Monogrammed towels, sheets, polo shirts, caps...
Slumming it in the lounge area...
OK, how’s this
for spontaneity… get a call on Tuesday afternoon at 3.00 from my friend
Charlotte asking if I wanted to go on a luxury boat the next morning for 3
weeks….. Nike ad bi-line was ringing in my head ‘Do It’…. Couldn’t really think
of any reasons not to…no commitments, no relationship, no job…. so at 7.30am the next morning found me
wheeling my bag onto the shiny timber deck of Gramac V… A name mixed from a little fishing boat
that Graham and Mack owned and that the owner’s Father bought early on.
So now Gramac V
is a $10m dollar watery monument to cutting edge technology and boat
design. Complete with electric
everything (yep.. doors, blinds, windows, rising large screen TV – just wonder
where the persian cat is). It
encompasses 3 separate lift systems for Mick who is disabled and in a
wheelchair, the main lift spans 3 decks.
So who are my
crew… Mick, the owner (who due to breaking his back is in a wheelchair), his
Philippine girlfriend, Salina , Sam (who is a paid member of staff that looks
after the daily running and is an Engineer by trade), Erika his girlfriend
studying Public Health, Mick’s two fishing mates, Ron (who starts drinking beer
from 8.00am in the morning) and Bob (who has been told to lay off the beer as
any more alcohol would kill him) and me.
Average age – 65.. As Mick and friends are in their 70’s and my 49..
doesn’t help to bring the average down!.
As you can see,
an interesting ménage… If we got shipwrecked on an island – that would be an
interesting one for a TV series!
Mick and his
mates (who in their own right own big sailing boats) are diehard old school
fishermen (yep… grates very much with me!). Every fish talked about ends up ‘yeh, ended up with one of
those on the end of the line’ or ‘that one tastes good’. The type of old style philosophy where the sea is there for plunder, and
no problem throwing your garbage into it (Sam and Emily try their best to hide
any garbage so it can be deposited in the right place). When I was introduced and they queried
my name – I said I was half Chinese, Ron commented that he thought Chinese
people were yellow.. and that I didn’t look very yellow!
Still, they are
harmless old codgers enjoying their life… so trying not to be too
judgmental. But certainly biting
my lip a bit. This whole trip is
about fishing, so not looking forward to seeing them kill their first one..
which luckily, they haven’t caught anything yet. When I said I dived they asked if I could dive for crayfish
(must say I would be the only diver who wouldn’t be able to find any!).
My first day I
kept having these awful panic attacks to get off. I just sat at the table all day reading. It’s not one of those boats where you
can laze with a book in your hand
lying on the deck.. as that is covered with fishing tackle and
lines. Also can’t swim in the sea
as still jelly fish season.. so I am just
panicked, imagining 3 weeks of utter boredom, thinking of all the things
I should be doing and wasting my time on this trip, where all I can do is read
and eat. Luckily that evening I
realized that I could pick up internet so that saved my life.
Maybe this is
going to be a bit of a test for me.
Luckily I was dreading having to share a berth with Bob last night –
with his alcoholic red eyes greeting me in the morning, but I inadvertently
locked the door to the bedroom, so he had to sleep on the couch. Because of getting up and 4.00am this
morning after a lovely night with Neil, I slept like a baby in my top bunk last
night (and no disturbances!).
Salina, Mick’s
Philippine girlfriend is very typical Philippine. Big smile, always happy and let’s just say, one isn’t in
their 20’s with a disabled 70 yr old man in a wheelchair in his $10m boat
because you think he looks like Brad Pitt. But saying that they seem to get on very well and I take my
hat off to her as it can’t be easy and she does everything very good natured
and laughing. When they say
money can’t buy you happiness I just have to look at Salina and Mick and his
luxury boat and wonder!
Sam is the only
member of staff and just recently got engaged to Emily. They are in their 20’s and they are the
ones I most communicate with.
