Where Buoy Meets Gull - Whitsunday Adventure - Day 7

Monday’s adventures

So even though I had had a horrible night (which seems pretty par for the course on this holiday) Chris had slept a bit .  He got up in time for the morning scheds at 8:00. (Being a rented yacht, you're supposed to check in twice a day - in the morning with your plans for the day and in the late afternoon with your nighttime location.)  It was still raining – a thick gray sheet covered the sky.  He complained that it was no fun snorkeling in the rain, because often the water is grey and cloudy, too.  The weather report on the radio was for rain for the next three days – not a very happy ending to a holiday, huh?  So Chris suggested that we head back a day early.  I said it wouldn’t be very nice sailing back in the rain.  He said, “Let’s look at the options here.  We can either sail back today in the rain.  Or we can sit here all day in a closed, stuffy cabin in the rain with nothing to do and then sail back tomorrow in the rain.”  Hmmm…when you put it that way, sailing in the rain doesn’t seem like such a bad choice!  I asked him if he wanted me to fix bacon and eggs for breakfast – our last day treat.  He said, “You can if you like – I’m having cereal!”  Haha.  That was the end of THAT idea!

So we decided the best thing to wear would be our swim suits and rain jackets and we got geared up.  MY suggestion was for me to wear my wet suit – which WOULD have been a clever plan if I only never had to go to the bathroom. He thought it was only going to take a couple of hours, but still, the thought of trying to take that slick tight wet thing OFF in a hurry was daunting.  It was a good decision to forgo that, as I had forgotten that Chris has a habit of underestimating sailing times.  (Hmmm…come to think of it, he has a habit of underestimating DRIVING times as well!  Maybe he’s just not good with time!)

We were barefoot, so had to be careful on deck, but we got off the mooring OK, and because of my logic and clear eyesight, we missed the reef Chris would have had us sail over. (We make a good team!)  It was raining, but it wasn’t raining hard, and it wasn’t really cold, so we did just fine for the first couple of hours. (Notice the time already and we’re not halfway yet!) We were planning on going around the outside of the islands, (the same way we came in) due to the visibility factor, but since it wasn’t too bad out there, Chris decided we would cut through the channel between Hook Island and Hayman Island to save us time.   That was fine with me – I’m all for LESS sailing!  

Then the rain picked up again, the wind picked up and it was quite miserable.  We were motor sailing at first, but while Chris was in the toilet, the wind shifted around like crazy and then died completely, so I had to furl the jib to keep it from just flapping around like an injured bird, while steering the boat at the same time.  There is no auto-pilot on this boat.  Can you IMAGINE the trouble novice sailors might get into with an auto-pilot?  So Chris was surprised  and impressed when he came up top and all the sails were down AND we were still on course!  Yay for me.

The wind picked up again, but it was right on the nose, so we just motored through it.  The rain picked up again, and let me tell you, it got QUITE unpleasant.  The wind was gusting up to 20 mph and the rain was pelting me so hard it stung!  Luckily I had my visor on under my rain jacket to protect my eyes a little.  They were glued to the compass, which was about the only thing I could see.  I had my heading and I was sticking to it.

 Then Chris decided to go through “Unsafe Passage” between North Mole and South Mole Islands, which was a very interesting decision since the visibility got down to zero and the whole island actually disappeared in the gray mist and pelting rain.  But – it was going to save us time, and I was all for doing LESS sailing – especially in these conditions!  He was working hard with the charts and the VERY rudimentary GPS to determine the current drift and the correct compass heading.   Don’t panic, folks, we had been told that Unsafe Passage was really very safe as long as you followed the leads and kept a watch out on the bow for coral.  Well, we weren’t going to be keeping a watch out, as Chris was below working out the plan, and I couldn’t leave the steering. 

The leads were quite clear and bright, so that was a good thing, and the rain let up a little.  The island came back into view – partially.   Even so, with the heading he had me on, we were aiming right onto the beach!  He CLAIMS that was the correct heading, because I wasn’t allowing for the strong current drift, but gradually, he succumbed to my nervousness and allowed me to ease away from the shoreline more towards the narrow passage.  Together we can do this! (We make a good team!)

Once we got through Unsafe Passage and past Daydream Island, we still had a ways to go and then we had to find the harbour.  By this time I was soaked through and shivering, and my fingers and toes were pruned up, but there was no way I was going to let Chris steer.  HE was doing the brainwork and running up and down to check things out.  Remember the GPS is JUST a basic model – no charts are installed in it, no depths, no hazards or markers.  In fact, it turned out later, our CAR GPS had more detail than the one on the boat! But the GPS DOES show true heading and compensates for current, so it was valuable.  In conjunction with the chart, Chris could plot a course, and then I could adjust my compass heading to accommodate it.  There was no point in BOTH of us getting wet and cold, and anyway, I couldn’t DO what he was doing!  TOGETHER we make a good team.  He’s got the brains, and I’ve got the perseverance and persistency!  So, even with the shivering and the shriveling, I soldiered on.

We were unsure of where the harbour was. We used the charts and the map book as best we could to determine which direction to take to avoid “Low Rock”.  We argued about which islands were which.  It’s not easy when you have only one view of an island, and it’s not the same shape from the ocean as it shows in the map book!   But we resolved our differences and decided on a course.  I had to stand up on the seats to see over the dodger in order to avoid the danger markings.  (Remember the plastic is so old I can’t see through the “windshield?) Chris was VERY uncomfortable about this, as he didn’t want to lose me overboard, and the safety equipment was so poor on board, but there was really very little choice.  I HAD to see, and he couldn’t be up there to help guide me.  So I promised him that I was hanging on to the wheel very tightly, and that I would scream if I went overboard. Really – what was the alternative?  I must have made a funny sight – chunky skipper in an aqua swim skirt and soaking wet, bright yellow, hooded rain jacket, standing spread eagled on the seats and bent half over to reach the wheel.  (Besides,  I couldn’t stand up straight because of the bimini overhead.)  But the advantage to being up where I could see was that I saw two dugongs at the harbour entrance!  That was a cool thing. 

It has lightened up quite a bit by this time.  Enough so that Chris
could take the photo without getting the camera totally soaked.

Just as we got to the harbour, we became aware of a ferry barreling down behind us, so I chose to move AWAY from the leads and therefore slowed WAY down to let him by!  That was a good thing.  He was MUCH bigger than I was, so I fear we would have fared poorly in a showdown.  The pilot was actually grateful and gave me a wave.

Then the Rent-a-yacht agency guy came out in his dinghy to steer us to the dock.  Of course, they can’t be relying on folks with no experience to dock their boats safely, so he actually took over and I could go below for a badly needed hot shower!  Ahhh!  No more shivering!  Oh, and did I tell you that was FIVE HOURS of me steering in the rain?

We got all unloaded, and then had to meet with the guy for a “debriefing”.  We told him all our concerns – the dodger window wasn’t clear, the water leak, etc.  Chris complained about the safety equipment and he said, “Well, we just put on there what Queensland Safety says we have to have.”  I said, “But you don’t have a Dan Buoy!” 

He said, “Queensland Safety says we don’t have to have one.”

I said, “But the life-ring is unusable!”

He said,  “Well, we just attach it the way Queensland Safety tells us to.”

The guy is full of bullshit!  (Excuse my language!)  So Chris says to him, “So, if Kathy had gone over board, what would you advise I should have done?”

He says, “I would suggest that you get in the dinghy and go get her and just leave the boat.”

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?  What an idiot!  It’s obviously not HIS boat so why should he care?

We set out in the car, and we were REALLY lucky to make it out!  It had rained 8 inches in 12 hours, and we had to drive through 8 inches of water on the weir over the road for 200 meters in Proserpine!  Two hours after we got through, the road was closed, so if we hadn’t made it then, we would have been stuck in Proserpine for at least another two or three days!

Now driving in Australia is not like driving in the States, in that there is NOT a motel every 20 miles.  You have to plan your stops or you’ll be driving a LOOOONG while, or sleeping in the car!  After we passed the town of Mackay (pronounced Muh KAI – rhymes with sky), Chris wanted to make it all the way to Rockhampton.  But it was another 365 k, so I put my foot down as I was JUST a LITTLE bit worn out.  (Well, I WOULD have put my foot down if I had had enough energy to do that!)  But that left us very little choice.  We were lucky to run across ONE “Caravan Park and Motel” in Marlborough.  Chris was a little iffy about it, especially when the price was $90 for one night for a little podunk room, but beggars can’t be choosers, and I had had it!  As a matter of fact, the lady at the desk said to me, “You look absolutely buggered.”  I thought to myself, “You have NO idea!” 

It was pretty funny because the ancient air conditioner made quite a noise through the night.  It rattled and wheezed and clunked.  An example of how noisy it was is that while we were laying in bed, I said to Chris, “That air conditioner is like our own little storm at sea.”  And he said, “What?”  haha

So the air-con provided the wind noise, and my body provided the rocking motion – just as if I had never left the boat!  Guess I haven’t lost my sea legs yet!

Where Buoy Meets Gull - Whitsunday Adventure - Day 6

Sunday’s adventures

Sailing along we saw a boat named “Apollo” and Chris joked, “Why would they want to name their boat after a chicken?  We should give  them a call on the radio, and say, “Hey, a-poiyo, where’s your eggs?”

We sailed around the top of the islands today - in the largest, most unprotected part of the ocean thereabouts, and I forgot to take my seasick pill, and yet I was NOT sick!  Yay!  We were heading towards Butterfly Bay and planning to stay there until it was time to sail back to harbour.  It's a good thing that was our plan, because as we were trying to pick up the mooring, we actually BROKE the boat hook - the hook part went off!  (It was mostly my fault).  So we now have a pole, with no hook!  Chris clambored quickly into the dinghy, and I steered the boat around so he swooped by the mooring buoy, grabbed it, and handed me up the rope.  Hey!  Whatever works, right!  We make a good team!  Anyway, we weren't going to be moving anywhere because we had no means to pick up any more moorings. 


We went snorkeling soon after.  I saw a darling deep chocolate colored fish with bright turquoise and vivid orange highlights, but it's not the Fish of the Day because I can't find it in any fish book!  Perhaps I just imagined it....mmmm...CHOCOLATE!  tee hee.  So there IS no fish of the day, unless you want me to just choose one out of the book.  But the coral of the day I call "lace" coral.  Some of it was in lovely flat sheets, like a crocheted tablecloth, and some of it was sticking up like a lacy fan carved from ivory.  In fact, I found when I googled these photos, it's called "fan" coral!   It appears that it comes in many colors, but I saw it mostly in white.  


 

That night I couldn't sleep for the life of me, as there was NO AIR moving in the aft cabin.  So I finally got up and went to sleep on the settee in the salon.   There wasn't any more air MOVING in there, but it did seem like there was a little MORE air.  If was pretty funny (in a terrible way) because the noise of the buoy banging against the boat was even worse than the night before - maybe because I was actually CLOSER to it in the main cabin.  In addition, there was a terrible moaning noise from the boom overhead, and the wheel in the cockpit at the rear was screeching horribly whenever it rolled around and turned.  So I tell you what, with Death knocking on the the bow, depravity moaning overhead, and some hideous banshee screaming at me from the cockpit - needless to say - I didn't get much sleep!  We had gone to bed about 9:00, and I moved about 10:30.  I think I got to sleep around midnight.


Then, suddenly, at around 1:00 a.m. the lights come on, and Chris is banging around frantically because it is POURING rain and all the hatches are open!  So I jump up and help him close the hatches because it's raining on to all our clothes, the main cabin table, and three other places as well!  We mop up as best we can, and try again to sleep.  Chris obviously isn't having as much trouble as I am, as he is snoring away peacefully, AND sleeping diagonally on the bed, so I can't even get back in it if I WANT to!  At one point during this time, I think I was roused from sleep by the TOILET smell!  Let's not even get in to that, shall we?  The rain continued, along with the other noises, so now we had a real symphonic cacophony AND all the hatches were closed!  It was stifling!  I think I slept quite well from 4:30 to 7:00 by playing a very repetitive Enya song from my ipod into my earphones.  

Where Buoy Meets Gull - Whitsunday Adventure - Day 5

Saturday’s adventures.

On Saturday we sailed to Blue Pearl Bay – supposedly one of the best spots for snorkeling.  I finally decided that I should go in as well.  So I clawed myself into my rented stinger suit – MAN that thing was TIGHT!  I even had trouble getting the ankles over my heels.

