Manatee celebrates the holiday season

We started our holiday celebrations by attending a local street party. Charles and Linda live down the river from our berth and invited us to join in with the party. We met a number of very interesting locals. Linda is an admirer of dogs, so Jacki and Ruby also enjoyed the celebrations (and the sausages!). Charles is a co-owner of witch doctor and completed numerous Sydney-Hobart races on her. Their fishing run-about is called sea witch.

AK's father Don arrived from Bateau Bay for Xmas so we enjoyed many lunches with the family. Xmas day was celebrated at Carmel's at Telegraph Point and was extremely pleasant with the contribution of Mark's cookies.



Don, AK, Joan & Gwen ready for lunch

The population of Laurieton seems to have trebled over the last 5 or 6 weeks, with the arrival of children visiting their grandparents making a big impact on the demographic. We are so used to seeing the street full of people with walkers/gophers, it's weird to avoid stumbling over toddlers.

Holiday makers have brought with them a variety of vessels and we have seen everything from jet skis to a yacht with a removable mast. We have never seen one of these masts before but apparantly they are common on the Swan River in Perth.

"lets drop the mast before we attempt this bridge"

a family sized canoe

Marg spent the eve of the new year on Manatee watching the local fireworks and keeping the dogs calm while AK was at Point Plummer State Forest working and enjoying the local fireworks. AK has worked a bit over the holiday season, enjoying the money but not the 12 hr shifts!

Early January saw our friend Jan from Sydney in the area. The girls were very happy to see their Aunt Jan as were we.

Pearl and Aunty Jan at Wauchope

We spent the day at Wauchope with Jan (at her friend Jacki's property) and we enjoyed reminising and re-connecting with gardens and the earth.

Marg, Jacki and Ruby making friends with the locals

Jan visited Manatee on her return to Sydney and we went for a swim at WashHouse Beach and had lunch at SandBar after a cuppa on the boat.

We also had a visit from the terrific twins from Port Stephens who we met at the marina at Nelsons Bay. Phil and Stu have sailed up to Qld many times. One of the great things about this life is re-connecting with interesting people that we meet along the way.