The Final Countdown

April 2017 

With the drama and fears of the impact of Cyclone Debbie over for us it was back to the stresses of the last few remaining weeks of clearing out, sorting and packing the last 30 years of our lives into boxes to place into storage. And, yes, you don't realise how much you have collected over the years, how little of it you actually need, yet how hard it is to part with so much of it. 

I advertised the little tractor and the sheep on gumtree and the local buy, swap, sell site and within 6 hours both were sold - we are happy that both appear to have gone to good homes!! The only big things remaining are the fridge and the washing machine - no point in keeping electrical appliances that will be outdated if we are gone for any length of time. It would cost us more to store than to replace anyway. 

You'd think after a near 5000km round trip to and from Townsville we wouldn't want to be getting back in the car for quids, but no, off to Adelaide this next weekend with some things for Phil and to spend time with him, Dolly and Lilly. We had great fun with them, going to the park, swinging on the swings, flying kites, just a lovely relaxing weekend but sadly it was over too soon and we waved goodbye and set off home again. 

Amy came up on Tuesday and on Wednesday we drove yet another load with her down to Melbourne - just a day trip. We will be seeing her again next week. 

Marnie finished up her job in Wangaratta and on Friday she and Jamie drove a truckload of her furniture to Melbourne for shipping on to Tennessee as she leaves on April 27th to rejoin Dylan who left in early January, and Benson (their cat) who flew there late January so they will all be together again at the end of April.  

Dinner out Friday night with Allan and Maree and Bridget and Tim, both families we have known now 20 years as we farmed nearby and our children grew up good friends. We have enjoyed almost weekly dinners with them and for the last couple of years have loved competing in the monthly trivia at the Numurkah Hotel both with or against them. Both of which activities we are going to miss. 

Saturday we declared as a day of rest!!! 

Jamie hit the golf course for a last round with Martin, his golfing buddy for the past four or five years - and to their great delight Martin won the competition for the day. I went and had morning tea with a girlfriend from work and Marnie spent the day with her old friend Claire. 

Sunday we finished filling the packing boxes, took stuff to the tip, cleaned windows, and exhaustedly fell into bed for the last time here at Melrose. Monday morning the removalist men arrived as promised at 8am and were gone by about 1130. We found them very efficient and funnily enough it was a relief to see everything go. We are storing all we wanted to keep for an indefinite period in their storage warehouse. 

So it was just the cleaning that remained and over the next two days, with Marnie and Amy's help - we vacuumed, washed walls, cleaned carpets, polished floors, every cupboard and surface inside the house was done. Jamie, Cal and Martin sorted the outside - mowing lawns, whippersnippering, pool cleaning and path sweeping so by the end of Tuesday all was complete and we could go and enjoy a yummy Indian meal with Marnie, Amy, Grace and Cal. 

Many thanks to Maree and Al who had us to stay for our last two nights once our furniture was gone, Maree even cooked us breakfast each morning!! And to Bridget who came, like a true New Zealander, and assisted in the cleaning process. And Martin who has spent many hours in the garden and on the lawnmower and who looked after the animals when we went boat-looking. We will miss the good and kind people we have come to know over the last 20 years, and Jamie will sure miss Martin's company on the golf course. 

So, Wednesday April 12th, we drove out the drive of 3547 Goulburn Valley Highway for the last time.

Last view of "Melrose" as we drove out the gate

Goodbye "Melrose" you have been a good home, you have witnessed an engagement, a wedding, a couple of fiftieth birthdays, been a great place for all four children, their partners and friends and entertained a small grandchild. Thank you. 


Now let the next chapter begin.

Cyclone Debbie Madness

March 2017 

So we are getting the house all organised, Jamie and I have both stopped our jobs, we are continuing to pack what we want to keep and sort what we are getting rid of and what we are giving to the children - not easy!! 

We are also saying goodbyes, farewells, see you laters - call them what you like, it's a strange and emotional thing to do. 

Marnie and Grandad

Granny and Grandpa

A week ago (11 - 14 March) Marnie and I flew to Auckland to see my dad, then last weekend Jamie, Marnie and I drove to Sydney to see his parents. Marnie leaves at the end of the month to live in Tennessee, America for some years whilst Dylan studies Optometry so she had her immigration interview in Sydney on Tuesday 21st March at the very early hour of 0715 - don't the American Immigration folk ever sleep in?? We stayed at the very upmarket Woolbrokers Inn (read very inexpensive instead of upmarket) Monday night after spending Sunday night in Lithgow with Granny and Grandpa.  

