Sunday 8^th April

Happy Easter to one and all. 

We are in Launceston and it is, at the moment, a beautiful sunny blue sky day.  But…the black cockatoos have been warning us that there is likely to be a big rain and thunder storm very soon.  The sea has been very violent recently, with wild wind, many boating misadventures, deaths.  The Three Peaks Race has been halted, with some boats run aground.  2XS, we know, will be safe and sound in Mill Bay on its strong Morrison mooring.  We will be back in Strahan tomorrow, with the idea of leaving on Tuesday, all things being equal…Then down around the bottom of Tasmania, into Port Davey for a quick day or so, then HOME.  I should be firmly seated at my office desk at 8.45 on Monday 16^th.  (This is a bold statement…usually at 8.45 I am having my first cup of tea of the day…barely out of bed…)

Our Morrison ute is amazing.  Ron’s son Deke brought it down to us at the wharf.  It is not a particularly new vehicle but it is SO clean we could lend it to paramedics along the way to conduct emergency appendectomies.  If called upon so to do… All of the Morrison vehicles are neat, tidy and surgically clean.  You wouldn’t know they fished or even trod upon the decks.  We have only had the ute for a day and a half and already it is bespattered with dead insects, dust, rain drops.  We will have to get scrubbing before we return it!

Friday was a beautiful day.  We left Strahan reasonably early and got to Launceston a bit after two.  The road up through the mountains was breathtaking, awe-inspiring.  We only had one brief stop, in Sheffield, to avail ourselves of the facilities and to look at what Fleur’s mother would have called the “muriels.”  I was mildly desperate for a cup of coffee.  Sheffield was busybusy but…no coffee to be had!  The pub advertised food, wine, coffee, etc but…the cheery barmaid said, “Oh dear, we’ve run out of coffee.  Go to the bakery opposite.”  The bakery opposite was shrouded in newspaper…the cafe next door was mysterious and dark.  Someone suggested going to the IGA supermarket - they, surprisingly, sell espresso coffee.  Or so they say… I hopefully asked for a double shot long black- VERY VERY strong, hoping to get something with a tiny bit of coffee flavour and savour.  Oh dear…I got a pale weak concoction in a cardboard cup.  Win some lose some; in the meantime Pete bought about five books, $1 each – mostly spy thrillers from the 60s and 70s, so he was happy.

Our apartment in Launceston, the Lido, was just lovely.  All 1930s, big spacious rooms, all the comforts of home.  I took off all of my travel clothes and put them straight in the washer-dryer, then had a shower and pranced around in a fluffy white robe for a while.  It then occurred to me that we had an apartment – weehee, time to entertain family!  My sisters were (very inconsiderately) otherwise occupied – what’s the matter with them; I gave them ten minutes notice!!  But Mum and Marcel were able to drop everything and come, so we had a lovely visit in our elegant Art Deco apartment.

Nicole’s party began at five and we managed to get there more or less in time.  It was a beautiful party, very elegant, lots of fun.  All of the men were in black tie and they looked very splendid.  The women looked gorgeous and TALL TALL TALL!!  As the evening wore on, around midnight, they started to get shorter as they finally, regretfully, discarded their extreme high heels.

The food deserves a special mention.  It was just beautiful, both to eat and to gaze upon.  The canapés were all served in ingenious and attractive ways – on little wooden bowls, in nests of twigs and grass, on platters decorated with huge red chilli peppers.  Not only pretty but DELICIOUS.  The canapés kept on coming and I was very happy, nibbling on this one and that – it is one of my favourite ways of eating.  So maybe I ate too many…I wasn’t prepared for a main course to arrive, in elegant little bowls.  Angela Wood smiled at me encouragingly – “Come on, Marguerite, you can do it!”  So I did…and very yummy it all was.  Even if I did eat twice my own body weight…good thing it was such a long party, with lots of dancing and activity to burn off (some of) the food.

As for the party girl…well she looked absolutely gorgeous, like a film star, in her long black silk Colette Dinnigan dress.  Not only beautiful, but radiant as well.  She made an amazing speech, to the assembled 100 guests – “I love my life!” was the theme.  Nicole has been through some very hard times, and is very intelligent in her assessment of her current situation- beautiful children, good health, much-loved husband, wonderful house, friends, family.

There was live music for the first part of the party (Cam Tapp) and then a variety of DVD music.  Dancing until late in the night… Pete and I walked back to the Lido, with just a teensy gentle bit of argument over whether it would be better to walk on the footpath (my idea) or the MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (Pete’s suggestion – so much more exciting, he said.)  He was quite disappointed as he snugged up in the comfy bed.  “It’s not really all that late, is it?”  Well.2.45 is late for a Harmsen if not for a Headlam…

Saturday we went off to Beauty Point to meet up with Leanne and Peter from Plan Four, and to watch the 2pm start of the Three Peaks race.  Oh golly and gosh…we were 24 hours too late.  Not too late to see Pete and Leanne, fortunately.  Lovely to catch up on their news, all of us back in Tasmania.

Today, Easter Sunday, has been a R & R day at the Darcey’s, with a big lunch of Atlantic Salmon, all the way from Birch’s Bay…

PS Pete has just looked at the forecast and…it is not good.  We probably won’t be able to leave Strahan till Wednesday, but then it should be fair winds and calm sea and reasonably easy going, down and around the bottom of Tasmania.