Rowan has been doing the dreaded W. It is a bit different when you work for someone else and not yourself. He said the first day was a novelty but it isn’t very challenging and he is bored haha. He is hoping something goes wrong so he can do some problem solving. I am sure the owner is glad nothing is going wrong.

Rowan is even having a sleepover next week, somewhere north to do some drilling.

Helping out Uncle Phil with a lawn mower.

We got a stand up paddle board for free off Facebook. We got two kids paddles ($10 each) from Anaconda and Rowan riveted it together to make a taller one for us.

We had dinner with our new friend Lala and her son Kanu. We had them over and they caught a Spotted Mackerel which we made into burgers. We also had a Tusk Fish. It was delicious.

On Sunday we head out to a bar to meet up with Ann, who is Joanne’s friend that Rowan has known since he was a kid. She is a pretty amazing person, she got into boats quite young and has been the captain of quite a few fancy boats all over the world. What an interesting life! She has a house here in Airlie and she is trying to retire, so thinks she won’t take on another job.

Rowan is away for Monday night on a job up on a farm somewhere a few hours north. So I have to fend for myself. It is quite strange being on the boat overnight alone.

On the Monday I do a bit of running around and then catch up with Ann for morning tea. I leave in the afternoon when a contractor comes by to finish a job on the pool. Ann’s place has a fantastic view. It is a well maintained 1950s bach style home. It has lots of interesting and quirky items that she has collected around the world.

Two photos of meals to prove I can fend for myself haha. Although I must say not having to think about food is a real luxury I take for granted. So thanks Rowan for taking that off my mental load.

I am working on a few things on the boat. I really need another set of hands to get this rust window out to fix. So it will wait. I did get a chance to re organise and catalog our food. Now I know what we should stock up on and what not to worry about. For instance we have 37 cans of tomatoes of 3 different varieties, so maybe none for a while haha. When items are on special we are not just buying a few extra we are buying a lot extra. I am pretty sure we have enough condiments for a year haha.

I have good news. The fantastic Mairi and Daniel are coming to visit. We met them when doing our hiking/biking journey in Haast. It is going to be wonderful to catch up with them again. I am super excited!

Rowan ends up coming back late Tuesday night. Here are a few photos from his trip. The farmer kept supplying them with watermelon snacks. This is mostly a capsicum farm, one of a few in the area they are a family business and supply all the capsicum for Woolworths nationwide. This frog lives in the toilet. It just hangs on when you flush it and he is just living his best life as a toilet frog.

A great video of a loveliness. Yes that is what you call a group of Ladybugs. How cool! Simon the farmer was very happy to see them as they use Ladybugs to keep pests down and minimise sprays.

Rowan and I run a few jobs together, I am looking into fairing. Which is a whole new thing for me. Fairing is like plastering for boats. But you use an epoxy base.

Rowan shows off the large onions from Simon. He also gave them some meat, watermelons and of course capsicums.

Léa has finished making our sail bag and special cover for the cockpit. Unfortunately the cover in the cockpit is a little big, she has just miscalculated the zip. A very easy fix that she will come back and do.

Rowan, Lala and I went to a monthly Marina Mingle they fed us pizza and we got a free drink each. We didn’t mingle with that many people as it is hard when people all appear to be in groups. We didn’t mingle get a chance to talk to some strangers and we had a chance to see some new friends Steve and Lynn.

Last day again. Rowan has had a few last days of work, but this one will definitely be it. Jamie is going back to the Gold Coast where he lives for a few weeks. So I do a bit of sewing with my new hand sewing machine and organise a couple of lockers.