Friday 10^th February

Computer said NO yesterday but I think today I will be allowed to write just a bit…

I think I mentioned a few days ago that we were invited to dinner on Plan Four.  Well we had the MOST delicious meal.  Leanne had made “simple” salad with a “simple” vegetable tart.  The tart contained roast vegetables and lots of cream cheese… It was so lovely that when we walked past Plan Four the following day around lunchtime, I had to restrain myself from leaping on board and shouting, “I KNOW you are eating leftover tart!  Give it to ME!!!  NOW!!!”  Dessert was poached pears with some sort of caramelised pecan yumminess over the top.  Bliss!

So where are we now, and what have we just eaten – what culinary rabbit did I pull out of my hat?  We are moored safely off a beach in Nelson Bay, a little town in Port Stevens.  It is now quite light and bright, at nearly 8pm.  But when we came in, a bit after six, it was as black as could be, nearly dark.  Just after I pulled the mooring safely up, thunderbolts and lightening!  Pouring rain!  The temperature plummeted – I am actually now wearing my ugg boots… We are safe and happy, and we had a very nice, speedy trip down the coast.  And what did we eat?  Well a very un-glamorous meal…sausages and onions, mashed potatoes, steamed pumpkin, steamed baby spinach.  It was actually very nice, in its own simple way, but not Libby’s Café standard.  (Yes Leanne did have a café in Devonport, Libby’s Café, and I should imagine that when she closed it down the population of Devonport put on black armbands…)

On the way down the coast I decided to improve the oars on the 2XS tender – they are very shabby and weather worn.  I sanded one of them (the one Pete could reach and hoick out of the rowlocks) for many hours, and then coated it with a satisfying layer of marine varnish.  Lovely!  I asked Pete, in all innocence, how many coats it would need.  “Twelve,” he said, bluntly.  Oh.  So it won’t be ready to gleam and glow by the weekend, then, will it?  And the other one still needs to be removed from the rowlocks and sanded.  Many more hours of industrious effort ahead!

I went to such a nice hairdresser yesterday – Juz’s Hair Salon.  It is in a big weatherboard building along the river, all very casual and cheery.  The building used to be the post office, in days of yore.  My hairdresser du jour, Tracey, listened carefully when I told her I wanted NOT TOO MUCH cut off, and she did a very good job, all for $15.  When we got back to the boat, Pete said, “Leanne your hair looks very nice!” which made us laugh a lot… Leanne had come with me for the walk, and for a chat, but she hadn’t had a single lock of hair altered.

We walked back through Laurieton and spent a bit of time in an arty crafty shop, where I bought a most beautiful bridal gown for somebody’s Barbie.  (Unfortunately they only had ONE beautiful bridal gown, and I really need two…)  The shop lady wrapped it delicately in tissue and told us that her oldest granddaughter is 24.  When she was born, her mother gave the grandmother a book of Barbie sewing patterns…  There followed many years of fiddliness making tiny Barbie outfits.  I hope these labours-of-love have been preserved for future generations of Barbie Lovers!