I was walking down the marina finger to my boat this afternoon. I got talking to another sailor who had just pulled into the marina a few hours previously.
While we were chatting about boats and cruising I noticed the sound of good country music emanating from his boat.
After a few minutes I remarked that he must like country music as although a lot of cruisers liked a relaxed type of music I didn't know to many who were into country music.
His response was that he was from "out west". He had given up work and wanted something to do.
He had never seen the ocean until he was 53 years old and at the time thought it was the "new" frontier.
When he decided it was time to give away a life of mustering and living the hard life he thought he might like to see a whole lot more water than he had seen in his earlier life.
He bought a lovely 43 foot yacht and taught himself to sail, the hard way. After a few sail repairs and a few modifications to his boat he now cruises the east coast of Australia, north of Brisbane. (Seems to be some barrier south of there) as well as the Cape and the Kimberly.
He is typical of his upbringing, tough, self reliant and willing to take on a challenge.
He loves his new life on the water.
What better convert could you find ?
There's some interesting people out there .
I can recall years ago working out back after two years ,driving directly to the sea jumping out of the car and running into sea . It was so nice to remove the red dust 
Nice story
He is a bloody nice bloke too.
Anybody that has been to the real outback and can identify with a wiry, lean hard working ringer would spot this in the bloke in the marina. He would be in his 60's now and still looks and talks like he is around a campfire.
He has adapted to the yachtie lifestyle very well and already sailed to the Kimberly and back.
He loves his fishing and meeting other boaties out on the water..
After chatting with him a few times I think what he likes best is the self reliance and isolation that comes with single handed cruising. I am inclined to think that it has a lot of similarities to his past life in the bush.
Hi NSW,
Sorry for the delay in replying. You can sail from Sydney to Townsville and only loose internet for a short time between Rockhampton and Mackay. Go three hours north of Townsville and loose it altogether till you get near a provincial town again.
In answer to your question,
I can't recall the name of his boat at the moment but I have made arrangements to meet him at either Dunk Island or Hinchenbrook Island in a few weeks time so will find out for you then.
Unless you sail in north Qld, the Northern Territory or WA I don't like your chances of saying hello to him. He seems to think that Roslyn Bay is "to far south" and prefers the warmer climates. The same reason I prefer the north although I do like a trip down south every few years.
I showed him the seabreeze site and tried to get him interested in joining but he was very reluctant. He doesn't use social media and has a mobile phone that has to be at least ten years old. I showed him my large screen phone with Navionics etc and his response was "Well that looks nice, I might have to get one of them" but then went on to say that he can't see himself getting one as yet because his current phone still works well enough.
He is hoping to make a trip over the top end this winter and then make his mind up where to go after that.
