On the second last day of February I recieved a text message from one half of some of our BEST FRIENDS EVER. He asked how long we planned to be in Sydney, and were we sailing any further south. I said ‘about four weeks or so’ and ‘no’.
By the end of that day we had agreed to meet up a week from Friday. It was TOO EXCITING!! It has been 18 months since they came to the pier in Hastings, Victoria to wish us farewell. We have never not seen each other for that long.
These are our friends who visited us at our house in Hervey Bay before we had a flushing toilet. Our babies were born weeks apart – and Lucinda – their littlest – is my goddaughter. We were well overdue for a catch up and I am gladder than glad they made it happen!!
They arrived on 9 March and met us at the Royal Motor Yacht Club – it was if no time had passed at all. The Smalls were all taller, but somehow that melted away after the first 20 minutes.
After a drink, we took them aboard Bella Luna and headed for The Basin.
Basically, from that point, it was a cascade of catching up, cooking, swimming, exploring, eating, wine and all having an unsatisfactory amount of sleep.
I was woken the first morning at just before 5am by an unnamed seven-year-old telling me breathlessly that she and the other one the same age had found one of Honey’s teeth. It turned out to be a piece of peanut… and the day began…
We spent two nights at The Basin…
And then, instead of heading for their AirBnB, we tacked on an extra night, heading for the gorgeous Refuge Bay…
…where we cooled ourselves in the waterfall. There wasn’t much more than an enthusiastic trickle, but it was c-o-l-d!
On our last day, we awoke at Refuge Bay, had a final round of egg-in-a-hole, and set off for Brooklyn to drop E at the Hawkesbury River Station to begin travelling toward the airport.
We had enough time for a few dips in the sea baths – which weren’t really comparable to the waterfall of Refuge Bay, but they were wet and refreshing – it was quite hot.
The cafe at the marina, on first glance, looked as if there were no gluten-free options anywhere, but on closer examination it had a gluten-free menu —-> we were so lucky to be shouted awesome cakes and drinks!! I had the best presented iced latte I’ve ever had. Woot!! Once we had said our goodbyes to E – at the very picturesque Hawkesbury River Station…
…we journeyed back to the RMYC where we said goodbye to D and Small E, O and L. It was sad. I was sad. We have no idea when we will see these guys again – and this is the hard thing about a sea gypsy life…