Here I am getting ready to jump in.

After the initial chilling shock, things were fine underwater.  And so now, those of you who have followed my blogs forever know that you now get the FISH OF THE DAY! The one I chose is the biggest one I saw - not in deference to Chris and his need for bigness - but because it's one of my favorite fish because when I was on my first recreational scuba dive up in Cairns, the minute we went down this big Wally came over for attention and actually KISSED us!  (Well, we kissed HIM, but he LET us!)  It is the giant Maori Wrasse!  
These are not my photos but they give you a good idea.   Mine was at least four feet long, and greenish like this, with zig-zag puzzles all over his snout.  I've never been able to POST photos of the Fish of the Day before - do you like this better than just the verbal description?

The coral of the day looked like tasty romaine lettuce leaves, and when I googled it, up came these photos.  Mine was paler green than the first one, but shaped a lot like the second one.  I called it "lettuce coral" - and guess what the official name is?   The first photo is called "lettuce coral" and the second photo is called "cabbage coral"!

            

Now here's a strange thing.  I haven't been a bit seasick yet.  Well, to be fair, I've take a QUARTER of a motion sickness pill each day to make sure and prevent that - that's all I need.  Much more and I get sleepy with horrid dry mouth. Anyway, I was doing just fine in the water, enjoying the fish and the coral.  Then, I put my head up to check on Chris, and all of a sudden, I was quite nauseated with a horrid dizzy headache!  I had to stop and go back to the boat and lay down.  SO strange - that's never happened to me before.  Chris reckons perhaps the wet suit was SO tight it cut off my circulation, but I just can't believe that happened.  Anyway, after I rested for a few hours, I was fine again. 
It was quite lovely there, and very calm.  Almost TOO calm we found out.  (More on that later).  Chris did the cooking again - fish and potatoes tonight on the deck grill!  This is REALLY a vacation for me - yes?  We had some wine and watched the sunset.  

The seagulls were a trip.  ONCE I threw a tiny piece of fat overboard (because I didn't want to eat it), and one gull came and swooped down to fetch it.  Then he flew back and told ALL his friends about it, so that we had the beggars and all their cousins squalling for more!  A couple of them even came and parked themselves on the dinghy in case something else might stray off the table, but NO, I had learned MY lesson, thank you!  

In contrast, the sea eagles were majestic, soaring in to roost each evening.  This is the best I could do with a photo - but you get the idea, they were large and glorious and not squabbling little rats!

We were hooked up to a mooring, which was quite large - about 3 feet in diameter, and of course, quite sturdy.  But we found, since there was no wind, we were at the mercy of the waves and the currents.  That meant that every once in a while, the mooring would loop us around and then bang into the side of the boat - BANG!  BANG!  BANG!  Quite startling, really, and though we racked our brain to figure out a way out of it, we couldn't stop it.  So throughout the night we were awakened by this horrendous banging.
So basically, so far, the days are just great, and the nights are horrid!  Does it get any better?  Stay tuned.

Where Buoy Meets Gull - Whitsunday Adventure - Day 4

Friday’s adventures

Ow, ow, ow!  I guess one find’s out how REALLY out of shape one is when just steering a boat makes one ache all over!  Sigh.  Well, to my credit, it’s not EASY when you’re steering into the wind.   My other owie was when I went up top to stop the main halyard from clanging.  As I walked along the side of the coach house, I stubbed my toe hard on the block, and when I put my hand out to brace myself, my hand went right through the open cockpit window and scraped me all up!  Oh sob.  But I’m a tough old bird, so I’m not limping badly. 

I tell you, one thing we are not used to are the CROWDS of boats about!  After sailing in Fiji, Vanuatu, etc., we’re used to only a couple of boats one place at the same time, unless you’re at a dock.  But even when we were in Apia Harbour in Samoa, there were maybe 20 boats, and THAT was in the middle of tourist season during a FESTIVAL!  So when we bopped into Sid’s Harbour and found 45 boats there, it was quite unusual for us.  We did our best to not “park” too close to the others, but there’s only so much ocean, ya know.

Chris at the helm

So on Friday, we sailed down wind to Shoalhaven Bay, and two more whales on the way (or maybe they were the same ones.)  I’ve actually never been as close to a wild whale as I was today.   They didn’t do anything spectacular, though, so they didn’t take very nice photos.  Steering downwind is MUCH easier, so it wasn’t so hard on my weak muscles.  (Perhaps I should say my non-existent muscles).  We hit a patch of weird wind coming around the point.  Of course, Chris tells me over and over again that points are always the most dangerous.  This boat is not as stiff as Two By Sea, so she heels a lot more, and at one point we almost had our rails in the water, so we quickly dropped the mainsail and furled the jib.  The gusts were up to 25 knots, so that part was just a little bit hairy.  Once we dropped the sails, however, we were just using the motor, so the gusts didn’t bother us as much.  We had a funky little seagull hitch a ride on our dinghy for a mile or two.  He just let us do the work while he sat and watched us pull him along behind.  We’ve picked up a mooring here.  I don’t think we’re supposed to be here overnight, but we’re not moving, so hah!  Chris went in to do some snorkeling, but it was just a tad too cool for me.  The sun is lovely and warm, but the wind has quite a chill to it.  He said the coral was quite nice, and he saw some big coral trout.  For him, big means good!  He doesn’t care if the fish are colorful if they are tiny – they have to be big to make it a “good” spot! 

The gusts that we had while sailing continued through the night.  They are called “bullets” of wind and they were quite disturbing to our sleep – roaring through the coffin with noise and wind.  I had the strangest dreams – I guess because the bullets kept waking me up and interrupting my fantasies.  Once I dreamed that Whitsunday Rent-a-yacht was actually testing our vigilance by stealing stuff on deck and waiting to see if we noticed!  I woke up.  When I went back to sleep, I dreamed that same kind of thing AGAIN, and so the next time I woke up, I actually got out of bed and went up on deck to check.  But…it was all a dream. (haha)  Then I dreamed that I was playing poker and there were four jacks showing on the board, and I had one in my hand!   I woke up.   When I went back to sleep, I dreamed that we were looking for the famous treasure of an Irish hunchback dwarf.  I woke up.  When I went back to sleep, I dreamed that I WAS the Irish hunchback dwarf!  I woke up.  I finally built myself a little head tent out of pillows so the bullets wouldn’t wake me anymore. Chris was surprised when he woke up that he was using just one pillow and I had FOUR!

