Ahoy me Mateys!

[katesm]

Howdy All!

I've just spent the most amazing two weeks yachting through the Whitsunday Islands.

Hamilton, South Molle, Lindeman, Daydream, Hayman, Whitehaven and many other islands, are all located in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef off Northern Queensland.

I'd sound like a travel brochure if I started raving on about the scenery, the incredible marine life, the beaches with sand like talcum powder...or perhaps the blue of the ocean. (Imagine Paul Newman's eyes at double, no...triple wattage!)

So I won't bore you with details. What's that I hear???? Oh, you want me to rave on? Stop me, stop me now!! Ha!!

Seriously, this was a huge experience. I've actually stayed on Lindeman once before with a girlfriend. We were footloose and free 21yr olds, and our interest in scenery was of the male variety, and our wonder was centred on how much fun we could have.

This? This was different. This was being blown away by the sheer beauty of nature. Diving and snorkeling with these huge, friendly, curious and blindingly beautiful fish, is an experience that can't be described in words. Pure emotion and awe.

There were only four of us, so we had plenty of space, and the fact that WE chose where we went, how long we stayed and what we did, was liberating. We also sailed in harmony - each of us knowing what particular job was ours, but how to work as a team also. Each achingly beautiful evening, in the glow of a burnt orange sunset, I felt a huge sense of achievement. I couldn't decide whether I wanted this day to never end, or if I couldn't wait for the beginning of a new one, with it's endless possibilities.

We roamed the islands, walked the trails, feasted on fresh seafood and did all the touristy things. But out on the water, working the sails, fishing and being relatively self-sufficient was perhaps THE most energising experience of my life.

Okay, okay, enough!! I have to go and catch up on all the stuff that's been happening here.

Hope everyone is well, and fighting fit!!!

Kate.

[trixietrack]

i am so jealous I miss the sea and the blue. New york city has blah grey and stress stress stress :(

[lushy]

Ahh Kate, you have been very missed around here. Your trip sounds beyond words. So glad you are back!!!! Can you post some pics in the new photo gallery???

[lushy]

I apologize for Lucky being a little cranky Kate. She has had an identity issue as of late.

[katesm]

Dear Demanding Lushy and Cranky Duck,

I shall go forthwith, and unearth the meaning of this Gallery.

I shall boldly forge my way through any obstacles, to understand, to embrace, to be at one with this gallery.

Do not bicker. Well you can, but at least wait until I understand exactly what the bicker is about! Ha!

Okay, off to find the new thingy.

Kate.

[katesm]

Oh and Trixie?

It's funny how the grass is always greener, yes?

I have never been to NYC, but plan to one day. I always imagine it as being full of life and pulsing with energy.

See, what we have to do is become filthy rich. Enjoy the best of both worlds via the trusty lear jet.

I know I was born to be filthy rich, I just know it!

[Wattle]

Hi Kate

I've just worked it out... I've been worried sick about where tawny has been..

I left her with the responsibility to feed the chickens.. not a big job.. but important.. I turn around and she has gone.. left... chickens are starving.. not laying... I was beside myself..

Then it occured to me... you and the tawn had taken off on the holiday of a lifetime and left me behind...

Well thank you both... I thought we aussies stuck together...

I've gotta go... the chickens need feeding..

Wattle

[katesm]

Wattle!!!

We came by your house to pick you up. Truly!

Someone said you were off feeding chickens. And the boat was ready to sail. Honest!

Tawn organised another person from Actor's Equity to pretend to be a poultry farmer for a few weeks. It was all taken care of.

Boy those chickens must be fat.

[xtexan]

Hi Kate:

Agggh! You got me all stirred up! It is one of my retirement dreams, to buy my own catamaran (a big one), and spend 5 years just goofing around the Pacific.

I remember a 1993 trip to Hawaii. Took a 45 ft. catamaran to Molokini crater south of Maui, Hawaii. Then snorkeled the mini-reef there, where I met up with some fish that taught me a few things about just simply being alive. Becoming part of a school of fish, where they don't see any difference between you, and any other creature of the sea is simply astounding. After all, we are bipedal mammals, and they are, well.....fish.

Sounds like you had a great time, and I am jealous. I sorely need some of that deep down in the bones spiritual refreshment that only a sailing journey in the ocean islands can bring.

Glad to see you back. Thanks for the good words on my 500 days thread, and been meditating on a new post about some new things.

Maybe I'll win the powerball lottery, and get a 50 meter catamaran, and I can get a several dozen of you to help me run the thing!!!

Neil

[katesm]

Baby, I'm there! Hurry up and win the lottery.

It's funny. If, at this particular moment in time, I could walk away from the mainstream of life, and spend my days navigating (or crewing) the seas, I would.

I'm a country girl, born and raised in tiny towns in Victoria, before moving to the big smoke (Melbourne) as a 21yr old. (Not long after Lindeman Island in fact!) I can remember being blown away by the vastness of the city. I also remember being overwhelmed by the anonymity. The feeling of being of absolutely no importance to the crowds of people around me. Didn't take me long to work into the way of life, but I recognised that all of our lives are merely of our own making, and it takes a huge amount of effort to be a part of the supposed whole.

Such a lot of work.

I think I'm too tired to put in such effort anymore. I think I like being a fighter for the individual, I think I like not conforming to social standards. I'm absolutely positive I like being someone who no longer needs to adhere to a certain code of conduct to be acceptable.

I like being me at the moment. Swimming with fish has this effect!

And I've said it time and time again - we people here, with drinking problems, are far more empathetic and true human beings, than those who would choose to spend their lives 'doing' and 'being' the socially accepted stereotype.

Such a lot of work.

Okay Neil. Name the lottery win, name the date, name the sea.

See you there!

Kate.