The Quest Continues

The never ending bucket list is truly never ending. The more things I tick off the more I add on. I was in Lowe's recently and noticed 4 motorized shopping carts at the front entrance and thought - now's my chance, I've always wanted to test drive one of those, there are 4 there so I won't deprive any other shoppers that might need one so I hopped on and zoomed (well you can't really zoom) around the store. You know who your true friends are when they actually acknowledge that you're with them instead of pretending you're not when you're doing donuts around the store. Thanks Marg, Jim and Lois!!!

This Ain't No Bull

One evening we wandered down to Old Town, Kissimmee. A quaint area of shops and carnival rides as well as live entertainment. We strolled by a mechanical bull booth which was practically deserted. I overheard the man in charge giving a young lady a discount ($7 instead of $10) so I asked jokingly if he'd give me a discount too - $5! Well, for that price how could I say no? This is a photo clipped from the video. In case you're wondering - I did not fall off.

.... and there's more

I have never been so thoroughly wet, could wring water out of my clothes.
Bilge-Rat Barges, Jurassic Park River Adventure, Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls

Universal Craziness

I have avoided roller coasters for over 30 years, ever since my terrifying ride on Space Mountain at Disney. May be hard to believe but I rode these things - not once but twice each. The first one is Dueling Dragons, there are 2 different coasters in one so we had to ride each one - twice!!! Three times you come to within 18 inches of the other coaster. I lost a bet and payment was riding one coaster, don't quite know how I ended up riding all of them twice. The Simpsons ride is also a roller coaster in virtual reality and was just as scary as the real ones!! (rode it twice too). I seem to have become an adrenaline junky.

Dueling Dragons, Hulk, Mummy at Universal Studios Orlando.

The Beach - Florida

Finally made it to a beach, but the water is much too cold for swimming.

Black Friday

Today is Black Friday, the biggest shopping day in the USA. We split into 2 teams, Jim and I were in Walmart by 5:05 grabbing up all kinds of bargains while Marg and Lois went to Staples and Walgreens. I was amazed at how many workers were actually in the store, all with smiles on their faces, being very helpful. Got everything we went in for and if it wasn't for the line up to get a camera would have been out of there in 20 minutes. It's time to go back to bed.

Sailing the Cat and on the beach

Marg & Jim’s friends Ann and Jack have a gorgeous 45’ cat which we had the opportunity to sail on Sunday. But honestly, is pushing a button to raise the mainsail not cheating?


On the beach with my friend John.

A lot of people were catching baby hammerheads - not sure what they do with them - eat 'em???

Punta Gorda Florida

I've come to visit Marg and Jim in Punta Gorda as Gerry has a guest on the boat and 3 is a crowd. It seems that the same curse that follows me to Saskatoon has followed me here. I show up and the weather turns cold – happens every time. Don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining, the sun is shining and there is no snow! Fisherman’s Village had their Christmas open house – free food, entertainment and the stores had some sales. Even with the sale price most of the merchandise was very expensive. I sat on Santa’s lap and told him what I wanted for Christmas – he said he’d do his best.

The Beach - Bahamas

The poor tree in the next photo is trying to survive in the salt water. There's about 6 inches of water, so clear you can barely see it.

Up the Mast Again

This is TB (from Romania) from Coffee Club. He volunteered to try to get the mast/sail problem fixed not realizing he would have to go up 3 days in a row. He finally managed it, they went through a whole pile of different drills, saws etc. but finally the furling plus sail was freed of the mast. It's the long skinny white thing going from the mast, across the boat and on to the dock across the middle of the bottom photo. It still needs fixing but at least now they know what's wrong.

Road crew

Grand Bahama Island has miles of deserted beaches, the trick is knowing where they are and how to get to them. There is a road (unpaved) that was carved out of the underbrush years ago that runs along these beaches but is inaccessible by normal car. If you have a jeep or motorcycle you can get there but then it's a harrowing ride. Evergreens hit you in the face and thistles grab at your legs. We thought we'd do a public service and drive the jeep through, dragging a 2 x 4 with chains attached, and pruning as we go. I thought it was fun but Jimmy (from Ontario) whined the whole time and wouldn't get out of the jeep - what a girl!!!

Now don't you think it's worth the effort, just look at that white sand, turquoise water. The photo does not do it justice.

