Michael and I got up early this morning and went for a walk along the main street. All of the shops and restaurants didn’t open until 7:00 so we mostly saw the workers delivering supplies to each of the places. Everything has to be shipped from the mainland and it is put on a large trailer and they go from place to place and deliver it with a forklift. We think of every store having it’s own delivery system, but not on this island…..one group does it all. We also talked to the man who was working with the mainland deliveries and he said that they will get 4 to 6 deliveries each day. Sometimes the barge comes in with goods, or sometimes trucks, or whatever the island needs.
We ate breakfast and returned to the boat to wait for someone from Cumberland Charters to meet us and do the final boat check. Wade arrived on the 8:30 ferry and found us about 15 minutes later. He checked out the boat and then told us that his wife and daughter had come with him and that they were going to make a day of it and sail the boat back to Airlie Beach. Since they were spending a bit of time on the island first, we were able to stay on the boat until time to catch the shuttle to the airport.
The flight to Sydney was uneventful, however we did enjoy the huge amount of leg room that we had. I don’t know if it was because we were on an emergency row or not, but it was wonderful to be able to stretch out on a plane.
The Eve’s had organized a shuttle to pick us up at the airport and we had a fun ride to their house. Sue (the manage of Cumberland Charters) was also on the shuttle and we enjoyed talking to her about our trip and also hearing the stories of other boats that have gone out.
We order Chinese for dinner and spent some time talking to Ben Eves, Danny and Ruth’s middle son. He had gotten married just a few weeks earlier and his wife Melissa arrived a bit later. We had a great time looking at their wedding photos and then went over to see their new Flat (apartment). We had dessert with them and returned home to fall into bed about 12:30.