Brother-in-law

We had the great pleasure of a visit from Chris Gill last week, the bloke who is going to marry my sister in June. He had a business trip to Melbourne, then added a couple days in Iluka to his itinerary. We've had vistors twice before Chris came, and both times the weather was horrible. Luckily, Chris beat the odds and we were able to show him Iluka in its glory. The first night we went out to Woody Heads for a barbecue. Could you beat this scene for a family visit?

I like this next picture because Chris looks so happy to be visiting, and because it's the only picture that I have of Alisa holding a beer.

Little Salty enjoyed the beach, as always.

We took Chris and Andrew, the brother of a friend of ours who rang us up at exactly the right time, out for a sail on the Clarence River. It was a great sunset cruise, and a good chance for us to make sure everything looked good before we set off for the trip north along the coast.

Chris stayed on the boat with us, and did great with the enforced intimacy that involves. He hit it off really well with Little Salty. Perhaps the highlight of the trip for me was to waking in the morning and hearing Chris and Elias talking quietly across the saloon from their bunks, instead of starting the day at 0555 with Elias shouting to Alisa and me that he is all done sleeping, which is the normal course of things.

I like this next picture mostly for the depth of field.

We were truly sorry to see Chris leave, which is the best complement that any guest can get. Jenny, we approve!

~~~

We are now counting down the final days until our departure northwards. So much is coming together - we have new house batteries for the boat, two of our anchors are freshly galvanized, Alisa has serviced some winches that have given us their all over the last year and a half, we have moved a pile of junk that we never use to the house of friends, where we will pick it up in the spring (thanks guys!), the forward rail re-seal job is nearing completion, the pesky deck leak that had me baffled for years has finally been tracked to a dorade and fixed, routine engine maintenance is nearly done, etc. etc. And, well, we're really excited to go sailing again. I'm even really excited for the next month of just traveling up the coast - "Imagine!" I say to Alisa. "A whole month of just sailing!"