We have a heap of things that belong to the children that we want to give to them before we leave - I'm talking about their things, their belongings, their childhood memories. So we had decided to pack these up and return them. Sure, I know I could get rid of a lot of this stuff - but it's not mine to get rid of or decide what is important to each child, they are their memories to do with whatever they want. So back to them they go. 

We decided to take a load over to Phil in Adelaide on the next weekend - leaving Friday from here and coming back Monday. This means we get to spend the whole weekend with him, Dolly and Lilly.  

Thursday afternoon I was driving home from Shepparton and came home to find Jamie on the phone with Phil, they were talking about what I had just heard on the radio in the car - a tropical storm was brewing off the Queensland coast and the Bureau of Meteorology was anticipating that it would develop into a Tropical Cyclone and it appeared that its path would be towards Townsville. We had left SOL "cyclone ready" but would this be enough? Was there more we could do? It seemed that everything on the television on Thursday night and Friday morning was about the tropical storm - maybe because it was all we were focused on and by lunchtime Friday the decision was made. 

We were going to Townsville. 

The car was hastily packed with anything we intended to take up to SOL and by 2pm we were heading out the gate with a 2379km drive in front of us. Adelaide would wait. All went without a hitch and the kilometres seemed to fly by until about 1000km into our journey, around 1030pm we drove through the northern New South Wales town of Walgett looking for an open petrol station - NONE. The next town, 80km away was Lightening Ridge, but on phoning the local service station there (and probably upsetting the little man who answered the phone by getting him out of bed - he was a tad short with me) we found there would be NONE available there either. So, faced with a 230km drive with limited petrol before hitting the town of St George just over the Queensland border, we slowed to just 80km/hr to conserve the fuel. The gods must have been looking favourably on us though, as during the next two hundred kilometres we must have seen at least five hundred kangaroos and had we been travelling at 120km/hr we'd have hit one for sure!! Not only were kangaroos the only hazards we encountered on the road - we also saw emu, wild pig, owls, and cattle all just wandering on the verge.  

Outboard in cabin

We got petrol in St George then pulled over not far north at the side of the road, spread the old foam mattress topper out in the back of the car and settled down for some rest. A few, too short, hours later we were back on the road with a mere 1200km between us and our boat. We made good time and by 7pm Saturday evening we were greeted by the very welcome sight of Breakwater Marina and SOL. A quick dinner of fish and chips (washed down with a couple of glasses of Canadian Club) and we collapsed into our nice comfortable bed aboard.

Early Sunday morning we added another layer of rope to our already tied mainsail - we did think about removing the mainsail altogether but figured it was going to be impossible to store being fully battened so we couldn't just take it down, fold it and store it inside SOL like we had done with the screecher, jib and stormsail - so we had to leave it in its sailbag but tie that closed after zipping it closed. We removed the dinghy from the davits put the outboard in the forward cabin and wrestled the dinghy in through the saloon door and upended it over the dining table. We then added another set of lines from SOL to the dock - creating a spiderweb effect of ropes so if any one failed there was a backup. By midday we had done all we could do. She was trussed up like the turkey at thanksgiving!!  

Dinghy in Saloon

There was a big risk that if we didn't leave before Debbie made landfall we would get caught behind rising floodwaters. So lunchtime Sunday saw us back in the car and homeward bound. Again we encountered masses of wandering livestock and I guess because it wasn't heading into a weekend we also saw many road trains - huge trucks with three trailers behind, so in many cases overtaking is a big challenge, but the drivers of these road trains are very good. We were home in Numurkah by 9pm Monday having travelled nearly 5000km in three and a half days. 

Would we do it again - for fun - NO !! But if we had to - definitely!! 

Tropical Cyclone Debbie crossed the Queensland coast on Tuesday morning, April 28th, about 200km south of Townsville. Sadly these places south suffered huge damages, but thankfully Townsville and SOL were spared. 

Happy Australia Day

January 25th to 29th 2017

So, Australia Day saw Jamie and I, and Marnie and Phil up in Townsville on SOL for the long weekend, all having taken the Friday off work making a nice 4 day break. This may be the only opportunity Marnie has to see the boat as she will be leaving soon to join Dylan in the States and they will be there for quite a few years.

