All Swell

The car sold two days ago, and Alisa closed out our post office box yesterday.  That just about wraps up our tangible connections to Tassie.  We've been in Hobart for a year, but we didn't settle in.

Yesterday we bought 677 liters of diesel fuel, topping off all three of Galactic's tanks.  With our young crew, we'll be very happy to tag along on a high-pressure system across the Tasman, even if it does mean days of motoring.

Just our sort of big fat high appears to be approaching from the west right now.  We had nearly made the decision to leave on this coming Sunday, but our weather guru Bob McDavitt counsels patience, pointing out an inconveniently large Southern Ocean swell that will be around early next week.  We're pretty keen to go, but also happy to take the advice we're paying for.

Sunday's forecast - that might be our high, coming in from the west. 

I was incapacitated by a migraine on the night of our unplanned, cyclone-enforced stay in Melbourne last week when we were flying up to Queensland.  Something about getting four hours of sleep the night before we left, finishing up boat jobs and packing, and then the next day shepherding two little kids through the exigencies of a cancelled flight and the resulting patched-together day in a city we didn't know must have been enough to trigger it.  It was the first migraine I've had in a year, would have been a very bad development halfway across the Tasman, and was a good reminder of the importance of being well rested when we set off for New Zealand.

So I've put a moratorium on starting any new boat projects in the days before we leave.  There will be plenty to do just with getting everything ready for sea and taking care of a few of the little jobs that keep the boat moving.

The sea awaits.