Sunday 18 March 2012

A brief sojourn on land

We were going to haul out on Thursday but Jean has put her back out and the osteopath didn't think that would be such a good idea so we are now hauling out on Tuesday.
So, in the meantime we decided to hire a car locally and go to Agnes Water and Town of 1770 about 130 kms north of here on the coast. We were going just for the day but had a problem with a tyre on the car when the steel reinforcing burst through the tread and we had to change the tyre 20 kms short of Agnes. We've never seen that before; the tyre seemed good but it just developed this bulge with all the wires poking through. Just as well we felt the car vibrating otherwise it could have blown out which could have been somewhat catastrophic.
That delayed us so after a late lunch at 1770 we decided to stay the night in a backpacker at Agnes Water. Everything is so expensive up there; the backpacker cost us $80 for a double room but it was pleasant, clean and friendly. Our impression of the 2 towns was that we wouldn't be bothered going back. 1770 was quite pleasant on a river estuary but inaccessible for us by sea as there is a dangerous bar at the entrance which may be pasasble at high tide in calm weather but is very marginal.
Anyway, it gets its quaint name from the fact that Capt. Cook landed there in 1770 so once again we were treading in the footsteps of the Great Navigator. He would have anchored "Endeavour" outside the entrance and come ashore in the ship's boats.
But the overwhelming impression was that everything was grossly overpriced, over supplied and very mediocre. The best part about the whole trip was that on the way up at Rosedale (a historic railway settlement) there was a very good cafe called the Tiny Teahouse. Only opened for 3 months so far but some of the best coffee we have ever tasted and great bacon and eggs!! We stopped there on the way north and also coming back. So different from Agnes as the food was very good value ($7 for bacon and eggs) and very good.
After we got back to Bundaberg we visited the Hinkler Museum which commemorates Bert Hinkler (born 1892) who first flew a glider at Mon Repos Beach and which he built himself at his parents house in Bundaberg. He was fascinated by flying so left for England soon after and worked for the A.V. Roe Company (Avro) at Southhampton. He flew for the forerunner of the RAF in WWI and became well known for his inventiveness and engineering skills as well as actually flying. He flew an Avro Avian which was a single engined biplane with an open cockpit from England to Australia in 1928. An amazing feat of courage and endurance. He then flew a de Havilland Puss Moth across the Atlantic to the US, then to South America and again across the Atlantic and eventually to England again. Sadly he crashed and was killed in the hills of Tuscany in Italy when attempting a repeat of his earlier England-Australia epic flight - this time in the Puss Moth. His 2 story house at Southhampton was much later dismantled brick by brick and brought to Australia where it was rebuilt next to the Hinkler Museum in the botanical gardens. All in all an amazing story of a man about whom outside of Bundaberg very little seems to be known.
Hopefully tomorrow our water maker re-installation will be finished and then it will be a busy 4-5 days cleaning up the hull and then re-antifouling. What fun this cruising life is!! Spent this afternoon in a much more pleasurable activity working on a passage plan for our trip north to Cairns. Consulting the Coral Coast Cruising Guide along with our trusty chartplotter has enabled a workable plan with not too many long passages so it should all be possible with maybe one or two exceptions to day sail with overnight stops.
As this blog is being written Jean has gone ashore to ring Jiveen in the UK. She was covered from head to toe with socks, the aforementioned pink bloomers and head scarf in an effort to beat the Noseeums. They are the biggest downside to staying here and we hope that they may be seasonal and fade away soon. Anyway, we heard some more very good news during the course of that phone call - Jiveen and Jenny who live in Edinburgh have also become engaged! This is the second engagement in almost as many weeks for the Lal Family as Rakesh and Geraldine also became engaged very recently. Must be catching!! Very many congratulations and best wishes from us!
More soon................
Jim and Jean (Gina)

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