like Ian Kiernan or Kay Cottee
I'd sail around the world between the 50s and the 40s
those latitudes aren't too mean, temperate or cold
(anyway, to be a solo sailor you need to be bold)
but at Cape Horn you've gotta dip your keel into the 30s
If you've got this far withour being rolled over
by salt-crusted waves that rise far above your shoulder
you can duck back into more benign water
skirting past South Georgia and the bucolic Falklands
across the South Atlantic and nearing Prince Eward Islands
you're almost home in the Indian Ocean quarter
If you feel a little more adventurous than you already are
consider the Kerguelens and Heard Island, which aren't far
off your nautical highway that is leading you home
Heard Island, our most external territory contains Mt Mawson at 2746 metres
'our highest mountain', icy and cold, lots of pure water in gigalitres
if only we could export it back across the far-flung foam ....
The place to be shipwrecked though is the Kerguelens
where the French researchers welcome individuals or persons
they accommodate and feed you with panache and style
tired of your own company and your cooking for so long
you can revive your spirits while being made to feel as if you belong
amid cameraderie and joi de vivre you haven't felt for a while
From there it's just a few skids across the South Indian Ocean
to Cape Leeuwin and Freo where you've sure to cause a commotion
as Aussies welcome you back as a hero and that's a fact
you've sailed across four mighty powerful oceans
enduring loneliness, doubt, terror and other emotions
back at your departure point ... you've 'been there, done that'
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