Sunday 6th November - Sailing at Saratoga

Sunday 6th November - Sailing at Saratoga We relaxed in the morning after Sunday breakfast and did a few domestic jobs before setting off to a beach called Saratoga where we met up for a picnic with Trent and Jo and their three boys. Will and I went on ahead in the Ute and picked up a couple of barbecued chickens.  Trent had brought his sailing boat, a small but extremely fast Laser. Will helped him rig it and soon everybody was being taken out for a gentle sail. It was gentle as the wind was very light. Will's good friend Angus turned up in his motor boat accompanied by his wife Leonie.  We had met before.  Angus is one of Will's oldest friends and  is in the same business as Will: that of metal fabrication. In fact, Angus' Dad russns an engineering business at Wyong and when he heard Will was coming home to live and work, he immediately offered help in the form of a corner of their premisesand acce where Will could do his own thing. No charge. Now that's what I call a friend. Leonie is a teacher. We spent a lovely sunny afternoon in great company. Ollie played well with his cousins and Toby slept through most of it. We had to retreat to the shade because the sun was very fierce. I estimate the temperature hit the mid thirties that afternoon. I investigated the muddy fringes of the lake finding lots of large turret shells. The mystery of the large green bean-like structures I had been finding on the beach recently was solved. They are fruits of the mangrove tree which grows around the lake edges pushing its aerial roots up through the mud. We dispersed in the early evening and all went our separate ways: Angus and Leonie across the lake, Trent and Jo and the boys back to Wyoming with their boat in tow, and us in our two cars back to Umina. A great day.