1st April - Hermit Crab #2 - all-you-can-eat fatness

Monday 1^st April

No news today from 2XS – they must be out of phone range.  No news is - of course good news…I imagine they will be powering into Sydney any minute now but who knows what can happen, with pesky seaweed lurking to foul up engines and all manner of Trickiness Of The Sea.

There is, I am glad to report, a sequel to my happy hermit crab story.  When Hermit #1 was missing, Phil and Sally got Hermit Crab #2, to console Henry.  So imagine – double the delight now, with #1 and #2.  Elsa says they seem to enjoy each other’s company.  They trot around their terrarium, waving their pincers companionably, and all is well in Huon Hermit Crab World

Last night I had dinner with Dad and Fleur, at the casino coffee shop.  This was all very pleasant.  But an all-you-can-eat buffet is quite a terrifying thing… It seems to attract people who want and need to eat vast amounts.  Fleur and I watched, eyes wide, as immense people walked purposefully back and forth to the bain maries, and then, with even more determination, to the dessert tables.  Probably a very good place to go, on days when one feels less slender than one likes to feel…

31st March - Jervis Bay - hermit crab - MONA Roma

Sunday 31^st March

2XS has arrived somewhere near Jervis Bay.  They have set a cracking pace; I am very impressed.  Pete rang in the morning to tell me about their progress, somewhere north of Bermagui.  “It’s all good,” he said, “Except we went through a very tempestu…” and then the phone cut out, leaving me to imagine all manner of tempest and torment.  Fortunately he rang again later to say everything was OK, but that they were now bashing their way into northerly winds and seas and that this was not fun at all, so they were going to pull in for the night and not leave till midday today. 

I have a very nice story about…a hermit crab!  My friend Elsa’s grandson Henry is a gentle nature-loving nine year old.  For his birthday last year, his thoughtful mother gave him a hermit crab, in its own little terrarium, with all the ingredients a hermit crab needs to make its eccentric little life just perfect.  I’m not sure how Hermit got outside but…he got lost, well and truly, in the back garden a few months ago.  He is not very big, and this back yard in the Huon Valley is full of dangers.  It is, just for starters, the domain of a large, benign dog, several chooks and two peacocks all belonging to the family, but there are also night-time visitors – wombats, possums, and devils. (Yes, there is still a population of healthy devils in them thar hills, which is great news for the devils but possibly not for one small and vulnerable hermit crab.)  The whole family banded together to console Henry on his loss; he was very upset but accepted the loss of his crabby friend.  And then just a week or so ago everyone was outside and Sally noticed a shell moving purposefully around the garden – aha!  Hermit!  Alive and well, having survived for about three months in dangerous terrain!

Yesterday Nicky and I went to MONA on the new Mona Roma ferry.  It was such a great experience.  The ferry is an experience all in itself.  It is painted in grey camouflage, so it looks quite amazing, powering up the river.  Inside it is more like a very trendy cocktail lounge than a ferry.  We sat outside near a life-sized cow, randomly placed.  We were on padded stools but…we could, had we so chosen, have been sitting on life-sized sheep.  Of course.  Why not??

We strolled around the museum for a few hours.  This time we queued for the Death Chamber.  It was nice, leaning on the balustrade, looking down into the Void, watching people walking past engrossed in their electronic guide devices.  Nicky said, “Umm…what if we are cheerily queuing for the Death Chamber and when we get in there, we really are going to be killed?  We have been warned by the guide; we have agreed…”  I won’t say what is actually in the Death Chamber – not our own sudden death, obviously… It is more along the lines of the Zen garden, which is the next thing Henry wants as a birthday present, following the success of his hermit crab experience…

At midday we went out into the real world outside and found, to our delight, a small market – the last MONA Market of the season, apparently.  We didn’t know one single person except for…my brother Pete, with Andrea.  They were sitting on a pink bean bag, eating their lunch and saying, “Isn’t it funny, coming somewhere like this and not knowing one single person…oh except for maybe a sister and a niece…”

30th March - 2XS at Gabo Island - dinner out

Saturday 30th March

Congratulations are in order – today is Katy and Jeff’s tenth wedding anniversary.  They have achieved a lot in their years together – four children, all born two years apart – a beautiful house in the forest, not far from the city, two years in South America, lots of friends, much love.

2XS had reached Gabo Island yesterday.  I got a textmessage from Pete saying that all was well.  We loved this remote little island when we sheltered there for the night on the way north in 2011.  We arrived at dusk, and it was very cold and windy.  What a joy to discover a sturdy little wooden jetty, with no signs on it saying KEEP OFF, and no rickety dodgy aspects.  As we came into the little bay, there was a small family of whales leaping around the point.  In the bay were seals diving off the rocks, and we had albatross overhead.  An overwhelmingly Attenborough moment!  We were able to go for a bit of a walk on the island, although it got dark very quickly so we couldn’t get to the caretakers cottage.  But we were not alone – we had the company of several very friendly and curious cows, who ambled along beside us.

Last night Katy had asked me to keep the evening free to look after the children so that she and Jeff could go out for a friend’s birthday drinks.  I was totally relaxed and prepared for this, and I tried very hard to get Jeff to change out of his shorts and into his gladrags so they could leave in good time.  He was curiously reluctant to do this…and then suddenly, in the kitchen, were all three of my daughters, all dressed up and ready to take me out to dinner… I had to change my focus very swiftly – Jeff had told me my task was to watch Pirates of the Caribbean with Hamish and Leo.  Instead of this, I was changed into going-out clothes and in a posh restaurant within minutes.  I am sure I would have loved being on the couch with the boys and Johnny Depp but…going out to dinner with my darling girls was much better! 

It was actually a momentous occasion for me.  Jeff made a wonderful speech – brief but appropriate; we drank champagne, and off we went to a venerable establishment for our celebratory meal.  I felt very honoured.

Well what did we eat, I hear you cry… two of us had perfectly cooked eye fillet with delicious and beautifully cooked veggies; the other two had a chicken dish which was curiously bland and tasteless with very few vegetables…

(This lack of veg on Claire and Katy’s plates reminded me of when Martin H went to the Revolving Restaurant with friends  for a slap-up meal to celebrate his birthday.  “I only want steak, no side dishes!” he said, determinedly.  Kate tried to persuade him to order at least a few mushrooms but he was adamant.  And…out came the meals, beautifully presented, all except for Martin’s which was – a steak on a plate all alone without so much as a potato of sprig of parsley.  It cost something like $48; he was not very impressed…)