Wednesday 8th February

We spent the morning energetically and industriously trying to put 2XS up on a sandbank, again, so that Pete could fiddle around with the gearbox again, just a bit of minor tweaking.  Peter Newman – of course – hopped on board to help.  I was very grateful that he was there because Pete was out in the middle of the river in the tender making big gestures with his arms indicating, I think, THIS WAY, and THAT WAY.  We could see his lips moving but couldn’t hear anything.  I find these sorts of (inaudible) instructions more than a bit intimidating and confusing, so it was wonderful having Peter to turn the wheel this way and that, and to put the engines, port and starboard, in forward or reverse.  And in the end…well it didn’t work.  The current was rushing past much too swiftly, washing out all of the sand so that we might have been sitting in a big hole, not up on a firm sand bank.  After quite a few hours – well, we gave up.

In the early afternoon we went for a lovely long bike ride, right out to the river mouth, to look at the fearsome bar we had crossed a few days ago.  The river is a whirling, swirling, chocolate brown eddy, with whirlpools and rushing water going hither and yon.  The bar wasn’t too fearsome today, but...today is not the day we are leaving Camden Haven.  We turned to come back along the lovely leafy bike track which the local council have so thoughtfully provided for the happy denizens of this area.  And there in front of us was a big black cloud.  Just waiting, we knew, to dump many many litres of water on us.  It POURED!  Our valiant little bikes are used to this sort of thing, fortunately, because in no time at all we were riding through a shallow stream instead of a solid concrete pathway.  By the time we got back to 2XS we were drenched right through to our underwear.  We proved, yet again, the worth of our Tilley hats, which had keeps our heads dry and our eyes clear.

Last night we went back to the Plaza Theatre, this time to the smaller, plusher De Luxe room.  Our movie was The Ides of March, which was nowhere near as captivating as The Descendants.  (By the way, Elsa and Susan, two of my very intelligent Hobart friends, found The Descendants totally boring and annoying…)  In fact…we thought The Ides of March was…boring and annoying!

Tonight we have been invited to dinner on Plan Four.  We have contributed some oysters, which we bought at an oyster farm (Armstrongs) along the bike track.  Leanne is thrilled with the oysters, which I have already handed over, so she can arrange them on a beautiful platter (I am so kind and considerate…); Peter is less thrilled, he really doesn't love seafood - all the more for us....

We were planning on leaving tomorrow but maybe we will have another Camden Haven day, and another bike ride, rain notwithstanding.

We are, by the way, in pelican heaven.  About twenty of these gorgeous birds spend their days gliding around us, sitting on the posts right next to the boat, sailing majestically around the whirlpools in the river.