And if you want a bit of a chuckle in these sad times, click here to check my comments about writers of letters to the editor.

  Andrew and Vicki at Fortescue bay, Tasmania.
 

So Bloody Close and Yet so Bloody Far! (A tribute to Andrew)

Wow! Did ya see that Andrew McAuley, Adventurer of the Year
Raise your glasses you kayakers, and give the man a cheer
To paddle across the Tasman, to the land of the long white cloud
A successful ending would have made us all feel proud.

He left from Tasmania’s east coast, early in the New Year
His long-suffering wife Vicki barely holding back a tear
‘Don’t you worry about that’ he said, sounding like old Jo
I have this urge inside me, saying ‘come on, give it a go.’

Wow! Did ya see that Andrew McAuley, Adventurer of the Year
Next time I think about him, I’ll surely wipe a tear
He survived the low-pressure systems, as they swept across his path
Straight from the southern ocean, delivering their icy blast.

But he slipped inside his cockpit, snug as a bug in a rug
Protected from the weather by 'Casper' up above
Then up again and paddle on, a bloody boring day
And that damn New Zealand, still so far away.

On and on he paddled, riding the monstrous swells
In that southern ocean, a place he now will dwell
And so close to Milford Sound where he knew his wife would be
Come hell or high water, after thirty days at sea.

What went wrong we may never know on that fateful day
He should have been 'home & hosed' as the yachties always say
Thirty days at sea, but thirty hours short
His young life - by Neptune - has been bought.
 

Andrew paddling out of Fortescue Bay, Tasmania, on the 11th January, 2007.