Pam Lau
12/08/2011, Los Angeles

BODY: Picture: Ted and Sarah at the Amtrak Station near Hollywood

Up-to-date nautical miles: 7,563

We flew back to Melbourne from Tasmania early in the morning and then to New Zealand. New Zealand Air offered a cheaper fare to the USA but we had to spent eight hours at Auckland airport. There were some interesting shops at the airport so I entertained myself shopping while Ted drank latte and read. It took 14 hours from New Zealand to Los Angeles, California.

Sarah, Ted's daughter, picked us up from the airport. We had a great visit with her. We climbed up the famous "Hollywood hill" in the morning and unfortunately forgot our camera, but it is the memory that counts.

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Pam Lau
12/07/2011, Tasmania

Picture: Ted and Rob at the Tasmania Harbor

Up-to-date nautical miles: 7,563

Tasmania is an island off the mainland of Australia on the east coast. It is mountainous and surrounded by large body of water, a great place for a vacation. It is not like other islands that we have been to in the South Pacific. This island is cold... even in the summertime! We were there in the winter a few years ago; we thought we were going to freeze to an icicle. The bitter wind in the mountains penetrated right through our jackets to our bones. Even though it is cold, it is one of the prettiest places in Australia. The place is very rural and covered with trees. Trees always add beauty and bring peace and tranquility to an environment. I have never been to New Zealand but from the images and scenes in movies it reminds me of Tasmania.

The best part of Tasmania was visiting Ted's son, Robert. We visited his coffee shop downtown. What a quaint little place! It is located in an arcade so he was able to put some tables and chairs outside without dust and noise from the street. Unlike chain restaurants, Robert's coffee place is unique and has a "homelike" quality. His wall decoration is framed napkins from customers' positive comments about the shop. What a cleaver idea! Ted and I enjoyed free cups of delicious latte and sandwiches and bacon and eggs from his shop while we were there. Needless to say, we are proud of him! Way to go, Rob!

Rob took some time off and showed us around the city. We went on a short cruise around the harbor and then a tri-motorcycle ride, both with friends of his. The motorcycle guide gave us a short tour and shared some history of the place. It was fun riding behind on a motorbike, especially when the driver drove fast down hills. Even though the trip to Tasmania was short, we enjoyed ourselves with Rob and his girlfriend, Chrissy.

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Pam Lau
12/02/2011, Melbourne

Picture: Ted's Australian/English family: Joan is behind Ted and Jean is behind Geof

Up-to-date nautical miles: 7,563

Old friends are like a pair of old shoes. They are familiar, comfortable and fit well. That is a perfect description of hanging around with Ted's friends from his teenage years, Trevor and Pauline, and Graham. We enjoyed their company. Trevor and Pauline are classic cars enthusiasts. They have an antique Singer open sports car in mint condition, which Trevor rebuilt over many years from the chassis up. Their home contains numerous trophies from many rallies and related activities. Graham is the widower of Diane Osmond and they have a son, Corey, who is married to the lovely Emma. All three are handling the situation as well as can be expected... it is tragic to lose a lifetime partner. Graham reminds me of a big teddy bear, kind and gentle. Ted also spent time with Graham's brother Kevin and his wife Pauline who are semi-retired and spend a lot of time traveling in very remote parts of Australia in their specially designed four-wheel drive.

Besides visiting friends, we visited Ted's cousins on his father's side, Jean, Geof, Joan and Chris. They are adorable! Geof, who is 89, is full of life and humor. He called his skin surgery a "make over". He has sun damage from his years in India with the British Royal Air Force during WWII. Jean is trim and energetic. She doesn't look a day over sixty but actually she is in her eighties. Her sister, Joan is equally charming and young looking. Cousin Chris and Joan's daughter, Margaret, came over for lunch as well. It was good for me to visit Ted's family and experience Australian/English culture since Ted always visits my family.

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Pam Lau
11/30/2011, Melbourne

Picture: This riverbed is near Ringwood North where there is still contained gold. Besides the precious metal, this national park is a bird and animal sanctuary.

Up-to-date nautical miles: 7,563

Ted picked me at the airport in Melbourne. What a huge city! The vast number of buildings and roads spread out as far as I could see from the airplane. Apparently it is as big as Los Angeles, California! After the scorching heat in Bundaberg, I was freezing in Melbourne's cool summer temperature. I immediately changed into my wool sweater and long pants. The temperature reminds me of San Francisco, the sea breeze and damp air makes me shiver even in the summertime.

We stayed with David, Ted's brother and Margaret, his partner , in the Melbourne suburb of Ringwood North. It is a beautiful area with a variety of trees, gardens, flowers and elaborately built homes. I like the region because we only have to drive a short distance and we are in the countryside. Gold was discovered nearby in 1851 and according to David there is still some in the riverbed. If we have more time, I would like to pan some gold someday. It would be awesome to find some, wouldn't it? Much of the river mining areas are now preserved as national parks. We drove to the picturesque Dandenong Ranges and Ted and I climbed up a bushfire lookout tower, maybe about 200 feet high, unfortunately, it was foggy that day otherwise we could have seen the entire valley in which Melbourne is situated. We also spent some time looking for koala bears amongst the gum trees (Eucalyptus). We didn't see any but saw some pure white kookaburras and colorful parrots.

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Pam Lau
11/29/2011, Bundaberg, QLD

Picture: Diane Osmond (1945-2011). This picture was taken when she visited us in San Diego in 2009.
Up-to-date nautical miles: 7,563

Diane Osmond, Ted's dear friend from teenage years, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, November 24th. He flew down to Melbourne right away to support the family especially Graham, Diane's husband, who is one of Ted's best friends.

