19th April - Rowe's beach - rudder work

Friday 19^th April

First photo today is…scenery.  Townsville, from Rowe’s Beach.  So pretty, in the sunlight, on the flanks of Castle Hill.  Last time we were here Michael drove us to the lookout at the very top.  Then a few days later, when we took him and some of his friends out to Magnetic Island, he looked at Castle Hill, dreamily, and said, “Look, Ma.  There are people up there.  Looking at us…and wishing they were on this boat.”

I don’t think there are people looking at us today and wishing they are on 2XS… We are high and dry on Rowe’s Beach.  We scouted out this position yesterday – Pete carefully measured, on the pole, how far up/down the tide would have to go so that we could beach ourselves and then un-beach ourselves.  So far so good.  We left at dawn and crept up to the beach, waiting for the exact moment to swoop in.  Majestically.

And here we are, causing just a mild bit of interest in passers-by, who walk along the beach, stop, and scurry home to get a camera.  One of the early onlookers was a photographer from the Townsville Bulletin, who was thrilled to bits with what he thought was our plight.  “What HAPPENED??” he asked, wide-eyed, imagining some minor personalised tsunami which had driven this big strong boat out of the peaceful Townsville waters onto Rowe’s Beach.  I think he was a bit disappointed that we were just here for repairs…

Pete got down to business straight away.  He lay in a small salty puddle under the rudder hole which needed to be enlarged by a millimeter or so.  He patiently rasped away, occasionally changing over to another contraption, attached to a drill.  I sat nearby on a milk-crate, idly passing him whatever gadget he needed at any given moment.  Any curious crocodile coming our way would have been swiftly repelled by a smack on the snout with a rasp, or a reamer, whatever seemed most appropriate to the task.

After an hour or so he leapt to his feet and said he had to go back to Garbutt – I think this is his new spiritual home – to find an 85 centimetre pipe.  So I took my turn lying in the small salty puddle, rasping away and listening, quite contentedly, to my iPod, on shuffle.  Some of the songs were weirdly appropriate – Zombie seemed to fit in rather well, for some reason – In your head, in your head, Zombie, Zombie, Zombie-ie-ie.  Why not??  What else would I choose to listen to while lying flat on my back in a gritty puddle, rasping away at an overhead pipe, mostly with closed eyes??  (Eyes closed because…well because all the metal stuff I was rasping was floating delicately straight back down into my eyes and no, sunglasses didn’t offer any protection at all.)

It is now all set for the rudder to go right back where it belongs – McGyver Headlam has triumphed again.

18th April - Mexican food - rudder problems

Thursday 18^th April

So what did we eat last night, in this splendid Townsville building which houses Cactus Jack, a very busy so-hot-right-now Palmer Street restaurant?

Mexican food!  And frozen margaritas.  Michael, Sharon and I look a teensy bit as if we have been possessed by the devil but I am almost sure this was not the case.

Lindy and John are no longer Tasmanians; they are both very happy up here in northern Queensland.  They are living in a retirement village and recently scooped the pool at a mock-Olympics, in a Tasmanian team, excelling at – darts, bowls, hookey and also at making slightly gruesome but very clever two-headed costumes.

Michael, as usual, was very happy, with a large plate of food and a rum & coke.

This morning Pete and I scouted around in Michael’s golden ute, looking for a place to beach 2XS.  Pete measured this pole; this is where we will sweep in, at high tide, when the pole should be just about under water, and then remain on the sand, majestically, while Pete MacGyvers the pesky rudders until the tide comes back in to sweep us back out.  Or so we hope…

And this afternoon – well we went back to Garbutt, and to Domain, an enormous shopping complex full of…enormous shops.  Pete spent many productive hours chatting to very helpful men about reamers and pullers.  I found a nice place to sit, on a pallet next to a swivel-headed bandsaw, with a view of a fetching display of wire brushes.

17th April - rudder problems - shopping mall

Wednesday 17^th April

Still very VERY hot in Townsville.  And apparently it has been pitifully dry…they missed their seasonal rain, and everyone is just a bit worried.

Last night Michael’s friends came on board for dinner.  They turned out not to be curry wimps at all, so I did add one or two red chillies, and they all seemed very happy.

Here is a photo of twins, Cassie and Hayley, both truck drivers in the army, and very lively, cheery company for us. 

