Hanging out in Williamstown

Leaving Portarlington

As mentioned in our previous entry we spent a couple of weeks in Williamstown getting a cover made for our cockpit.  But it wasn’t all work while we were there and we did enjoy our two weeks hanging out in Williamstown.

We left Portarlington on the Sunday morning and had a lovely sail over to Williamstown to be able to pick up a Victoria Parks courtesy mooring just as the World Cup Cricket Final started.  Unfortunately that didn’t go the way we were hoping, but it was great to be able to see the fire works across the CBD skyline at the end of the game from our perfect vantage point.

And Arriving in Williamstown



Lots to see around us including Navy ship repair...

The Sea Shepards vessel Steve Irwin

Feeding the local Wildlife

and fun and creativity with photography.

We choose Williamstown as this was close to where Custom Yacht Covers was based.  It allowed us to tie up to either Royal Victoria Yacht Club dock, or Ferguson Street Pier for her to be able to get work done.  We spent our nights on the courtesy moorings or side tied on to the Ferguson Street Pier depending on the weather.

One of the many jobs we finally got around to, putting up our sun catcher. Thanks Bourke-Finn Family!

Shipping in the channel can be quite BIG

On the days that the boat wasn’t needed for cover making we ventured up under the West Gate and Bolte Bridges and up into Docklands where there are several marinas that have visitor berths. We went to the Melbourne City Marina where we could stay for up to four hours (often longer) without charge.  These berths seemed very under utilised for their proximity to the city and during our mid week visit we were the only ones there! Within a very easy walk we discovered Harbour Town, a large outlet style mall, the Melbourne Star (a huge Ferris wheel), an Ice skating Rink, Cost Co and free trams into the city.  We also splashed out and played a round of Lazer Tag as a family for our Easter Activity.  I hadn’t done this before so spent a lot of my time being out played by the more seasoned players in the family!

The Westgate Bridge

Dan managed to get several other jobs done as well as helping with the fitting of the cover.  He finished off the generator start panel, which instead of being in a cardboard box sitting under the bed is now situated just inside the saloon door in a flash carbon fibre surround.  He also fitted new LED spreader lights, noise insulation around the generator, new bed base for our berth, new outdoor speakers, an AIS (automatic identification system) and made water tight some damage to our transom.  It was very entertaining on my part to meet him at the Southern Cross Train station to see him and Rylee carrying sheets of noise insulation (1300mmx600mm) among all the mid day commuters after negotiating the buses and trains and turnstiles.  He also had another shopping spree and returned home via bus with back pack and large shopping bags full of exciting boxes of electronics and fittings.

In saying this it probably was nothing compared to him and I returning from the food warehouse Cost Co where we spent over $1000 on bulk food supplies!  It was very entertaining pushing our two trolleys the two blocks, across the tram lines and down the dock to load it all on board.

 

The kids and I went on a big tidy up spree, and focused on an area a day, and managed to donate several more bags of bits and pieces to the local op-shops. I was dreading tidying up the bathroom as it had been bothering me for some time, but once  I got stuck in I only ended up throwing out about three items, and just by putting things away I managed to get it all to fit neatly and in a usable way.

But it wasn’t all work as the kids and I went to Science Works with friends we met when they sailed into Portarlington, and we also enjoyed a meal at their home during the week as well as farewell drinks and celebrating the new cockpit cover on our last evening in Williamstown.  The boys also discovered the local skate park after asking the Information Centre volunteers where it was and spent a great deal of time there perfecting their tricks on their scooters.  We also enjoyed watching some of the local youth during a competition run by the local council, but it didn’t do my heart much good watching these young men do backwards and forward flips, land them and keep on rolling!!

It was also a pleasant surprise to catch up with friends from Melbourne that we met in Whangarei when Dan did some work for them on their boat.  They joined us for morning tea one day, and they were very generous sharing with us their experiences of sailing around this part of the world. 

Melbourne at sunset

Early morning Hot Air Balloons over Melbourne CBD.

Once the cover was completed it was time to for some decision making.  Unfortunately the weather wasn’t going to allow us to leave the bay and head east for several days, and we had some jobs that we needed to do that required a car and some local knowledge, and as we still hadn’t sold our vehicle we decided to head back to Portarlington to tie up a few loose ends.

Over the weekend we were there we managed to sell the car, pick up a few last minute supplies, including an order from the butcher and last minute mail/packages from Portarlington Post Office as well as a trip into Geelong and I also topped up the cruising kitty by doing one last shift at work.

We had a lovely meal with two other families on the Friday evening and had a revolving group of visitors on the Sunday afternoon.  The kids managed to catch up with friends from school and sailing and it was really great to see many surprised faces around the village when they weren’t expecting to see us!