Saturday 1st to Sunday 2nd February, 2025

Even an overnight trip means a lot of packing up. It’s been too hot to leave our electrical gear in the Sherwood, so the electric frying pan and kettle had to be put in as well. But, apart from getting some fresh bread, we didn’t have very much else to do on Saturday beyond getting ready.

We left home at about 5.00 p.m. and arrived at Pinaroo Point by 5.45 p.m. The parking area was pretty full, but someone in a Toyota Hiace van offered us his spot, with a view down the path to the sea.

We took a walk along the beach and back on the path before heating up a pre cooked meal and making some salad.

On the way down the beach we encountered a large group of people who appeared to be having a religious ceremony. It is a celebration of Yemanja, Queen of the Sea, a Brazilian and other South American ceremony which incorporates Catholicism, African and Indigenous elements. It would normally happen on February 2nd.

Both Stephen and I spoke with the people and I was told that it would have been OK to have taken photos, as it was I felt I didn’t want to intrude. Most people had dressed in white and some were walking into the sea. There was an altar with a blue statue of a woman in the middle of the circle of people.

It was pretty noisy during the evening due to the Hillarys Beach Club Restaurant. Eventually the car park began to empty and we decided it was time for us to move. We are not allowed to stay overnight in this carpark so we move to another carpark closer to Hillarys Boat Harbour.

Before leaving we took our chairs down to the beach to watch the moon set. The planet Venus was slightly to the right of the moon and really bright. Our view was degraded at times as there were lots of people fishing off the beach using bright headlamps. Stephen had forgotten to bring a jumper. I lent him my jacket and wrapped myself in a shawl. It wasn’t really cold, but would have been unpleasant without some protection.

Although we have spent the night at the other car park a few times now I was still an bit anxious that we might be asked to move on. There were a few other vans and cars there, but nothing as obvious as the Sherwood. However, it was a mostly peaceful night and cool enough in our loft bed to get a good sleep.

As soon as the alarm when off we packed up and moved back to Pinaroo Point. We were early enought to get a fully shaded position and the shade lasted until we left at about 11.30 a.m. We had a cup of tea, then went down for a dip in the sea. There were quite a few people already there and the car park had been filling up whilst we had our tea.

Then it was showers, followed by breakfast at the restaurant. We had a good table outside and shared a big breakfast. Stephen had forgotten his Airpods which he uses to listen to pod casts, so I lent him my copy of Eversley’s book.

It was about six degrees hotter in Victoria Park when we got home. We did a quick unloading of everything we needed, followed by a few trips at various times in the afternoon to bring in the rest of our stuff.

Matt came to tea in the evening. He’s been a bit serious lately, but this time he was in a very happy mood. He ate well and even allowed me to try on his new hat for a photo. As he normally hates hats and won’t wear them this is quite a breakthrough.

Last year I had a strange health scare, with very bad pain travelling up my arm and up the side of my head. We called an ambulance and they took me into Sir Charles Gardiner even though the pain had subsided. After being fully checked out with blood tests confirming that it wasn’t a heart attack, and observations confirming it wasn’t a stroke, I was discharged.

This happened in the evening and I was home by about 5.00 a.m. Anyway, the doctor had suggested I have a heart stress test, which duly happened. I didn’t hear from my GP and assumed that all was well. However, I had to see her recently and asked about the test results. Apparently my heart health is very good for my age. I think she realised that I should be advised of test results in a timely manner because I got the test result from this visit within a few days. Again, an all clear.