But for chivalry that would be me

There is always something to fix on boats and sometimes what needs fixing is not in a convenient place. Dulcinea's mainsail is furled into the mast and it refuses to come out. One theory was it just needed lubricating so I was volunteered, being the lightest, to go up the mast and apply said lubricant. So there I was, shaking like a leaf, but game to give it a try when Gary stepped in and said he would go up, but he was mightily impressed that I was willing to do it. So this is Gary up the mast of Gerry's boat (last week). As it turned out someone else would have needed to go up anyway - there was a major problem up there which Gary couldn't fix at the time. It now requires power tools so the next calm day someone needs to go up. I can't use power tools - that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I'm Back in the Bahamas and Florida

I'm in the Bahamas again, just can't resist that turquoise water. On my way I made a surprise visit to daughter Sally and family to see my precious granddaughter Abby - just turned one! She just keeps getting cuter and cuter.

Things haven't changed much on the island, the water is still blue, the sand is still white, the sun is still shining...... paradise. Last week I had my first overnight sail. Can't say the trip to Fort Lauderdale was fun. The wind was directly behind us so the boat wallowed all the way there. The trip back (fastest on record for this boat) was much better, only rocked in 2 directions instead of 8. Had my iPod all charged up so my turns at watch went pretty quick (photo is sunrise on return trip). Freighters and cruise ships don't get out of the way of small sailboats so someone has to be awake at all times.

Attended Fantasy Fest in Key West again (thanks for the hospitality Norm and Ginny). Shopped till we dropped for provisions that are expensive in Freeport and things that you just can't get there.

Went to a beach in Miami where this friendly fellow came to welcome us. Seems it was a clothing optional beach - heaven's to Betsy!!!!

Leaving the Land Down Under

It's been fun, but I'm taking a break from the blog and leaving the land down under, with regret but it's just too hard living with someone with OCD and who has no love for the water, try though he did. Sorry.

Me Tarzan, You Jane

Another thing off my list - jumping from a rope into the old swimming hole. Degree of difficulty 8.5; execution 1.5; chance of crocodile variable.

Surf's Up

This weekend I managed to check off another item on my list of things to do, zip lining through the trees (I had a list before the movie Bucket List came out).

Two hours north of Cairns lies Cape Tribulation. As far as hostels go, the one we picked was looking good until we discovered that the power goes out every night at 11 which signals the orange footed bush fowl to start their maniacal loud screaming and the resident rodent to come in and look for dinner. Managed to chase the rodent out but not before it chewed a hole in my purse trying to get at my raspberry lip gloss. They warned us to not bring food into the cabin but neglected to mention lip gloss.

Meanwhile, back to the list. High above the floor of the rain forest, in the canopy, one has the opportunity to "surf" the jungle. The only thing between you and a 74 foot drop was a harness, a cable and a rope or 2. Don't mind telling you I was scared to death (fear of heights) but there was no other way down to terra firma but to ride the zip line through the jungle. Quite frankly I had no choice after "forcing" Chris to come along. Was finally getting the hang of it (LOL) and thought the last one would be a piece of cake until we found out you have to hang upside down or they keep pulling you back to the platform. As you can see from the photo I did it!!!!

Incy Wincy Spider

Found this little old spider in the garage, still waiting to find a really really big one.





Something big I do find around here is those really ugly cane toads; introduced to eat the scarab beetles in the 30s (they don't). They are poisonous and are killing the native animals that usually eat toads and frogs. And there's more bad news - they are evolving (since the 60s) and are becoming faster, therefore are spreading faster throughout the country. Good news some snakes are evolving too - smaller mouths, longer bodies so they can only eat smaller toads which have less poison. Some birds have learned to flip the toads over and eat them (poison is on their backs). The law sort of protect the toads, you have to kill them "humanely." One way is put them in the freezer. Now doesn't that sound yummy. Just found out that people are putting cat food beside the ponds that have emerging baby toads. A type of ant is attracted to the cat food and they attack the baby toads, killing them.

