Happy birthday Uncle Andi! It's his big day and it was great that we could be there to celebrate it. Celebration details later...
Stu woke up and headed for the fishing rods again, seeing if we can get another big one! It took sometime but yes we did finally get something, a sea slug! Not something that we were expecting but a catch none the less, ticked Andi's "catch a fish" box anyway.
Once everyone surfaced, Gem got together an awesome breakfast of bacon and eggs which we munched while we were doing journal and writing blogs etc. Uncle Andi being the shy retiring type wasn't overly birthday celebration focused but we were able to sing happy birthday to him on the front deck at a volume that most of the boats around us would have heard, proven by a few other boats that popped over to wish him happy birthday during the day ....
The serious art of cake decorating commenced with the pre purchased carrot cake, frosting and smarties. It was a bit of a battle for Katie to not only keep two little boys at bay, but other more grown up children as well :) We got there in the end though ...
The plan for the day was to take lunch to the beach side BBQ's of the Horseshoe Bay township. We were going to meet up with another family (Carlos, Sara, Sidney, 9 and Indi, 5) who had similar aged kids. All the food prep kicked into high gear and the shuffle of people in the dingy (max capacity 4) commenced. Stu and the boys went first, viewing an old wreck on the way. The water was very clear and still, great visibility. Griff decided he wanted a closer look and hopped in! Getting very brave ... Quick dip and then back into the dingy to head for shore. Another trip and the rest of us congregated for a solid day of lazying around on the beach.
We met up with the Steenbacks and kids took off together after the the usual 20 seconds of uneasiness. They spent the remainer of the day running, swimming, building sand castles, having a ball. Isn't it amazing that kids can just click like that.
The parents caught up as well. Amazing lifestyle that the Steenbacks have, they live aboard and are long term travellers, heading north towards to Darwin and then up into Indonesia. Good luck to them in their adventures.
We feasted on the fish caught the day before, together with a light salad and potatoes, the six fillets fed all ten of us. Fantastic meal, hopefully as we go further north we can repeat the process!
As a treat we popped into the local Thirsty Camel for a few take always in the early afternoon. Felt like school kids comsuming them carefully without being noticed.
About 3pm we took the kids off for a wash down in the showers and returned to the yachts to restock for dinner and a bonfire on White Lady Beach. The boys went with Sidney and Indi in their dingy and instead of getting back on Paws for a bit, Carlos dropped them all off at the beach whilst the adults returned to the boats to resupply. Seemed a bit surreal to the watching them from the deck with a good 200 or so metres of water between us! Sid and Indi however took the lead, clambering around on the rocks and collecting firewood. When we arrived Andi had also channelled his inner "Pop", presenting a t-shirt full of shells. On the boat, Gem and Sara commenced making Sushi for our dinner treat...
A few of us made our way over to the beach, there we met up with another family from the boat "Conrad" who the Steenbacks had caught up with previously. They also had kids that were 8 and 6. The kids had a ball, making a museum and display of bits they had found on the beach.
We lit the fire just before sunset, being drift wood it burnt really well and was also very warm. As the tide was still coming in we had to shuffle things up the beach a bit, never had that experience before, with new wood going on the top side of the fire whilst the waves get closer to the bottom side! An old plate was found on which to cook sausages and steaks, and once the sushi was sorted, the art of trying to not mix sand in the sushi was on! Most survived but it took some coordination and rationing of the Ross boys to ensure everyone got a fair share. I am sure that a lot of you know that both Griff and Andi have a soft spot for sushi, Gem's sushi in particular. Well they were in fine form tonight!
Pictures from the evening
It was certainly a very special evening in a fantastic location and with great company, one of those experiences you will always remember!
We returned two very tired boys to Paws around 9ish, in fact Griff asked to head back so that he could go to bed (very rare but appropriate given the activity of the day) and there was not a lot of argument to hit the sack. Griff out before his head hit the pillow.
Early start tomorrow, Andi keen to get up and going around 5 or so, that we can make it back to the marina and hit the road by 9 as tomorrow we head to Cairns to meet up with Uncle Chris who will be joining us for four weeks on our way to the tip.
Night all.
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