Still Jet Lag!

It's been hard getting over the jet lag. We both have naps when ever we can. Since Mark has been home from work we have been going places every day. Cherie still has to work every day. The other night we all went to the state park called the Natural Bridge to see the glow worms. This was very exciting!!! The best time to see them is when it's been raining and so the conditions were perfect. Although it has been raining that means it's cloudy and very dark so it was hard to see walking around the park.

Only one flashlight and one phone for light. We had to stay close together.

 

We entered a cave and looking up it looked like we were looking at the stars. These are some of the brighter glow worms. In the picture you cant se them all. You could also see them in the dirt on the  side of the trail.

Yesterday we went to Brunswick, this is my favorite place so far. Its a beautiful small town and very quiet. It has a great down town area and a great beach and also a nice river for swimming.

 

Here we are sitting at the Brunswick Hotel over looking the river. Cherie was at Taekwondo so we met her later at the river

 

Sitting next to the river we had a small passer bye!

 

 

Byron Bay is a very nice town but it's so crowded. Right now the Back Packers are starting to come to the area and collage and university students just got off. Most of the people in these small towns are hippies young and old. It's a great place to be but because the people demand more natural products everything is very expensive. It's a great place to visit but you can't afford to live here.

 

Here's a panoramic view of the front of Mark and Cherie's house 



Jet Lag!

We have been doing a little relaxing while we get over the jet lag. I have taken a few pictures around the house. Mark and Cherie live in an old church. Our bedroom in up on the alter!

This is a sign in the yard.

 This used to be the front door and is now the kitchen.

 

 



We have also had time to play with the dog "Blue". He seems to be very smart, here's a video of him playing hide and seek with Laurie.

 



 

 

We have also had a few short trips to the beach and Byron's Bay.

 

Laurie on the beach with Julian Rock in the back ground. That's where all the scuba divers go.

 Down town Byron's Bay

 

 

 

 

Gday Mate!

We are in Australia and the weather is great. It was a long flight but it wasn't as bad as I thought. When we left Toronto it was dark and as we were about 5 hours from Brisbane the sun came up. I had slept for about a half hour and I felt fine for most of our first day. We both were in bed before the sun went down and had a great sleep. We are not feeling any jet lag so far just a little sore from sitting for so long.  My son Mark's girl friend Cherie picked us up at the airport and we came to there home and got into our shorts. Cherie had to work for a few hours so she dropped us off at the beach with there dog Blue. The first thing I notice was when we walk along the sand our feet squeaked! I'm not sure why it's doing that. It's like the Aussies clean the beach so it's squeaky clean or maybe our feet are squeaky clean. The beaches here are great, they go on as far as you can see.

Laurie and Blue

 The first thing Blue looks for is a stick

Blue has really taken to Laurie, or the other way around! 

Here's a green bird we saw walking through town

 Then after Cheri finished work it was off to the farmers market

 

Our second day Cherie took us to the beach for a walk before she had to go to work. What a great place to live. After Cherie finishes work she will some times go to the water and surf a few waves before she comes home.

 

 

I'm going to post a video with in a few days of Blue, Mark and Cherie's dog. They have done a great job training him and he's pretty smart. The video will be called the ultimate hide and seek game. You have to see this!

 

 



 

We are on our way!
it's 4pm on Tuesday and we are on our way to Australia.  Our flight leaves at 8pm and we arrive in Vancover 11:30pm. Then we  leave Wednesday morning at 12:30am. Then we arrive in Brisbane Australia Thursday 9:15 am. We are in the air 21 hours and a 2 hour lay over in Vancover. It's going to be a long day.

November 2 2017

 

It's getting cold here in Fenelon Falls. These are the days I don't like about Canada, the cold damp rainy days before the snow starts to fly. It has snowed twice before today and it makes me wish we were still south on the boat. The other night we were sitting around playing Domino's and listening to Island music. That really makes me miss being on the boat relaxing after a warm day having a drink and watching the sun set. I feel this is an adventure I will never revisit. To do this trip again would take more money than I have and also it's time to move on. Laurie and I lived a dream although it wasn't complete, it's time for the next adventure. We have been busy visiting family and friends and preparing to go to Australia to stay with Mark and Cherie.  We leave Nov.21 and return April 12 in time for Laurie to be with her daughter Rihanna to have her baby. This journey will give us time to get over the loss of Mauna Kea and our great adventure on her. We have so many fond memories that will be with us forever. We are almost ready for Australia with our flight tickets ready and back pack equipment bought and ready to go. I hope to post once more before we leave and we also hope to post many pictures of our journey on the east cost of Australia.

A look at our travels

 

When we arrived home my son Mark invited us to Australia. After thinking about it for a week I thought it was the perfect opportunity to visit him. We have no home and no baggage so our journey will carry on in Australia until April 2018. We will post our "walk about" on this blog page and we hope every one will follow our adventure. Stay tuned for getting ready for Australia.

A few more pictures today

 

Here's some pictures of the damage

 

Here you can see some thing hit the top of the boat and pushed down the cupboard and you can see through to the outside

 

 Water in the boat. I believe that the bilge pump worked hard until it drained the batteries.

 Broken hatch

 Cleat ripped away from the boat

 Mast snapped right off.

 Laurie trying to take it all in.

 Mast and boom

 Here you can see the hole in the side. There was also water in the fridge so I think water was coming in from different places.

 Last picture I took of Mauna Kea before we left.

 

A few pictures from around the hotel

 Here is the beach where you can stand and have planes land just over you head. The beach is gone!

 The BBQ on the right was taken from the restaurant next door. The staff cook us a few meals here.

 

 

After arriving in Ontario I contacted one of the employees of the marina where we had docked the boat. He was in Collingwood visiting family as the hurricane pass Sint Maarten. We talked about the violence that was happening on both sides of the island. I was telling him that when we were anchored out in the lagoon we could hear motorcycles racing around the island at will. I asked him why these kids get away with it and never get stopped buy the police. I also said it was a rare site to see police anywhere on the island. He explained to me that Sint Maarten and St Martin are very violent places and these kids do as they please. Murders on the island are keep quite so it won't scare the tourist away. He also said that the death count after this hurricanes will be very low because they will only count bodies that are known residence and not tourist or anyone like our boat friends that have stayed there for years. I hear from many people that they love Sint Maartin and St Martin and they did not know about the violence there. Some thing to think about when visiting any Caribbean Island.