Jamie, Marnie and I flew up Wednesday evening, arriving in time to get to the supermarket for essential supplies. Jamie went to the marina and opened all the hatches on the boat whilst Marnie and I shopped, thank goodness, as it was extremely hot and steamy inside, still about 30 degrees Celsius even at 9pm so in the closed up confines of the boat the "real feel" was about 130 degrees he said !!!


Marnie relaxing in saloon

Phil's flight from Adelaide was not due until midday Thursday so in the morning we readied SOL for leaving the marina (reversing the cyclone preparations, untying the extra lashing around the mainsail and replacing the jib). We had the lines ready to cast off as soon as he arrived.



Phil & Marnie cooling off behind SOL

The weather was perfect and early Thursday afternoon we left Breakwater Marina for Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island. The sun was shining, a nice breeze was blowing, we had the main and jib up - all systems go !!

But she was so sluggish - not responding to the helm very well at all. Even the engines had seemed underpowered as we left the marina. Very disappointing especially as we were showing her to Phil and Marnie for the first time. Jamie had organized to have a chap clean her bottom before we came up - but this had not been done so the huge amount of barnacles and weed on her hulls was really having impact on her performance.

Still we managed to tick along at about 7 knots. Phil decided to tie handholds in one of the sheets so he could have a tow behind as we sailed and soon both he and Marnie were in the water.

Captain Marnie at the helm

Phil & Marnie chilling on the trampoline

We anchored in Horseshoe Bay and went ashore for a swim in the enclosed swimming area (protected from the stingers - jellyfish - which are prevalent at this time of year), very refreshing even though the water temperature must be nearly 30 degrees. We wandered over to the Marlin Bar and enjoyed some cold drinks - it just happened to be happy hour and jugs of beer only $10.

Happy Hour at the Marlin Bar

Fish, chips and salad for tea on the foreshore followed by another swim then back to the boat for an early night although sleeping is not so easy even with the fans on, due to the high overnight temperatures - Marnie took her mattress out into the cockpit !!! 

It is so stifling hot up here I can fully understand why so many of the boats in the marinas have air conditioners. If I were living aboard, in a marina, on shore power, I'd have one too.

Next morning after a great feed of bacon and eggs we sailed off to Huntingfield Bay where we again swam - this time we all were armed with scrapers and scrubbing brushes and cleaned as much of the hulls as we could reach. Jamie scraped off the rudders and propellers as well which were really caked with barnacles - no wonder she had been so sluggish and unresponsive yesterday !!!



Huntingfield Bay, Magnetic Island  

Lunch at Huntingfield and a bit of a play on the beach then sailed back to Horseshoe Bay (and the happy hour again!!)

We have had had  a couple of minor issues with the fridge - it doesn't seem to get cold enough and the compressor keeps on running. So with Phil's knowledge and help he and Jamie have sorted that - one of the little pumps that circulate the water around the condenser was not working at all and the temperature was set wrong.



Sunset as we head back

Saturday we sailed round to Picnic Bay where we had lunch - a picnic in the cockpit !! Then it was back to Townsville to the marina. Phil's plane was leaving at 11am so we figured we needed to be back in on Saturday evening.

We had arranged to meet up for dinner with Kirk, a mate of Phil's, who had very kindly picked up our little dinghy outboard from where it was being serviced and dropped it down to us on Thursday having also picked Phil up from the airport. Dinner at the yacht club with Kirk and his girlfriend, another Marnie - what a lovely couple - then Marnie delivered Marnie and me back to SOL while the boys went off to the casino for a couple of hours.

It was such a treat to be able to share SOL with Phil and Marnie, and at Easter we hope to have Amy, Grace and Cal join us as well - woo hoo!!

Sunday morning dawned hot again - I think that is all that Northern Queensland has in the way of weather - and after sending Phil on his way back to Adelaide, Marnie, Jamie and I set to cleaning, tidying and cyclone readying. Sadly we had to leave but next time we come to the boat it will be to stay!!! Yippee!!

Swimming Pool at Horseshoe Bay

Tying the mainsail - part of our cyclone prep

Lesson from this weekend - a clean bottom is a fast bottom - never again will she have such growth.

2016 ends - 2017 begins

So today is the last day of 2016 and 2017 beckons.

