November 27 I think

We have been here in Townsville for over a week waiting for northerlie winds.  We have not been idle, however, prepping and painting Hitchiker's interior, in the berth areas and the heads. It is a beautiful blue in the heads with a lighter blue, almost white in the berth areas.  We got new carpet in Cairns, blue, and the cockpit paintjob we did a few months ago is holding out well.  So, a bit of a facelift.  Still have work to do, it never ends, but we are very pleased with our efforts over the past week. 

Townsville is the jumping off place for Magnetic Island, but the town itself is not very touristy.  Not very many backpacker accomodations in town.  David put up notices in the notice boards of a few and we have several interested kids who had time to spend waiting for us to get the northerlies.  Two German guys, Marcus and Felix, and a German girl, Anke, have been to the boat for a look and are eager to go.  Also a call from Jacob and Suze, Australians, who get back today from Magnetic.  The weather forecast looks marginal tomorrow, but better on Monday, so we hope to leave then.

When we were in Townsville many years ago and I went to church, we met Paul and Jenny and have seen them on occasion when we are passing through.  They are coming out to the boat for dinner tomorrow night.  Paul works at James Cook University in the geology section, I think.  Anyhow, they have always been real nice and fun to be with.  We have not really socialized much, due to being too tired after working hard all day.  Our favorite friends, Maureen and Barry, on "Spirit of the Kalahari" (Barry is from South Africa, can you tell?) usually are here because Maureen's folks live here and this is where she grew up.  But, alas, they have moved on to Airlie and with move again south when we get the northerlies, so we may miss them.  I go visit her mom in a nursing home near where we have the boat every few days.  Her sister Zita, is 79 and never married and plays the violin at old folks homes and various venues in town.  She was lamenting yesterday that now that it is Christmas, she has to play Jingle Bells all the time and she hates it!!  She goes to see Frances at 4 pm every day and I can catch her there.  She took me grocery shopping one day and will take me out to Big W and K Mart to look for stuff for my new bathrooms.

Anyhow, next I will be writing from Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays.  Now that most of the work is done we are eager to leave!!  My tan is fading.  I need to be out on the water.  I have books waiting to be read.  More later.

11 November, 2004

Cairns, Australia

What can I say?? We just got back from another great week on the Great Barrier Reef.  We had an American couple and three French girls, two Freanch Canadian and their friend from France.  We were recommended to the girls by Karen, a South African gal, who sailed with us for three weeks earlier in the season.  It was quite a crowd and we had a ball.  I got the new carpet in and new couch covers, the bathroom painted with primer, so I felt like we were in pretty good shape.

The American couple, David and Karen, turned out to be great fun, in spite of the fact that David is a lawyer!  At least he is retired.  He saw a few sharks but never felt he had to leave the water because the sharks would not eat him due to professional courtesy.  Nah, Nah!  He was good fun and Karen even brought some vegetarian recipes we tried.  It couldn't have been better.  They had a 6:25 AM flight this morning so we were up early!!

The weather was perfect the whole week and we did a lot of snorkeling.  The water was crystal clear with loads of fish, including the usual reef sharks, barracuda, sting rays, turtles, and many, many aquarium-type fish.  I have lots of photos, just not sorted yet.

Claudia and Sylvie are staying with us for another week, and we are leaving tomorrow to sail south to Townsville.  The cyclone season is approaching and we want to be well south of it as soon as possible. 

More later.

October 29, 2004

Cairns

Just got back from a fablulous week out on the reef in perfect weather!!  With us were Marianna, a 60 year young Dutch woman who was married to an Arab in Tunesia in northern Africa for 14 years and is now foot loose and fancy free and full of outrageous stories;  Rosaleen, a thirty something Irish girl who lived in Chicago for a while and is loads of fun;  Andy, a 20ish Aussie guy heading to Hawaii and Canada within the next few weeks and super easy to get along with, tolerating us oldies in the nicest style.  We went snorkeling every day, hiking on the islands we came to, and enjoying the sun and water sooo much!  We caught fish a couple times and David is on the boat smoking some as we speak.

The cockpit is painted, the new carpet is ordered, and the sun shades have been hung.  I even have been working on the sanding of the "guest" head (bathroom).  We have a week till the next crew arrive and just hope the good weather continues. 

Till later.  Shirlee

October 14, 2004

Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Hitchiker is back in the river, off Cairns.  A bit of a dinghy ride to the Cairns Yacht Club, then just a few blocks walk into the main part of town, internet, mall shopping, and the grocery store.