Line Dancing 101

This morning was my first ever line dancing class and, hold on to your boots, I loved it!! I'm sure a few of you are saying, what a minute back the truck up, is this not the same person who avoided country and western music at all costs? I've seen the light, C & W music is good for something after all, but it's not all C&W, we did the cha cha and the waltz. There's 10 in the class, 3 of us had our first class today and for a change I'm not the oldest. I have to take my hat off to the other students, they're all about 10 years older than me and they just breezed through the 2 hour class. Tomorrow morning is the intermediate class (2.5 hours) and the instructor says since I have seem to have a bit of talent (got her fooled) I could come along if I like. Price is a bargain - $5.00.

Graduation Day

Today we completed the 6 week J24 training classes and naturally we all passed. Another windy, gusty day - one of the boats tipped over, sails right into the water but righted themselves - glad it wasn't us. Got to try out my new sailing gloves they do save your hands from blisters, unfortunately they could also give people the impression that you know what you're doing! The only tragic part is that despite Chris going through the course twice (once before I came back) is that the instructor said: "Chris, maybe you should take up golf."

Who Sails in the Rain?????

Friday night, another sailing opportunity. We did this 2 weeks ago and there was no wind, this time there's wind but also rain. Just as we're finishing up the BBQ dinner it just poured down and we assumed (or hoped) the skippers would change their minds (come to their senses) and call the whole thing off. Was not to be and we (read I) didn't want to chicken out so we jumped onto the "Welsh Dragon" hoisted the sails and ventured out into the damp night. Fortunately it stopped raining (mostly) and turned out to be quite entertaining. The skipper and first mate exchanged a lot of jibes, told stories and basically kept us entertained. Not a bad deal - BBQ, entertainment, city lights, and sailing for $5.

And the winner is.....

The winner is Sundowner once again on Wednesday afternoon and for a change I had a hand in it. Instead of being ballast I womaned the port jib sail winch and both backstay winches. As you can see by the photo I also played skipper while the rest of the working crew took down the sails. The owner of the boat for some reason took over once we were close to the dock. Was a grand day for sailing, or some thought, a lot of the skippers chose not to sail because the wind was strong and very gusty, good weather for wrecking bits and pieces of your boat. The wind was so unpredictable that at one point I got wet because we heeled over suddenly and the person on the main sail didn't let it out fast enough. I should explain that to effectively haul on the jib sheet I had to straddle the back of the cockpit seat hence my leg was perilously close to the ocean at times. I also managed to get the old sailing white knees which was rather strange since the boat was turquoise.

Holy Sierra hotel india tango

That's what I said last night on my way home from tribal dance class. I was driving home the back roads which run through cane fields when I had to swerve around a giant snake (yellowish in colour, might have been a carpet python). I've swerved around a lot of different things in the past but a python, never thought that would happen!!! It's body was almost the thickness of my fist so it was probably a few metres in length. Pity some of it was in the grass so I couldn't see how long it was. I turned the car around to go back for a better look but alas, it was gone!

Check out this website for a short clip on brush turkeys and a sneaky scrub python.
http://www.wildaction.com.au/movies/movie_8.html

In my backyard

Bandicoot: nocturnal marsupial, spotted just tonight. Gestation period is an amazing 12.5 days (rabbits 30) they're about the size of a small rabbit or large rat. Took the photo of the brush turkeys the other day, the other got from Wikipedia. They lay eggs in a communal mound nest that the male tends. The last one is a bright green tree frog.

Cairns

Photos of Cairns. The lagoon (turquoise triangular pool right foreground) is man made. The city council wisely had the lagoon built since there is no beach in this area and when the tide is out it reveals acres of quite ugly mud flats (other photo). It’s a well used tourist gathering place for those seeking the sun and don't want to make the drive to a beach. The view is from the sea, the water in the background is the inlet where you can find the Cairns Yacht Club, Cairns Cruising Squadron, Navy yard, and lots of moored boats which we try not to hit during our classes.

Marine Radio

Weather in North Tropical Queensland has been perfect for weeks but things are looking a little dry. I'm sure everyone would welcome a good downpour which has been in the forecast now and again but the weatherman here is as accurate as anywhere else.

After sweating and fussing all week over the Marine Radio Operator's course we've done the exam and will have the results late next week. It was easier than anticipated - multiple choice and we all participated in a mock test before hand. The questions on the actual exam were very familiar if you get my drift LOL. Very tricky instructor - he had us all working so hard to get through those 404 questions (some appeared to be redundant but worded just a wee bit differently so we were all scrambling to find a different answer to all the questions which was not possible) in a week's time, and in the end it was a piece of cake - well maybe.

