An Antipodean Affair

Working as a simultaneous conference interpreter with United Nations,
Valerie Barnes travelled to India, Iran, Nigeria, Zambia and Zaire. She
also met and fell in love with Peter, an Australian delegate who had
decided to sail single-handed in a 22-foot yacht from England to
Australia to separate his past from his future.
While crossing the Atlantic, Peter was hit on the head by the boom, lost
the rudder off the coast of Venezuela, and was attacked by sharks in the
Pacific. He said he would write a book about it, but when he celebrated
his 87th birthday, she realized that would never happen. So she decided
to write the story herself with his help, using his log-book and
describing their experiences together during the five months she spent
with him in England, France, Spain, the Canaries, Barbados, Bequia and
Rarotonga.
Their story is often hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking. Rosy plans for
the future were shattered when Peter’s 24-year-old daughter, backpacking
in Sri Lanka, became ill and died. In his grief, he switched off his radio and thus became untraceable. Valerie flew to Tahiti and then Bora
Bora to look for him, but on both occasions he had already left. Just as
she was about to catch the plane back to Geneva, a yacht appeared on the
horizon. As it approached the wharf, she could smell frying bacon and
eggs. No Frenchman has bacon and eggs for breakfast. She knew it must be
an Englishman or an Australian. It was. Unwashed, unshaven, desperately
grief-stricken, standing on deck was Peter.