I felt abandon at first because everything seemed like were at loose ends. The sail makers were repairing our sails and making a sail bag for us. Yes, we are going to upgrade to a sail bag so we can just drop the sail without have to risk one of us falling overboard trying to tie up the main sail while at sea. Beside the sail situation, Ted also left a boom vang part at a machine shop so I had to pick it up. We also had scheduled our boat for "haul out" before we were due to leave Bundaberg. It was overwhelming to say the least. But I also understand Ted needed to support his best friend. Nevertheless, despite my nervousness preparing the boat for storage, I did it! It was a relief. Everything went well; those guys at the dry dock knew what they were doing. One man was at the helm; one man drove the hauling out machine (travel lift); one man on board and two men ashore had boat hooks guiding the boat into the lift dock. I was told that the team had been working together for fifteen years and hauling out boats is their main job. I was impressed with their efficiency. Immediately the boat was on dry land it went through an automatic "boat wash" - just like a car wash, to clean the hull. We have never seen an automatic one before. When it was clean, the hull looked good, despite the "argument" with the reef in Fiji.

The evening of the day of the haul out was the "Port 2 Port Rally" celebration dinner. There were 85 boats in the two-month long rally, which started at any port in the Pacific and ended in Bundaberg in the state of Queensland. Not all the participants were there... including S/V "Freedom Friday". They were arrested the day before we arrived for packing something like 600 pounds (abut 250 Kilos?) of cocaine on board. Four people were charged with drug trafficking. It was the second largest drug bust for 2011 in Australia. Anyway, the dinner made me realize that we made some very good friends along the way and will probably meet with them again somewhere, sometime. David from S/V "Sundowner" is one of those special friends that we truly appreciate knowing.

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Pam Lau
11/28/2011, Bundaberg, QLD

Picture: A pile of boomerangs completed from the sanders.

Up-to-date nautical miles: 7,563

It has been two weeks since we arrived here in Bundaberg. Once again time has sneaked passed us. The "Port to Port" rally people provide some activities for participants to make us feel welcome. We did not participate in all the activities but one was a visit to a boomerang factory. I had envisioned the factory was located in a warehouse in town with at least a dozen or so people employed. My image was totally incorrect. It was located on a large sugar cane farm. They had a set up in two sheds and a lady named Janet owns and operates the factory mostly by herself. They have a computer-operated machine to cut out the boomerangs from a template. The machine also shaves the outer edges slightly to create an aerodynamic design so the boomerangs will fly. Next, they used two different sanders, one coarser than the other, to finish and polish the product. They designated a section of the shed to spray the edges for a special design. After paint is dry, they put on the logo, which is called "Stone's Throw" because they bought the business from a man called Stone. They finish the boomerangs by putting a wax coating on the outside to give a smooth and protective coat for the plywood (smooth, to make it glide better). They sell the product to souvenir stores all over Australia and Asia as well. After the tour of the factory, Jim, the husband, gave us a short lesson on "how to throw a boomerang". To make it come back you have to press the front edge against your palm with your fingers while also pressing the end slightly against your palm. Aim at about one o'clock in the air and give it a quick and strong flick of the wrist. Hopefully the wind will not change its direction. We could also have gone on the Bundaberg Rum distillery tour but it costs $25, too much for our budget. Bundaberg Rum is famous worldwide. Who would think it is located in a small rural area?

Most of the area around Bundaberg is farmland, sugar cane farming. The soil contains volcanic ash and is quite fertile. There is a small hill amongst the cane fields called Hummock Lookout. The local people proudly claim that it is their volcano that last erupted about 900,000 years ago. We saw some rock walls and bases of houses built from volcanic rocks. The "Port 2 Port" people took us up there, which has an excellent view of the area. We were surprised to see how vast the farmland is around this area. We were told that sugar cane is number one cash revenue, number two is tourism and number three is marketing vegetables.

The farming community has its own unique characteristic. We were invited to a function that the "Port 2 Port" Rally organized. It was a $10 dinner for a three-course meal at the local yacht club. The first thing we noticed was there were numerous arcade machines near the entrance. First we thought they were slot machines but it turned out to be a game where the winner gets extra turns instead of money. The club was filled mostly with senior local people playing a raffle for prizes, such as tea towels and vegetables wrapped in meat trays with plastic sheets. I guess that was one of recreational activities in the community. I should mention here that seniors seem to be over-represented in the Bundaberg region for some reason (not surprising really given the average age of farmers in Australia - editor's note). After the excitement of the raffle, a man of indeterminate age with an electric guitar and wearing a long-haired toupee played country and western and old rock and roll music. There were two older local couples sitting in front of the singers who sang and wiggled throughout his performance. They were equally as entertaining as the performer. We felt like we had gone back in time... a typical western bar in the sixties or seventies. I don't know if the food was like that in those days or not... the meal was prefabricated; the meat was much like flavored cardboard and it was one of the worse meals we had in a long time.

Speaking of meals, one of the best meals we had was on aboard David and Gayle's S/V "Fifth Season", a beautiful catamaran from the United States. Marcie and Dave from S/V "Nine of Cups" organized the party. We were celebrating Thanksgiving Day (the day Pilgrims and Indians got together in the 1600's to celebrate the first Pilgrim harvest). Marcie, a wonderful friend from America, did a beautiful job of explaining the terrific evening we shared. Please check out the "Nine of Cups" website: http://www.nineofcups.com/Australia_Queensland.html. She also has some interesting information about the Bundaberg area.

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