A HOST of ABTA delegates, Backchat included, were eagerly anticipating what looked like one of the best evening bashes at the Cairns Convention – a cruise to idyllic Green Island with JMC followed by a traditional Aussie barbecue washed down with bucket loads of grog.
Sadly, the only buckets used were for a far more unpleasant reason as we endured the journey from hell. We realised all may not be well when JMC had to check several times with the coast guard to see it was safe to travel. At 6pm, they got the all clear despite the foul weather which plagued the conference.
By the time we reached Green Island, both the name of the island and the colour of JMC’s logo were apt. Delegates were dropping like flies as the mountainous seas claimed victims of sea sickness one by one. After what seemed an age, we arrived – to be met with a howling gale, horizontal rain and a 200-metre walk along a jetty, all in the pitch dark.
Shivering, soaked and shell shocked, we staggered to the dinner tables which, while numbered, were set out in no particular order leaving delegates hunting for their table.
But as the evening headed towards disaster, up popped Stuart Hall to save the day with a series of manic gags. “Can you imagine the Italians, the French or the Germans doing this?” he boomed. And JMC’s resident joker Dennis Wormwell invented another name for his company’s initials – Just Made the Crossing. By the end, with everyone draped in towels and dressing gowns supplied by the resort, we were dancing in the rain as the band bashed out a rendition of Sailing.
As news got round of the trip, Gold Medal Travel altered plans to stage a cruise the following night. Funny that.