The highlight today was watching Elwyn play cricket at Edmonton sport club. She’s reached what she wanted with this game, that she saw when she started 16 years ago – a cool, poised and very skilled and stylish batter; a lovely and caring member of a very friendly team; a wonderful role model for so many young women like Ravi in the opposing team who at 16 bears an uncanny resemblance to Elwyn’s style, grace and niceness.

This was truly a privilege for me to share, and I realised that it was important for Elwyn to have a loved one share this space that’s so much a part of who she is. Rob said via sms “Go slugger!” so was there in spirit too.

Back at her flat she was very tired, so lay on her couch while I cooked dinner for us, plus some meals for during the following week while I’ll be in Plymouth:-)

The crystal rabbit, now mended and travelled half-way round the world, is at home in the sunshine on Elly’s window-sill in Fleet, Hampshire, with the mother and child statue that travelled the same journey last year:-)

Before heading off to find stones at Avesbury, Elly and I had a delightful iChat with Rob, Blaine, Thea and Tom then went to the Fleet Pond Society tea party and fete around the corner from her flat. She’s never been to a tea party before, and enjoyed meeting the local people who keep Fleet Pond and all its wildlife safe from developers. We sat in the garden of a lovely home of one of the members, that’s right next to the pond. The Society is a fierce protector of the pond and all the flora and fauna that live here.

Later we walked right around the huge stone circle that encircles Avesbury, enjoyed another cuppa, bought a book on the ley lines of this whole area, stood by the huge energy centre that is Silbury Hill (the largest man-made hill that’s a memorial and a burial site since 4,000BC), explored inside the West Kennet Long Barrow (a rock-based long, long mound that was a burial site from 5,000 to 4,000BC), then had a late dinner in Marlborough so that we could stay out in the long twilight and see Stonehenge at sunset followed by Woodhenge in the glooming and drizzle. The MOD uses this area for training…

Then it rained most of the way home.

A special day and very special to spend it with Elly:-)

Yesterday and today I flew to England via Dubai. After all the trials of getting things in place before I left Perth, although it was hard to say goodbye to Rob it was a relief to get on the plane at last. My companions were a thoughtful English couple who slept most of the way so I could too. From Dubai to London on the fairly new Airbus 380 plane my companions were 2 delightful ladies who, once we’d had all the sleep we were going to get, started a very friendly conversation which I enjoyed immensely. After all the pain of my family of origin the past few weeks this was a much appreciated gift.

And at Heathrow, after some waiting, there was dear Elly with tears in her eyes as we had a BIG hug:-)

That evening we sat together on the deck of the lovely pub around the corner from her flat, enjoying a drink, sharing chatter and a seafood platter, and watched the young Canadian geese swim across the lake – it was quite delightfully surreal!

While Rob spent the afternoon with his yacht racing friends, I spent the afternoon wandering around Fremantle with my MacBook, writing. Here are the 2 ships that sailed majestically into the harbour with attendant tugboats while I sipped tea and wrote at the cafe on the wharf.

It was good to spend the afternoon with Doris, Dave, Deb, Ken, Kevin, Margaret and John – the characters in the book which is the first part of the leadership program. By the time I was ready to walk back to the sailing club to meet Rob, I’d finished listening to all but Ken’s and John’s stories and including them in the book:-)

Back at the club’s bar, after such a quiet and introspective time, it was a shock to be among so many loud men!

On this second day of winter Rob and I enjoyed an early morning walk in Kings Park.

As well as the black cockatoos, pink and grey galahs, twenty eights, rainbow lorikeets, butcher birds, magpies, magpie larks and honey-eaters, several pairs of the big, elegant mallard ducks flew and wheeled in pairs above us as we walked.

Towards the end of the sand track two pairs landed awkwardly in the dead tree, as they do every year. And as they do this, I always remark to Rob how important these dead trees are to these birds’ mating ritual.

And on cue, one pair began an elaborate performance of head bobbing and calling  as they stood side-by-side on the branch – part of the cementing of their connection before they mate.

