Aw Crap! (Sydney, Australia)

Black Monday, April 20, 2015 in Sydney, Australia

heater

We dug the heater out of the bow and plugged it in for the first time in about a year.

We were so hoping to make it to the tropics without needing it, but it was not meant to be! It is so cold in the cabin today! It must be nearly 60!

To exacerbate the situation, we’ve both had colds for the past two weeks or so (or maybe the flu, who knows). It just keeps hanging on, and on, and on. We need to get this barge up to the tropics, and soon.


rain

It looks like we’ll have rain and wind for the next three days. (We’re in the center of the mess to the left.)

When the gusts let up, we need to find another place for Legacy for a few days or more – until we get the right weather to head to Lord Howe Island and then New Caledonia.

Yea, Yea, I know. You’re tired of my whining. First it was the heat now it’s the cold. “Is that idiot never happy?!”

Yes. Sometimes for minutes at a time. –Rich

Quote of the day from Cyndi as she stands in front of the heater: “The problem with sitting by the heater is that you realize how cold the water is in the rest of the pool!”

Weather-Chess, Round 73 (or so) (Sydney, Australia)

April 18, 2015

Here we sit in Rolly Rushcutters (Sydney, Australia), waiting for weather to sail, first to Lord Howe Island, then to New Caledonia.

A great, animated, weather map from www.windytv.com
A great, animated, weather map from www.windytv.com

We’re paid up here in the washing machine until the 23rd. It doesn’t look like the weather is going to pay the slightest bit of attention to our needs and wants, so we’ll have to find another place to hang out until the winds blow (lightly) our way (hopefully in a week or ten days). -Rich

Wine Glass Holder

April 10, 2015

A while back we decided that wine tasted better from glass – better than from the boat-plastic-y-things we’d been drinking from. But how do we store them? Thanks Google, for the answer. A search through Google images for “wine glass holder” showed us the way, and here’s what we ended up with…

Our new wine glass holder works great!
Our new wine glass holder works great!

Tip: use pretty thick bungee cord as it makes it easier to slip the base of the glass under the cord. We just used wire ties to fasten the bungee cord to a cutting board. It would work well on a nice piece of teak.

Here’s the blog post where our glass glass saga started.

Costco! The Real Deal!

April 10, 2015

There’s a Costco in Sydney, Australia! It’s not the imitation Costco we found in Fiji and Samoa (Cost-u-Less) but rather the real, just-like-we’re-back-in-LA deal.

Costco, Sydney. Click to enlarge.
Costco, Sydney. Click to enlarge.

isle

Costco: with giant isles, giant racks, giant boxes, giant cans (and not just a few giant people).


We can provision here! SPAM. What more could we want?

spam

Just kidding, we’re much more health-conscious than that! Chili is so much better.

stagg

And of course, we need a pallet of pretzels!

palate-of-pretzels

And they even have our favorite marinade sauce for the barbeque: Yoshida’s Sauce. We haven’t seen that in three years!

yoshida

(Sir, you’re being sited for overuse of exclamation marks. Please try to calm down.)

-Rich

Gettin’ Colder (Sydney, Australia)

April 10, 2015 in Sydney, Australia

The temperature is dropping – fall is coming to the southern hemisphere – and we’re feeling the cold. Especially in the mornings.

cold-cyndi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cyndi huddles in the blanket for some relief (Wow, you’d think from this that it’s ten below. No, about 60F I’d guess.)


holes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve broken out my jeans for the first time in about a year (such as they are). I don’t know–in this condition, do these really qualify as long pants? Note to new cruisers: This life is hard on clothes. Bring extras.

What a change from when we first got to Oz – when we thought we’d die from the heat (and bugs, and birds, and snakes and everything else here that’ll kill ya!).

marital-aid-screen