And here is Paul, who is, I think Cassie’s boyfriend… And this is how we treat large male visitors to 2XS when they have mechanical abilities…

All went swimmingly until – oh dear and oh no…some sort of string/ropy contraption gave way and the large heavy rudder went plunging to the bottom of the marina.  This morning Pete hauled out the diving gear and spent a not particularly enjoyable time diving down into the murk.  He couldn’t see the rudder at all, and only found it by swimming into it and bumping his shoulder quite painfully.  This isn’t a  particularly good photo of either Pete or the recovered rudder, but it does show how very big and heavy it is…

Apparently Pete has investigated and found that the port side rudder is exhibiting the same problems.  He has gone back into the backblocks of Garbutt (this is, by the way, one of the most horrid names for a suburb I have every come across,) in Michael’s golden ute to get special tools and bits and pieces.  We told Michael that the ute had been a godsend, only occasionally failing to start, and then heroically rallying to the cause.  “But,” I said, “the aircon isn’t very efficient.’”  Michael laughed.  “No, Ma.  It doesn’t work at all!  The trick is – open the windows and drive very fast!”

And did I accompany Pete to Garbutt??  Well no…I went for a gentle stroll into town, had a cup of coffee, and spent a happy half hour in the beautiful Mary Who book shop.  After this I girded my loins and caught a bus out to Castle ShoppingHell.  I quite enjoyed the bus trip, always nice to meander around unknown areas of unknown cities.  I waited patiently in the heat at the bus stop with a very nice young girl from New Zealand, who has just finished her degree Marine Biology and is waiting, slightly desperately, to get a job in her chosen field.  Apparently only three graduating students have jobs in anything approaching their area of expertise.

Of course the CastleTown Shopping Mall is not hell.  It is a perfectly nice mall.  I just happen to find shopping malls unpleasant and discombobulating.  I was in search of Pete’s birthday present, and some postcards, and I wandered around a bit desperately, like a mythological character in a maze, until I found what I needed.  (The city centre in Townsville is very nice, full of grand buildings with splendid verandahs.  It does have, as I have said, a wondrous book shop, but not much else… Anyone needing to buy stuff has to go to the shopping malls on the outskirts.)

Tonight we are going to a Greek restaurant at the other end of the Strand, with my ex-Tasmanian in-laws Lindy, John and Sharon (Michael’s aunt, uncle, cousin.)  And yes I am almost certain to take a photo of The Food…

16th April - Rump & Ribs - hardware shops - Townsville

Tuesday 16^th April

A hot HOT Townsville day.

Last night Pete, Michael and I walked into town to find a restaurant of Michael’s choice, for dinner.  In the interests of episode #1 – What Did They Eat, I can provide the following photo as evidence:

Lots Of Meat.  We were at a cheery place called Ribs & Rump.  (This would possibly not have been my very first choice but…never mind.)  I had a small fillet steak with many chips and a small sprig of parsley, for vitamins.  Pete and Michael had ribs and MORE ribs.  They were very happy.

This morning Pete and I drove around the light industrial areas of Townsville for many hours.  We went to tool shops and aluminum manufacturers and nuts & bolts emporiums.  Pete enjoyed all of this extremely.  I took of a photo of him experiencing Shock And Awe in a very large tool shop.  This was a strange and wondrous place, magnetically attractive to men, slightly less so (ahem…) to most women.  I was fascinated to find cheery cardboard cut-outs of cheeky chicks with bewitchingly bouncy breasts and cut-off shorts advertising the wares.  I actually think they were surplus to requirement…the men I saw were entranced enough by the proliferation of tools and gadgets.  

I managed to find a nice position to sit and play Words With Friends on my iPhone, wedged on a shelf between a thrilling display of large 7-drawer roller cabinets – Premium or MotorSport.

At one of the stops I thought I would stay in the car.  I took the following selfie seconds after I realised what a bad idea this was…it was blisteringly hot in Michaels golden ute…I think you can see pain, despair and dehydration writ large upon my face.

Tonight I am cooking a very mild red chicken and prawn curry – Michael is bringing some of his army friends, and he says they are curry wimps.

15th April - Cape Upstart to Townsville

Monday 15^th April

Back in MarinaLand.

I do love marinas…so lovely to have yet another ablutions block to explore.  This time we are in Townsville, where we have been before, in November 2011.  I had actually forgotten the glory of this particular shower block, so I enjoyed it all very much.  It was very hot, coming up from Cape Upstart to Townsville, so a shower was more than necessary, and more than welcome, especially as there is no possibility of swimming in the slightly oily yucky marina waters.

It was hot yes, but also very beautiful, and peaceful.  Our only issue was… a very stiff rudder, making it impossible to use the autopilot – it gave up the ghost – too hard, it cried, heading for the (virtual) hills.  So I think the next few days are going to be very pleasant for me, strolling around lovely Townsville, and occasionally uttering soothing sounds to Pete, or handing him a spanner, while he toils away in the hot hot engine hatch… Pleasant for me but not so much fun for Pete.

Any moment now I am expecting Michael, my one-and-only son, who is about to go overseas, and before he arrives at the marina, I will try to find a photo of him and me on 2XS in the Whitsundays – it is very typical of our relationship…