twice round my world, the conspiracy that wasn't

I had been volunteered to help to fix a leak in a caravan roof up at Palana today, so we went up there... well after a short detour into the grate metropolis of Whitemark. James needed me to do a stat. dec. telling the Australian Immigration authorities he was indeed my son, and I had known him from the very moment his little foot poked out into the world, and that yes, I know his wife, he really is married, and the relationship is genuine. Fair enough, I guess, but we needed a witness from a list of categories, and Whitemark was the nearest supply.

So after that, we went up to Palana, worked on the roof, and then went to NE river estuary - about as far North as the island goes.

On one of my surviving 'soft and oily' minnows - soft plastic fish, I caught one and then another of these silver trevally in 1 kg range - about twice the size I had caught before. I lost the first salmon, and the minnow. I then proceeded to lose 4 more salmon. So my vanity well patted by the trevally was put firmly in place. We met two Ukranian fishermen sitting waiting for their lift and took them back to Palana boat ramp, where their friend was anxiously waiting for the other half of the party to come back from sea - as he couldn't take the ute and fetch them, as it was needed for recovering the boat. All made much more entertaining by my friend the island copper, who was waiting to inspect the crays... and watching (convinced he was onto a great international conspiracy) the friend frantically trying to phone. He assumed the guy was trying to contact the bad people on the boat to warn them. Actually , as he gave up phoning and went to sit and chat with the other two while I talked to the cop (as I had gone to ask him to witness the stat dec), I think he had actually been trying to raise either the boat to find out if he had time to fetch his mates, or his mates to tell them that they hadn't been forgotten forever. Alas, another mystery doomed to pedestrian failure. I knew who was skippering the boat - and if he'd had his ute there (not using the one the Ukranian visitor was driving), the policeman would have known he is paranoidly careful about measuring and marking, and probably not waited...

So then we had muttonbirds for lunch (people are finishing their stocks) and drove home. I then went off to the South end of the island to take the RIB Norman - one of my dive partners, has been lent the use of, for a test drive with his partner and daughter - who have never done any boating. It was an easy exercise, because Norm has superior trailer reversing skillz. The little one just reveled in the trip.

So in one day we did the length of the island and the breadth twice. And then we came home and had grilled trevally fillets, marianated with some olive oil, garlic, tassie pepper and fennel, with garfen salad and home cured olives, and chips made with tatties out of the garden.

It's a good place to live.