Saturday 5th
December 2015
We arrived in Queensland expecting it to be
sweltering. Everyone said it has been
unbearably hot. So far – not so
much! It is very pleasant, early 20s, but – I should
have brought warmer clothes…
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| Kerry's house |
This morning I am sitting at Kerry’s dining table overlooking the
city. His house sits in the treetops at the
edge of a huge national park reserve and there are glorious birds just inches away. This makes me very happy…
There are beautiful glass birds inside as well
We came here for the night, and navigated our way to The Gap with the aid
of Siri on my iPhone maps. Pete argued
with Siri quite a lot on the way and I had to bite my tongue very hard to stop
from being very defensive – I am very fond of Siri and this fabulous map
facility, and…I love my iPhone!
Siri managed to impress Pete in the end when we were looking for a supermarket. He was sure there wasn’t any such thing in the
vicinity of the Gap but Siri said, in soothing tones that there was a
Woolworths just around the corner and up the street and – she was correct
(thank goodness…)
We have only had one night on the Gold Coast, in Cam and Liz’s lovely
luxurious house on a canal in Runaway Bay but we will go back there tonight. We are trying to fit in as much activity as
possible, catching up with people as well as seeing glorious birds.
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| Butcher bird and kookaburra - stand-off! |
On Thursday late afternoon we managed to visit Twyla and Geoff, who have
just bought a house on a canal in Mermaid Waters. Perfect for kayaking – they can just pull
their boats a few metres into the water and off they go!
And next – dinner with Will at the Runaway Bay marina restaurant. Thursday is roast night so Pete and Will were
very happy with plates piled high. Will entertained
us greatly with his stories of the recent European lifesaving competitions. Apparently lifesaving is BIG in Europe. As big as swimming, and, it sounds, much more
fun. There were thousands of competitors
in Holland and Germany last month, and the (new) Australian team had a disproportionate
amount of fun as well as coming third after Germany and Italy.
And now we are with in Kerry, high above the city, surrounded by trees and
birds.
His house is full of interesting things – eg the glass birds above – and
I have asked permission to take a photo of an old photo of Kerry presiding as a
judge at his first murder trial in New Guinea (quite a few years ago…) It is a great photo – the courthouse has no
walls, and is embellished with totem poles.
People have a funny perception of sailing. We often get asked if we have brought the boat
up here – where is it parked? Well…it would
take us more than a day or two to bring it here from Tasmania, or from the Philippines. When we said that no, 2XS wasn't parked around the corner, Twyla asked us how long it took us to get to Mindanao,
where 2XS is now having a rest and a
refit, and we said, Three years.
Life is interesting; life is good!
Hi Marguerite,
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed the visit from you and Pete.
So glad you managed so many bird photos in such a short time.
I need to correct the comment on the photo of me. I was,at that time a barrister and the trial was one for murder. I appeared for the accused who was acquitted.
The snap was taken by the prosecutor during the lunch adjournment. Cheers. K.