to you all!
My apologies for not having written sooner but as you can see, I've been flat out!
Actually, a great deal has been happening but I just didn't feel like getting it down
in writing.
At "Riverbend" I painted the balcony and installed a 12-m
flagpole at the water's edge.
It's now one of the things you can see from Outer Space along with the Great Wall of China!
I also treated myself to a new ride-on mower to turn "Riverbend"'s
grass into lawn.
Besides all that, I travelled to Tonga in August/September 2006 where I fell into the clutches of Siegfried & Brunhilde (not their real names which are Mr & Mrs Asshole), two of the nastiest Germans on the planet. I did manage to escape from their little Devil's Island to spend another thoroughly enjoyable week on Lifuka in Ha'apai where I befriended Horst Berger, a resident expatriate.
In February 2007 I escaped to tropical Far North Queensland to revisit Cairns and
Kuranda. During a casual conversation with a busdriver, I asked what Cooktown was
like. "The world's largest unfenced asylum", he replied, "with about
eleven hundred inhabitants, a thousand of which are dole bludgers and the rest bar maids."
I was on my way! And I had a great time in good old Cooktown! More of this and my Tonga
experiences after I've come back from Samoa. Yes, you've read correctly: I'm off again
on the 20th April for a quick dash to Polynesia to visit
Samoa.
However, this is still a few weeks away. In the meantime I'm looking at boats!
I had a mooring laid in the river off "Riverbend" a couple of years ago
but am still sans a boat which is about to change: two boats currently moored in the
Clyde River
are for sale and one of them may soon occupy the "Riverbend" mooring.
One is a 19ft. (5.8m) DELTACRAFT,
which is an ideal riverboat with very shallow draft. The
other is a 19ft. "pocket cruiser", a SAVAGE NAUTILUS,
which although a sailing vessel, has an inbuilt 8HP Yanmar diesel engine and a shoal keel with only 0.9m draft
which makes it workable on the river. (The two pictures are not of the actual boats
but of similar-type vessels) The differences between these
two vessels, both in characteristics and price, couldn't be greater but they both have onboard
accommodation which means I can camp out on the river for a few days at a time. Great!!!
Best wishes and
from us all!
Peter & Padma & Malty
& Rover
riverbend@batemansbay.com
28 March 2007