Henry Goines still smiling despite wretched run of luck

For Henry Goines - as the saying goes - if he didn’t have bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck at all.

A Coffs Harbour identity frozen out of Australia for nearly two years by Covid-driven border closures has finally returned to realise much that he held dear has been trashed.

In a series of mishaps, Henry Goines had his car “totalled”, his makeshift home flooded, and his business derailed by a freak superstorm.

Mr Goines, 68, is popularly and widely known across the Mid-North Coast as the longtime operator of a Hawaiian shave ice van which was a mainstay of local community markets.

In February 2020, he travelled to Hawaii to see the woman who was “turning into my girlfriend”, Kim Jacoby.

“When I left here (Coffs) the whole place was on fire (the Black Summer),” Mr Goines said.

No sooner had he arrived in Hawaii than international borders slammed shut.

His return air ticket was suddenly looking shaky.

“They (the airline) said end of March, then June, August, October ... well, maybe next year,” Mr Goines said.

“The goalposts kept shifting. Fortunately my girlfriend took care of me and we weren’t desperate for money, though I had to dip into my reserves more than I would have liked.”

While Mr Goines was marooned Stateside, he could but watch on as a superstorm annihilated the Toormina area and surrounds in October this year.

The hail blitzed hundreds of homes, cars and businesses.

Among the casualties were Mr Goines’ Rainbow Shave Ice van and his trusty Camry station wagon - a reliable beast which was still purring even with 420,000 kilometres on the clock.

While the pockmarked van will be repaired, the old Camry will not be so lucky as it was subsequently involved in an accident - “wrapped around a telephone pole and totalled”, Mr Goines said.

Another upshot of the storm saw his makeshift home - a shed at an industrial estate - flooded. In the aftermath, the clothes he had kept there had to be thrown out as they had started to rot.

For all that, Mr Goines is living up to his reputation as Coffs Harbour’s ‘iceman’ - and after arriving home just before Christmas, has started rebuilding his life.

In Sydney, where he had to self-hotel quarantine, he managed to buy a new Camry station wagon - this one with only 170,000km on the dial.

Back at Toormina, Mr Goines has cleaned the shed - though he normally lives on his motor sailer ‘Honu’ which is docked at the Coffs marina.

It too is showing the signs of missing the love of its owner for almost two years - with barnacles and the effects of electrolysis telling.

But ‘Honu’ will go into dry dock for maintenance as soon as that becomes practical, while Mr Goines also hopes to get his market van back on the hum - “I just need to get some lights fixed (that were smashed by hail) and a blue slip”.

And as for his new love, Kim - it’s unknown when they will reunite.

“Kim was going to come in April, but her daughter is pregnant and is going to have twins in May,” Mr Goines said, adding that under those circumstances it might be him who returns to the States for the next visit.

“Honestly, it’s just great to be back for now,” said the one-time turbo prop pilot.

“I’m happy to be back, my kids are here.

“I’m starting to think that I need to do a lap of Australia.”