Where Buoy Meets Gull - Whitsunday Adventure Day 3

We got to Airlie Beach before dark and so went around to see if we could find the place and check out the boat. We had a hard time doing that, as the gal who gave the directions to the place had obviously never driven there herself before, and the directions were ridiculous! But we did find it, and we talked to the people at Whitsunday Rent-a-yacht. The good news is that we WERE being provisioned, even though it was so last minute! Yay! The bad news is that when we asked about where to park, they told us that we had paid for valet parking - $100 for them to drive our car to "secure" parking and bring it back while we were gone for 6 days. Chris thought that was ridiculous, so we did some investigating and found that we could put it in the public lot within walking distance for a grand total of $18! I mean, after all, our car is NOT new or even nice! It's got a dented front end from when the motorcycle ran into us, it's dirty and just plain ordinary, but it runs great, so we keep it.

So after that, we went back and cancelled the valet parking, but we had to pay a cancellation fee of $25 because "they have already reserved that spot for you!" Ugh. This was just a small indication of how the company was going to try to nickel and dime us to death. We also found out that, although we had requested an 8:00 orientation THREE TIMES, they had us scheduled for noon and "couldn't" change it. NOT impressed.

This Jolly Swagman was camped outside our motel.

We found a fairly inexpensive motel with a special on, so that was fine. No visible cockroaches or anything, and we went out to a pub to eat. Then we wandered around the streets (correction, STREET) of Airlie Beach and we found a poker game! We spent a fun evening playing Texas Hold-Em. Chris made it to the final table, and I almost did, but that was a better way to spend our time rather than holing up in the motel room and watching cable TV,

Next day, after some brekkie and some last minute shopping, we got to the boat hire dock about 11:15 - hoping we could speed things up a bit, but no, actually, they didn't get around to dealing with us until about 12:45.

Whales are hard to take good photos of!

We had a faster than normal briefing because Chris convinced the guy (Mike) that he had done a bit of sailing before. We still had to go over all the charts and the danger areas, go over the boat and its switches and stuff, unpack all our provisioning, and then sail off with him to get the mainsail set before he hopped in his dinghy and left us to it. We didn’t get off until 3:00. We’re supposed to be anchored each day by 4:00, but they understood we weren’t going to make it on time that first day because of the late start. (You see, they don't REALLY want anyone in one of their boats out sailing after dark because there is obviously more chance of running into a reef that way!) We were anchored by 5:00, though, were greeted by two lovely whales, and celebrated with a bit of wine and a steak!

Since we only ordered partial provisioning from them, we had some of our own goodies to pack away as well. I thought it was funny that with their provisioning they gave us LOTS of fruit, and very few veggies. We got one green pepper, a couple of onions, lettuce and five potatoes! I would have liked a couple of zucchini or a head of broccoli or some snap peas. Potatoes are NOT the easiest thing to cook on a boat as they take a lot of time and gas – BUT…it’s not OUR gas this time, so we don’t care! Haha.

Chris went in for a dip to check out the anchor, and he said it’s VERY cold! I was happy to just sit in the cockpit and enjoy the sunset and watch the turtles stick their little heads up for a little recco. You can't tell by this photo, but the turtle is REALLY big! He's probably three feet long.

She’s a lovely little boat named Coco. (Sorry I didn't take ANY photos of her!) She’s fitted out below with fake teak laminate and white Naugahyde cushions. It’s very light and crisp! The bow V-berth is small – Chris’s legs have to stick out into space, and it would be VERY tight for two to sleep there. The aft cabin has is filled with a lovely large bed, but VERY claustrophobic as it is so low ceilinged. It’s under the cockpit, see? – so our bedroom roof is the cockpit floor. There is hardly enough room to bend your knees up - you wouldn't want to sit up suddenly in the night! The toilet is nice and new and white and clean, EXCEPT – we haven’t figured out how to run the shower pump yet, and since Chris showered after his swim, the floor is wet – so that’s quite uncomfortable. And, as usual on a boat, many things are a little awkward. For example, when you’re sitting on the toilet, you can’t QUITE open the cupboard where the toilet paper is kept because your knees are in the way. So if you don’t remember to open the cupboard before you sit, then you have to reach into this half-open, awkward space to grab what you can while the cupboard is digging into your thigh. There is a water leak, so the water pump runs almost constantly if we don’t turn it off (so we do!). And since there is a leak somewhere, the bilges keep filling up, so the bilge pumps run quite frequently unless we turn them off – so we DO! But we have to remember to run them once in a while so we don’t get the boat full of standing water!

We were SUPPOSED to be on this adventure with Larry and Connie, so we can thank them for the impetus that got us here, but we miss them terribly! Everything would have been just that much more fun with them around. They had to cut short their trip for a family emergency back in the states. We think about them every day and hope things are going as well as can be expected. However, I think we would have been hard pressed to figure out where to store the extra provisions if they were aboard, as this boat has not NEAR the storage capacity as our beloved Two By Sea. It’s true that I haven’t explored UNDER the seats in the dinette or under the bed, yet, but that’s because I don’t HAVE to – they are such difficult places to get to. (You don’t REALLY want to go tearing up the bed and lifting the mattress to get to your potatoes, now DO you?)

The dinghy is very nice – it is an inflatable, probably 10 feet long with a hard floor and a motor that starts first time EVERY time! That’s a lovely thing!

Chris is a little upset with the anchor set up on Coco, because it is impossible to bring the anchor up by hand! It will go DOWN o.k. but the only way you can bring it up is with this funny little remote control thingy that has to be plugged in at the anchor locker, and there is no manual override. Of course, you can’t STORE the thingy in the anchor locker on deck because it would quickly get useless with the salt water – so you have to go down below to get it. But the main reason he doesn’t like it is because what would happen if the batteries die when you’ve got the anchor half up, or if you lost the thing overboard, which would be quite easy to do, then where would you be? Well, obviously, wherever you had put the anchor down, because you couldn’t get it up again, now could you?

Some things that are quite different from what we’re used to – It’s a really nice refrigerator for a boat – much better than mine on Two By Sea, but it seems to be running ALL the time! On our boat, we turned it off for the majority of the time, and only had to run the engine 10 minutes twice a day to keep it topped up. They tell us we have to run the engine a minimum of two hours to keep things topped up! We finally turned the fridge off in the night because the compressor runs constantly and has a high-pitched whine to it! Also, the reason that we found out that Chris doesn’t quite fit in the V-berth is because there was absolutely not one BREATH of air in the aft cabin, and he couldn’t sleep. Of course, there are no fans in the coffin, and not even any 12-volt outlets too plug in a fan! At least the V-berth has a hatch! Well, to be fair, the coffin cabin DOES have a couple of windows, but they’re not directly over the sleeping area, so you don’t get much breeze. Anyway, after we turned off the fridge and he moved, we both slept fairly well, even though his feet had to stick out over the end. (Perhaps I should have slept there!) But it’s a lovely calm anchorage here at Sid Harbour.

Where Buoy Meets Gull - Whitsunday Adventure Day 2

Wednesday's adventures: So the next day we were on the road...Chris and I have been all up and down the Eastern Coast of Australia. We've been from WAY down south below Sydney all the way up to Rockhampton -several times! We've driven from Townsville to Airlie Beach and back. We've spent a day in Mackay (when we arrived by boat) on the bus. But the road from Rockhampton to Airlie Beach was virgin territory for us!

I am always amused by the roadside signs that encourage the drivers to take breaks and stay awake. These days there are some quite grisly ones - I'm not sure they ENCOURAGE you to take a break, more like they try to scare you into it. My favorite plain variety is the one that says, "Don't sleep and drive." That always cracks me up. Maybe it should say "Don't drive when sleepy." Actually, there IS one that says that. There is a new series of billboards that says "Trivia can keep you alert! Play trivia while you drive." Then they actually offer you trivia questions, such as - "What is Queensland's Floral Emblem?" and "What is the highest mountain in Queensland?" Then, quite a ways down the road, they provide the answers. (Cooktown orchid, which I knew and Mount Bartle Frere, which I've never heard of!)

Then there's another sign that says, "Keep playing trivia - it could save your life!" There are other GREAT BIG signs which says things like, "Still a long way to go, kids!" And I have NO idea what they're for!

Amongst the usual kangaroos and wallabies dead beside the road, I also saw a VERY large pig with it's legs up in the air in the classical cartoon pose, but sadly, further down the road, I saw a very small piggy. So are there wild boars running around North Queensland like in Hawaii, or were these domestic piggies? I also saw a bilby dead beside the road. But the most interesting "on the road" thing was this snake we saw crossing the road. It must have been about five feet long, and it was fawn colored, but the arresting thing was that it's head was up about a foot above the roadway and it was hooded! It was like it saw us coming and didn't like us and decided it was going to bite our car! It was so quick that, though at first I thought it was a snake, after we went past, I thought it might be a dead palm frond! But Chris assured me that he had looked in the rear-view mirror and saw it finish crossing the road and it was most assuredly a snake! We really have no idea what kind it was - and don't really know of any hooded Australian varieties.

Any help out there? Then again, maybe it WASn't an Australian variety, because about 100 meters after that, we passed a Reptile Park. Perhaps it escaped!

We came across a sign that said, "Leap - 500 meters". OK - so what's a leap? We figured it was some kind of escarpment that folks jump off - maybe into the water? But then, when we went the 500 meters, the sign said "Leap hire here". Now I'm REALLY confused! How can you HIRE a leap? What in the heck is going on here?

I have some other roadside questions, as well - Why do they have a sign for Sally Creek Overflow about 10 meters before they have the sign for Sally Creek? Who cares?

Who is Gentle Annie and why did she have a road named after her?

The countryside up there was VERY lush and lovely - it reminded me a lot of Hawaii (where I grew up) with the palm trees, the sugar cane, the greenness, and especially in the shape of its mountains.

OK - I think I've actually already WRITTEN the next two days adventures, so you won't have to wait too long, and we'll actually get into the sailing bit, so that's a good thing! Stay tuned.

BTW - I found a photo of the four of us when I downloaded the pics off my camera, so I thought I'd add that here:

Whitsunday Sailing - Where Buoy Meets Gull

I promised that I would get this up, soon, but I'm a little bummed because I had already typed up this first part SOMEWHERE, and now I can't find it ANYwhere! It's quite frustrating. But...I promised, so I'm putting up at least this first bit today. If you want to follow along as I go, then it's probably best for you to "subscribe" or whatever it is you do with blogs to get notification as to when I continue - OK?

These are our buddies, Connie and Larry - taken in 2009. I don't have a more recent photo and I didn't get ANY of them while they were here! Bummer. Maybe Larry will share some with me...hint hint!

2010. September

Tuesday’s adventures – setting off

The reason we are even ON this adventure is because our friends, Larry and Connie, came over from the States for a visit. THEY are sailors, and WE are sailors, but we’ve never sailed together. So we decided to contact Whitsunday Rent-a-yacht and hire a sailboat for a few days at the end of their trip. Unfortunately, Larry had a family emergency and they had to leave before the sail! Bummer! So we called the company and asked them if we could get our money back. Of course, they said no, as it was too close to the scheduled departure. BUT, they said, if they were somehow able to “sell” our time to someone else, then we would get our money back (minus the $100 processing fee.) So we encouraged them to sell the boat and went about our normal routine. We were scheduled to leave on Tuesday for a Thursday sail for six days and five nights. I emailed them on the weekend, but they responded that they had had no success yet. On Monday, one of them gave Chris a call and said they thought they had someone interested, but they had to pin down the details and we should get back to them on Tuesday. On Tuesday, about 10:00 I mentioned to Chris that perhaps he wanted to ring them. He said, “Actually, they told me to call in the afternoon.” We both assumed that we would NOT be going. So about noon I finally convinced him that it would be good to call, as it IS over 1000 kilometers to get up there!

