Friday 9^th December

A lovely day on the water…once again, the sea calm and blue (the current tugging us in the opposite direction but never mind…), the wind a gentle zephyr (still blown in the wrong direction but, once again, never mind…)

We left Burnett Heads at about seven and arrived here in Urangan, in Hervey Bay, at the very civilised hour of 4pm.  We are hoping to meet up with Anne and Alan Bray, who live hereabouts.  We spent an afternoon with them last year and very much enjoyed their company.  Alan was one of Pete’s lecturers at uni, back in the 60s.  Anne is a very lively woman, full of laughter and opinions.  I am looking forward to seeing her again.  She amused me very much last year, by telling me that she hadn’t wanted to meet me at all.  “I said to Alan, I’m not interested!  Pete has probably taken up with a FLOOZY!”  I said, “Well what makes you think I’m not?” and she, in her turn, found this very funny.

We couldn’t remember where the ablutions block was, although it isn’t very long since we were last here.  I wandered right past it and found a little late-afternoon market which made me very happy.  It was full of things you would never want to buy – bad art, knick-knacks, lurid fish sculptures, handbags made out of jeans bottoms - and the scent of patchouli and incense wafted through the air.  I went into the small chemist shop to buy some essentials, and was greeted by the most friendly pharmacist ever.  He was a plump, bouncy Korean Australian, with the broadest North Queensland accent imaginable.  As he was giving me my change, I asked him, idly, if he knew where the marina ablutions block was.  He was mortified that he didn’t know, and I had to do some fast talking to stop him from shutting up shop and bounding around the waterfront in search of toilets and showers for his customer.