I mowed the airstrip the other day with the little Daihatsu Ute and a tow behind mower. Airstrip is a bit of a stretch. It is a relatively flat area, which has been used in the past as an airstrip but us primarily a wallaby feeding ground these days.

Then today, we had a phone call from someone who wanted to land here. We couldn’t authorize it and advised them to contact Tasmania Parks and Wildlife. We never heard anything but a small plane buzzed us today. It circled twice and gave us a wing tilt, then left.

I’ve been pulling sea spurge, an invasive plant, with the weedies who are here working. Yesterday we worked our way up a steep hill. It was sunny and hot so we had a nice swim before lunch in East Cove. Lovely.

Yesterday’s sunset was outstanding.

Even on reflection.

I awakened this morning while it was still dark and was checking my email when there was a knock at the door. The Mates4mates sea kayakers came by to say goodbye before they left. I opened the door to say goodbye and the burst into song: Happy Birthday. To me! It was awesome.

They stood in the dark and sang with their green and pink camo zinc faces. I was really touched because I’m sure before a departure you spend a lot of time mentally preparing for the next leg.

Then they headed off to the cove to make their final preparations. They departed before 8 am and thanked me for my lovely birthday weather. We had spent the previous day with gale winds up to 68 knots. Today was brisk and sunny. Sun makes all the difference in the weather.

I had a chance to Skype with family and friends here and at home, which warmed my heart.

I was outside when a group of boaters made it up the hill. They greeted me by name, which struck me a little strange. They had already spoken with Strait Lady’s captain, James, and he had filled them in on us, the American lighthouse caretakers.

They invited us to the cove for bickies(?) and wine. I never know what to expect. Tea may or may not include a meal. Breckie is breakfast. Bickies sounded like biscuits, might mean crackers, so we brought cheese and crackers to the jetty. I had to make sure it didn’t include dinner because I had a birthday cake in the works. No, no dinner so I left the cake behind.

So we walked to the lighthouse to shut her down for the night and I hurriedly finished decorating my cake with strawberry jam filling and chocolate buttercream frosting.

So we had appetizers at the jetty and dinner at “home”. Tim surprised me with a macrame ring for my birthday and a lovely card. He had spent part of the week asking boaters for fine twine to make my present. He got to go aboard several boats as part if the process.

After dinner, he shut the lights, lit my cake, and sang Happy Birthday to me, again. It was beautiful. Then we ate cake. It was delicious!