Each day we try to get something done on the boat, sanding, fiberglassing, etc.  We hope to paint a bit of the topsides, nonskid surface eventually.  Just now it is raining intermittantly, so what we can do is limited.  We are however, regularly entertainid by our neighbor, The Weaver.  He lives on a little blue homemade catamaran about 12 feet long.  He is an expert on everything.  Just ask him.  He and David can go for it endlessly.  I continue to sand or take out my book, but put my two cents worth in at times.  He used to be a DJ, he is an American, been here for 30 years.  He has no fixed address, no gainful employment, for 7 years he walked from Sydney to Cairns.  He thinks the fact that he basically dropped out of society during that time caused an economic downturn for the country.  He makes a little money showing backpackers how to make this special braided anklet.  He seems to know a lot about computers.

He is sure I can get the warranty to cover my laptop, and I have e-mailed and phoned to the not quite right people and still have no joy.  I miss my computer, but then I have more time for reading mindless books, especially when it has been raining.  It is a good thing we are on our own, because anyone else would be bored out of their gourd by now.  Not us.  We're just taking life easy.

More later.  Shirlee

Well, not for the first time David has made a liar out of me.  We did not go north to Cooktown, but, headed back south to Cairns.  Here we are sitting in the river doing not much, hoping to get our computer repaired, working on boat projects, reading and sunbathing at the lagoon.

We got an e-mail from a nice couple from SF who want to go sailing for a week in October.  Also, our visa is about to run out and we did not want to be stuck up north waiting for northerlies to get us back to Cairns on time.

Andrew is in New Zealand, all our neat kids are off on new adventures.  Maybe we will get another crew together and go out on the reef while we have good weather.

More later.

Sept. 16, 2004

Port Douglas, Queensland

September 8, 2004

Cairns, Queensland

Sorry for the long silence on the journal.  I kind of lost interest in journaling on the boat because one of the backpackers stepped on my laptop when it was charging and broke the screen.  I have kept a brief handwritten log as to where we are each day, but not the usual stuff.  I won't try to backtrack extensively, just the highlights.

We left the Whitsundays with only Andrew and a German girl, Angie.  Pleasant sail with beautiful weather and anchorages up the coast to Townsville, and Magnetic Island.  There we picked up a French couple, Stephanie and Matius.  From there we went to Hinchinbrook Island, an awesome place with a short hike to a waterfall.  When Angie and I hiked up there and realized we were alone, we went skinnydipping, even off the rope swing.  The pool was crystal clear and refreshing. 

From there we sailed to Cardwell, and dropped everyone off, except Andrew, and picked up Evan, a spearfisherman from the Gold Coast who has gone with us twice before.  We had fresh fish every day.  When we got near Cairns we stopped at Fitzroy Island, a very pleasant island with a backpacker resort and great snorkeling.  Andrew went on a tank dive, which is something he has long wanted to do.  Evan speared lots of fish and it was later we realized that there was no spearfishing allowed in that area.  Oh, well.

When we got to Cairns, we picked up Karen, a girl from South Africa who we had been in touch with from Airlie Beach.  For a week we sailed from reef to reef and sand cay to sand cay with another stop off at Fitzroy.  The water is clearer than any swimming pool, sparkeling white sand, and lots of turtles, rays, sharks, and reef fish.  With our catamaran we are able to get into shallow anchorages.  At Vlassoff Cay, I was just looking down into the crystal clear water from the deck of the boat and spotted a perfect auger shell on the sand below.  It is an awesome place.

Today we are heading out again, due to popular demand.  Karen wants to go out for another week, Angie wants to come back on board and she has a friend she met from Ireland, and told about us who also wants to go.  Karen and I met Kim by just asking her the time, and getting into a conversation.  She is from New York and is really keen on going.  Karen met a guy, Marcus, who actually talked to David and Andrew in Airlie Beach who wants to go.

So, since Andrew has had enough of the boat for now, and has taken to the land, that leaves 4 women and Marcus and David and me.  We got loads of groceries yesterday and will leave as soon as everyone gets on board this morning.  We had all the girls on the boat for dinner and introductions last night and had a blast playing cards.  Looks like it will be fun.  I'll try to get some photos on the photobucket site next time we are in Cairns.  Now, you can go to www.photobucket.com and type in [hooperandrew] and you can see Andrew's many photos.  He is a really great photographer and I have been kind of lax taking pictures and without him I will have to get out my camera again.

More later.