Foxtrot uniform charlie kilo echo delta uniform papa

Another week gone by in paradise. No rain for weeks but it's in next week's forecast. Risk of fire in the rain forest is high so rain is needed.

Attended my first tribal belly dance class here. It's the same but different so I've decided to be the "smart" one in the beginner's class rather than the "dumb" one in the intermediate class.

After breezing through the boat operators' course attending the first of 2 workshops of the marine radio operator's course was a shocker. We've been sent home with a CD of the manual and a handout of 404 questions that need to be answered by next Thursday. Here I sit reading the manual with a Bailey's in hand (and pencil), so you can imagine how frustrating and difficult it appears to be. It makes absolutely no sense to have a simple test to operate a vessel, potentially endangering lives, and yet to get permission to operate a RADIO  one needs to be a bloody brain surgeon.

One more tidbit of information: there's a girl's soccer team called the Bosco Beavers - no lie!!!! They don't have beavers here.

Licenced to Kill

I didn’t have to offer a bribe and I’m now legally licensed to ‘run amok’ on the roads as well as on the high seas!

Australia has 6 States and Queensland is known as the ‘Sunshine’ or ‘Smart’ State and the powers that be of the ‘Smart State’ have this week issued me a driver’s licence and a boat licence all in the space of 4 days!! (Did I mention that Queensland is known as the Smart State?)
The driver’s licence was simple enough…fill out a form, pay the fee, get your picture taken, wait 3 minutes and ta da……… a bona fide, fair dinkum, without too many questions asked, driver’s licence (‘Smart State’?)

The boat licence was a bit more involved. Chris and I paid the fee earlier in the week and received a text book to study and a DVD to view. The book told you everything you needed to know to pass the test (if we had taken the trouble to read it), and the DVD told you everything that the text book didn’t, in order to pass the test (if we had taken the trouble to watch it). Sunday morning at 7:30 we headed off to ‘class’..... 5 hours of theory followed by about 45 minutes of driving a powerboat (50 HP outboard) around the Cairns Inlet, terrifying anyone that dared to venture in our path. Totally aced the theory – got 100% (guess I should mention so did Chris). There were 3 people in the class but for some reason I got to drive the boat for most of the time; I’m not buying the theory that I needed more practice just because I ran the "drowning person ball" over 3 times before I rescued it.  I’d like to think that it was just one of the many ‘perks’ for living in the ‘Smart State’!

Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

Another beautiful day in Cairns. Wednesday is WAGS day - Wednesday Afternoon Gentleman's Sail. Anyone with a boat and the time takes anyone who pays the fee ($5 for yacht club members, $15 for non) for a "friendly" race up and down the Cairns inlet. The price includes a sausage sizzle and beer or wine afterwards. You can actually be part of the crew or just sit and watch the scenery (ballast). I was ballast (as were 6 others) most of the time but next time I'm going to be part of the crew, it's more fun. I was on the most luxurious boat, Chalkies Chariot, a 42 foot Bavaria skippered by Rob aka Chalkie. The friendly race was soon down to 2 boats neck and neck vying for first place - tweaking and fine tuning the sails every 30 seconds. Was great fun zipping up and down the inlet, heeled way over except when I was caught lying down on deck, we tacked and I could easily have rolled right off the boat but the thought of crocs in the water was a great incentive to hang on for dear life until we straightened out - a very very long 20 minutes later. We won the race, just barely, our skipper really wanted first prize - a bottle of rum. I'll try to get a photo of the actual boat, found this one on the internet.

Fred and Ginger, Eat Your Heart Out

I seem to have gone from calloused hands to calloused feet in only 1 day. Ballroom dancing is harder than it looks, and not having the proper shoes doesn't help. Who knew that your shoes had to have suede bottoms? We're learning 2 dances I've never heard of, nor have ever seen danced - the names elude me as do a lot of the moves, but the 3rd dance is the cha cha which is at least vaguely familiar. Next week we start the waltz and I'm sure it won't be just a simple one, they'll throw all kinds of fancy steps in just to confuse us. My mission tomorrow is to find shoes that won't kill my feet and look good - mission impossible.