Day 198: Mackay, Australia – 23/07/10

The generator guys turn up to have a look at it and I leave them in Mike’s company and go off instead with Maggie to have a look at the delights of Mackay. 

We get a taxi to the local mall, the first one we have seen since Panama.  Neither of us can get our heads around the fact that we are actually in Australia.  It’s weird.  It’s almost like being home after all the islands we have been to recently.  They seem a million miles away.  Maggie only has a limited time, so she does some grocery shopping then heads back to the marina.  I carry on, like a kid in a sweetie shop.  Shops!  With things I might actually like to buy!!  Ecstasy!

I buy a few tops (one of them a sort of sweat shirt jacket for warmth) and a dress – I am so bored wearing the same things week in, week out.  I bump into Aileen from A Lady and we go for a cup of tea and a bun, then John joins us.

I do a bit of grocery shopping and can’t resist buying kangaroo steaks – I might not get to see any kangaroos so I may as well eat one.  When John and I go to get the bus back we realise that we have just missed one and will have to wait another two and a half hours for the next one.  We decide to get a taxi instead - the queue is horrendous though and we end up waiting 45 minutes.  Still, eventually we get back to the marina.  The quarantine guy has been and it’s good news - my baskets have been released from their plastic bag.

Unfortunately it’s not good news about the generator.  The two guys are not sure about the cause of the noise.  One agrees with Mike that it could be a flywheel coming loose but the other thinks it may be the engine part of the generator which is causing the problem.  They leave without doing anything but arrange to come back on Monday.

Loads more boats arrive during the day, and the evening barbecue is a packed affair albeit a very cold one as we are not allowed to bring our food back into the bar to eat and the wind is ferocious.  Mike is so cold he can only last long enough to eat his meal before heading back to the boat.  I last a bit longer but am eventually defeated too by the cold.

Photo:  Bev and I huddle for warmth on the way back

Back on the boat I dig out yet another blanket.  We now have two on the bed – unbelievable!