Tumby Bay VMR - VHF Channel 81

Call VHF 81 anywhere around the southern end of the Eyre Peninsula and announce "Tumby Bay, Tumby Bay, Tumby Bay this is..." and the voice of the Eyre Peninsula will reply.

 

Gary surrounded by his equipment (and Commendations)in his 'comms' room.

Gary Smith is that calm and unmistakable voice that has maintained a listening watch over mariners of this busy district for some 20 years and with good humour too! Via repeater stations, he monitors the whole southern end of the Eyre Peninsula including the West Coast. We heard him from as far away as Flinders Island and southwards. Considering that you are not deemed to be out of the Great Australian Bight until you turn east past Cape Carnot and Liguanea Island, you'd have to agree that his bit of ocean has some significantly nasty sections. If you are crossing The Great Australian Bight West to East and making landfall in Port Lincoln instead of Streaky Bay, Gary is likely to be your first radio contact.

Gary confessed that he hates the logins for vessels departing to cross The Great Australian Bight. He doesn't sleep for the 3-5 days that it takes for the crossing to be completed. We know that he monitored Wild Honey B and Steel Sapphire, as they traveled westward from Port Lincoln and part the way up the Eyre Peninsula before pushing on and across to Middle Island. They were glad to know that Gary was watching over them. Countless others would also have had that comfort. Imagine how many over the span of 20 years!

Once you log on with Gary, it's personal. You are on his list and you'll be roll-called on his twice daily sched until you let him know that you are safe. You'll learn who's out and about and can guess at the characters that are afloat too! Some mariner's radio techniques are not exactly copy book and some have their own codes. "Two for three" for example is one fellow's shorthand for "Two POB (people on board/Poor old bastards) going out for 3 days".  Many don't even identify their boat but Gary knows their voices and their habits. If someone asks for help, he knows who he can contact that might already be on the water with an appropriate vessel and with appropriate skills or information. If you need some local information like where to anchor in Coffin Bay he'll radio someone who'll know and can share their experience with you. He's the aquatic version of the bush telegraph. In a word Gary is a GEM in the same way that West Aussies know that Rae and Richard at ACRAM Base Capel are gems. Dedicated. Reliable. Professional. Priceless.

We sailed to Tumby Bay during autumn but didn't' get to meet Gary then. The Bloke was more intent  on sampling the sausage rolls at the bakery (you'll recall the Top 10 rating). We got a lift with Miles on Saturday and had the pleasure not only to met Gary but the 'woman behind the man' too. Without Sue's participation it wouldn't of course be possible to have the house wired with speakers like it is or put up with those mariners who, for whatever reason, choose to log on at 4am!!

Gary and Sue, THANK YOU so much for being there for us all!

Sue and Gary Smith - Eyre Peninsula Champions!

 

Some of Gary's aerials above his nerve centre located in his neat-as-a-pin back yard. They used to be mounted on a small tower but Galahs (the avian kind not the idiot kind) kept attacking them and toppling them! Thanks to repeaters located along the coast a tall tower is no longer necessary.

Take it while it's going

The Blokes Dad had a Welsh friend, what else could he be with a name like David Evans! David had a particular saying. It was "Take it while it's going". During our time away we have increasingly warmed to that saying and in fact have adopted it as a mantra which extends to 'Don't put off until tomorrow what you can achieve today'.


Scenario 1: You need to leave the marina fully re-provisioned in a few days. Do you plan the refueling today or tomorrow?

Luckily we are already full up!

Scenario 2: The Bloke thinks it would be a good idea to go ashore to see a man about a dog.

Ooops go quickly... weather coming!

Night Omission

So we have plans to detach ourselves from this very comfortable and friendly dock in the very near future. Part of getting ready is provisioning and ensuring that we have lots of yummy stuff on hand for passaging and socializing. We did try to run down our supplies before we locked Zofia up to head off and make house calls on the family in Perth and Brisbane. This was no small project because I suffer from near obsessive food hoarding and I did need to enlist obscure volumes such as "101 Ways With Brussel Sprouts" to come up with ways of using surplus supplies. The Bloke and I did an excellent job though, of eating all the cake before we left.

To reinstate my comfort level of hospitality and snack supplies I had a triple bake session but left the run too late to do the icing. I've found that baking cake slices more efficient than cakes per se due to shorter baking times. This is economical with the gas and there is no risk of the mixture rising into the griller parts at the top of the tiny boat oven. Not a good look and spoken from an early mishap. The silicone baking containers - rust proof, flexible etc...enthusiastically declared by me to be sure winners, or so I thought, are going off to a better home. Anyway, the Moomba Slice and the Cinnamon Squares still needed to be iced and the trays were set aside in the front cabin out of the way for the morning.

