While on the train the other day I was thinking: we are at the end of journey which really started back in January 2007 when we went on a diving holiday in Far North Queensland and Michael came across a job in the newspaper for a coxswain on remote Orpheus Island. The job didnt pan out but ever since then we weve been determined to do something different, adventurous and a little bit crazy.
Caitlin, Michael (background) and Potato Cod, The Cod Hole, Great Barrier Reef, January 2007
With a serious case of itchy feet, in April that year we went up to Cooktown and very nearly bought a business there - we rethought that wacky plan at the last minute, but our desire to escape the mundane didnt subside.
Main St, Cooktown, QLD, April 2007
Then in September 2007 we went on a 2 week diving trip to Vanuatu where we admired the cruising yachts anchored out the front of our resort. One was home to a French couple with two brown-skinned blond-haired little boys who couldn’t have been more than 7 or 8 years years old, but were whizzing around on their tender on their own while their parents picked up supplies from the village. The confidence, independence and freedom of those kids really inspired us. There's no doubt that that little seed of inspiration has helped lead us here, four years later.
Yachts off the Beachfront Resort, Espititu Santo, Vanuatu, September 2007
Despite getting distracted by careers in Melbourne (pesky things, careers...) we managed to buy a little Farr 6000 sailing boat
Indian Summer and learned to sail in Port Phillip Bay and the Gippsland Lakes. Our time on
Indian Summer confirmed our dream of owning a bigger boat and travelling by sail.
Indian Summer now has a new home in Mission Beach QLD and we hope to see her again when we make it up that way.
Indian Summer, Gippsland Lakes, New Years Eve, 2009
Last year we tested our resolve by chartering a boat in the Whitsundays with our friends Su and David and their son Sasha. Despite being really sick with colds for the whole trip we had an amazing time and confirmed that yes, we really do want to do this! Within three months the house was sold, and within four we had bought Bass Voyager...
Sasha and Michael aboard Christine, Hunter 39, Airlie Beach, August 2010
Whitsunday Islands, August/September 2010
This is where we want to be...!
I can hardly believe we've almost managed to pull it off. We're at the end of a journey - the dreaming-, planning-, wishing- journey - and almost at the beginning of the next one - the reality!!
Lets just hope that we can muster up the nerve to actually push away from the dock!!!
