AFLOAT, BUT NOT YET BOUNDLESS!!

Well, we have been living aboard for nearly two weeks now, and we just seem to have re-located the mess from Gately Street to the harbour. Every morning, we wake up full of resolve to get on top of the mess and finish everything off and by the end of the day we are ground down and fall exhausted into any available space to grab a bite to eat, and relax for a bit, before tumbling onto any bunk which is not full of electrician's boxes, cabling and equipment, boat fittings or the carpenter's aluminium sheets, drills, saws and the like. I must say that by evening this can lead to a serious sense of humour failure! We are rafted onto another boat outside the police diving unit in the harbour, so every time we want to get on or off or take anything on or off, we have to climb over the other boat and scramble up from the floating jetty on to the solid jetty, which can be up to a metre apart, depending on the tide, and back down again. Fun, fun, fun!! For all those friends and colleagues who believe that we are having a wonderful relaxing time - we are not! the holiday definitely hasn't started yet!

On the brighter side, we now have all of  our mattresses, saloon seat covers and curtains, which look very nice when not covered in junk. They also look much better when not covered in a thick layer of dust!

Rosie has settled down well, despite the fact that she spends most of her day on our bunk out of the way or in the car. The car is her safe spot and she is always ready to get in. She has learned to jump from boat and onto the floating jetty and has definitely got her sea legs. We are also now fully acclimatized with all the rocking and rolling at night on the mooring. Hopefully none of us will get sea sick when we finally get out.
We are planning to do our first sea trials this weekend, if the safety inspector arrives tomorrow to check our safety equipment, after making and not arriving for three appointments. He has to issue us with a safety certificate, without which we cannot go to sea.

It seems to be all doom and gloom but we really are making progress. Every day is we are a little closer to being finished  and being able to sail away. I don't want to appear negative. It  has just been a really long day!