Monday
13th May
Yesterday on one of my visits to the
ablutions block I found an old sailing codger, gazing out into the middle
distance. He wanted me to explain the
rigging on a nearby ketch. I was less
than helpful but stayed for a chat.
He wanted to know where we had been,
where we were going, the usual marina conversation, so I told him, briefly,
that we were on our way to the Louisiades via the Indonesian Rally, and maybe
also via the Malaysian Rally – the long way round… He sighed deeply and said,
“You wouldn’t want to go to the Louisiades.
They are ruined!!” The Americans,
he went on to say, have completely spoiled these beautiful islands with their
wicked ways. Apparently in the past you
could go the and the people were lovely, honest, hospitable, but now they steal
everything, including the outboard motor from your dinghy, and are most
unpleasant. I blinked a bit and said we
had been there less than 18 months ago and had found the people to be honest,
hospitable, kind…and that the only thing we had lost through theft was a
stubbie holder… OldCodger didn’t really want to hear any of this and said that
we must have been VERY VERY lucky.
I am including a photo of some of the
wicked boys who swarmed all over 2XS, and who only ever took the
above-mentioned stubbie holder to use as an armband. I think earlier I wrote about two of the boys
on Budi-Budi, a very remote little group of PNG islands. One of them stood in
the doorway of the cabin gazing very intently at the cabin. He didn’t speak any English, but his friend
was very smart and very quick to learn anything which came his way. I asked, a bit anxiously, “What is he looking
at?” “He is looking at that photo of children
on the wall. Who are they?” I told him they were my “grannies” and he said,
“My friend thinks they look so nice…”
I have missed several opportunities to get
a photo of a local bush turkey, but I will persevere. They are attractive middle-sized birds, with
very brightly coloured heads and glossy plumage. They make enormous mounds in which they lay
their eggs. Bigger than a crocodile
nest!! Pete and I watched a couple of
them industriously kicking twigs and dry undergrowth and dirt backwards to wads
their mound – they do this in much the same way as a dog buries its poo, with
much scattering of dry matter. At the butterfly
place in Kuranda, there was a very big turkey mound between the main aviary and
the nursery (full of caterpillars and cocoons.)
A handwritten sign explained that the gardeners had been battling with
the turkeys over the years, trying to neaten the mounds, to no avail. They ended up deciding to go with the flow
and now they help the turkeys by blowing all the dry leaf litter towards the
mounds with their leaf-blowers and- all is well, everyone is happy, especially
the turkeys.
Yesterday we had a 2XS lunch, with our
Cairns friends – Bill, Rosemary, John, with a very welcome extra visit from
Billy Knowles with his son Daniel.
(Billy is the creator, on the Atherton Tableland, of the very delicious
silage which I wanted to take home for my breakfast.)
We talked a lot about our trip up the coast
and around the top to Darwin – they are all a great fount of knowledge re all
of this. It all sounds quite wonderful,
beautiful, and fraught with possible crocodile encounters…
We also had a quick visit from some of
our marina neighbours, Jim and Gina, from New Zealand, who are leavign
tomorrow. We will undoubtedly see them
all the way up the coast, and then…on the Indonesian Rally!!
I have just realized that maybe not everyone
can visualize what life is like on a marina.
So out came the Panorama App on my iPhone and here is a photo, 2XS second from left:
I love the idea of the Rally!
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