My role here is
to come on the trip and help out.. I am not paid but they provide my food and
obviously accommodation and in return I lend my two hands! Not sure about my wit, good looks and
scintillating personality.
Last night I
tasted my first mud crabs… have to say very delicious – and I know there are
many around North Queensland so could reconcile eating that.
I am still considering
asking if I could get dropped off somewhere. I think 3 weeks might be too long. Maximum 2 weeks.
Also I have so much I still want to do and sort out, what with the
Nature Says No and I have decided to do dump truck training for the mines.
Before I left for
this trip Peter, who owns the commercial diving company that I want to work
for, yet again, told me it was going to be some more weeks before he finds out
about whether he can offer me work.
So I am thinking that I just have to move forward….
And move forward
I have decided is what I should do… once I get back from this trip… So not sure
how many days this trip will be.. but we shall see…!
Captain’s Log
10th May – Friday – Ingram Island (Just across from Lizard Island)
Lovely day to day. Untethered the ‘beast’ – the dinghy
tender with wheels (at a whopping $100k price tagt!) and was transported over to the
island. Aaah.. finally, to get wet
and so some exercise. One realizes
that on a boat there is not much in the terms of exercise. Like one’s sitting room on water!
So went for a bit
of an explore and sunbathed (my red back is testimony to that!). Listening to the birds with the
backdrop of Selina’s ‘music’ a mixture of ragathon and Philippine karaoke
classics.
It was so good to
get wet, and see some underwater life – juvenile Tritan Trigger fish and Six
banded Angel Fish. So lovely to be
able to enjoy seeing fish, without worrying that they are going to end up on
the end of a hook!
I get the feeling
though, that this will be a rare day…. Where we can get off and explore. It is ironic that I would love to jump
off the boat and swim round just for exercise, but due to high winds we have
been having and where we are it is a bit difficult (croc infested rivers – highly
inadvisable!).
Captain’s
Log…. 12th May 2012, Sunday – Flinders Group – Kennedy River
At sea time seems
to go at a different pace… a slow slapping, rippling pace.
Certainly for me
the hours seem to stretch into days at a pace that snails would be envious of.
I can say that I
am chanting to myself that this is a learning experience and that this has
become my mantra.
As days stretch
out and internet connection gets more tenuous the contact with the outside
world diminishes.
This feeling of
being at the arse of the world is enhanced by my reading the book ‘River of
Gold’ about the early settlers coming to the region when there was a gold rush
in these parts. Through its
description of the cannibalistic tribes, lynch-law, hangings, gambling dens,
shanty towns, murders, grog-shops the early settlers had didn’t have it
easy. Inhospitable terrain with
equally inhospitable neighbours made it a success for only a small
percentage. Now that the gold has
run out it has left a ghostish feel to a land that now time seemsto have forgotten.
The cannibalistic
tribes were called the Merkin
(which made me wonder, as I thought this was the name for a false pubic
hair piece) and the Myall. They
even coated their spear tips with putrefying human flesh so that any wound made
in this climate would ensure death through major infection (or they would eat
you before infection set in!).
Apparently the
Chinese flesh tasted better than the saltier tougher flesh of the ‘whities’. I would be an interesting delicacy being of mixed white and chinese extraction.
And so it is
against the wilderness backdrop that I sit here on a $10m yacht. Feeling like a bird in a diamond
cage.
I can’t bear to
be involved in the fishing.. which is the main activity here and the guys here
aren’t bad, just of the generation where women are seen, not heard and good for
kitchen, cleaning and bedroom. Salina, the Philippine girlriend of the owner spends all her
time in her bedroom watching movies.
Erica and Sam, as a couple, if not busy are usually ‘holed’ up in their
cabin.. which leaves me alone…… sitting
here with another aching day of hours ahead of me (already gone through two
books!).
Last night I went
to bed at 8.00, as the guys were watching Aussie Rules Football on TV. Erika
and Salina were putting a lure together to bait squid and since there was
nowhere else to be, I went to bed and read. That’s a record.. in bed at 8.00pm on a Saturday night!