They not only had NOT sold the boat, they were mystified as to why we would ever even think that they were going to! So we frantically rushed around the house, making "piles" of stuff that we thought we might want to take. Luckily, I had made some lists earlier. However, we had planned on being provisioned by their company, and now, they claimed it was too late for that - our departure was too imminent! You've GOT to be kidding me! That meant that not ONLY did I have to pack clothes and swim stuff and toiletries and entertainment but that I would have to plan and pack FOOD for six days! And I'm talking salt and pepper, and cooking oil, and EVERYTHING that you just take for granted to have on hand in your kitchen! THAT made me seriously depressed. I didn't want to deal with it. I rang back the company and whined at them, but the gal I spoke to was not sympathetic or helpful at all. She said she didn't know anything about it - they did all the provisioning on line. So when I hung up from her, I WENT on line, found the provisioning site, and ordered anyway! We did get a confirmation email, but under the section that said "details of your order" it was blank. Therefore, we really had no idea if we were being provisioned or not. There was no phone number on the website - I didn't want to call back the charter company and obviously, we couldn't sit around and wait for more emails. So we decided to stick some peanut butter and bread, some two-minute noodles, and a jar of my favorite garlic salt into a bag. We would make more lists on the way in case we had to do some last minute shopping. We threw everything into bags and backpacks and hustled out the door, hoping we hadn't forgotten anything REALLY important.

We wanted to get quite a bit of road under our tires, but we had had a late start. So we made it all the way to Benaraby, after the turnoff to Tannum Sands and before the town of Calliope - niether of which are bustling metropolises. However, our GPS (Sheila - named after the iconic Aussie Lassie) lied to us about the motels available, and we were lucky to actually FIND one - on our own - without Sheila's help. (Side note: Sheila is GREAT in the States, but over here, either the chip we have is WAY too old, or Aussies just aren't that accurate about their addresses - we've had MUCHO problemos!)

The hotel would even cook us up some dinner to be served in the room! That's the way Aussie motels in the bush do it, because they KNOW that there's no restaurants around! So we had a pretty good night's sleep and off again early in the morning! Chris actually asked to be woken up at 6:00 a.m. - which is quite a sacrifice for my late sleeper - so you KNOW we still had a long way to go - at least 10 hours!

OK - that's all I can handle for today. More soon.

Could it get any worse?

It was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. I think I'll move to Australia.

No wait. I'm already IN Australia and it's contributing!

I wake up to a miserable, cold, rainy day. I'm already feeling just slightly better than miserable myself as I am just recovering from strep throat. I think I will console myself by having my coffee in the hot tub on the patio. We are out of coffee.

I fix myself a cup of hot tea, a poor substitute, and head to the hot tub. When I open the cover, I am greeted by a cloudy stench of yucky,yellow water, like something has gotten up inside there and died. No way could I put my naked body in that! I will have to drain it. Whilst only in my towel I work out the arrangements of hose and nozzles and manage to get it draining, though I get slightly wet in the process, because it's a miserable, cold, rainy day, and now I'm feeling just a little more miserable myself. And stinky. It's a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.

I decide to go in and drink my tea with my facebook friends to console myself. I can't shower because the water tank is just outside our bedroom window and if the pump is running, it will wake up Chris. (I normally don't even flush the toilet unless it's absolutely necessary.) My robe is in the bedroom. So I bundle up in the only sweater I can find - from the dirty clothes basket in the laundry room. It smells like something has crawled up inside it and died, but at least I'm warmer. I can't find my favorite fuzzy slippers. I have to settle for my least favorite cloth slippers that I try to avoid because I once wore them continuously when I had athlete's foot, and they make my toes itch just to think about it.

I sit down at the computer and take a sip. My tea is cold. I get up to re-heat it and then try again at the computer. The internet is down. I restart the machine, just in case, but that doesn't work either. There will be no facebook this morning. No online comfort, no mindless computer games, no blogging. It is a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.

What will I do with my morning? I decide to work on a craft project my "challenge leader" has assigned but that I don't really want to do . I sort of feel obligated to do it because I'm the president of the craft group. I have to lead by example, right? So I gather up my supplies and head to the living room. I will work on my project while watching TV to make it more fun. But it's Sunday morning. Early. Too early for even the old movies to be on. The only thing on is cartoons, TV evangelists, Spanish news and motocross races. Ugh. How can this day get any more horrible?

Aha! I will watch a chick flick I got at the video store that Chris is not the least bit interested in.

The Traveling Pants - part two. Never mind that I can't remember what any of the characters did in part one - it will be entertaining and take my mind off my miseries. I get the video in and set to hit play and go for breakfast. The kitchen is a disaster area. There are still dishes left from yesterday (I've been sick, remember?) There are no clean spoons. The refrigerator smells like something has crawled up inside of it and died. I grab some yogurt and close it quickly. The counters are a mess and as I clear a space, for my bowl I notice an interesting wrapper and a small round box. I realize that last night, Chris ate a WHOLE ROUND of Brie without even offering me a bite! I am furious. I can't believe how rude and selfish that is. I am fuming, seething, irate, incensed, and very mad. How can he be so thoughtless?

I take my cereal and my yogurt and a dirty spoon back into the living room and arrange my craft supplies around me. I notice out the window my favorite parrot is sitting wetly on the empty bird feeder. Just because I am miserable, doesn't mean my bird friends have to be. So I get up to fill the bird feeders. We're out of bird seed. Great. Let's just all be cold, wet and miserable together.

Depressed even further, I settle back down push play on the DVD. The movie is cute and mindless, but I can't turn the volume up as loudly as I would like (I'm deaf, ya know) because it would wake up Chris. So I turn on the subtitles, and therefore, I either miss a line and have to keep back-tracking, or I don't get much of my project accomplished. Both. The DVD must be scratched because the movie skips. Big chunks of the story line are missing as I have to jump forward to make the movie watchable. I throw down the clicker in disgust. This day can't get much more terrible.

Just about now I feel the urge to take a dump. I look for my book to take to the bathroom, as it may be long one. My book is in the bedroom. At this point, I am so irritated and wretched that I feel like slamming into the bedroom and waking up Chris to GET my book (and my robe and my fuzzy slippers - and take a shower!) But I resist and go to the toilet bookless. It smells like something has crawled up inside of ME and died! Maybe it's the antibiotics I've been taking. I don't linger (and I DO flush!) I guess it's a good thing I don't have my book.

I go back to the living room and try flipping the channels to find something to watch. By now I'm assaulted with cartoons, reruns of Desperate Housewives, Chinese news, and rock videos.

