I am skipping a blog for the race from Hobart to Airlie Beach as I never wrote down a thing and now have no recollection of what actually happened on that leg. The one thing I do remember is that we did have a tethered man overboard with our dear Patsy, which gave us each a scare. I was on mother duty when it happened. As we were making dinner, there was suddenly a huge bang as the boat came smashing down on a wave. We looked up the companionway to see what the heck they were doing on deck and we see everyone's faces go white. A huge wave came over as they were dealing with the hanks on the yankee, sending Patsy off the bow where she was sitting and the guys on the foredeck several feet backward. She was quickly pulled back aboard with just a few good bruises to show for it. We are sure glad that was the result and that she made it safely back on board! Otherwise, here are a few photos from that leg:
Some of my watch
We had a crazy pod of dolphins play with us! This is one of the many.
Daydreaming...
We arrived earlier than expected into Airlie Beach so allowed ourselves a quick tidy up of the boat and we got the rest of the day off before starting the deep clean the next day. Posh, Karri, Jan, and I got checked into our quant little hotel room that Karri booked for us at the last minute when we found out we'd be in early. We quickly threw our swimsuits on and took a swim in the lagoon outside our hotel. The pool lagoon wasn't exactly super refreshing with the millions of bodies in it, but it felt great after not showering on the boat for so long! We then grabbed some food and drinks nearby and espresso martinis may have been consumed. After a real shower, we met up with the rest of the crew at Malagans. More drinks were consumed and then it was off to some fish place for dinner where I proceeded to fall asleep at the table from exhaustion. We ended the night at one more bar where we met up with some other crews and danced to some solo guitarist that was playing on a tiny stage.
The next day was an early start at 7 am so we could beat the Airlie heat. We had a quick swim in the lagoon to wake us up before heading to the boat. I was on repairing donuts around the boat and Karri was working on her bow strop masterpiece so Patsy would have something to hold on to at the bow. By the time the afternoon came around, we called it quits to get out of the unforgiving heat. We had a quick drink at the yacht club then it was back to our place for another swim. Karri and I enjoyed the afternoon relaxing and she made us some of her Aperol Spritz to sip on. This is when Karri showed me the hilarious video of a guy pranking his mom and her pranking him...we watched it over and over again laughing hysterically. That is when we decided it would be a good idea to start pranking each other to keep things interesting! It started with a few random screams in the face but slowly developed...
We met up with a majority of our crew that night for dinner at some hamburger joint. A few of us were lost to Patsy's penthouse so when a group of Clipper folks showed up looking for a table, Karri insisted they join our table. I am pretty sure the waitress was none too pleased with our lot but we were having a grand old time drinking beer, rum and gingers, and of course a couple espresso martinis. After dinner we headed to a bar to continue the evening. It was apparently rum and ginger night with our crew as I cannot even begin to count how many were consumed! We met up with more Clipper crew there as the night went on. I don't know how the subject came up, but at some point we were reminiscing about drinking games and the subject of getting "iced" came up. The next thing I knew after we made it to the next bar, there was a Smirnoff Ice staring at me as I rounded the pool table. In true fashion, I got down on one knee and downed it like a champ. And not shortly after there was another one in the pool table pocket! That little shit, Matty! I had to refuse that one as I was still recovering from the first one. The entire rest of the night I was determined to get back at him but I had no such luck...he will simply have a surprise waiting for him when he least expects it! After Jan and I got schooled by Matt and Lukey with his pool shark skills, a few of us continued on to what I think was supposed to be some sort of club venue. By this time, people were in rare form and started to call it quits for the night as a result of the overconsumption of rum and gingers. After a short stint at the club, we all parted our separate ways dreading the early morning to come in a few short hours.
Some of ze boys
We had another early day ahead of us on the boat. Karri, Posh, and I were up early and took another swim in the lagoon where we laughed about all the previous night's activities... Everyone was dragging their heels this morning, but we all eventually made it to the boat to start the day's work. Now remember the prank game I told you about? As it was ridiculously hot out, I decided to prank Karri with our boat hose. As I was working on a donut in the back of the boat, I asked her to come over to look at what I was doing. When she finally (I waited patiently for a good 10-15 minutes with my camera going!) came and bent down to look at the donut, I squirted her in the face with the hose, muahaha...5 points for me! Unfortunately my camera had switched off at this point so I only managed to video squirting myself with the hose as I was waiting!
