Thursday 29^th March

Snapshot: 4.30pm - it is still warm and sunny, a gorgeous West Coast day.  Our wharf-front neighbour Rodney, from the big blue fishing boat, Petuna, is on board for a tour of inspection and a beer.  We are expecting to catch up with our other neighbour, Ron, from the fabulous big dark blue yacht, Maatsuyker, adjacent to us.  It is all very sociable, in Strahan.

Last night we went to see The Ship That Never Was, which is the longest running play in Australia – 25 years.  They are having their 5,000th performance in December this year.  It was great fun, just two actors and LOTS of enforced audience participation.  We had a bonus performance from the Ardlethan Choir.  Once again, great fun… This choir was a miscellany of oldcodgers from Ardlethan, which is a small town near Wagga Wagga, recently flooded, they told us, during interval.  They meet and sing together every Tuesday, and are travelling around Tasmanian on a tour at the moment.  The stop and sing wherever there is an opportunity.  And what an opportunity!  They had about seventy people in a captive audience.  We enjoyed it very much.  Some of them could sing, some very obviously couldn’t but they knew the words and warbled robustly along with the rest.  The choir director was a delightful, cheerful woman, who wrestled with the electronic keyboard, unfamiliar to her.  Their official pianist was missing in action and she had to accompany her unruly singers for some of the songs.  Too funny!  She would start to play and suddenly a whole series of rhythm and blues chords would boom forth, startling everyone very much – loud R&B chords are not really appropriate, in a Verdi aria…

After the choir and the play, we wandered back to 2XS to eat leftovers and play chess.  (Another slaughter…not my favourite way of playing…)  But before dinner and chat, we invited Ron, from Maatsukyker next door, over for a drink.  He is a local bloke and has recently sold his fish farm to Huon Aquaculture.  We had a nice chat in the course of which he offered us the use of his big solid mooring in Mill Bay while we are away for Nicole’s birthday party.  And – how wonderful – he also offered us the use of his ute, to get to the party in Launceston, and back.  Ain’t life grand?

This morning we woke to a fabulous warm, sunny day.  Strahan is so very picturesque, and we are moored at the wharf right in the thick of things.  We had a sustaining breakfast of potatoes, eggs, bacon, and set off on our bikes for Ocean Beach.  It is about ten kilometers, and the most lovely ride, if a teensy bit bumpy and skiddy on the unsealed 4k stretch.  When we got back we went to the Huon pine wood centre and listened to a lively presentation by Kiah, one of the Ship that Never Was cast.  We talked to her afterwards, and found that she is Richard Davey’s daughter – Richard is the very enthusiastic writer of this, and many other, plays.  (Incidentally, she told us that Richard is very ill and can’t come to his beloved Strahan any more, has to stay in Hobart for treatment.  This is very sad…)

(By the way…Rodney is still on board and he says we could take his ute to Launceston but maybe it wouldn’t make it…)