For us back here in Numurkah, in the middle of Victoria, Australia, it is hot, very hot and since our return to the house here and work we have been spending more and more time just wishing the next few months gone and that we were on SOL. It is so very hard to be enthusiastic about a job when you'd rather be somewhere else. 

We have had a super Christmas, with all our children home for the last Christmas here at Melrose. The stockings were hung, just like the poem says, on the mantle with care - with carrots and milk for the reindeer and beer and cookies for Santa.

Lilly preparing a feast for Santa and the reindeer

Phil, Dolly and Lilly drove over from Adelaide, Marnie and Dylan came from Wangaratta bringing with them Dylan's parents, Kim and Jay who are over visiting from Tennessee, America for a few weeks down under. Amy drove up from Melbourne with Wal and the children's cousin Benny who has moved here from New Zealand, and Grace and Cal came up from Tatura. So the house was full, noisy and fun. Jamie and I sure love having all the kids around and in a sense that will be one thing we will miss terribly when we move aboard, but there will be visits of course.

We had enough food and drink to feed and water a small African country but we somehow managed to get through it all as is usual at this festive time. The Christmas family board game this year was "Taboo"  and this was a great success with everyone joining in around the table after we had finished eating. 

The pool was, as always, a huge hit - Lilly having a ball with everybody there to entertain her and to be entertained by her. She was even in the pool at 7 in the morning on Boxing Day!!! Wearing her new life jacket of course. Christmas Day we had temperatures of nearly 40 degrees Celsius!!! So everyone was in for most of the day - only out of it to eat.

Lilly showing off her new life jacket with her mum and dad

Sadly everything comes to an end after a few days as normal life calls our children back to their homes and lives and Jamie and I are once again just the two of us here in the big house that seems to echo with silence until we get used to it again.

Now after the New Year passes we must get ourselves into moving mode, to decide what we want to keep and store, to donate, to give away, and what we feel are essential items to take with us onto SOL. This is not an easy task of course, with over 30 years of collected possessions to go through and is a very daunting, challenging prospect. We have a couple of months to do it before settlement day, but with each day that passes the hurdles seem bigger. Everything I have read does say it is liberating to get rid of all the stuff that we have acquired but the problem is where to begin...

Seen better days .....

Wednesday 2nd November 2016

We are stuck in a very expensive marina, and have been for 3 days now.

Having sailed off the anchor in Greys Bay, something I was feeling pretty chuffed about, we then sailed down to Abell Point, Airlie Beach on Monday 31st October. This was a pleasant enough sail though there was not much wind - which worked very much in our favour when we arrived here as getting in on one engine was going to be enough of a challenge let alone if the wind were howling as well.

But we did it !!! Number 2 big pat on the back for today - first sailing off the anchor then getting into an unknown marina on just the port engine. We felt good!!!

Arriving at 3pm the first call was to AllMarine Repairs here at Airlie Beach regarding our starboard engine. They sent a really nice young chap, Justin, down pretty quickly. He assessed it and found the problem to be with the exhaust water lock box - this is a part of the exhaust where the mixture of engine gasses and cooling water are before being pushed out of the boat. Because we had an issue with ours, the filthy exhaust water was not leaving the boat, (luckily bilge pump working well). But this was not the entire problem, as we discovered the next day.

Water lock box innards, supposed to be a nice round pipe
not a screwed-up mess!

New water lock box had to be ordered Tuesday - it would be here on Wednesday's courier (God willing) - Justin would fit it Wednesday afternoon. That sorted, we asked him to do a complete service - then we'd have a start date for the future and know just when things had been done. It was Melbourne Cup holiday in Victoria - lucky for us we were in Queensland else everyone would be closed !! Then he discovered the next problem - or maybe this was the reason for the entire problem. The water intake hoses that had been used on SOL were actually not proper suction hose - so when they heated under use and were put under load they just "sucked" in on themselves and this meant no water getting in to cool engine - engine got too hot - water lock innards melted - exhaust going into engine bay not outside - lots of mess and black smoke !!!!! Then when it cooled down and we looked - the oil level was fine, the coolant level was fine - there was nothing for us to see to diagnose the problem. So - we needed proper suction hoses.