After working on the boat, we headed over to Patsy's to check out her penthouse suite. Oh my word! I decided I was moving in right there and then. I mean she had three extra spare rooms so it was completely plausible for me to do so. That evening there was a welcome event for the Clipper crew at the Abell Point Marina. We made a quick appearance and then I was off to my place for a quiet evening and packing up for the move into the apartments Tino had originally booked for us.
The next morning was Jan's birthday and we pounced on him with a morning sing song of happy birthday! Then we let him be and Karri and I made our way to the boats. After a quick stint at the boat, we started our scavenger hunt to find birthday gifts for Jan. We not so quickly realized that Airlie beach was too hot to sell merino wool shirts after venturing to several outback stores and wandering the highways on foot carrying lots of bags. We did find some silly gifts and luckily ran into a nice boating couple who offered to give us a ride back to the marina...have I mentioned how nice Australians are? After we made it back, we checked one last store with no luck and gave up the hunt and went and got some drinks. It was at this place that we ran into the lovely local, Christy. We chatted her up for a bit and she recommended a company to use for one of the White Haven Beach excursions that her friend worked at. We eventually made it over to Patsy's to meet up with Tino, Jan, and Posh before heading over to check into our new apartment. Our place wasn't quite as posh as Patsy's but still quite nice, with great views, a swimming pool, and a W/D in the unit...who could ask for anything more! We settled in and the cheeky person I am, claimed the master suite, which Karri will not let me live down!
View from our place
After a quick swim in our new pool, we got ready to go out for Jan's birthday. Our entire crew met up at Fish and Dive which Jan had picked out. We had a fun evening over the dinner table enjoying each other's company. I think at this point in the week, most were partied out and headed straight home after dinner but a few continued on for a nightcap at a nearby bar. It wasn't long before we were all ready to head home for the night and made the trek back up the treacherous hill to our place.
Happy bday!
Thursday was laundry and pool day with Karri where we proceeded to burn the crap out of ourselves even though we put on 50 SPF every 5 minutes...freaking Aussie sun! Then we were off to Patsy's for a BBQ which each of us were helping with, me on 7 layer bean dip, Tino on the BBQ, and Karri with her amazeballs salads! We had entirely too much food as always and decided we would have to have a round 2 the following evening to finish all the food we had. The food was absolutely amazing, just making my mouth water as I am thinking about it now! As the night progressed, I was determined to teach my crew mates how to play flip cup. We managed to get cups however, we were lacking in the watered down beer department so were playing with lagers. After a not so quick explanation from me, as standard, we attempted to play and I think people were catching on as we went down the line. Once we reached Tino, he could not manage to flip his cup for the life of him and caused our team to lose! Not only did he give up on that game, he refused a rematch which is the whole purpose and made us drink to the Roxanne song instead...so not as fun! I'll have to train him on the boat so we can have a proper game next time. I left the party early with Jan and Karri as we had a full day of fun ahead of us!
Prepping the food
Oh yes and a closer look of the 7-layer deliciousness!
Of course dancing to be had with Patsy smiling in the mirror
Patsy enjoying her place
Cheeeeeseburger...nom, nom, nom!
And the most amazing salad!
Failed attempt at flip cup...
Friday, we were off on our excursion to White Haven Beach! It was booked for Karri, Jan, Posh, Tino, and myself but Tino ended up backing out to take care of some other things. When we made it to the marina to check in, we asked the guy who happened to be our local's friend if she was going to be able to make it. He said it was a no go since they were fully booked that day. Well lucky for her, our fifth person backed out, so we told him to phone her up and take his place since it was already paid for. As we walked up to the boat, we were happily greeted by our new friend, Christy! The ride took us over to a section of the reef for a little snorkel where we got to wear the most amazingly attractive stinger suits. At the end of the snorkel I got offered a tow off the back of the dingy to get back to the boat...guess my flippers weren't paddling quick enough! Then it was over to the beach where they prepared lunch for us. Christy had told us previously about the sand which was made up of tiny particles of glass and how you can use it to clean your jewelry. I came prepared and brought my badly tarnished Tiffany's necklace with me which I tested out as we waited for lunch. Low and behold after a few minutes rubbing it in the dry sand, it was becoming shiny and new again!
Group shot on the way out
Such sexy stinger suits!
Janikins...
Yellow fish,
Blue fish,
Karri fish,
And Hobbits fish!
