Our journey on the sailboat Good as Gold

We left Bundaberg for the world’s largest sand island and UNESCO World Heritage site, Fraser Island. We upped anchor at 6:30 am and had a lovely beam reach from 7 am until we anchored in Platypus Bay at 4 pm. The day was sunny but it started off cold so we wore hoodies and jackets and we searched the boat trying to find where we had stored the sailing gloves! Between August and November, the shallow waters (maximum depths of 36 metres) of Hervey Bay are home to migrating humpback whales and within an hour of setting sail, we came upon two breaching whales. Then we spotted two pink and grey birds hitching a ride on the backstay. One flew off and the other made itself comfortable on the wind generator (it was tied off) for the entire 6 hour sail to Fraser Island. A quick look in the, Birds of Australia, book identified the bird as a Galah. They aren’t sea birds, so we think they got blown offshore by the wind and were struggling to fly back to land. As we dropped the sails to an

Everything went well in Canada, Malcolm even did a ski season again at Big White and Dina picked up a one-year contract. After 18 months, Malcolm flew to Australia to start getting Good as Gold ready for more cruising. When he arrived in Bundaberg, he quickly made plans to get a new coat of bottom paint and have the boat put back in the water. It has to be said that a lot of dust and dirt can accumulate over 18 months, so there was a lot of cleaning to do inside and out. Getting ready for new paint All ready for the water with NEW PAINT! Good as Gold on the dock at Bundaberg Port Marina After so many years of use, the anchor and chain needed to be re-galvanized. This provides a nice coating of zinc to help prevent corrosion. Malcolm sent the anchor off to a shop in town, but the chain was too corroded so we ended up purchasing a new one. The new chain needed to be marked at various lengths so we would know how much we are putting out while anchoring. Instead of the