During the night, the breeze kicked up a bit so the Bloke did his manly thing and did a prowl about checking on things. In the process, he decided in the interests of containing some heat for our comfort, that the cabin door to the front cabin would best be closed. Fumbling about in the dark, the cord from our little fan heater was preventing the door from closing so the Bloke picked up the heater, placed it on the bunk and closed the door. Job done. What a man!

What do you think?

Your captions are welcome and are unlikely to compare with mine!

Dirty Truth

After counting down the sleeps to our flight home we had 3 weeks in Perth to reflect upon what we had just experienced. After all the months living aboard it felt very strange to have access to limitless stand up showers. Prior to getting back to the Kardinya Hilton (Mum's) we calculated our last one was in Esperance! Oddly, we didn't enjoy them nearly as much as we'd dreamed.

The youngest Oldfield to date, to enjoy a shower at the Kardinya Hilton

In reality, our life afloat includes plenty of time on shore but actually reinserting oneself into familiar places has a weird aspect to it and we found our perspective shifted. We for the first time, actually noticed the fad for 'Smoothies' at one of our favorite coffee shops. You know, those hideous concoctions of puréed stuff that will include unlikely candidates such as wheat grass and kale? The last time I looked, humans had a good set of teeth by the age of 2 and with fluoridated water, fluoride toothpaste and generally better dental care, we can keep our own teeth until well into old age, so why not EAT your food? What is with this 'slops/mush' fad? Have we become so lazy as not to chew any more?

Time to return to the ocean....much too cranky!

Going home as cargo

Ever heard about the people that go away on a cruise holiday arriving as passengers and going home as cargo? Here's a real twist.

We sensibly decided that our last night in Port Lincoln prior to a trip home to Perth to visit family would best be spent going out for dinner to the Marina Bistro rather than cooking etc. The crews of  Urchin, Easy Tiger and Zofia had a meal together having just welcomed back B1 and Maree from their trip home 2 days before. A nice time was had by all and the Bloke and I, in high spirits and  already completely packed, (a rare triumph) decided that since 6 of us could not fit in the car to get back to our side of the marina, that a 10 minute stroll to walk down a dish of crumbed calamari was the go.

We were on the home stretch, not 100m from the gate to our wharf (and fully sober - honest!) when I stumbled and rolled my ankle. I knew immediately this was NOT GOOD. We were to fly in 10 hours and my foot looked like it had sprouted an egg. Bother and yowch! Ice, anti-inflamatories (oral and topical) plus a bandage were are all enlisted to make the bad thing go away.

Foot Selfie

The bad thing didn't go away and by morning, hopping was better than walking which is OK when you are on a boat and everything is within reach but not when in an airport and unable to negotiate to check-in, security etc... except by moving along the walls or hanging onto someone like a human crutch.  People 'look at you funny'! The Bloke had things sorted in no time however. I was in a wheelchair quicker that you could say 'walking sticks' and I found myself being scissor-lifted on and off planes and being inserted into baggage halls like a bit of cargo through the back door!

Hats off to Qantas customer service, they really looked after us and moved our seating forward to make things easier etc ... and of course provided the wheelchairs and theme park rides on the scissor lifts and golf carts. Very embarrassing though!

The Bloke almost felt left out in this household of hobblers

Post script
We collected our car on the way from the the airport from Quattro Motors seeing as The General had conveniently arranged for it to be serviced in readiness for our visit. Imagine our surprise when our friend Pat Chellingworth stepped out from her workstation for greeting hugs sporting a surgical boot. She had the same fracture as me and even on the same foot! 

ANZAC Day 2014

We like to attend ANZAC Day dawn services. Maybe it's more me that likes to but the Bloke comes too. Today we are in Port Lincoln so we attended their Dawn Service.

In years gone by we've been to the Perth Dawn Service in Kings Park which has in recent times grown to be the single largest one in the country, attended by some 35,000 plus, adults and children. My brother and his 3 little Gorski men will be there with too. The Bloke and I would walk up from our apartment to Kings Park via the Jacobs Ladder steps up the Mt Eliza hill-face which is now a very popular Boot Camp training element among the fitness fadistas. We have even attended the Albany service on Mt Clarence, overlooking King George Sound, where the ANZAC forces last sighted Australian soil. Very moving especially when a lone flare is detonated over the water as the sun is rising!

