Messed about in boats

Tuesday, Wednesday 9th

Two of the 35s hockey players came over to the Island. They'd been down to the Gold Coast for a few days. They'd been picked up at the ferry and given a tour so I was back at the house from golf before they arrived here. They only stayed a short time before "heading back to Australia" as they say here.

Later I walked to the shops. The ones just near the end of the street have a bakery so I bought an expensive bun, then got given an extra one for free. I ate these while walking to the next lot of shops which had a supermarket. I only bought a paper there, which was what I was after. It is just under 2 kms to those shops so I got a bit of exercise, but probably not enough to counteract the buns. The walk took me passed one of the conservation blocks. Guy cooked a very nice prawn and scallop in creamy sauce with pasta for dinner.

On Wednesday we were going to take the boat out. Guy and Alene were given a fishing boat with outboard by one of the other hockey players who owns a boat factory on a try before you buy basis. They had not got around to the "try" part yet and Guy had worked on it on Tuesday to make sure the motor worked. We cut some sandwiches and fruit and put in water for the trip, then changed into bathers.

The launch ramp is the same one used by the ferries so we had to wait for one to unload before we got the boat in the water. Unfortunately there was a major problem. While the motor started ok, it cut out before Guy could put the lever into the idle position. Until it gets there you can't engage it, so we were stuck in neutral. Eventually we gave up and after waiting for yet another ferry and another fishing boat got it out again.

We skipped the sandwiches and went to the Blue Parrot for lunch. Macca and I shouted our hosts.

Guy decide they needed one more tyrip to the mainland before they leave for Vietnam on Saturday so both Macca and I will go over with them and then catch the train from Cleveland. My ticket to Landsborough some 100s of km North of Brisbane is half the price of hers to the airport. Also, strangely, it is cheaper to buy a ticket to Central station then another to the airport than one from Cleveland to the airport. Go figure!

I contacted carol to let her know the situation. I won't know the exact time till Friday morning when Guy get his time slot on the ferry. Going standby is cheaper but less certain than booking a particular trip.

The sunsets had been pretty bland up to now but last night it was a bit more spectacular and I got a number of shots from upstairs.

We were invited to dinner with some friends of Alene and Guy. There were about 10 of us there eating on their deck. It was a Mexican theme with Margaritas and Mexican food. Both the food and the company were very pleasant. Alene unfortunately is coming down with a bad case of the flu.