Even the jetskis aren't as annoying as in other places and they aren't going continuously either.
Being near the bridge it's the boat horns requesting an opening that are more intrusive, but even they become background noise after a while.
There are all kinds of craft heading up and down the river, some modern with waterskiers, and others beautifully restored from a bygone age.
Labor Day is described as a day when the nation recognizes the contribution to the economy of the 'workers'. It sounds all very laudable but it's my guess that it's a holiday brought on by the union movement, not necessarily a grateful nation, but hey, everyone enjoys a holiday.
I just find the term 'workers' annoying, as though anyone that works in management or the professions, or provides work for the workers, is somehow not really working but ripping off the economy and being over paid for their endeavours. It's another great divide in society that achieves nothing.
One of the very interesting observations here is that the 'workers' are supporters of Obama's Democratic party, which is characterized by laudable but expensive social programs to help the masses, which leads to big costly government and fat, lazy people.
It's also characterized by needing a big tax base, which is highlighted as getting all the rich scoundrels to pay more tax.
But the Obama supporters, the 'workers' are also the folk who will happily take cash for their work so they don't pay tax, but at the same time the 'rich Republicans' getting them to fix their plumbing or mow their lawns, get to save the sales or services tax that goes onto everything you pay for here.
I guess human nature is the same everywhere. The government must give us more, but they must get the money somewhere else.
Bob, the owner of the land here, and the marina, came down to the boat and invited us to come up to the house to join them for lunch. His daughter and son in law and their kids were down for the weekend with another family. They were staying in the cottage on the bank apart from the main house. It's hard to say 'No' to Bob's invitations. He always looks as though he is taking it personally.
What we don't realize is that we are a novelty here. People are fascinated by the idea of living and travelling on a boat, and that we're from Australia.
Sandy was up to her eyeballs in defrosting the fridges and freezer as well as scrubbing the galley (kitchen) and cleaning and re-organizing the cupboards. There was no way she was going to get away, but I felt I couldn't refuse yet another invitation.
In a way it was a good thing. Both adults and kids wanted to know all about life on the boat, and sailing, and Australia. Somehow we seem to represent a whole different world of adventure and travel and far away places. It brought back memories of being that age and going down with my dad to see visiting yachtsmen at the quay in East London (S. Africa)
It's so easy to get caught up in the hard work and drudgery right now and lose sight of the big picture. I wished that Sandy had been there too.
We have had a busy couple of weeks since we've been here. Having clicked over into September, we are very conscious of having just 2 months to go.
Sandy has done a magnificent job of scrubbing and detailing each room, even to the point of getting paint stripper and removing all the varnish that had been applied so carelessly that it was on the white fibreglass panels too. As she has gone she has been ruthlessly culling and scrubbing the teak with vinegar and oil. It looks great, but I don't know how she keeps at it.
I had the fun of replacing the oil cooler on the main engine with one that was a different size to the old one, so a bit of adaptation was involved.
I've also worked out and drawn a sketch of how the old plumbing was set up for the fuel system. I think it was a good system and want to find out why they didn't stick with it before I put it back together again.. I may have to do something different altogether.
I've also had to come to grips with our electrical system. We were running the generator 5 hours a day to keep the battery bank up. In consultation with a bunch of electrical boffins on the Cruisers Forum we've found we've reduced our daily amp hours by almost 1/3, so we're running the generator about 3 hours a day which is much better, but still a pain.
It's like having babies again and having to be home morning and night to feed the little demons!
The other part of this whole exercize was to come up with a design for an array of solar panels that will reduce generator time much further, and sometimes to zero on sunny days in the tropics.
I've now done that and will be ordering the panels this week, and I've done it without making the boat look like an aircraft carrier.
Until next time...