At Home In Horseshoe Bay 1st - 8th June

Sunrise in Horseshoe Bay

I think I have said this before. This is a wonderful place to spend a lazy week or two. We have participated in all our usual activities such as reacquainting ourselves with all the walking tracks, coffees at our favourite cafes and catching up with new and old friends in the bay. By default one morning we discovered one of our new favourite coffee venues. We had walked over the range to Arcadia and decided to stop by a café for morning coffee. It was shut. Disappointment!! Upon looking around we noticed an advertising board next door but one and while we debated wether it was worth a visit some locals came by and talked us into going around the back for a try. Wow! What a revelation! We had just discovered our new morning coffee stop.



Wandering in the gardens at the Tamarind Tea House

The Tamarind Tea House has a gorgeous, colourful deck out the back under massive, gnarly old, shady, Tamarind trees. We were so impressed that we invited Amanda (Peter's sister) and Andrew (his dad) to come over from Townsville on Sunday and meet us for lunch there. They thought that was a good idea so on Sunday we settled in for a delightful light lunch which we managed to linger over for an hour and a half. An interesting aside to the tea house is a Gem Gallery which has been set up for patrons to have a great deal of fun choosing a small bag of semi-precious stones from several large boxes full of gems. We did not look into the cost of this activity, but discussed it with the owners and they set it up to keep the 5 - 12 year olds happy while their parents had refreshments. What a good idea! They told us that they had had 70 year olds sorting through the gem boxes with as much enthusiasm as the kids. I wish we had found this place before Greg, Leisha and the girls came to stay with us. The coffee and cakes are very nice too.

In the Tamarind Tea House garden

The Social Scene

We have had Barbara and Paul, who we met at Lizard Island last year, Barbara and Ron, Olivia's previous owners and a regular in the bay, Graeme, on board for drinks and boaty chit chat. Barbara and Paul live on their Hitchhiker catamaran and have sailed the world on 9 different boats for over 30 years. They have some wonderful and interesting stories about their cruising life. Ron and Barbara regaled us with Olivia stories. Graeme, Peter and I chimed in with our own anecdotes on sailing life. What better way to spend a few hours in the evening. Everyone left well after dark to dinghy back to their adventurous, cosy homes at sea. We are privileged to be able to enjoy such a wonderful sailing life.

Milton and Jenny from Magnetic Attraction sailed into the bay a couple of nights ago and we managed to catch up with them again. Milton is a Structural Engineer and has been contracted by an insurance company to help work out how much damage has been sustained to various buildings at Hamilton Island and Airlie Beach after Cyclone Debbie. He has now completed that job and he and Jenny are enjoying a trip up to Dunk Island and all the places in between.

The Forts Walk

Peter inspects one of the old gun emplacements

The Dog With The Velcro Paws

Peter and I have witnessed an unusual phenomenon occurring in the animals that accompany cruising families. Some dogs, and even a cat or two, seem to have evolved paws that are covered with Velcro. They stand up on the prow of their dinghies like a sentinel and balance perfectly whilst their owners speed across the bay to the shore or another boat. They never fall in, lean into the corners and are obviously thoroughly enjoying the experience.

Sally, a Kelpie/Moung, who belongs to Lachie and his partner, is a case in point. She perches on the prow of the tinny like a carved figurehead, and with wet nose aloft, vacuuming up all the lovely scents in the bay, as dogs do, she does not miss a chance to go for a ride. Lachie never slows down to accommodate her as he roars across the bay as fast as the dinghy will go with it's 15hp motor. Even the half donut when approaching the back of the trimaran, where they live, does not dislodge this pooch. I am in awe of this dog. Me, I would have been tipped off on the first turn and I wonder how many times she has taken a tumble into the briny before perfecting this skill. Does she ever fly over the front if he stops suddenly? I can't imagine she hasn't. What I do know is that these pets seem to revel in their unusual lifestyle.

Sally, the figurehead, in her preferred place