Chris gets up (around 11:00!) and comes in to give me a kiss. I am icy. He asks me if I'm mad. I say yes. He asks me if I'm mad at HIM. I say yes. He asks what he has done? I sort of hate to hit him with a rant first thing in the morning, (well, true, it's almost noon, but it's the first thing in HIS morning) but he is asking for it, so I let him have it. Besides, I am already miserable, might as well have some company. Sorry, he says. But not as if he means it. Not as if it's important. Not as if it will make me feel any better. Just once, and dully. Sorry.

Aargh! It's a terrible, horrible, no-good very bad day!

He goes to check on the internet news whilst I sit seething on the couch and he finds that the internet is down. He fixes it! He tries to be nice to me all day to make up for his part in my terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. Things get slightly better. I get to spend some time on line, I actually got a good start on my project, and Chris is being nice to me. And now that Chris is up, I can take a bath instead of a shower. Maybe I won't have to move to Australia after all.

But now the empty hot tub is looming. I procrastinate cleaning it as it is still wet, cold and miserable out there. But I know that the longer I put it off, the longer it will be before I have that comforting hot water to slide into. I sit around in my bath towel, knowing that I'll have to go climb in there to clean it out and why bother getting my clothes wet? Finally, just around dusk, I gather up my supplies, spend an hour out there, finish wiping it down and stick the hose in to refill it. Then I go in to make dinner. I actually remembered to take something out of the freezer so I'm not scrambling around at the last minute. And I'm fixing "Make your own" pizzas - from Turkish bread and tomato paste and all our favorite toppings. I only burn them a little, but they ARE comfort food and they help. Then, after dinner, I get to watch "The X Factor" which is entertaining, then "Bones" and "Castle" and I actually FINISH my craft project and start on another! Things are looking up.

It's bedtime. I kiss Chris and head for the bedroom, where I hear the continuous sound of the water pump running. OH MY GOD! I have left the water running in the hot tub for FIVE HOURS! THIS is a HUGE disaster, because, as you know already, we are on TANK water and I have been draining it for FIVE HOURS! I run outside in my nightgown and in the dark, grab the hose out of the tub, which instantly wriggles away from me and sprays me, absolutely drenching my nightgown with cold water! I manage to grab it and close the nozzle. Then, since I'm already wet, I might as well splash the excess water out of the hot tub so I can at least close the lid. I am using my arms like blades, sloshing the water out of the tub until the level goes down far enough to close the lid. Then I go in. I have ended this day like I started it. Cold, wet and miserable. And now guilty into the bargain. It has been a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. I'm definitely moving to Australia.

Which way?

Hmmm...maybe living in a retirement village, even temporarily, is having an effect on me. Though I am OBVIOUSLY the youngest person around, it doesn't mean I have the lucid facilities I may need to get out of here!

On Monday morning, I got on the elevator from Dad's apartment (where I am staying) on the tenth floor. I punched the "close door" button, but forgot to push which floor I wanted, so I just sat there quietly, up in the air, with the door closed. Finally I realized that I was not moving, and punched the 1st floor button, but as soon as I pushed it, I realized I had forgotten something in the apartment, and had to go back! I tried to decide if I should ride down to the first floor and then go back up, or punch some intermediary button, get off, and wait for another elevator to go back up, or was there a way to delete the first floor button I had initiated. While I was debating, the elevator actually stopped on the third floor and opened to two little ladies waiting there. "Never mind," they stated, "we made a mistake. We actually want to go up."

"I want to go up, too!" I exclaimed cheerfully, "but I can't figure out how to unpunch the down button."

"Oh no, there's no way to unpunch it, but we may as well ride along with you." So they piled on, and we rode down in a comradely way. When we got to the first floor, the door opened, and a grumpy old man was standing there.

"We're going up!" We announced happily.

He looked at us as if we were all crazy. "You're going DOWN!" He pronounced decidedly. He got in, and indeed, we went down to the garage level, as we abashedly and helplessly stood by. As he got off the elevator, he shook his head and muttered to me, "You're ready to live here, now."

A bit of trouble

On a lighter note, I got into a little trouble yesterday. My dad lives in a huge retirement village - there are individual "cottages",(where my sister, Joyce and husband, Jim live) independent apartments (where Dad lived until a week ago), assisted living facilities, and the health center where dad was staying while he finished his journey. I was on my way back from dinner, and passing through the health center, I came upon a tiny little old lady in a wheelchair, inching herself along with one foot. She wasn't getting anywhere very fast, so I thought I would be kind and offer to help. "I would actually appreciate your help," she answered with a grateful smile.

"That's fine, then," I cheerfully stated as I took stepped behind her wheelchair. I could delay my return to Dad's room long enough to help this feeble thing. "Where would you like to go?"

The answer was "up." So I wheeled her OUT of the health center and into the elevator. (If you are clever at all, you should have already said, "Uh oh!" The real question was, why wasn't I clever enough to think that? She was in the HEALTH CENTER for crying out loud! There are REASONS people are in the health center and not in independent living arrangements! However, I was sure I was being the good Samaritan and helping my less-advantaged neighbor. Other considerations didn't enter into my thinking...yet!)

Once we were on the elevator, I said, "OK - which floor?"

She paused a bit and then answered, "I think it's the second floor, or maybe the third. I'm not quite sure." OK. NOW I had a bit of an inkling that maybe this wasn't a good idea, but hopefully I could pull it off and get her delivered to the right spot. We got off at the second floor and I asked, "What's the room number?"

"I'm not sure. I think I've forgotten. You see, I just had a stroke and my memory is not very good." It was at THIS point that I should have just turned her right around, taken her back to the health center and asked some nurse or aid what was the best course of action! But NOOOOO....I persevered, though feeling more and more uncertain.

"OK," I thought, "The names are on the doors. Maybe we can find hers with very little problem." So I asked, "What's your name?"

"My name is Mary Goodman. But I'm looking for my brothers' room." Whew, I'm starting to feel a LITTLE less nervous. If I can deliver her to her brothers, then THEY can handle her and I'll be off the hook. "But I can't remember their room number. And they might be on the third floor. I'm just not sure." This is NOT a reassuring answer. But I trundled her off down the hall, very slowly, so we can read the names on the doors. It's a VERY LONG hallway, and there are NO "Goodmans" on any of the doors. Now SOME sense is coming back to my brain. ("It's about time," you mutter. "WHAT were you THINKING!?")

