Firstly from everyone here at Southern Cross may I wish you all a belated Happy New Year. Belated because I have just come crashing back to earth today by being back at work! Having just spent a week at Sunshine Beach surfing, paddle boarding, reading and relaxing, I am pretty sure that there was a mix up at the hospital the day I was born and I was actually from a fabulously wealthy family where that lifestyle was my destiny. It just felt so right doing nothing more than deciding whether I should go for a swim or read my book or trying to decide what to have for lunch. Like many of you I am sure reading takes up a major part of my down time and I was engrossed with a book about the second world war called ‘The Winter of the World’. This was a real book – you young people may not know about these things. They have pages made of paper, and when you finish one page you turn it over to reveal the next one. It does not have a back light, nor does it need charging up. Now this book is a monster – it is about 4 inches thick and I was getting a sore arm from holding it. I lived in fear that I would fall asleep reading it and break my nose if it landed on my face. As I read about the philosophy and visions of the Nazis back in 1940, I got a sense of Deja vu every time I went around to Noosa and walked down Hastings Street. If old Adolf had invented a time machine and transported himself forward in time to present day Noosa he may well have believed his vision had come true. Hastings Street appears to be inhabited by an Aryan super race. All the women are blond and fit with gravity defying figures, all the children dress exactly the same way like a Tommy Hilfiger version of the Hitler youth uniform and all the men stare arrogantly out from behind the wheel of their Mercedes Benz. And the price of everything seems to reflect the absurd inflation of 1930’s Germany. The only time we ate out in one of Noosa’s most notorious restaurants, one bottle of wine on the list was Fifteen thousand dollars! Seriously is there anyone stupid enough to pay $3000 per glass for wine?
Clearly there is, as the restaurant was packed with blond families swilling Pinot whilst their Hitler Youth children chowed down on $55 fish and chips! We were relived to escape back to the relative poverty of Sunshine beach. Of course all this makes our Day Skipper shorebased theory course incredible value when, for the price of a meal out in Hastings street, you can learn skills that will help you sail the oceans of the world. The next course is running from 23 – 27 February and at only $925 per person is less than the cheapest item in a Noosa handbag shop. Better still you don’t need to turn up the collar of your Ralf Lauren polo shirt to attend nor do you need to air kiss the proprietor!
Places available also on our Australia Day weekend and long weekend courses so hop on the email and book your spot.
That’s all for this edition, until next time keep your collar up.
Cheers
Mike Job.