Or you can set the main sail and use the engine and still look cool!

Getting to the whitsundays was quite a chore. Changed flights, delayed flights, plane swapping in Brisbane and then finally getting to Proserpine; landing on a single runway in the middle of a field of kangaroos! We had limited time to get from the airport to the marina AND get groceries.

One thing we haven’t talked about at all is that there is no late night shopping here. Most grocery stores close at 5:30 on weekends, there is VERY limited Sunday shopping (and I mean limited) and almost all retail stores are ONLY OPEN 9-5 Monday – Friday. We went to a mall in Sydney one night to grab supper at a food court, and the mall was CLOSED by 6 and we got there at 6. So opposite of the North American money hungry retail hours.

Anyway, now you know why it was a bit of a crisis for us to get from the airport (landing at 4:15 30 mins away) to groceries (before closing at 5:30) and marina (before closing at 5) and the next day was Easter Sunday and we were planning on being on the ocean for 10 days. So time was off the essence.

Airlie Marina

By the miracle of God (thanks!) we landed, jammed our entire worth (2- 50 lb coolers, 4 – 52 pound suitcases, 4 backpacks, 4 other carry on’s and 4 full figured humans) into a Peugot (Chevy) cruze! Can you picture it?! I forgot to take a picture. Thank goodness for rope as we had tie some stuff into the trunk! People at the grocery store parking lot were pointing and laughing at the Canadian Hillbillies! (Obviously they have never seen the “Donovan” in action). We spent the night on Mischief (our 38-foot Catamaran), where we unloaded our life, 42 bags of groceries and 42 pounds of liquor (we did have 10 days after all!)  

Mischief 38

It was important that we had a good sleep, as we all had our 4-hour sailing lessons sharp at 8 am with Simon (note to Danni: you might have to meet Simon!).

You may be wondering what the heck the title of the blog means! Well let me tell you: Just before Simon let us go on our own, he said if all else fails "you can set the main sail and use the engine and still look cool". (I think he knew we had no idea what we were doing!)

The crew:

Wanda: Snorkel queen

Todd: Captain/alternate bartender

Brent: First Mate/alternate Captain/chief bartender

 

Communications Officer: This job was very important as I had to listen to the cb radio at 8:25 & 4:05 for weather AND report in our location and plan for the day/night using the following call information: Charter Yachts Australia, Charter Yachts Australia, Charter Yachts Australia, This is Mischief, Mischief, Mischief - Over