If internet was
on , it would be better as I would feel a bit more ‘connected’ but at times
like this I feel very on my own.
So much so, that
yesterday we pulled up alongside a large ship to refuel and I knew that they
were heading for Cairns (ah! 2 days and I would be home!). Last night I made my mind up that I
would ask this morning if there was any space on board for a passage back to
Cairns.
But at 4.00am
this morning the anchor came up on our boat and we chugged for 3 hours to the
Kennedy River – for more fishing!
So tried to not look at the catfish caught first thing this morning
wriggling on the end of the line!
It’s so strange
for me to be on a boat where I can’t get in the water. Chatting to the lady on the fuelling
boat last night she said that she had seen crocs in bays miles away from the
Rivers and in her words ‘you might be all right’ (with the other inference
being …’or you might not’).
I am trying to
get into this Australia vibe.. cos on this trip it is a true Ozzie Experience
and treat this like a once in a life time experience. I was thinking that holidays are where you go and relax and
enjoy yourself. Whereas an
adventure is where you test yourself into the unknown. I can definitely say that this is an
adventure exploring many areas of myself as well as one of the most unpopulated
regions on earth.
We are today in
Kennedy River.
Walter and friend
arrive… ex crocodile hunter (a real life Crocodile Dundee!) and now mud crab fisherman. Due to Government crack down on croc
population he switched to a less glamorous sounding job. Now it looks like the fish he fishes to
bait the crab traps is now under review for protection (Barramundis).
So time to pull out the obligatory tinnies (beers) and
it’s like a men’s club, catching up on
the gossip and the fishing news.
“Many crocs out there - one
got one of my traps yesterday”….
Definitely men’s
club here!
I am thinking
that I will speak to Mick and see if I can get dropped off at Portland Roads. A small European settlement that is
described in the book where ‘mail can be sent, a public phone used and some
supplies purchased’ also ‘possibility of arranging flights in and out). Wish I had internet then I can research
it a bit more – otherwise it is a long way round to the other side before I can
‘jump ship’.
Trying not to
think of the things I should be organizing with my life…it’s strange how
without phone and internet one can feel so helpless! Also with so little notice, there are things which I need to
organize and I just haven’t been able to!
I have somebody arriving today to rent the room in my house… haven’t
been able to contact him to say that I won’t be there.. so just hope that he
will make himself at home without me!
So, I have been
up since 4.00am and it is now only 9.55am (and I have polished all the wood,
hovered and cleaned the floors) . I think drinking grog with the ‘boys’ is off…
At least it is a sunny day (first day there hasn’t been a strong wind blowing)…
Perhaps a sit on the bow sunbathing and.. yep.. read a book! I am going to look like a crispy
lizard or shriveled currant by the end of this trip!
Ron has been out
fishing all day
Footballl is
again on the screen.. all day
Selina is
watching TV in her room
Luckily I got
invited into Sam and Erika’s room to watch Gangs of New York on their
computer. So that helped the hours
go by!
Still no
internet.
Just helped to
get the tender ready…. Laying of the mud crab traps.
Must admit had my
first mud crab taste the other day.
With such an unappetizing sounding name I didn’t have high hopes. But I have to say that it beats lobster
hands down for taste. Mud crabs
were and are a main staple of the
aboriginal diet, and I have to say, beats the mealy grubs and other squiggly,
crawly and grubby things they have!
Erika, Selina and
I had a conversation today.. what’s in a man that makes a deal breaker.. I said
‘bad teeth’, Erika said ‘Mummy’s Boy’, Selina said ‘bad body odour’. Then it occurred to me that Selina is
having a relationship with a man that is paralysed from the waist down, which
made me realize how rather insignificant our deal breakers really were!
