McKEAG AND ME #2. WE WERE SENT TO THE GAS CHAMBER. I regret any inference to a horrible and despicable period in the lives of people, alive or to those who have passed on. Please accept my narrative in a light hearted way. Just like my reference to ANZAC DAY, "WE MUST NEVER FORGET", so must all mankind never forget the dreadful things that contemptible people have done to others? THE COOLROOM. McKeag and I were seconded to ‘refurbish' the main freezing room aboard the DEBRENE ADELL. Debrene was a pretty serious prawn trawler out of BRUNSWICK HEADS. She was 70 foot, timber and built in BYRON BAY by the BIENKE family. It seems, (for all you ‘fglass people), that insufficient ‘wax' was added during the ‘flow coat' application, that is during the installation period. The walls of the freezer room were always sticky. Our job was to clean the surfaces with xylol thinners in preparation for a FARLEY AND McKEAG HARD WEARING FLOWCOAT. We set up blower fans and exhaust fans, we prepared an egress route, and we gave ourselves a working time frame, not a problem. All proceeds smoothly. Respirators'? OH YEAH. Wet rags tied around our faces seemed to ‘temper' the acrid esters of the thinners, oh bloody wrong we were. Within minute of commencing work the old lighted feeling of; SHE''L BE RIGHT MATE entered the equation, we "vacated premises" to the back deck and considered our position, we reversed the blower fan and the suction fan and had another go. I will let you air conditioning people contemplate. OK; blow in good air, suck out bad air. A RAINY NIGHT IN BRUNSWICK HEADS. I have mentioned the ‘night carter's hat syndrome', the downing of tools, the "fair weather sailors", that was our principles. So why had we decided to venture out fishing on a crappy late afternoon? The weather was coming away, rain was forecast, however, no strong wind warning had been issued. The Prawn Trawlers were making their departure for a night of "reaping the bounty", we decided to go fishing. We anchored in 13 fathoms on the NEW BRIGHTON REEF, a few showers passed, but we had our trusty rain coats, more importantly the fish were biting. WE listened to the banter on the CB radio led by "HAVE A CHAT", none other than PATIE WALSH. We heard some good jokes that night, mainly from Pattie. We heard the worst news possible, courtesy of Pattie Walsh, you bastard. One thing we did notice was the increasing showers, they were developing into a pattern of rainy squalls, the wind would pick up from the south and a healthy amount of rain would be the result, no problem, the deck wash was pumped over the side by our trusty bilge pump. Then the fateful comments from Pattie; " frigg me, the 30 mile Rader is all clouds, bloody rain for miles". Now that in it's self was not a big problem, we can still see the lights from Ocean Shores and Old Brunz. We can see the port entry navigation lights on the breakwalls. If we have to go we can get back. And then she comes away. Bloody Pattie was right; It pissed down, ‘buckets and dogs and friggin cats". WE sat it out for maybe 30 minutes, the bilge pump is working overtime. Must ask McKeag what the rating for the pump was, but I am going to tell some statistics, in a second. So here is the picture; we can't see the front of the boat; hence we cannot see the shore. The rain is torrential, although the wind has subsided. It's time to go, wait? Pattie still tells us the cloud band is "forever", we must go. The motor is started, bearings are checked, what bloody bearings? Compass, what compass? THE PLAN, AL LA GOTCHA. It's a pretty rough plan, "up anchor and drive the boat up the bloody beach", that's the initial plan. That's the plan of dickheads, McKeag and me are not dickheads. Observations; wind from the south, constant. Breakwalls; 10 degrees off south. A very very light glow of light from Ocean Shores. The bilge pump is working. The entry lights for BRUNZ, NO GO, can't see a thing. NEXT PLAN "Johnnie, motor up, up the anchor, you drive and I will keep the faint glimmer of the Ocean Shores lights just behind your right shoulder". We do all this, and "if after 30 minutes if we can't see the breakwalls, then we will drive boat up the bloody beach". What a plan, and what's more we execute it perfectly. With John driving, with the lights becoming increasingly dimmer, we motor for 30 minutes. And still the rain is pissisting, and still the bilge pump is disgorging copious volumes of water. I must tell you we kept our cool, it was our plan after all. THERE IS 200 LITRES CAPACITY IN A 44 GALLON DRUM. Approximate time of exposure to the elements; 6:30pm. THE ROCKY BOARDWALK SOUTH (AND NORTH). John will tell you, in fact recount our story essentially as I have described. We really could not see land whatsoever, only a faint glow of street lights. AND THEN; as if by sheer providence, maybe a bit of good fortune and FARLEY'S prayer. We found ourselves due east of the BRUNZ BREAKWALLS. We were roughly 300 meters to sea, our second plan worked!! For a few seconds the entry navigation lights shimmered through the relentless rain. John threw GOTCHA to starboard and we headed for the "now you see me, now you don't, red and green lights". As we drew close we became aware that another 100 meters south, well we would have on our way to BYRON BAY, "PLAN ONE". (Up the beach). God was it gratifying to be back inside those break walls. The little narrative will not end here. We motor into the Boat Harbour to a ‘welcoming committee", well OK, a committee of one. It was Dianne, John's very worried partner. "Where have you been?", and, "you blokes stupid or what?" followed by, "why would you go fishing in this weather, you morons?" These words may not have been accurate at the time; most certainly she was a very worried Lady. Remember the 44 gallon drums, 200 litres, THE BILGE PUMP? The rain had abated to a drizzle by this stage, but it took 20 minutes to pump the bilge dry, we recon we still had the equivalent of (?) 44's under the deck. We arrived home approx. 2 hours after the deluge commenced, the Bilge Pump was rated @; I'M GOING TO GET BACK TO YOU ON THIS ONE. Recently, in fact in 2005, June / July. We had a record flood in the BRUNSWICK VALLEY. 400mm, (16 inches) fell in 6 hours. I know; my SES colleagues and I helped to evacuate 115 people from low lying areas in our patch. We do get some serious rain. McKeag and I had our share.

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