Waking up in a bed is so blissful. I make a coffee and take a walk around the garden with Florence.
I make a quick fried egg on toast and get stuck into some admin. First up is the goddam air mattress.
I submerge it in the pool but find no bubbles. After doing two passes I give up. I begin trying to listen for the hole. I’m about to give up when I hear a faint whistle. Wetting the mattress helps make the sound louder. I eventually find it. Hopefully this is the last hole.
I fix my running rain jacket with some duct tape. And get locked into my new pack. It’s so clever. The strap system works so well and there are thoughtful pockets. I’ve chosen to try pack it today because it’s going to take me about four attempts before I settle on the right configuration.
My big puffer jacket is quite bulky and it seems best to put it in the front. I then realize that I haven’t updated my fastpacking gear list. So I spend half an hour being clever in Notion to create a master gear list that can be sorted and linked by hiking, running or fastpacking:
Gear listAfter completing that I fiddle around a bit with how I attach my sleeping bag to the bottom of the bag; this opens up so much space and is remarkably comfortable.
Bruce, Kathy and I begin preparing dinner for tonight: lamb curry and a sort of ice cream (add name) which is like flavored.
Bruce goes to buy some ingredients and when he’s back we’ve got the curry going and made the ice cream.
We whip together chicken burgers and a salad for lunch. It was delicious. The salad was particularly incredible with rocket, orange and pomegranate.
Erin comes home and has rolled her ankle the night before. We go into the garden for a smoke and a laugh. Florence tears around the garden on a thrilling race against herself.
Kathy, Erin and myself have a big laugh about funny things.
“We do outside worship”
We whip together a pretty decadent dessert of Paul’s Nutella choc chip ice cream, leftover self saucing pudding and custard.
Everyone needs a nap after that.
The curry is absolutely incredible. I have about four helpings. There is a cauliflower side dish that blows my mind. Somehow I manage to fit in three helpings of the semifreddo too: