Every Ship needs a storm to test it’s mettle.
Captains Log - 0002/ 25th February 2024 / 06150hrs
I've seen your stormy seas and stormy women, And pity lovers rather more than seamen.
Lord Byron
Last Wednesday, at around 0300hrs, a clap of thunder and a flash of lightning was the signal for what was one of the heaviest storms I have ever witnessed. For eleven hours the skies opened, bellowed and flashed as The Ship was put to the test. There was little mercy and no port to shelter in. This mighty steel structure is anchored firmly to terra firma - there was nothing to do but observe from the deck the beauty and awesome force of nature.
We have learned, through conversations with those that have sailed The Ship, Bay of Fires before us, that The Ship was designed and built by a maritime architect. We currently have the form filled out with the local council to get the original plans and hopefully establish contact with this incredible human. There is little that has been left to chance to weather the forces of nature and if I was wearing a hat., at this point I would tip it in the direction of the designer of The Ship. Every angle, not only on the structure, but also on the land, has been designed to withstand the weather that Mother Earth can present in all her glory, and perhaps fury. The roof and guttering are a capture system for precious water stored in tanks for future use, the stone bed canals (that’s what I am calling them anyway) direct the flow of water on the ground to the oasis (dam) that is at the front of our property (currently a concert hall for the eastern banjo frog). Anything man made here has been meticulously designed and shaped to not only withstand the forces of nature, but to embrace and utilize what benefits that can be harnessed. Suffice to say, the tanks are full, the dam is full and the land is nourished.
The Ship - Bay of Fires has passed the storm test with flying colours.
William the Wallaby, Alexander the Magpie and Kimmie the Kookaburra.
We have made some friends. I mean, humans are nice and all, but the communication is quite a lot easier with those that do not have plastic zero and one transmission devices glued to their hands.
Whilst sitting on the deck one morning, a family of magpies came and said hello. They used their own language, but I gathered what they were saying easily enough. “Morning Captain, welcome to our land. We live here, have for generations actually. We have always had a deal with you upright ape like creatures. You give us a little bacon (locally sourced please) from time to time - we are not greedy, just a snack, and we in turn will sing you beautiful songs and also freak out any large spiders or snakes that may try to traverse the open expanses of The Ship. Deal?”. Of course, how could I refuse such a partnership. I pro offered a piece of smoked bacon. The alpha took it and flew down to the grasses to test my commitment to quality. Passed it would appear as the alpha then popped back up for seconds. I explained to him that this was not the deal and that one snack a day is the limit (I mean, there is a budget and I do not want to upset ecosystems). He stared at me for about five minutes contemplating this and seemed to accept the situation eventually and flew off. We have named this alpha “Alexander” after our son who always comes back for seconds.
In the morning at dawn and in the evening as the sun sets, William (our other son) the wallaby, wanders onto the front yard from his well trodden (well skipped to be accurate) path from the bush at the port side of The Ship. No hurry, just sits quietly munching on some grass and occasionally pops his head up to have a look around. Quite cruisy and content at not having to do too much but eat, observe and exist. No deals needed here - he just does his thing…..William personified.
Kimme (William’s partner), laughs whenever she can get the chance. Watching William the wallaby and sometimes Alexander the magpie can be taxing, but also quite amusing - not to mention those other two legged creatures strutting around that big steel thing amongst the trees. The other day Kimme watched with interest as the biggest two legged thing jumped on a noisy green thing that rolled around the place with alchemy like wizardry leaving the grass lands in some places smaller than it was previously. An interesting outcome of this strange event is that the grass is lower in certain parts of the land once the wizard and the green thing rolled past, and it is a lot easier to find interesting things to eat. Kimmie sticks around a far bit these days and laughs a lot with either joy of new food or amusement of those two legged things still carrying cardboard boxes from the green structure to The Ship - she wonders if the box movement will ever end…..so does The Captain.
We are now a week into life on board The Ship. Life is good, we are busy but not city busy. Our work (in shipping ironically) continues and with the occasional power outage disrupting our connection to Elon’s orbiting boxes, we seem to be balancing the world quite nicely.
We are close to opening The Ship - Bay of Fires accommodation. We have been painting and designing the cabins to be boutique, sustainable, comfortable and memorable (our sort of cliche words). We are new to this so there is some bits and bobs to do, but it is our intention to make The Ship - Bay of Fires something special for those that travel to this part of the world. The location is special enough, but the years of us travelling and knowing what we like is going into the creation so that that where possible we can exceed any expectation that may be expected (based on our own expectations). We are excited to have people come and stay here and experience all that we are so blessed to see every day.
I hope you enjoy reading these logs as much as I like writing them - it is a good way to spend an hour or two contemplating the past week and the future over a coffee or ale (depending when I write them) - thank you for taking the time to be a part of the journey.
See you next week.
The Captain.