Another Day in the Life

O.K. so now it is June 23 and after another really long and tiring stint in the air, we have arrived back at Hamilton Island. The General Store has complied all of the groceries that I ordered by email earlier in the week, so we pack our goodies away and head out, final destination…. Cairns, but of course we will have points in between. Our first day of travel sees us 80 miles north at Cape Upstart to anchor for the night. It is a nice calm night and no swell. We are definitely ready for sleep when darkness falls. Oh wait, it is only 6:00pm, guess we should have some dinner first and then turn in. It is probably the fact that it is the wee small hours at home that has us dragging so. I have also managed to catch (why I'd want to do that…) a terrible cold so am not feeling very swift. Glen will tell you that this is my usual state! The next day's travels have us pulling into the marina at Magnetic Island, just across from Townville on the main land. This is a really nice laid back holiday settlement. Glen and I spend a couple of days hiking to explore the place, because if we rent a vehicle (which we do anyway) it only takes a few hours to drive it. We get to see some wildlife, kangaroo, rock wallabies and koala, as well as lots and lots of birds. There is some WW II relics in the hills - gun stations and communication tower which provide good exploration. Again, we must judge a place by it's food and we had a delightful dinner at the local French restaurant Les Paradise, so this place "rates".  The weather has been rather cool and rainy since our arrival, rather like what we left back in Canada. It took us 4 days before we broke out our shorts. It is running around 23 degrees during the day and in the high teens at night.

 

Another day in a boater's life! We've had a beautifully quiet night anchored in the middle no-where of Missionary Bay at the north end of Hinchinbrook Island. It is sooooo shallow that we are about 1/2 mile off shore in 15 feet of water. The morning breaks bright and sunny and after a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs, we do our one chore of fixing the dishwasher. The silly thing always seems to quit after a month of doing nothing - I guess it gets lazy! It is an easy fix (thankfully) open this, open that, push this button and then that button. Poof! It works again. We've only got a short trip planned today, 18 miles to Dunk Island. Glen goes to start the main engine and…….nothing! Not even a click! It is at times like this that having a "motor head" as the Captain (Glen) is a very good thing. A short time later the engine roars to life, something about "hot wiring"? The starting solenoid (sp?) is gone. Our mechanical knowledge is so great now, hot wiring, pounding things with a hammer, pushing buttons, our prospects are limitless!