What are you doing all day?' The well known question asked by almost everyone.
Officially we are just rolling our thumbs, wondering 'what shall we do today?'
Well, since we are back on MYLADY we've needed time to get use to the cold and wet. Officially it is summer here in Tassie. A few locals have to proof it by wearing shorts and t-shirts. For this African lady, 18 or 20 degrees Celcius for a max with cold front after cold front racing over us, isn't summer. But I have re-arranged my wardrobe to get the summery things more in reach.
We have been refitting MYLADY whilst on anchor. It was time to do something about the leaking old dodger and we've replaced it now by adding a solid wooden second storey to our home. There were only two stipulations. It must accommodate two solar panels and it should not obstruct the handrails. However, it depleted the budget, lost old and gained new friendships, diminished our precious time and consumed our sanity. The result is perfect. We have more dry space and lots of storage possibility. I am even allowed two build-in pot plant containers for the parsley and spinach (they though have a hard time). And the ropes now also have to serve as decoration when not at work. We can even catch water from its roof.
Whilst we had to wait for the epoxy to dry in between jobs, Eelco took the pulpit off the bow and hacked away at the corroded aluminium rust. Then the repair and paint job followed.
We had to shorten and change the sun-roof-cum-rainwater-catcher to fit the new dodger and cockpit. The boatshed (forward cabin) had to be re-arranged in order to find stuff. All the extra water in the aft berth storage was circulated. The ballast of charts (900+) were sorted, organized and minimized. We played the maddening puzzle of provisioning. And in between we even tried to do our actual job - being tourists. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip to beautiful Lake Pedder and surrounds. The trees, bush and field were in bloom. Rivers ran and dams were full. At the Styx River the magnificent Big Trees were impressive. Warned of tiger snakes near Queenstown and camped with the wild wallabies on the edge of Great Lake. Wadamana museum was the unexpected cherry on our holiday cake. Swift parrots dazzled us with their curiosity and beauty on the East Coast.
At the moment we are in Cloudy Bay on the southern tip of Bruny Island here in Tasmania. It is lovely to listen to a real reef again and not a highway reef. Only a fisherman dares to brave the unstable weather conditions and shares the waters with us.
WE WISH BLESSINGS OF GOOD HEALTH, WEALTH, LOVE AND LAUGHTER UPON YOU.
Best wishes for every tomorrow.
With fond memories, Mi-sA-lê and Eelco dec2010