Bluewater marina with Deane

The new owner of Tropical Soul pictured below. The survey complete and to our credit the surveyor mentioned he hasn't seen a used boat in such GOOD condition in years. The only suggest he could make was to get the life raft serviced later this year. We are quite proud of our girl and have lovingly taken care of her as such. It was a big job sometimes, but we always had our list going to keep her in good condition.
Bruce & Deane are down at the slipway now slashing her, and then bringing her back to Bluewater marina. This is where Deane will keep her while he readies her for travel with him. It's time for him to move all his personal things on board and make her his home. We are very excited for him and for her that she will continue to cruise and not waste away at a dock somewhere!

 our last sail on our girl.

 We were cruising along quite well you can see our trail line from the keels

The new owner bringing her up the Trinity River.

For all those reading this and have heard about Smithys slipway through our blog, just wanted to update those that are thinking of using the slipway. We were quite shocked to find the prices have mored then doubled since our time there last year. If you are wanting to slip in the Trinity river best to get some prices from the other slipway as we have found out are considerably lower!!!!!!

Moving

Well it has finally happened. We have now officially moved off the boat. Started packing her up on Sunday and worked everyday to get it all off by Thursday. On Friday we got off the last few things and put the finishing touches on her. I've been working on the inside, and Bruce has been polishing her on the outside. She is all empty, clean, and shiny. Ready for her new owner.
All that is left now is to haul her out and have her surveyed. She comes out of the water on Tuesday, and is surveyed on Wed.
We moved her today from the marina to the river, and had a GREAT sail. Blowing SE 20/25 kts and we sailed her close hauled tacking back and forth, then we turned her downwind and had a nice run into the river. All going to plan she will be in the hands of the new owner in a few days.
It was a bitter sweet day for us both and we are SO happy that she will continue to be loved and sailed with the new owner.

Cinco De Mayo

It's hard to believe nearly a month has past since my last post! I have been away for 22 days. I was completing Dru yoga training. I finished my Post Graduate Masters course. From there I went to visit Samantha on the Sunshine Coast. Bruce then joined me (drove from Cairns) and we travelled south back down to Nowra to help with the estate dealings of Uncle Bob. We stopped to visit some close friends Marg & John in Woolgoolga for a couple of nights. So good to catch up with them. Once in Nowra we were able to wrap business up quicker then expected. We left there on Saturday a week ago to make time for Brisbane. It was Joanna birthday the following Monday. It has been quite a few years since we spent her actual birthday with her. We had a lovely visit there and spent the Sunday & Monday night with them.
Then it was on the road again making way for Cairns. No more visits as we have business to take care of. We were back on board by Wed. night. WOW what a long drive. We stopped for a night in Rocky to break up the trip.
Now that we are back we have organised storage for all our things on board. In 10 days we will be hauling TS out of the water for a bottom job and she will be surveyed for the new owner. Once that is complete we hand her over to the new owner! EXCITING times. We will have all our gear off by then.
In the mean time we need to find a place to live!! We will be staying in a little cabin in a tranquil setting while we get sorted out. Yesterday we looked at 4 houses, and I think we have found one that will suit

us perfectly. We will go there today to check it out again. I will update once we have all the details. 

 Birthday Fun with Jo @ her place

 Out and about at Southbank riding the ferris wheel