Australia Day in Paradise

Happy Australia Day to everyone out there!

What perfect weather to celebrate our National Day. We started off with brekky on the back deck, shared by a baby kookaburra.

He's very sweet and gentle, despite that sharp beak. Still has all his fluffy baby feathers.

I save leftover bbq sausages as a treat for him but he has to fight for his meat, as the baby magpies also enjoy them.

Our first pineapple was also a treat for the day. Tiny but delicious, this golden gem came from our vegie garden, the first of many, we hope.

Unfortunately, our Tamarillo tree is no more. We had a week of very heavy rain and came out one morning to find it had fallen over. The root ball seemed to have rotted. I don't know much about fruit trees - this was in the garden when we came to the island - but I can only assume it wasn't planted correctly and the roots were not teased out properly when it was planted. What a shame!

Before the rain, we had a long dry spell and our mango tree seems to have died. Either that or it was poisoned. The big mango tree in the next block is also dead. Our new neighbour on the other side of that block, Warwick, had to have his septic cleaned out because the roots of that tree had invaded the system. We suspect he might have poisoned the tree in order that it didn't happen again. And the poison probably spread to our tree. A great pity. We shall cut it back and see if it recovers.

But back to Australia Day!! With five other members of the Boat Club on board, we boarded "Bonnington" and sailed to Blakesleys Beach on North Stradbroke. It was a perfect day for sailing, just enough wind to fill the sails but not too choppy for the people on board who were not used to the heeling of a yacht (power boaties).

Blakesleys was almost deserted. On the horizon we could see wall to wall sails at Horseshoe Bay so obviously the nor'easter had discouraged the mainlanders from trying for Straddie. Yay! We had the place to ourselves.

We soon set up a bbq and enjoyed a glass of sav blanc or a XXXX whilst the snaggers sizzled.

(Why does Queensland beer have four Xs and Mexican Beer only have 2?)

A fantastic day and a great trip home with no problems. A bit of lubrication on our furler seems to have almost solved the problem with the jib. We just need an extra pulley to alter the angle that the sheet comes out of the furler. I think that will solve the problem.

Happy Australia Day everyone!!

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