Cairns is a mostly tourist driven small town though the largest along Queensland’s northeast coast. Its marina, one of the finest we have encountered since leaving the US, is within a short walk of the town center, and dock side facilities include many open air restaurants and bars. As if to underscore the dangers of its sea shore, […]
On November 1, following the end of Indy week, we departed the GC through the Southport inlet. Elisa, our new stewardess, and Scotty, a temporary engineer, both Aussies, were on board along with the rest of the crew and yours truly. Winds projected at fifteen knots instead reached a blustery forty and were, along with the attendant seas, coming at us directly […]
I arrived back in Brisbane on September 5 and drove directly to the Hotel Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast not knowing at the time that it would be my home for the next forty-seven days. As a longer stay customer during a slow season I managed to get a reduced room rate and get upgraded to their Imperial Suite, really a three room luxury apartment with kitchen. […]
Grant and I returned home to Florida at the end of July, and I remained there awaiting completion of the refit, tending to a few business matters and catching up with old friends and the family. As the refit work neared completion, I became anxious to get moving again and so returned to Australia on September 5, a good bit prematurely as it turned out.
To catch our flight back to Florida, Grant and I returned to Sydney where our travels began a month before. We had a few days to waste so I walked around the CBD some more, visited some places I had missed and generally goofed off. Grant, however, was bent on a mission that he had secretly begun when we were here last and now was determined to complete. […]