There were other inhabitants that joined us for lunch that day as well. I forget the Aussie name for them, but they were basically huge ass lizards that walked about and tried to attack you for your food! I was on high alert while eating lunch that day! After lunch, I headed to use the restrooms, which were in some makeshift outhouse in the jungle of the beach. I made my way back there cautiously looking out for the lizards and came upon a woman standing outside the stalls looking distraught. I asked if she was okay and then she proceeded to tell me a story of how her friend was in a bathroom similar to this one recently when a spider jumped down and attacked her from the ceiling and then she pointed at the huge ass freaking spider looming on the ceiling of one of the stalls!!!! This thing was the size of a softball! And not a tarantula, but just a big frigging spider with fangs! Are you freaking kidding me! This lady clearly had no idea of my unhealthy fear of spiders. We both dodged that stall and found other ones, but I was on high alert of spiders jumping out at me from every corner of the stall! Then I had the lovely task of making it back to the beach keeping a look out for not only lizards but big ass spiders this time too!
Jan and his lizard
Heading back
Christy was having fun with the camera...
...and made sure everyone was in a shot
That night we had the prize giving ceremony at the marina. Clipper has an awesome way of finding the hottest places to hold these events, ensuring that we are uncomfortable and sweating profusely throughout. Safe to say, we were happy to get out of there and head to Patsy's to finish off the BBQ from the night before. This time, most of our crew made it over and we chowed down happily!
Saturday, I slept in and made some personal calls to home. I love chatting with my sister, it is amazing how well she knows me and can predict everything I say and do! And my poor stepmom! I'm still cringing over that photo! Hopefully your face heals quickly! After my calls, I ran some errands and then hung out by the pool for the rest of the day along with a few water fights thanks to the water guns left by the poolside. Somewhere in between all of this, Karri managed to find a huge dead beetle on the ground outside, which she proceeded to take back with her upstairs to our flat and put next to my iPad where the charging cable gets attached. So later in the day, while Karri is chilling on the porch and Jan and Posh are packing up in the other rooms, I was delighted to find the little bugger, no pun intended, when I went to unplug my iPad! I at first screamed out of fright for seeing something, but then the scream turned into some horrifying death scream when I realized it was a beetle! Posh and Jan (who knew about it and was probably secretly laughing as he came over) came running and I showed them the culprit of the screams...Jan starts laughing and then I catch on! I run out to thank Karri for her lovely prank of putting a fake beetle in my bed (did I mention my iPad was on my bed! Ick), which she replies with, it isn't fake nonchalantly...ah WTF Karri! But it is dead she says as if this is going to make me feel better about it. After much coaxing from Karri and Jan to now remove the dead bug from my bed, Karri eventually did (I'm pretty sure Jan was too afraid to touch it himself) but only after she played with it in front of my face and set it down on my clean t-shirt where it then got stuck and lost a limb to my shirt! Ten points for Karri! She has no idea what is coming during this leg....muahaha!!! That night we decided to go back to the burger joint for dinner since Karri didn't get to try any of Tino's yummy burgers at the BBQ's.
Sunday we got to sleep in a bit again, then it was off to the boats by noon for immigration. The process was quite quick and we had some time to spare before the crew briefing at 3:30. I was sent on a mission to get otter pops or what they call ice Lollys here so we will have something to cool us down for this leg which is going to be a scorcher! I ended up with 15 packages or 48, so I think we should be set for the 30 days we are at sea! Then it was back to the marina for a quick drink, fleet briefing and then our own boat briefing. At the fleet briefing, they also announce who wins the media awards for best picture and video. I happened to step out to use the restroom for 2 secs when they announced my skittle photo was the runner up for the winning photo! Dang it! During the last race, I had the awesome idea of taking a photo of one of the many rainbows we see with a skittles package next to it...taste the rainbow!
We did however lose Posh in the middle of this as she will be traveling around Australia and New Zealand before joining us back on the boat in Qingdao! After the briefing it was back home for us for another swim and a last meal in with the four of us, Tino, Jan, and Karri. I spent the remainder of the night writing all these darn blogs!! Haha. We're due to be on the boat by 8 am tomorrow and then it is off to Da Nang, Vietnam after several hours of motoring out past the barrier reef...
We had a beautiful rainbow greet us on departure!
And can't forget Reero who was with us in spirit visiting Hobbitsland!
No comments:
Post a Comment