Sailing

Sailing: the fine art of getting wet and becoming ill while slowly going nowhere at great expense.

Friday 27 March 2015

Packing Up Again



In just a few days we will be back on Songster in Marmaris.  The four months back at Boggy Creek working non-stop renovating and fixing the place and renewing friendships and ties to the land have flown by.  Now it is time to move again, just as the weather is becoming much more pleasant.  On the day we arrived the rains started and now as we are getting ready to leave the cooler, drier weather has arrived making it harder to say goodbye to this beautiful, if midgie ridden, place.  (The midgies are certainly one aspect of Boggy Creek we won’t miss!)

The Little Green Truck came to move the heavy pieces of furniture and pack up the storage container leaving enough room for our last minute items.  
The storage container packed up
So there are empty rooms and we are back to living with folding chairs, a small camping table and minimal kitchen things for the last week here in Bellingen.
Empty boys' bedroom
The living room - but no comfy couch
Back to a small camping table
Solar Mist is wrapped up again.  She never got the chance to go back in the water on this visit – poor neglected lovely boat.  I hope she isn’t feeling usurped by her big sister but sadly she has been.
Lovely Solar Mist all wrapped up again

Sunday 15 March 2015

The Kids’ Visit



The Phillips family has come full circle with the visit of the three children back to Boggy Creek where it all began.  Pamela, Peter and Patrick drove up from Canberra in Pete’s flash new car.  We had a great time together.  First we walked around the property, visiting Josh at the Shamballa cemetery (the flame tree we planted in his honour has grown), saying hello to the neighbours that were around – most haven’t seen the kids since they were little – and generally going down memory lane.
Pat standing in front of the big bamboo in the garlic paddock
Playing cards on the verandah
We had lunch in one of the many cafes in town and the kids marvelled at all the up-market shops that have sprung up in the last 20 years.  Pam and Pete drooled over the clothes at Kakadu but Pat, having absolutely no interest in clothes was totally bored.  Then we visited Bat Island in North Bellingen.  The beautiful, if a bit smelly, fruit bats summer over every year on this island in the Bellinger River.  It is a magnificent sight to see them go out to forage at sunset. 

Fruit bats hanging from the trees
We had a great two hour paddle in the river near Fernmount.  Pam even saw a platypus in a billabong.
Pete and Pat on the river
Pat being the woodland Pan
The last day of their visit we went to Dorrigo and took the Wonga Walk in the National Park – an easy 2 hour walk through two waterfalls.  The park is such a special beautiful place.  The trees are gigantic and the abundant flora and fauna make it a magical woodland.
On the Wonga Walk, indulging their mother for yet another picture
The kids dwarfed by the big trees


The boys at the waterfall
A great night at the Federal Hotel then an early morning group selfie and they were off – Pam to start a new phase of her life in London, Pete finishing up his training as a primary school teacher and Pat stepping up to the responsibility of a flat, work and uni and developing good social networks.  We are extremely proud of all of them.
Dinner at the Federal Hotel

Early morning group selfie before the kids hit the road