Sunday 18^th March

Snapshot: We are moored at the jetty in Apollo Bay.  Pete and I are playing backgammon – a brief interruption from a council official who wants $20.  Fair enough.  We have left James, Michael and Jabba at the corner pub, where we had a very nice dinner (panko crumbed calamari for me, a giant hamburger for Pete, big plates of this and that for TheBoys.)  Oh dear they are back…full of chat…James wants to watch how fast I can type…)

Our trip from Lorne to Apollo Bay was very pleasant.  We had our Attenborough moments – albatross, and seals, napping happily and flapping their flippers idly in the sea.  Later yet another seal was having a wonderful time tormenting a fish, throwing it in  the air, letting it go, catching it again.  Fun on the waves!

The weather was benign, we all felt well – a big improvement on yesterday.  Pete and Crew put up both sails and took them down again, with maximum involvement.  I sat back and…listened to my audiobook…They also pumped out the bilges and formed a bucket brigade.  Yes I did try to help but I was really very supernumerary so… I sat back and…listened to my audiobook…

We got to Apollo Bay about 3pm and were able to go for a nice little bike ride along the beach front.  Two bikes for two people… James, Michael and Jabba had to walk.  They found a comfy pub, and then another one.  The Grand Prix was on the TV.  Pete and I found ourselves, ofcourse, in the comfy corner pub, with two men who were very enthusiastic about the Grand Prix, and also very keen to chat during ad breaks.

One of our new friends, Seamus, was a cheery young bloke from Melbourne, in love with an extremely beautiful Italian countess many years younger (he showed me photos on his iPhone.)  He was possibly just a teensy bit tipsy… I was very amused by his email address.  His surname is Cale and his email address is – seamuscle@whatevermail.  (No there isn’t a whatevermail; I am protecting his privacy!)

Out other new BFF, Linton, was more in our age group.  He is a freelance photographer and sets up cameras at amusement parks – he is responsible for those terrifying photos you see of people screaming on the big dipper etc.  He is also in partnership in a very lucrative and interesting business – retrieving, cleaning and re-selling golf balls!  They employ divers to remove the balls from golf course lakes and ponds in the USA.  They (the balls not the divers!) are then cleaned, packaged and sent off in big container loads.  They sold one million rejuvenated balls last year…

It is getting late… Pete is now involved in a slightly acrimonious game with Jabba.  He beat me most convincingly and this game is becoming more a battle of words than a battle of backgammon.  Some debate is in progress about which direction Jabba might be needing to move his pieces…I think I might go to bed.  We have to leave at 5am to get to King Island before dark.  All things being equal…