Saturday 26th July
The last night in Port Macquarie deserved a visit to Panther’s Leagues Club. Rex, an old mate of Doug’s (being in charge of entertainment at the club), ably assisted us in our quest for a happy ending to our longer-than-expected stay in Port. Thoughtful of him to provide a parting gift of Beroccas. Thank you Rex. Toot-toot.
Our longer–than-expected stay at Panther’s ensured that the exit from Port Macquarie was memorable. Not that we needed any extra degree of difficulty. The Port Macquarie bar has a reputation for excitement and didn’t disappoint. It wasn’t the ideal state of the tide but with equal amounts of judgment and good fortune we dodged breaking waves and jet skiers who both put on a spectacular show. Admiral, wearing his hat back to front and revving the Yanmars at near their limit, demonstrated his ability to crack walnuts with his gluteus maximus. This was useful but nobody wanted to eat them. Once clear of the bar we motor-sailed accompanied by dozens of dolphins to Trial Bay. We also dodged the required number of whales. The whales are becoming tedious and detracting from the enjoyment of sailing. Go the Japs.
Dropped the pick in Trial Bay at 4pm and went fishing. The Pamometer has been in use as several sharks were caught and carefully released. There will be a stocktake of digits after dinner.
Wallabies vs the All Blacks tonight. TV reception tolerable although it has been suggested that we hoist a crew member up the mast to tune the antennae as the boat swings around.
Fast forward to after the game and what a jolly good game it was. The Trial Bay police have been on the phone asking us to keep the noise down. The Admiral gets very excited when he’s out of uniform and Lil and Curvy were off the scale on the Pamometer. The police said that noise travels further over water and that local residents had complained although they added that wasn’t it great we smacked the Kiwis. We promised to keep the noise down.
If we can get anyone out of bed tomorrow we shall attempt to get to Coffs Harbour. We’re running low on medication. Our list of injuries increases. One broken rib, one cruciate ligament, assorted rope burns, a few knife wounds (mainly Curvy) and a couple of dodgy backs. Also signs of incontinence made their prescence felt while crossing the Port Macquarie bar. Mind you we weren’t in great shape to start with.