Abell Point Marina at Airlie Beach have a concierge car for tenants use - marvellous as we could use this, race off to ENZED and get hose and joiners while Justin continued on SOL.  And the next problem came to light - the port engine water pump shaft and bearings were on their last legs so this needed rebuilding - Ho Bloody Hum - this would not be ready till late Wednesday afternoon.

Birds perched on top spreaders on yachts
Abell Point Marina

We got organized to leave Abell Point first thing Thursday and decided to head back to Townsville. We would leave SOL there at Breakwater Marina for the next couple of months, till the house settled, then come back up to her and do the trip south again - maybe we'd get further next time. 

At first light Thursday we left - and what a good feeling that was, after a totally unexpected and very expensive three days. Even an unscheduled trip up the mast outside Airlie Beach to fix an aerial did nothing to dampen our spirits.

Sunrise just out of Airlie Beach



Very happy captain as we leave the most expensive marina !!

We overnighted back to Townsville, covering the 136nm in 27 hrs averaging just over 5 knots  - not racing speeds, we used the engines a bit as the wind was very fickle - but we were content with our first overnight sail and arrived back at 0800 Friday. 

Time for a sleep !!!

We now had to "Cyclone Proof" SOL as cyclone season runs 1 November to 1 April.

To do this we took down the screecher, the jib and the storm jib and stowed them in the spare cabin. We will tie the main even though it is fully covered with a boom bag but it is advised to tie it as well. We have tied the wind generator blades so they can't fly around especially as the wind increases. We took the outboard motor off the dinghy. Nothing loose can be left outside - there is the likelihood that things can take off in the high winds. Basically it entails stripping as much as you can from the exterior of the boat and securing it inside. We leave extra mooring lines that can be attached should it be necessary.

SOL stripped and ready for cyclone season

PLAN FOR THE WORST - HOPE FOR THE BEST seems to be the motto.

On our way .....

Left Townsville marina 0600 on Friday 28th October for Cape Bowling Green, a handy days sail away. Wind was only 10-15kt SE, not perfect but we didn't care !!

Along the way we had a bit of fun playing with the AIS and then the Auto-pilot. We were happily anchored in the lee of Cape Bowling Green by 3.30pm and dropped the little Walker Bay dinghy in the water and tootled ashore for a walk around. It's a fairly windswept, barren place, with not a lot to recommend it apart from being an important breeding ground for some birds and turtles.



Turtles at Cape Bowling Green

Sundowners were enjoyed watching the sunset.

Sunset, Cape Bowling Green

Next morning we were off to Upstart Bay, 32nm turned into 40 as we spent the day tacking into the easterlies again, Jamie hand steering a lot of the time as we can't seem to get the auto-pilot to work well when we are close hauled into the wind - yet another thing we will have to sort out over time. Again a pleasant, sheltered anchorage in Shark Bay, Cape Upstart.

Fish and salad for dinner is fast becoming just a dream - we have had the line out trolling a great deal of the trip and I have decided that fish aren't found in the sea, but come from a little man who sells them already filleted.

On leaving Upstart we had an issue with our starboard engine - an alarm sounded, so we shut off that engine and on checking the alternator belt seemed a little loose, the engine smelt a bit hot but otherwise nothing much else to see (of course, the socket needed to tighten the belt is a 13mm - we have on board all the even sizes !! so a wrench did the job).

We passed Abbott Point Coal Loading Facility around 2pm - amazing looking place with huge ships waiting their turn to load up at the end of the jetty which is 2.75km offshore. The coal is sent out to the ships on a huge conveyor belt and around 50 million tonnes of coal is exported from here each year and there are plans for expansion which will make it the largest coal port in the world.

Abbotts Point Coal Loading Jetty - 2.75km long !!!

We entered Greys Bay, just out of Bowen at 4pm and when we turned on the engines to anchor, all seemed fine. But not for long - very soon the alarms were sounding again and the starboard hull was filling with thick black smoke which was also billowing out vent holes just above the engine bay into the cockpit. Engine off, anchor just using port engine, take a breath - and a look ..... grimy black smoke film covered the engine bay and the walls of the little starboard cabin. Nothing seemed obvious at first - the belt which Jamie had tightened was still the same, the oil level was good, when she had cooled we could see the coolant level was good too - hmmm - now what.

