Townsville 21 November
We have had a really nice holiday in Townsville seeing the family and eating out at all the restaurants along the Strand. The cyclone has finally gone so we are aiming to leave for PNG in the next few days.
Townsville is a busy progressive city with lots of construction and development going on. We noticed that there are more young people out and about than the Sunshine coast (where there seems to be a predominance of retirees). We went out for dinner on a Monday night and were lucky to get a table. It was as busy as a Saturday on the Sunny coast.
Bill's parents came for a visit for a few days which meant we spent lots of quality time with them and Vashti, Caylan and Craig. It was so special to have 4 generations together. Caylan's kindergarten teacher was amazed when we all trooped in to pick her up! Bill's parents Peter and Gwen stayed in a motel right on the Strand overlooking the water and Magnetic Island only a stone's throw from the Marina. They managed to get on the boat and we had a lovely lunch pouring over charts of where we are going. We were so pleased they made the effort to come. Peter is 80 and Gwen in her 70s. Peter booked the tickets on the internet but made a small error with the departure time this morning. Thinking we had plenty of time to get them to the airport (we were in 2 cars) imagine our surprise when Bill phone to say they were about to board in 10-15 mins (half an hour earlier than they thought) when Vashti and Linda were still on the road...... Vashti is 2 weeks off giving birth so finds it difficult to run! Linda remembered to remove her tweezers from her purse in the car knowing that would be a hold up at security. As we got to security we bumped into Peter, Gwen and Bill. With 5-10 minutes to go poor Granny (Gwen) got chosen for an explosives test! Gwen who is not known for hurrying proceeded to have a 'chat' with the explosives officer about time and daylight saving. She needed to visit the Ladies before boarding so Grandpa (Peter) decided to go ahead to let them know at the gate that Granny would be there soon. Vashti and I went with Grandpa to the gate to see the tail end of the queu disappearing into the plane with 2 agitated airline staff waiting for Granny and Grandpa. 'Where is she?' Grandpa says she will be here soon. A few more minutes and the fellow with the fluro vest and walky talky was getting more agitated. Very pregnant Vashti went off to find Granny. She finally appeared. The airline man said 'You must hurry Mrs A!" Poor Granny tried her best to walk faster. Quick hugs and kisses and then their boarding passes wouldn't work in the machine! The less agitated airline lady fixed the problem and off they went......
Bill's role is constantly changing. Yesterday he was a plumber - the toilet got blocked.......needed a new pipe....the old one had calcified with unmentionable something..... Today he, with the assistance of Admin/Communications officer Linda was a computer technician. We have spent a lot of time on the computer lately. We have now signed up with an American company who have provided us with software/programs to quickly/easily use the internet at sea with the satellite phone. Their support and communications with us have been wonderful - answering our silly questions and assisting us on weekends and evenings within minutes. Our contact person already feels like a friend! I wish I could say the same for our Australian phone company with whom we have had to deal with through a call centre in India........
Now Bill is a sailor preparing ropes on deck. Linda is still the Communications officer. Our roles are fairly clearly defined depending on our level of skills in that particular area. I think it's fairly balanced. Provisioning, storage, organizing domestic/personal affairs seem to fall into Linda's area while technical/physical workings of the boat is Bill's domain. In some ways it's a more traditional partnership with the skipper having ultimate responsibility of the 'ship'.
We have a couple of parcels waiting for us at the Post Office - spare wind foils we ordered (to replace the one that broke on the self steering vane the night we arrived), more charts and software to help us load the electronic ones on to the lap top.
We have to do lots more shopping including a spare laptop, new harness clips and line, a more comfortable mattress for our bed (FIRM foam!), and lots more bits and pieces as well as more BEER! (and a bit more food)
We've heard that customs may come down to the boat but I don't think they are far away to stamp our passports. We're booked into the Marina until Friday but we'll extend until Saturday. A sailors tale says we must never leave on a Friday!! Instead we will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary and Linda's 50th birthday (again!!)
Not long now. It seems whenever we are in port we get caught up in a huge amount of jobs and errands/shopping to do........... It's great cyclone Guba has gone. We've read some more stuff on the internet about Samarai and where to go from there. Kavieng (New Ireland) seems the best spot to leave PNG from for Palau. It was surprising to find out that there are resorts there and boats that take surfing /sailing safaris. Jesse Martin ('Lionheart')runs trips from his catamaran there. Linda found a treehouse place that looked delightful and jokingly said to Bill that it would be a great place to have her 50th birthday. (Would we get there by 4th December?!!!!)
Stay tuned. Thanks everyone for your messages to our Iridium phone and calls while in Townsville. We appreciate your support of our adventure. Linda's aunt Nancy in New York who is an established author suggested writing a book....... Lets see if our journey is interesting enough to others!!!!
Until next time. All is well on board Valiam