enzwell

After considering 30 plus boats in two countries from Picton to Tutakaka and from the Gold Coast to Gladstone, plus considering boats in Vanuatu, LA and the Caribean, here it is………. home. And as it turned out it is at home , well Whangarei actually, but he will deliever it to Brisbane for us early May. Are we HAPPY!!!! This boats comes with so much gear it’s ludicrous, from windvane steering to water makers, yes two of them, one fixed and one portable one for the life raft, just serviced. It’s got acres of storage not to mention the 7’8” long rear berth for us. Your one’s fine as well and you have your own private head and good storage. So, here’s some photos of the soon to be “ENZWELL”


Now I must admit that the photos are pretty complimentery, it’s not that it’s that bad, but the photos don’t pick up little marks and stuff. It does also need a bit of work on some surface rust areas topsides and in the bilges, but it has been surveyed and it’s all managable so I guess we’ll be out with wire brushes and stuff in our spare time, and we do have a bit of that.

Brisbane continues to be hot and sunny, we check the weather forecasts daily to see if it’s going to be fine and 26 degrees or fine and 30 degrees. Got some transport in the weekend. Brought one mountain bike for $20 and the owners of the motel we are staying at had an old one left behind so gave us that. Thanks guys. It was a bit sad but after pumping up the tyres and fitting a new brake cable, away we went. It makes such a difference to be freely mobile and Brissy is a great city to bike around, very little wind or hills. Could be a bit tricky cycling with suitcases and luggage to the boat though, maybe we’ll lash out a get a taxi. So about four weeks and we should be on the water.

First week down....!

One week today, seems a lot longer but that’s how long we have been in Aus. Don’t know if NZ was trying to hang on to us but they keep us in for another two hours due to someone breaking the plane. Our arrival in Brisbane was greeted by a fantastic lightning storm, another omen perhaps…..no just a regular occurrence over here apparently. Mighty impressive though with big grey rolling clouds being back lit and forks of lightning streaking through the sky and into the land. Fantastic.

So far we have seen about 15 boats around the Brisbane area and over 35 in total including NZ. What we have is probably four distinct possibilities, two of which are somewhat more than we where intending to spend but are really nice and something we would be happy to live on. Many were not, a lot of home built and fitted out boats, and they looked like it, some were single men’s homes, and looked like it, and some had more precious items stored on board than we had tucked away in two homes! This weekend it’s about deciding which lucky punter is going to receive our incredibly pathetic offer. It appears the standard is to offer about 20% less than asking and not to move much on that.

The weather has been great if not a tad hot but often with a nice cooling breeze, especially in the afternoon. We were shocked last night that it was actually cold. We had gone away for a couple of days with a rental car and were definitely in need of a jacket, left packed at the motel. People have been all really accommodating and helpful, from bus drivers to brokers. People do seem more chilled out than in NZ, maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s the news? Have noticed that the news is generally more positive, like it’s very hard to hear what the dollar is doing, as in going down. They would rather talk about the footy, now that’s serious and worth talking about!
Also noticed a distinct lack of personalised number plates, or boy racers, and that’s got to be a good thing!

The intrepid travellers ....