G’day, mate!
We are now in Southport, Queensland. There is big rivalry here in Australia between the states; even the license plates show it. The New South Wales plates say “NSW – the first state”. Another one is “Victoria – the place to be”. A very accurate description is “Queensland – the sunshine state”, and we’re very happy to be here after rainy NSW. Back in Coffs Harbor, everyone was so helpful and friendly and impressed that we sailed all the way here from the States… until we said we were going up the coast soon, and what was it like there? Then they just sort of clammed up. It was like, “What’s wrong with our part of Australia? Why in the world would you want to go to Queensland?” It was pretty odd.
On the subject of us ‘sailing all the way here from the States’, we’ve heard some really funny comments from people walking the docks when they pass our boat and see the hailing port. Sometimes it’s just “Seattle, Washington. Wow, that’s a long ways to sail,” and on a rainy day we heard “Oh, there’s a boat from Seattle, Washington.” “Well, at least they’re used to this weather!” Once, in New Zealand, we got “Seattle, WA… does that mean Western Australia?” “No, that’s in America (except it sort of sounded like ‘Amelica’).” And just the other day, from what sounded like a little boy and his dad: “Look, that boat’s from America.” “They’re from America?!” I think you can tell which one is which.
The song “It’s a Small World After All” really is true! We just met a man working at a marine store here who remembered us from the Marquesas. We had an excess of bananas on board, and Jessie and I met him while we were kayaking around the anchorage trying to give them away. What a coincidence! ~ Molly