Day 203: Mackay, Australia – 28/07/10

I am sitting up in bed writing my blog when Johanne crawls in with me and we sit and have our cups of tea together, just like old times.  In the end though, I have to kick her out because our usual inane chatter stops me getting it done.

For the first part of the morning the Suttons settle themselves in, and we teach Isabella important things like using the toilet - she was only 12 when she was last aboard.  We have so much more stuff ourselves now that finding room for everything is pretty difficult but eventually most of it is stowed away.

We catch the midday bus to the mall, leaving Mike and Steve to do some jobs around the boat.  As usual, the clothes shops and the jewellers are the major attraction, and we spend a lot of time in both.  Several Pandora items later, we attack the supermarket and get our supplies for the next week.

Leaving Isabella in charge of the trolley, Johanne and I go to buy the beer and wine supplies, purchasing the recommendations that Mike from Skylark gave me.  The lady who has helped me with the wines goes off to phone us a taxi, and while Johanne waits with the trolley outside, I walk back to the mall to keep Isabella company. 

Half an hour, there is no sign of Johanne or the taxi and I begin to worry.  I walk back to the booze shop and find the lady who ordered it.  She phones the taxi company again and discovers that they dispatched one five minutes after she had phoned but it would appear that someone else had nabbed it.  They send another one which arrives a few minutes later and we pile everything in and then go and get Isabella and our food mountain.

While she was waiting, Johanne had been approached by some local guys offering help (?).  They said they would take her in the back of their pickup but if she had gone, she and the booze would probably be in the outback by now!

We arrive back at the marina and I go searching for trolleys to get everything back to the boat.  We can only find two so Isabella and I load up and take the stuff down, sending Mike and Steve back up to Johanne.  How we find space for all the stuff I don’t know (and whether I will be able to lay my hands on some of again is even less certain).

We tuck into a huge tray of salami, cheese and antipasti, then leaving Johanne and Steve behind, Mike and I go for a drink with Luka as he is leaving tomorrow. 

Photo:  Luka and I – bye bye!

One drink turns into three then we go in search of some other company for him as we need to get back to Johanne and Steve on the boat.  I wander up to Wild Tigres just to say bye, leaving Mike at Jeannius and promising not to get on the other boat, but I give into the others and clamber on – just for a short while you understand.  Shortly after, I spot Mike stomping down the pontoon looking for me.  I quickly shove my drink back on the table and jump off the boat.  I am so scared of my husband – not – more scared of the fact that I have left Johanne without alcohol and am now in the dog house.  I scuttle back to Jeannius and redeem myself by producing Sauvignon Blanc and macadamia nuts.  Phew!