“It’s a pick-up tree!” exclaimed Rob, master of the one-liner:-)

We slept in after our adventures yesterday, and woke looking forward to a quiet day.

So it was quiet breakfast and reading in the cockpit, quiet motor around to Nancy Cove, quiet walk towards the West End with ospreys hunting and calling, quiet lunch back on Dusky Dolphin, quiet walk towards the settlement where we found a track we hadn’t been on before. The picture shows the swallows that settled on the lifelines.

Then the wind started to pick up and the waves into the bay started to pick up and thunderclouds reared their huge heads. Then we could see much lightening out to the west. After some deliberation we set off for the mainland about 5:15 which left us 45-60 minutes of daylight before dark set in. Someone watched over us because we didn’t pick up any craypots on the prop, didn’t get hit by lightening, and wove in the dark between the many ships at anchor on Gage Roads without mishap, arriving back at our our pen at 8:30pm. Got dinner, tidied up and went to bed.

Adventures 2 days in a row is very tiring!

Rob and Tris put their heads together this week to plan another of what Blaine calls “Campbell male adventures”! They didn’t know, though, what an adventure it would prove to be…

Saturday morning, VERY early, we all got up to be ready in time: Rob and I left home by 7:15 to be at the boat by 8am. I stayed on the boat and unpacked and stowed while Rob drove to the ferry terminal to buy tickets back from Rottnest for Tristan and his family. Then Tris arrived in his “new” 2001 “truck” (a Jackaroo 4X4). They transferred all the people, food and day’s things to Rob’s little Astra and drove back to the sailing club. They all arrived at Dusky Dolphin around 9am just as I finished getting everything ready for them! Drink and food, plus seasickness tablets for Blaine then we untied the moorings by 9:30am as planned.

Wind was more than forecast as usual so it was bumpier than planned so poor Blaine suffered with her cold as well. In the picture she’s on Tristan’s left, curled up in the sun. Thea went off after an hour or so, so we gave her some drugs too and she picked up again. We knew she felt better when she started to burble once more:-) Once we were in the lee of Rotto the water was much flatter and everyone started thinking about lunch:-)

Which we had before noon – a good spread. Then Tristan, Blaine and Thea disappeared into our bunkroom for a sleep, and Tom settled into his own little bunk for a rest. Rob and I cleaned up, did the dishes and got the dinghy into the water with all its bits and pieces.

2:15 and Rob set off with the first load of people for the shore. By 2:35 we were all lined up at the bus-stop, and the round-Rotto bus came soon after. We all had a good trip right around the island, pointing out bays, osprey nests and other things that Rob and I really enjoy about this very special place.

Back at the settlement we enjoyed afternoon tea, then waved good-bye to TBTA as they set off on the ferry back to Fremantle. They planned to get into Tris’s truck in the ferry carpark once they got there and go home. Rob and I walked back to Porpoise Bay and dinghied out to our boat (about an hour). However we got a call from Tris some time later asking if we’d seen his car keys…we looked high and low and couldn’t find them. So they took the train from Fremantle to our place, got Rob’s car keys and mine, drove my car back to the sailing club, found Tristan’s truck keys in Rob’s car, drove to the ferry terminal and finally got into the truck, drove the truck AND my car back to our place, left my car there, and drove back to their place picking up take-away dinner on the way!

Now Tom loves outings where he goes on a number of buses/cars/whatever, but that certainly beat anything he’s done in one day before!

This morning we all gathered at the Perth Zoo. Kids were busy running between short spells of watching and admiring the animals and birds in the lovely surroundings they have there now.

And it was good to remember and honour the many wonderful and amazing creatures with whom we share this planet. So many animals like the little capuchins and big orangutangs are under extreme threat to survive as a species, so at least they are safe and cared for here even if conceptually they should be in the wild. But their “wild” is being cut down and destroyed daily…

It amazes me sometimes that the earth still allows us humans to continue to dominate this lovely planet!

Cleaning out some of our kitchen cupboards this afternoon, I found this, and when I showed it to Tristan he just couldn’t remember anything about it. The year 1982 is on it, which was when Tristan was 2 so I guess that explains why he can’t remember!