From Sea Change to Tree Change

A quintessential Australian scene at Hungry Head Beach

We are slowly getting reacquainted with life back in the bush.  Just as living aboard a sail boat requires a degree of self-sufficiency, so does life on Shamballa.  Both require respect for and living with the capriciousness of Mother Nature.  This is fine but I fear nearly 20 years in the suburbs of Canberra and brutal downsizing four years ago has left us a bit unprepared for land self-sufficiency.

First we had torrential rain with nearly 9 inches within 24 hours.  The creek and river flooded.  We had a mini mudslide behind the workshop which caused water to run into the workshop and over the floor where our unpacked boxes were stored.  

Boggy Creek after the flood

Then a few days later, just 5 days before Christmas, we were hit with a spectacular electrical storm with very strong wind gusts.  The lightning was just amazing.  The whole sky was a massive strobe light with continuous lightning.  Then lights went out and the power remained out for 4 nights and three and one-half days, finally returning about midday on Christmas Eve.  

The strong wind gust knocked down hundreds of huge trees throughout the shire.  Three trees grazed the front of the tractor shed and others blocked some of the internal roads on the property.  Several more narrowly missed some of the houses.  The main Boggy Creek Road had three huge trees lying across the road.  Council was terrific and had these behemoths cleared before 8am.  The main street of Bellingen had a tree across the road and the golf course looked like a hurricane had hit it.  

Bob and Lynne clearing the road

Damage to the tractor shed

Trees down along Boggy Creek Road

   

Trees being cleared from the main street of Bellingen

Along the golf course

The day of the storm we had just done a big grocery shop for Christmas food so the refrigerator and freezer were well stocked when the storm hit in the evening.  Of course we assumed the electricity would return with minimal delay.  After 24 hours I figured I better cook up the thawed meat from the freezer into curries, hoping the spices would help in preservation.  After 48 hours power in the town of Bellingen returned so we could get bags of ice to keep most of our food from spoiling.

We no longer had our camping gear or other alternatives to mains power.  We were still unpacking and the few useful things we might have were buried somewhere in poorly marked boxes.  Or maybe we got rid of them.  We still are trying to figure out what happened to some of our previous possessions.  I fear we may have been a bit too ruthless in our downsizing.  

Bob found an inverter to hook up to the car battery so we could charge our phones, battery packs and Kindles

Meanwhile our son, Pat, had arrived for a 10 day Christmas break the day after the flood.  He had brought along his new fancy computer hoping for a nice relaxing veg out at his parents.  Not only could he get no internet connection with his mobile phone server but then we had no electricity for four days.  His holiday consisted of hauling fallen trees off roads, hacking away the jungle bush, levelling the shipping container and enduring the heat with no fans.  Still we did manage a few nice outings.

Pat with his computer before the electricity went out

Getting internet on Mutton Bird Island

Enjoying the beach, while getting internet, of course

Using the principles of high school physics to level the shipping container

And of course there was the Shamballa Christmas party and annual boules championship.  It was great catching up with old and new members and neighbours.  The company was great, the food delicious and playing boules a lot of fun.

Chowing down at the Christmas party

The boules championship

Meanwhile we have been making acquaintances with some of our non-human neighbours.  On moonlit nights we can see the shadows of wallabies in the yard.  The frogs in the dam set up a deafening croaking every evening and various reptiles come to visit.  Kookaburras, king parrots, azure kingfishers, bower birds, honeyeaters and whip birds twitter, tweet and flit through the trees.

A tree snake on the verandah waiting until dark to catch the frog under the flowerpot

This little fellow has taken up residence in the car port but got himself stuck in a bucket

Such is our life now amongst the green, green bush.

Back Home in Bellingen

After 4 years with no fixed abode, sailing around the Mediterranean and doing lots of land travel throughout Europe and Asia, we have returned to our house in Bellingen.  We have exchanged the sparkling azure blues of the Mediterranean for the jungle green of Bellingen.  Bellingen really is achingly beautiful; a lush, verdant oasis of fecundity with purple jacarandas, scarlet flame trees and green, green everywhere.

Jacaranda tree in full bloom

View of the property from Little Boggy Trail (our house is out of the picture about 1 km to the left)

That lush fecundity has its drawbacks.  Four years ago we did a massive clearance of all the scrub trees around the house and paddocks.  (See the blog post: https://shamballacyc.blogspot.com/2015/01/renovations-and-excavations.html)  We have returned to the jungle exerting its dominance over us mere arrogant humans- to think we could ever dominate nature.  The area around the dam, cleared four years ago is now surrounded by 10 meter trees and the ubiquitous hated lantana.

The dam below the house today

The dam four years ago after clearing

Those trees beside the house were not there four years ago

All our possessions were stored in a 20ft shipping container.  Sadly this jungle environment is just too humid and most of the furniture was covered in a thin coat of green mould and the Manchester was decidedly musty.  The next few weeks were spent washing, polishing and airing to get everything back to a liveable standard.  We will have to rethink our packing strategy.  Sealed cardboard boxes simply absorb the ambient moisture and keep the environment humid. 

Unpacking the container

Airing out on the verandah

 Bob and I must have really missed gardening while living on Songster.  One of the first things we found ourselves doing, before even half of the shipping container was empty, was to plant flowers and veggies.

The petunias are thriving on the verandah

Tomatoes, kale and lots of herbs

The boys came up from Canberra to see the old homestead.  We had a lovely time at the Bellingen Markets, the beach and walking through Dorrigo National Park.