"I think perhaps we should go back down to the health center. What do you think?"

"Oh, no, please," she pleaded sweetly, "Couldn't we just try the information phone and see if they can give us the room number?" I was willing to do this, so we get down the hall to the information phone and I hand it to her. She says to me, "I hate taking up your time." But I assure her that I don't mind helping at all. ("Yes," you are thinking, but perhaps this ISN'T helpful!!!") She tries to explain to the person on the phone who she is, and what she wants, but she is very hesitant, can't answer some of the questions, tries to remember, and explains that she recently had a stroke.

While all of this is happening over several minutes, and I am waiting patiently for my next instructions, off pops a capable-looking Security Guard from the elevator, and I feebly and guiltily try to explain things to her while Mary is still staggering with the enormity of the questions from the other end of the phone. After a few minutes, Security Guard takes over the phone. "Yes, BOB," she says, "I'm here." and she tries to sort things out. "I am here by the elevators on the second floor with ..." (she gestures to the little lady who says, "Mary Goodman") "...with Mary Goodman. She's in a wheelchair with...(she gestures to me to give my name and I throw my hands up innocently and say, "visitor".) "...with some VISITOR and she's looking for her brother. OK, I'll hold." (Now there's the FIRST smart thing I've done since this incident started - I DIDN'T give my name!)

"BOB says there is no one named Goodman on the second floor."

"Well," I answered helpfully (??) "she said that perhaps he is on the third floor, she can't quite remember."

"Lawrence!" Mary exclaims, breathlessly. "I remember that my brother's name is Lawrence! L-A-R-W-E-N-C-E," she spells triumphantly, though incorrectly.'

"Lawrence," the security guard repeats into the phone. "Yes, I'll hold."

"Perhaps," I suggest timidly, "perhaps I should just take her on back down to the health center."

"No!" Security Guard states adamantly. "We've got BOB here on the line, and you have to do what BOB says to do, or you're in deep doodoo."

"OK, then," I answer, guiltily relieved, "I'll just leave this in your capable hands and go about my business." And I skedaddle away! Whew! Now I just have to avoid running into Security Guard the rest of my stay here! I DID see her once again, but I ducked into a nearby elevator before she spotted me!

My family was amazed at my stupidity. Jim Ellis says, "Well, remind me the next time I'm in a wheel chair to not let Kathy near me!" And now there is a culprit for anything that goes wrong. "Hah!" they say. "It must have been the VISITOR that did it!"

Daddy

This is a very remarkable fellow. My father passed at age 99 last night. He went because he was ready to go. When he decided to stop taking all his medications (for congestive heart failure) he was given three to five days, and I was called to come to Medford, Oregon to say good-bye. Sister Joyce already lives here, and sister Elizabeth was here helping to look after him while he was in the hospital. On the airplane over here, I was gearing myself up for a frail, feeble, sickly looking man who had just been transferred to the medical center in his retirement village to die. But, though he was thinner, he was sitting up in his favorite chair and greeted me with a smile. "You look great," he said. "Well, you're looking pretty good yourself, " I answered. "I can't help it," he joked.

As the medication wore off and he got weaker, he still kept his mental agility, and was joking up to the very last. When the nurse came in to check his vital signs, she took his temperature and blood pressure. Then she said, "I'd like to listen to your chest." He said, "Well, there'll be an extra charge for that."

One of the nursing assistants came in and was being very friendly. His chart says "Dr. Bushong", so she asked him what was his medical specialty.
"No," he said, "It's a PhD. And you know what that means, don't you?"

"Not really," the aide admitted.

"Well, first of all you get a B.S. Of course, you know what THAT means?"

"Yes, that means Bachelor of Science."

"No, dear, B.S. means Bull Shit. After that you get your M.S. That stands for More of the Same. Then, finally, you get your PhD which simply means, Piled Higher and Deeper. So that's what my degree is in."

After two days off his medication, he told Joyce, "I don't WANT to be 99."

"Too late," she answered. "You're already 99."

"Well, then, I don't want to be 100."

"OK - you won't." She assured him.

"You promise?"

He dreamed that it was all a joke, a cruel hoax and that he wasn't really dying. He was pretty angry with it all, so he asked Joyce if that was true. She answered that no, it WAS just a dream, and he WAS really dying. "Well, why aren't I dead yet, then? I'm supposed to be dying. How come I'm still alive?"
"Well," she reasoned, "You're just not ready yet."

"I am! I'm ready!"

"Well, your body isn't."

"I told it."

"Well apparently your body is just not listening." He looked down at his body and muttered, disgustedly, "The big prick!"

We talked about the memorial service and the kinds of things he wanted. At first he said, "I don't care cause I'm not gonna be there." But Elizabeth convinced him that he was going to be cremated and that therefore he actually WOULD be there - as ashes. Then the next day we wanted to talk about the memorial service some more and he said again, "I won't be there." Elizabeth said, "No, Daddy, remember yesterday we decided that you WOULD be there."

"I changed my mind." He muttered. Then he said, "OK, for the funeral the rules are - you can applaud if you want to. You don't have to stand to sing the hymns. And no spitting tobacco juice on the floor."

One day a woman came in and introduced herself. "Hi there, Mr. Bushong, I'm Joanne, the hospice worker, and I'm meeting you for the first time."

Dad says, "It's the last time, too."

He never admitted to being in pain, but as the medications wore off, he got weaker and weaker, and his body was not functioning the way he wanted it to. As he was confined to the bed, he lost the abilty to turn over, and to even move his arms and legs. He was a big man, and it took two aids (and often a daughter) to help turn him over. One time after one of the aids had to help him pee, he told her, "You may have to marry me." Between bouts of peaceful sleep he would be agitated and frustrated. "Oh boy." He would mutter, or "Oh dear." He was concerned that he was being a burden to us daughters, as we would not leave him in the room alone. We would talk to him and sing to him and try to soothe him and reasssure him that he was doing what he wanted to do and we were going to be fine. But he was still distressed. "Oh dear," he would exclaim. "Oh boy," and once, "Oh girl."

It was amazing to me that he was still so intelligent and quick-witted the whole time his body was succombing to death. His mind never faltered. Such an incredible man. He passed quietly in his sleep at 2:15 on Sunday morning the 25th of July. I will miss my daddy.