The Bloke's brother will be marching in Busselton today with a group of other Vietnam Diggers. We are very proud of him and his mates as they have had a lot to overcome to get to the point that they felt that they could face an ANZAC Day March and all the memories it might ignite.

My Dad no longer marches at the head of the Perth Polish Ex-servicemen. They disbanded their group when it was felt that their number would be insufficient and mostly too infirm to participate with dignity.  For a good many years after that my Dad joined the slouch hat vets that tended the Kings Park War memorial. It was a very busy role with never a month passing between commemorations of some significant military event. ANZAC Day was a pinnacle of the year though and in the end became too much. Taking the job of standing to attention for the duration of the service very seriously is not for those with any kind of health issues. While he was still participating, it was nice to catch up with him afterwards for a thermos of coffee or a breakfast back at the apartment.

My Dad told me a beautiful story about the Highgate RSL where he is still  I think, a member. There was a returned serviceman there who headed a small committee that tended all the small plaques at the bases of the trees planted along the avenues in Kings Park. Each tree and memorial plaque recalls a fallen comrade. This chap quietly performed this task for decades and always ensured that the plaques looked their best for Remembrance Day and ANZAC Day. Eventually Dad put this fellow forward for official recognition. By this stage the chap was gravely ill. Realising that he would unlikely survive until the official announcements, the WA State Governor's office was contacted and the award was presented at his bedside just before he died. It's nice to think this fellow was not forgotten while he was doing his best to ensure none of the fallen were forgotten.

So at stupid o'clock today, the Bloke and I rowed the dinghy across the dark marina canal to save 20 minutes of walking, leaving us with only 40mins of brisk walking to the far side of Port Lincoln to reach the local memorial and service. It was attended by at least 1,000 people. It was fascinating to see all the wreaths being laid by representatives of not just the armed services but all the groups that form the nerve fibres of the community organism here. Noted omissions were the State Schools. The private colleges sent student reps and laid wreaths. The State Schools were announced as if they were meant to be there but were a 'no show'. The trumpeter that played the Last Post did a great job given that his playing was echoing off the nearby tallest building in Pt Lincoln. The feedback would have been most disconcerting but he nailed every note just the same!

Our reward for our own pre-dawn march was to witness a stirring coming-together of appreciative inheritors of a country shaped by sacrifice.

Next on the agenda was a coffee at the Port Lincoln Hotel prior to our fave coffee place, Del Giorno's, opening at 08:30 for breakfast. Re-fuelled we ambled less purposefully full of contemplation back the marina. Mission accomplished.

L E S T   W E   F O R G E T

 Helmet of the Unknown Digger casts a shadow

 This Captain looked like he's stepped straight out of a history book

 This splendid memorial was the impressive backdrop for the Port Lincoln ANZAC Day Dawn Service. Note there were actually 2 flags, our Australian flag is out of picture and both flags were lowered to half mast.

The dawn crowds now long gone and the seating left ready for the conclusion of the march later in the morning.

Icarus

Not content with being captain of our little ship, the Bloke is attempting to control something new. Boys and their toys!

In the midst of the deck wash confusion 2 weeks ago, the final bids were being placed on an eBay auction item. A triumph in multi-tasking to be sure. This was the object of his desire and fascination since they first came to market and now it is to be his birthday present trophy to self. I'm secretly glad of this as it will provide an outlet in coming months when sailing opportunities will be less..... So what did he purchase? Answer: an AR Drone!

Just what is it exactly?  It is described as a wi-fi quadricopter - flying toy with on-board GPS

What does it do? We'll apart from being the source of amusement for grown ups they do have some commercial uses. One famously crashed onto the back of a triathletes head in a recent Geraldton, WA event while filming the event. By strange coincidence she happened to be the wife of one the Professional Irornmen who trains our son Viv, when he's preparing for Ironman events.

For now, we'll focus on the amusement. The package arrived just as we were due to head to Memory Cove so there was no chance to do much more than unpack the parcel and drool over the contents. No internet at Memory Cove also meant that none of the YouTube tutorials on how to pilot these gizmos could be accessed. Now back in the Marina these tutorials are being viewed VERY frequently and the funky French electronic mood music betrays the viewing of another bog lap around some chateau in the French countryside. Have a look at this link :-  AR drone director mode tutorial   . It's aspirational for the Bloke. He's part the way there. He has the device.

Progress has been slow due to other jobs to conquer but today he'll be off to the nearby lawn area next to a building site which the bloke thoughtfully hopes will disguise any otherwise potentially annoying sounds. Hopefully progress will be made.

Ooops, he's back....tears before lunch...more practice required.... after the glue has set!