Then Jamie spotted the water outlet hose for the exhaust had popped off the exhaust water lock box - so that was why there were signs there had been filthy blackish water in the bilge. We put the hose back together, and test started it - pretty quickly it popped off again spraying filthy water at Jamie and around the cabin. Shouts from Jamie had me turn it off really fast.

This was bigger than we could handle !!

We spent a fair time googling Yanmar diesel marine repairs, not being able to do anything more (Sunday night), deciding we would have to get someone out here in the morning, feeling that we didn't want to negotiate our way into Bowen on only one engine. We would probably have to get someone up from Airlie Beach, it being the nearest biggest place.

Monday morning, awake way too early to call marine repairs and faced with a long wait IF we could get someone out to us, Jamie suggested we head for Airlie Beach and get it fixed there.

We sailed off the anchor, and left Greys Bay. 

Let the fun begin ......

Monday 24th October 2016

And so we are sitting here, in Breakwater Marina, Townsville, on our own boat at last.



Coffee and Banana Bread for breakfast - Yum !!

Ron, boat broker extraordinaire, collected us from Townsville airport on our arrival 7.30pm Sunday 23 October. He dropped us at the marina and we reintroduced ourselves to SOL after a nearly three month absence. Luckily she was just as we remembered!!!

After a not terribly restful night - sounds like water running, electric wires crackling and some sort of scratching kept us alert a lot of the time - Monday was filled with grocery shopping, sorting ourselves, finding where things were and trying to figure how they worked then dinner at our favourite little fish and chip place - Simply Tops - on Palmer St.

Tuesday morning 10am Ron took us out to Queensland Transport Department to change the boat registration into our names. Many forms later and parting with $460 to the nice people in Queensland Government, SOL is officially registered to us in Queensland. If we go to Victoria and register her there - only $82/year - we can cancel Queensland rego then apply and (apart from some various fees and charges) will get a refund for the balance of the year !!

Lunch on board in the marina then it was out to sea for our first trip.

A fairly nerve wracking (unnecessarily it turned out) departure - never having driven a 41 ft long, 23 ft wide vessel before - we raised the main and jib (one reef in each) in 18 kts of wind and set off for Magnetic Island. It was a multi-tack trip in the easterly but that was fine as we got in a fair amount of sail handling practice over the next 3 1/2 hours it took for us to get to our  overnight anchorage in Horseshoe Bay.

This is where we encountered our first real teething problem - the anchor winch (witch/bitch) has a power switch - of course - but where the hell was it located ?????

We found the foot switch and remote easy enough - but on pressing both - nothing. No power to the switch. Come back to main switch board - nothing labelled "anchor" or "winch" or even anything remotely like that. Opened cupboards, searched under saloon seat where electrical cable came through. Nothing.

Getting rather frustrated and just a little bit desperate, we decided to drop the anchor by hand and search again after we had the boat secure. No easy task that. It was getting dark, and windier, the chain was wrapped tight around the winch and I had visions of Jamie losing a finger or two at the very least !!! We dropped about 50metres of chain - well it kind of dropped itself such was the force - there was no stopping it it seemed ! But at least we had the anchor down!

Time for a drink - and a think.....
Where would you hide the power switch for the anchor winch??

Half an hour later, after searching just about the entire boat - we found it - of course, in a locker, in the cockpit, behind the saloon door......obviously.

The night passed well, the anchor held perfectly, all those strange noises we had heard when in the marina were non existent out here, must be just marina sea critters having parties.

Rocks that reminded me of Canadian Inukshuk on Magnetic Island

Up to another beautiful day, we decided to set off for Rattlesnake Island, about 20 nautical miles away, spend Wednesday night, and Tuesday afternoon we'd swim around, clutching our scrapers, and clean the growth from the bottom which had built up over the last couple of months lying idle in the marina.

However about four nautical miles from Rattlesnake up comes a very fast, official looking, powerboat - manned by two young gentlemen from the Australian Defence Forces, who informed us that we best be heading in the other direction as they were conducting live bombing exercises on Rattlesnake - So could we turn around and leave now!!

Live bombing on Rattlesnake Island

So back to Townsville it was.

Thursday was spent provisioning for our trip south, refuelling, catching up with washing and generally trying to make sure that we were ready to leave at first light Friday.

A  really pleasant BBQ dinner at Ron (boat broker) and his wife, Gillian, as well as George and Corry, the previous owners of SOL rounded off our stay in Townsville.

We were on our way south.