13/10/2020
Last night I slept fairly deep, had lots of dreams, got up at 10:30am. had 9 flavours of pancake for breakfast (a combination of various jams and honey plus condensed milk and Nutella). Selling the boat doesn’t seem to be going too well, because the money Rory thought he’d get seems to be waiting a little longer. We may consider another buyer.
At noon we visited the boat that J had helped with yesterday afternoon, checked out the mainsail and got to know the owner, Steve, who has a girlfriend, Jinlian, who is from Yunnan and was away on shore shopping, Steve said she was seasick and not used to sailing so was flying back to Brisbane tomorrow. Later the day we met her on shore and she invited us to visit the boat again. Beaver, who also helped out with Steve yesterday, was there too. Then Jinlian invited us for dinner and we agreed. While Steve and Beaver went to walk the dogs on shore, Jinlian told us that she wasn’t really happy with Steve on the boat and that was the real reason she was leaving tomorrow. Jinlian works as an carer, was living a good independent life on her own boat. Steve met her a month ago and started a fierce chase, also invited her to sail together from Brisbane to here. After sweet-talking her onto the boat, he began to show the true colours as a control freak. He likes things to be done in a hurry like in army marching(He is a veteran). Got up at 5am, sailed the boat till evening, and repeated the next day. Jinlian couldn’t relax at all, let alone enjoy the island scenery. Later after Steve returned he came into the kitchen from time to time while we were cooking, tried to see if Jinlian was complaining to me. He also played crappy music loudly so we couldn’t hear each other and have a good conversation. Anyhow Jinlian looked happy again in front of everyone at dinner, especially after a few glasses of wine. I don’t like Steve at all, he was as rude and irrational as most of the vets I’d met, egotistical, controlling, interrupting, drinking and trying to get others to drink, no taste on music and forced others to listen while he played loudly. His cabin was full of cheap gift shop decorations, hanging two big Australian flags, had a canary in a cage. His dog Charlie is a nice girl, but I guess it was because of his militarization training. He made his fortune trading Asian food and owned several companies, but I don’t think he has a rich mind. He doesn’t know how to get along comfortably with others (his presence always makes me feel uncomfortable). Today I finally got to know what is an Aussie bogan’s life, and I feel relieved to be back on our own boat. I really hope Jinlian can leave him forever and get back on her own boat to continue her good life.
Sea Journal 