ABOUT US

The crew! The story thus far… 

PAM AND COL

Pam and I have been happily married for over 37 years. Between us we have five amazing kids and seven wonderful grand kids. I joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1964 as a Junior Recruit aged barely aged 15 ½ and spent the next 20 years in the service of my country. Originally qualifying as a Navy Clearance Diver and later completing my service as a Warrant Officer Coxswain, myself and remaining fellow members of the original six-man fourth contingent of Royal Australian Navy Clearance Divers who served in Vietnam 1968-69 were recently and somewhat belatedly, awarded a US Navy Presidential Citation, the original signed back in 1968 by the then US President, Richard Nixon for our team's actions in Vietnam. 

After moving around Australia on several naval postings, Pam and I moved with our young family to Mackay, Queensland in 1984. Between 1984 and 2010, I worked at the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal both in shift work and supervisory roles, and later joined the terminal's small, amazingly talented and enthusiastic owner's team, becoming involved in several significant expansion projects. 

In between expansions, Pam and I travelled Australia in a home-built, 34' fifth wheeler trailer home for nearly two years before returning to Mackay for the seventh and latest expansion of the terminal that would see it's capacity reach 85 million tonnes per annum. In 2010, we moved to Sandstone Point near Bribie Island, QLD, where I continued working in the area of bulk materials handling consulting with the award-winning team at MHO Pty Ltd. Motivated by a life-long love of the sea, inspired by people like Jessica Watson, and having beaten a couple of cancer scares, we're both thrilled to be starting the next chapter of life on the water to make sure that every minute of our time on earth is not wasted. My motto has become "this is not a practice session", a saying I'm delighted to confirm our kids have adopted in their own lives.

Until recently, Pam has described herself as someone who “gets seasick at the picture of a wet lawn”, but we believe that's nothing a few after 5:00 pm “sundowners” and some magnificent Mediterranean cruising and sightseeing won’t cure (we hope)! The hardest part for Pam in particular in leaving on this adventure is the loss of direct and frequent contact with grand kids, but with Skype, email, Facebook and this blog, there is a whole new world to share and plenty of spare bunks for visitors.

 

MIKE AND BROOKE

Mike and I were born only nine days apart in October 1980 yet on opposite sides of the world. Both with pretty typical, active childhoods – Mike grew up playing in the snow in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, Canada, while I spent much of my youth near the beach in Mackay, Queensland, Australia.

The travel bug was caught early when after graduating high school in 1998 Mike and his best mates chased a snowboarder’s dream of a ski bum lifestyle, crossing Canada to Whistler, British Columbia. Early 2001, soon after completing a Bachelor of Tourism, Business & Marketing - I heeded advice from dad and took off to visit foreign shores - first stop Canada. Ten months later Mike and I met in Whistler. I guess the rest is history and it’s staggering to think the impact on one’s life that a new relationship can bring when made far far away from home. 

The past eleven years together have seen us living in Mackay, Australia for three years and returning to our dearest Whistler, Canada for four years of glorious season changes, later setting up a new life in sunny Sydney for the last two years. Travels in between took us to Thailand, New Zealand, US, UK, Mexico twice and two extended trips through Eastern and Western Europe.  

October will always be our month, so on 16 October 2012, on a day placed carefully between both our birthdays – we were finally married – supported by our closest family and friends from both Australia and Canada at gorgeous Lomani Island resort in the Mamanuca Islands, Fiji.  

Paying the bills is a means to an end, but when the majority of one’s life is (unfortunately) spent at “work” if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life (to an extent). Regardless of some incredibly long hours and extra grey hairs, work has personally brought me many unique and unforgettable experiences. Starting with seven years in destination marketing in the tourism industry - followed by two years in TV Production with the reality series The X Factor.  

Mike speaks fondly of his first summer job as zodiac rafting guide on the famous Bay of Fundy tidal bores - but not before tractor driving and hay bailing on the family dairy farm.  He has tried all manner of snow-related roles from ski tech to snow grooming. Moving our life to North Queensland attracted him (like many others) to the prosperous coal mining industry. Moving from heavy machinery operating to supervising and then short term mine operational planning.  He’s spent the last two years flying-in and out from Sydney to Emerald, North Queensland on a week-on week-off schedule. Funnily enough here in Sydney I spent more time commuting between home and work each week (up to 3 hours a day) than he does flying interstate weekly. Many times I've told myself through the long commute - there is more to life than this rat race!   

Together we’ll forever have a thirst to explore the world and thus it’s become apparent that we can’t sit still - even at a time in our lives when society makes us feel it should be time for babies and a mortgage.  But when an opportunity of a lifetime comes your way, with your family no less, these other rites of passage can wait a few more years. Who knows what beautiful sunsets and magic life changing moments we may have otherwise missed. Let the next chapter of (boat) life set sail.   

So proud of my dad for making his dreams come true. 

Thankfully his passion and hunger for chasing them runs in the family.