�� Eleven hours sleep felt pretty fine. Si decided to rinse the salt off the boat straight away. I decided to practice my Tai Chi on the pontoon before anyone else got up. It is slowly coming back and I think by next summer I may just remember it all again! Lini was then a good girl and did as many abs as I could before Si was too close with the hosepipe to be trusted. I planned a hot shower later not a cold hose down on deck. Some time after we�d finished breakfast normal people were emerging from their boats. (She says with envy!) Looking out the shower window and seeing a mast moving towards us speeded up my ablutions for the morning and jumping into clothes I dashed up on deck where Si was already on hand to help our new neighbours slip into their berth. Who should it be but �Sunboy� the Australians Si had met in the chandlery in Lanzarote and we had also seen in Porto Santo. It was a tight squeeze but with an hour of jiggling we were all reasonably happy nothing would bump anything else. There followed introductions and a lovely chat particularly about the plant troughs that sat under their spray hood. Oh was I envious. Not only were there four bushy herbs but tomatoes, chillies and even impatients and a geranium: Positively a whole garden!

�� The weather has turned very blowy and we�re even having a little rain at times. By the time we�d had coffee things had brightened though and we set off to find �El Corte Engles�, a large department store chain with food hall that Si remembers well from when his parents lived in Madrid. He was quite excited. A neatly groomed beach sits beside the marina but the busy anchorage off of it makes it undesirable for swimming. It will be overflowing with boats very soon as most of the permanent berth holders are being turfed out for the ARC boats. Cruise liners and cargo boats are moored in the harbour and groups of cyclists and electric stand-on eco travellers were having guided tours of the town and harbour. The traffic was a bit of a shock after the minimal amounts we�ve had to suffer of late but it wasn�t too long a walk to the centre of the new town and inside the store we bought headphones for the SSB radio and checked out possible provisions for later. From Monday they will have special staff on hand to help ARC crews with shopping and vacuum packing, with free delivery 48hrs before our departure. Many other shops in town will be giving us discounts too.

�� Back on Brindabella there were a zillion and one things to do. After chatting to an English neighbour Si went off to find a hardware store which I thought a good time to empty my big galley cupboard and have another crack at fixing the strap plates. By the time Si returned the job was complete albeit pretty poorly and I was black and blue from half climbing in the cupboard while leaning over the door surround. If the straps don�t work in rolly seas I�m not going to be happy. I�ve fixed them as far back as I could reach. The good news is though, a easily accessible cupboard is now empty for things we�ll need to get at often while at sea.

�� Si had had a productive afternoon in town and mixed G&T sundowners to celebrate. He�d found a nice restaurant on his travels, so scrubbed up after looking like I�d been pulled through a cupboard backwards, off we went. We�d hoped to ask about the wifi in the Sailor�s Bar en-route but the place was heaving and far too busy to queue for questions: Looks like we may be having breakfast out tomorrow as well. I can�t believe there�s no wifi in the marina. Our meal was very scrummy, the menu influenced by the Asian chefs. The complimentary taster was a vegetable tempura and my sesame seed�� coated tuna sat on mash with wasabi. Si failed to resist wine so I foresee a poorly head tomorrow. He has however a couple of new �best mates� from the table next to us. Four local gents, probably drinking there for a while, were very chatty and left us with offers of help if we have any problems and a list of wine suggestions.

�� Si was a sleepy bunny after all that shopping but with the possibility of wifi tomorrow I had a late night catching up with my journal.

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