Also, found out
that Bob had a Phillipine wife.. according to Salina, the moment that
Philippine girls get their visa for Oz they turn into bitches and they are
off….. which makes me wonder if the writing is on the wall for Salina and
Mick’s relationship! Certainly if she
married him as well which I know after a few comments she seems to be angling
for she would be up for a pretty bumper payoff, thinking that he must be a
multi multi millionaire!
Mick has made his
money from manufacturing trailers for trucks – like the large road trains –
Vawdry trailers.. From
my limited experience I would say that the richest people I have met are all
people that have launched out by themselves into something that is pretty
mundane but with obviously, a large demand!
We are due to be
here for a couple of days....... Just thinking of the poor person who has
arrived in my house with nobody there… (bit like Goldilocks and the three
bears!). Haven’t been able to tell
him that I won’t be there… so he might just find it a bit spooky living in a
strange house and not knowing where the occupier is!
Ship’s Log 14th
May 2012, Monday
Got to bed at
8.00pm and up at 7.00am, haven’t slept those hours since I was about 10 years
old.
Sitting here
eating my muesli and curdled yoghurt, to the sound of the freshly caught mud
crabs moving in the bucket and the smell of freshly gutted fish drifting up my
nostril.
Taken a bit of a
stand (or rather a sit) and switched on the TV for breakfast TV. Run out of books and there’s only so
much ships log one can write in a day!
We are moored up
in Kennedy river for a few days.
Beautiful river fringed with mangroves with eagles hovering and white
cranes and cockatoos flitting between the branches and picking their way
daintily along the muddy shores.
Excitement for
the day – taking the tender out for a trip down the river.
So we piled in
the little boat and went for a jaunt.
Moored up at the side of a bank where there were about four other tented
visitors and where Walt the ex crocodile hunter lived in his modest caravan.
One realizes that
one is never far from other people.
The other 4 settlements were men holidayers coming up for fishing in the
river, drinking beer and by the looks of the tyre imprints in the mud, doing
wheelies in their trucks.
We exercised our
legs and had a walk round the grass tundra and mud flats (not sure what
happened to the trees). A couple
of monolithic termite mounds with no termites, a distant view of a fleeing
wallaby, and identifying all the animal prints in the dried mud which threw up
such suggestions as ‘big cat, dog, dingo, cassowary, emu, wallaby, kangaroo’.
I did mention
this morning to Erika that I had wanted to leave the boat at some time before
the 3 weeks and preferably rather sooner than later.
Ships Log
15.May 2012 - On way to Night
Island
Erika advised me
to stay for Night Island which is supposed to be beautiful. She did say not to mention to Mike
about leaving as he will give me short thrift and literally just take me
immediately to a drop off point.
So keeping quiet
on the leaving front until after Night Island – it’s going to have to be when
we near Portland Roads then I can get dropped off there. Hopefuly with connections down to
Cooktown and back to Port Douglas from there.
Looks like there
will be no internet or phone connection at all for the rest of this trip. So only managed a couple of days at the
beginning. Strange how one is so
dependent on the internet. It has
become my social life and my contact with the ‘outside’ world. Being on this boat is a bit like being
in a house with a watery moat . Flung toether with 6 other random people like
some reality show and then the key thrown away! If I was on this boat with a friend/boyfriend I think it
would be different, but I do feel most days like a square peg in a round hole.
Not Ships Log 16th May 2012 - Alighted onto Portland Roads - back to dry land!
Yep.. Not sure if this was a particulary good decision to get off the boat this morning at a small hamlet of 6 houses - 2 hours away by 4WD drive from anything.. but there you go! Greeted by the one satellite phone - a rather incongruous telephone box placed on the beach with solar panels on the top (didn't accept coins).
Some element of relief, but also looking back it was a lovely week, and glad that it was only a week! Manageable for 1 week, but for 3 weeks I think I would have been riding up the walls (or whatever they have similar in nautical terms!).
So I am staying at a guest house here.. and listening to the radio... Searching for the crocodile that was caught or seen furthest West... Mystery solved.. 2m freshwater croc found in 1999 that was 2m long...
