Well we’ve made it to Airlie Beach and have the keys to our boat…OMG! WE made it!!!

Now to get stuff on board...

That’s not quite as simple as you might think as we’re out on a mooring (about a 5 minute tender trip out from the marina) and at this stage we don’t have a fully inflated tender or fuel…hmmm. So after a wee bit of pumping and fuel transfer we have our independence (very handy if you’re more than a paddle out of the marina) and get ready to motor into the public pier. The idea being… we’ll tie up there and heap everything on board then head back out again to organise it. Actually the plan kinda worked but on the way in we lost our precious tender.. oops.. how embarrassment! …ah well no choice but to double back and catch our wayward tender with a grappling hook and continue the journey.

So we heave thousands of boxes on board, motor back to the mooring and I catch myself my first anchor chain… hangin’ out from the bowsprit haulin’ the damn thing in covered in anchor gunge but not worried as I’m all aflutter with my small achievement (very small achievement I grant you, but big for me)….

We spend the next couple of hours stumbling over boxes as the swell mounts trying to make a bit of space to sleep and eat. With that somewhat achieved we sit stationary for a moment and crack open a bottle of 12 year old champagne… Then half pissed and exhausted after a very long day…..we are rocked to sleep. One small unresolved issue fades into insignificance as the champagne hits the spot…the toilet doesn’t work… who cares… we have a boat!!