Australia Day Weekend – Budds Beach and Couran Point – 23/24 January 2010
By Tony and Marie-Ann Coyle

Another very enjoyable Australia Day weekend on the water in the company of good friends was had by the club.  A big thank you goes to Lance, Marie, Pete and Miranda for organising the weekend.  All went like clockwork.

Some boats set off on Friday but Pete and Miranda had the latest start Friday night by launching from Rudy Maas and arriving at Marine Stadium at 10pm.  Great night navigation guys! 

Then the gathering of boats at Budds Beach commenced from early Saturday afternoon.  A few took the opportunity to use their dinghy to visit other boats.  One notable visit went something like:
Approaching the boat, ‘Dinghy owner’ says, “Here, take the dinghy rope.”
On board a few minutes later, ‘Dinghy owner’ says, “Where’s my dinghy?  I thought you tied it off.”
‘Boat owner’, “No, I held the rope for you to get off; I thought you were tying it off. But there it is floating away over there.”
‘Dinghy owner’, “Can I borrow your dinghy to get my dinghy?”

Also notable visitors to boats were Keith and Edna, but in a borrowed dinghy.  Why?  Keith had put on a new transponder to the back of the boat but didn’t have the chance to seal the screws.  “They’re tight, be OK for the weekend.”  Well apparently even the tiniest of screws done up tightly are no match for a determined water leak.  So ‘Ande’ spent the rest of the weekend on a trailer in the caravan park.

By the time the Saturday evening drinks, nibbles and BBQ started, there were 17 boats at Budds including six Montereys (we have a Monterey!) and three non-Whittley boats together with ‘Ande’ in the caravan park and another boat left at their nearby unit but “represented” at the BBQ by the owners.  A great turn out and all boats sporting Aussie flags and regalia.

The BBQ was very “Australia Day” friendly with steaks, sausages, onions and lamb (Sam from the TV advertisement would be happy about the lamb).   Wayne and Rhonda showed us photos of their 48 foot catamaran yacht they pick up in NZ in March in which they plan to circumnavigate Australia from May 2011 to May 2012 as part of the “around Australia rally”.  Marie-Ann’s earrings glowed in the dark.  Lots of catch up chats were held between old and new friends.  Commodore Keith gave us all a welcome speech.  After the BBQ some were heard to party on board their boat.  In summary, an enjoyable function was appreciated by all.

Sunday morning saw most boats heading for Couran Point for a swim, a cold drink, a shower and lunch.  A big thank you goes to Lance and Marie for organising this function.  We were met by the ‘Harbour Master’ on arrival who directed us to our berthing area.  This is a very good facility and I’m sure will be visited by the Club again.  After lunch, Clive and Margaret were kind enough to show a few of us over their new 48 foot boat.  Very nice! 

The decision for the overnight Sunday anchorage saw the group split up with some going south to Marine Stadium, others going up to north of Tipplers, we went to Calypso Bay marina to meet friends early the next morning and other headed for home.

For the actual Australia Day (Tuesday), I had to mow our lawn because we had been out boating for the previous three days.  But as I sat on my ride-on mower for a few hours I couldn’t help thinking, “I’d rather be boating!” 

Thanks again to our organisers Lance, Marie, Pete and Miranda for another great Australia Day weekend outing.