There comes a time in life when the years have accumulated under an expanding waistband, and we wonder where they have gone. For many retirees it is a time of family, travelling, giving back to the community and self-indulgence after a lifetime of service to others. As a retired couple always looking for an unusual travel destination, we readily accepted an offer to crew on a yacht accompanying a rally to the Louisiade Islands in eastern Papua New Guinea.

It’s 1968 and I’m 25, footloose and looking for adventure. I fancied going to sea in a small yacht and travelled to New Zealand where I had been told yachts were cheaper than in Aussie. They were, so I bought an old 30 ft. wooden Yawl (two masts with the back one further aft than the steering position). Graeme, a mate from Melbourne, joined me and we sailed to Fiji without any major problems.