So, here we were, almost all ready to go and trying to psych ourselves up for our first cruise.  The plan was just to leave the harbour (getting them to raise the bridge!) and then just motor out and around, raise the sails, sail around for an hour and then come back in.  Saturday morning dawned grey and rainy though.  Then I got the starts of a migraine and so we called a halt to the day's proceedings.  Heidi, as the declared  (forced?)  captain for the first trip out, spent a good amount of time pawing over the maps and guides fixing in her head the challenges ahead though and we ended up doing a little shopping to prepare ourselves for the big trip.  At least now we have a backup GPS and VHF unit!  We also hopefully found the solution to our tender storage questions although the outboard is still in pride of place in the middle of the cabin which can't last for ever!

Sunday dawned a bit brighter but whatever, we decided that today was the day!.  We went down to the dock and then with some trepidation started working out how to go about getting out of the dock which was a tight squeeze between a bunch of other boats.  We got the engine started (phew) and then, with the engine in neutral I undid the stern rope.  The stern then started to drift out and we realised we needed to be a bit more on the ball as before we knew what had happened we were perilously close the boat on the other side.  So we tied back on and started again.  This time we were a bit quicker on the tying off and in no time we were free of the docklines and puttering down the lane between the other boats VERY slowly.  The next challenge was to turn the corner which we navigated smoothly only to see Johnstone Street bridge starting to raise - We hadn't asked for that yet! - and then we saw the reason, a tug and barge bearing down on us mid channel.  Where to go now! - after some pointed requests on the radio to "get out of the way' we managed to move to the side of the channel and let the barge past.  Once passed it was then our turn to go through the bridge but as it had just been up we had to let the traffic clear so we spent some time going round in circles in a tiny basin.  Then the bridge was going up for us...  Through we sailed majestically now feeling at least a little in control.  Once through the bridge we headed out to the open sea, not before getting 'advised' by the harbour police to stick closer to the marker buoys.  We then chugged out into the sea with a harbour police escort all the way.  After dodging another tug and barge combo we then moved out another half hour into the open ocean.  By now it was raining though and we thought we had had enough excitement for one day so headed back into harbour. 

This time we were docking at our new home on Wharf street Marina.  As we approached the marina we realised our dock was tucked right in the back of the marina between two other boats.  OMG - now in a growing wind we had to show our seamanship skills navigating in tight waters.  Going as slow as we could we inched into our new berth and, as we bumped the dock we both breathed a big sigh of relief.  Once we had tied on we sat and enjoyed our new second home, in sight of the apartment :)