Monday 19^th March

We are in the harbour near Grassy on King Island.  We got here by about 4.30, in splendid time.  Our Bass Strait adventure was perfect – the wind was fine, the sea big but not too big, and we were able to have both sails up for most of the way.  Huge flocks of muttonbirds, with the odd albatross, gannet, tern to keep us company.

I have no idea why we are all so very tired and wobbly.  We all had log daytime naps.  Well all except Pete, who somehow missed out on this treat.  I spent a long time on deck constructing very beautiful salad rolls with many carefully thought-out ingredients.  And just as I was about to put on the final touches…a large wave came crashing over me and the rolls.  My kind 2XSBoys swore that the rolls were perfectly delicious.  But…they were soggy and loathsome; I know because I tried to eat one.  (This wave, mind you, was the only one all day which actually came swooping over the deck.  Malevolently!!)

We were met on the wharf by kind Sally Cole in her large, comfortable 7-seater 4WD Toyota, which she has left with us for tomorrow.  (Sally and her husband Richard are farm managers here; they are part of the Parham family, now resident in South Australia but once denizens of Oatlands and great friends of the Headlam family.)

She took us to the Grassy Club where we had a few drinks at the bar and a meal in the dimly lit restaurant.  The food was nice enough (and yes Katy we did have a bit of gorgeous King Island cheese on our taste plate) but the service…oh my goodness we hit on GrumpyLand!!  The barman was old and obviously in much pain with a draggy leg.  He should have been at home tucked up in a recliner chair with a nice big packet of panadol forte… I had a glass of wine, while the men all had jugs of beer, and then I went up to the bar to ask for a glass of water.  Please, and with no ice, please, thank you.  You would have thought I had asked him to dig a well and plunge down into the icy water for me as he huffed off very crossly.  The chef was a thin, nervy man, not given to smiling, and our waitress, while pleasant enough, was singularly charm-free.  Maybe they don’t like strangers in their town.

Tomorrow we get to do some sightseeing on this beautiful island, thanks to dear kind Sally and Richard, and then at 3.00 Richard is going to show us the farm.  We are having a BBQ at their house in the evening – no GrumpyLand in this sector of King Island!