Friday 6 March – beach drinks with the Mooloolaba crowd

The day sped by without doing too much. Rowan went for a snorkel around the little island next door and said there was some good coral, but little fish life. Seb came around and dropped off some greens he had foraged which was very kind of him. He invited us to climb the hill with him this afternoon, I wasn’t too keen in this heat and absolutely no shade. Also when you look through the binoculars it is solid volcanic rubble, so not very nice for walking up or down. We had a local boat in the bay and saw a man walking along the skyline with long poles. We discovered later they were trapping birds in nets, which is so sad. The fish have been plundered and now the birdlife. The poor old sea eagle who is soaring about is going to struggle to compete for food.

The three boats from the next door bay invited us to join them on our bay’s beach for a drink and beach fire. Turns out they all know each other, they all come from the East coast, Mooloolaba. Most of the Australian boats we have met in Indonesia are from Western Australia. It is so strange as I have found my favourite preserved ginger is from a place called Buderim which is next to Mooloolaba. I’ve also discovered my two nephews, sons of each of my South African sisters, live in Buderim. Kim on the boat Arka also comes from Buderim. This place seems suddenly to be cropping up everywhere. The two single guys are both ex mine workers, the one is a geologist and is still working for the mines. He can work from his boat and has occasional work trips. The other couple have been living on their boat for 10 years that he built from scratch. He is a keen 70 year old surfer, they have just finished surfing the southern beaches of Lombok, now heading to Raja Ampat doing it the other way to us. Everyone wanted to leave before it got dark, we could still see Seb’s canoe on the beach, he was still on the mountain, I bet he has found something else to forage! We discovered his wife is South African. Everyone is leaving tomorrow and heading to LBJ, we are waiting for the wind and swell to die down before heading the opposite way to Lombok.