Sunday 28th March (Lini’s Journal)

Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Fri 9 Apr 2010 13:26
It was wonderful to have a slow start today and with wifi now
sorted Si skyped Dan for me. What a treat to catch up with news of my
babies after so long. He was just heading south for Ami’s birthday
lunch and plans were made to post my new sim card out here. I feel so
cut off without my mobile phone, not only as I am unable to make
calls, but have lost my phone book and with it the numbers of many old
friends I see so little in the flesh.
Yesterday the outboard sprung a fuel leak, so after a leisurely
breakfast Si took it apart and then had to fix the Hydrovane fixings
which came adrift! It was while looking for something under the spare
bunk in our cabin that Simon found my mobile. Yeehah!!! Didn’t he say
it definitely wasn’t under there a couple of weeks ago?! Lini is a
very happy bunny! I spent the rest of the morning trying to recall
events from the last week for the blog all the while being distracted
by amusing pelicans. Even without distractions I seldom know what day
of the week it is these days and will have to start jotting down a few
notes each day if I am to achieve my goal of a daily journal on our
travels: Oh for the memory of my youth!
It goes without saying that if I don’t even know what day of the
week it is, there was little chance of me knowing that the clocks
sprung forward an hour in England and also on my laptop. Spotting the
time while writing, chaos broke out on Brindabella as I called out to
Simon that we were running late. We quickly packed away our toys and
shot over to Festina Lente to offer a lift to tonight’s entertainment:
The famous Sunday night jump up at Shirley Heights. It wasn’t too long
before my error was detected and time granted for a leisurely cuppa.
Sensible shoes were recommended for the trek up to the lookout, so
I should have known that the path was not along the road. In the heat
of the late afternoon four hot bodies emerged from the dusty path
through the trees into party time. There is no doubt that the view was
wonderful and after cooling down a little we grabbed some beer and
found front row seats on rocks for the sunset looking west across the
water, with English and Falmouth Harbours to the side. Many people
were gathered for the weekly event with a steel band playing popular
tunes and mouth watering smells from the barbecue filling the air.
Together with the stunning views there was plenty of opportunity for
people watching too and Lynda and I had a quick game of ‘guess whose
just arrived on holiday’ and ‘guess who arrived yesterday and sat in
the sun all day’. There were certainly a fair collection of pale skins
and lobsters to be seen. We watched a bright full moon rise behind us
with a spectacular halo then joined a large queue for the barbecue.
The steel band had now finished and people were moving to a reggae
band. In our haste to leave Brindabella we had not topped up the
wallet or remembered a torch so when it came to going home we decided
to go for the adventurous option and rather than grab a taxi, walk
back down the hill. Now this was a bit of a scramble at times in
daylight and sober, so I foresaw a few problems getting down in the
dark after a beer or ‘two’. The moon could not have been brighter
however and we were back on Festina Lente for a nightcap in no time:
Another memorable evening to look back on.