Pat towering above his parents at Dorrigo lookout

Pete at Urunga beach

Pat in his newly acquired hippie clothes purchased at the markets communing with nature

Playing with tiny sand crabs

Between the unpacking, cleaning and polishing we have taken time to reacquaint ourselves with the gorgeous natural environment of Shamballa and our many friends in the area.  It is good to be back.

Tall straight gum trees (Blue gums?)

Boggy Creek Road

The entrance to our driveway

A magnificient staghorn fern

Termite mound - the monoliths of the insect world

A Tantalizing Preview of Sardinia

We made a pre-dawn departure from Favignana for an overnight passage to Sardinia, 32 hours of sailing.  

Pre-dawn departure from Favignana, Sicily

This overnight passage was not quite as peaceful as our passage from Corfu to Sicily.  Although there were no big winds (about 8-12 kts for most of the passage) the seas were quite rocky-rolly and we had a bumpy ride of it.  For most of the night we were crashing through the waves with a fairly insistent headwind.  Finally in the last few hours of sailing, as we approached Sardinia, the seas had flattened out a bit and we arrived in Villasimius feeling a bit more comfortable.

Land ho.  Good to see Villasimius

Villasimius beach was a quiet, pleasant resort area.  While we were there it was filled with Norwegian families enjoying the last of the summer.  Early October is the Norwegian autumn school break.  We spent a few days catching up on laundry and walking along the beach watching the families swimming and building sand castles.

Nature's strange rock sculptures

Next we sailed across the Gulf of Cagliari to the main city of Sardinia, Cagliari.  About an hour out from Villasimius a nasty storm with lots of lightning was brewing south of us.  The lightning kept its distance but we did get rained on for about an hour.  The storm stirred up the seas and we had another bumpy ride into Cagliari.

Storm brewing

The stormy weather continued all night with a spectacular lightning show and throughout the next day but we were nicely tucked up at the Marine del Sole.

Approaching Cagliari harbour

We spent a few days in the marina at Cagliari, doing some minor repairs and provisioning.  We decided to haul out Songster for winter in Cagliari, which has plenty of chandleries and facilities for any work that may need doing.  But it was still a bit too early to end the season so we decided to take a bit of a trip around the southwest of Sardinia before returning to Cagliari to haul out.

Our first stop was a pleasant little bay near Capo Malfatano.  We had a fantastic sail there in near perfect conditions – a rare treat in the Mediterranean.

Nuraghe, bronze age edifice, which dot the coast

Beautiful end to a great sailing day

The next day we rounded the corner of Sardinia to Carloforte, a small island off the southwest coast.  Again we had good sailing conditions over the 35 nm passage, even though there were some rough seas.  We were flying along on a beam reach with just a handkerchief of a genoa.

Rough seas

Scooting along at 7.8 kts in 18 kts of wind apparent

We spent 5 days in this wonderful town. Pastel coloured buildings and palm trees lined the waterfront.   Around every corner was a charming narrow street or interesting shops.  We stumbled upon an open air market that had wonderful cheeses, small goods and fresh fruits and veggies. 

Cafes along the waterfront in Carloforte

Market full of cheeses, tuna and speciality oils

Pecorino cheese - a speciality of Sardinia

Pretty pastel coloured buildings

Then we had one of those amazing serendipitous encounters.  Bob had gone to a nearby grocery store while I stayed on the boat cleaning.  While there he met this vivacious petite elderly lady who noticed the Antarctica badge on his coat and started up a long conversation about Antarctica. Bob mentioned it when he got back but didn't think much more of it other than a pleasant encounter.  Then two days later we bumped into her again just outside the marina.  Apparently she had been trying to find Bob but only knew him as an Australian with a boat in the marina.  The office couldn’t help as Songster is British registered so it wouldn’t be apparent that we were Australians.  She then had enlisted the help of some friends who also had a boat at the marina.  This determined lady wanted to invite us to dinner at her house in the hills outside the town.  So two hours later we were being driven to Manuela's house by Paolo and Sylvia and another of their friends from the marina.

We had a wonderful meal and fantastic conversation. Manuela Cadringher is quite an amazing woman.  At 83 she is feisty, vivacious, has a love of life, engaged and engaging.  She said she worked as a journalist at RAI - the Italian television station.  We found out later (after doing Google searches) that she was in fact the editor-in-chief of RAI, won many awards and considered a major international environmental journalist.  She stands only about 4 1/2 feet tall - I tower over her - but she is quite an impressive presence.  We were very much reminded of our other older friend, Tazeena.  It is odd how these 80 something remarkable women somehow latch onto Bob!

The evening was special on so many levels.  After almost 5 years in the Mediterranean this was the first time we spent an evening at the house of a local without any other native English speakers.  (We had been to the homes of expat English but this was the real thing.)  I was struck at how knowledgeable and insightful the company was on world affairs.  The Italian hospitality was fantastic.  The fact that this all came about with two chance encounters (meeting in a supermarket then bumping into them outside the marina) is just boggling. I might just start thinking there is some hand of destiny working on us!

Old city wall

View from the marina

Sadly it was time to leave Carloforte but we vowed to return next season.  We sailed (motored) to a beautiful anchorage off Tuerredda Beach and spent several days swimming, walking along the beach and now watching the Danish families enjoying their autumn school break.

Tuerreda Beach

Songster at anchor

Another Nuraghe - looking forward to exploring these and finding out more about the Nuragic age next year

Full moon rising in Tuerreda

I didn’t want to say goodbye to the season but Mother Nature insisted and it was time to return to Cagliari to get Songster ready for her winter sleep.