To the Island(d)

After the usual packing up, I return my hired weight belt and headed into town to fill up with petrol, given that I could not do that yesterday afternoon because I didn't have a physical payment card with me and the machine would not work with anything else. I then headed up to Reekara and the Top Shop, located in the old Reekara Primary school. The primary school closed in 1997; only eight students remained at that point in time. The old school building had some information about the history of schools on the island, and that school itself, and now it also houses a community playroom (utilised by those who home school their early childhood offspring rather than send them to school in Currie) the Top Shop, the Lions meeting place, and a display of some of the commemorative bonnets made in remembrance of those who died in the wrecking of the Neva, which was carrying a cargo of female convicts and their children - 224 casualties in total with only 6 passengers and 9 crew surviving. A...

Thelymitra rubra - pink sun orchid The day dawned unbelievably still . It's overcast but there's a small boat out on the water and it's certainly not moving up and down.  Today is the opening of the recreational rock lobster season so I can only speculate that's what they're doing.  Grassy Harbour from the breakwater I drive down to Grassy and out along the constructed breakwater, at the end of which the little penguins have made their own. I was told that coming down to watch the penguins coming in of an evening is a 'must do' on King Island, but I had no desire to drive from Grassy to Currie in the dark after such an event. South from the end of the breakwater at Grassy I go around to the jetty and the water is very calm and in the shallows looks clear enough. Although further out looks a little milky, I'm amused by the presence of a cup of cray pots in very shallow water, tied to a railing on the jetty. Presumably locals know w...