Here it is leaving port after it had been finished with the refurbishment. I scanned the above from the paper after I had left the temporary job – about 3 months earlier.

A bit of nostalgia today.

Lets do a Back to the Future thing where I share some photos of a fairly large boat.

Of course, “You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat” is a famous phrase from Jaws.

Watch a small clip from the movie below
Jeep jumped onto the bandwagon and no doubt sold a few of their cars because of the Jaws reference
I’ve never owned one but I’d heard a few owners were unhappy with the cars reliability (they may have fixed it by 2022) but is it too late?

Back in 2008 I was transitioning into somewhere else. I had decided to phase down my (self employment) 13 year career as an initially Australian Mobile Car Care Company Technician – then Duco Magic Technician into something else.

I was doing some finance things on the side part time, and someone said I should apply for a job with Huxley Homes.

That threw me a bit as I hadn’t even considered the Housing Industry. I knew zilch, nothing, nadda about housing, but I knew people. I could read them like a book and knew what they were thinking before they knew that I knew. My wife and kids get really annoyed at me sometimes.

In other words I know people. The Housing Industry needed men with people skills, and I could learn the housing stuff on the run.

It was the most unique job interview I had ever done. About 20 – 30 people sat in a room whilst the manager of Huxley Homes made statements and asked questions of the group. I picked his personality straight away (there are only 4) so I knew I had a chance. No one else in the room knew what he was talking about.

So I let him know what type of personality he was and bingo, the rest is history.

I had to feed the family in the interim whilst I waited for an answer from the manager of Huxley Homes. It was about 1 week what seemed like months as I took on a job doing maintenance on a big boat in Newcastle Harbour. Probably the last time I’ll work this sort of “job”.

I had received an offer to join Huxley Homes, and stayed with them for 8+ years, built my 1st new home with them, and I’d still be there if they didn’t go under. I’m still in the housing industry some 14-15 years after I left this big boat job.

Who owned the yacht? The owner of Westfields, so he could afford the fuel bill obviously.

Anyway, I wasn’t allowed to take any photos so those who know me…..here they are.

My black 380 is pictured on the LHS. Photo taken from here for size reference
William the Fourth – getting done up one day?
William the Fourth – getting done up one day?
William the Fourth – getting done up one day?
My 380. I miss that car.
Scaffolding down the port side of the boat
The rear deck view to the port side
The rear deck with view down to the engine bay room
Starboard side
Engine bay prepped for painting
Engine bay prepped for painting
Engine bay prepped for painting
Engine bay prepped for painting
Sanding parts for painting was very tedious
Engine painted
Engine painted – oops out of focus
The Stern. Richard Bransons Cat is out the front next up for refurbishment
The Stern. I was sanding and prepping out here when the engine was done
Look how high we are up off the ground

Here’s two videos. Technology at the time in regards to photo and video quality have come forward in leaps and bounds. It was acceptable years ago, looking back – were they really that bad?

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