From Kate in Tasmania

Monday 9th, is a holiday in Hobart. Hobart Cup day, Regatta and Wooden Boat Festival.Here are some photos of some of the boats. They are beautiful and I'll send some more photos later.
Damian has a birthday coming up so we went to Sydney for the weekend and out to dinner at an amazingly expensive place on the waterfront looking towards the Sydney Opera House. As it happened, both D's children and their spouses were in Sydney too and it was a pleasant surprise for Damian. We'd all managed to keep it a secret.
It was hot and smokey but we had a great time.
Damian has a broken elbow at the moment and I have a tear in my Achilles tendon so I'm not training and D is not driving so I'm going with him to Brisbane to help prepare the yacht for transporting by truck to Hastings in Victoria. I hope the fires are controlled by then otherwise the highways may be closed. They'll take weeks to be completely out so as not to flare again if the days are hot and windy.
We have to remove the mast, sort out the electrical stuff which goes up the mast and have her as light as possible. I expect the gas cylinders have to be empty but I don't know about the diesel. Normally the tanks are kept as full as possible to prevent moisture and fungal build up. It's probably different if the yacht isn't in the water.
We went to a Leonard Cohen concert recently. For a 75 yo he is lithe and fit looking and spent 3 hrs on stage. He was very good.
We also went to see a stand up comedian, Judith Lucy, who has just turned 40. "Not Getting Any Younger" and has just discovered that 40 is the new 40.
How are you coping with the snow? Thanks Pete for the pics, and the invite to Utube. I went to the website but it isn't obvious to me how to join up. I haven't the patience to persist if it isn't obvious. The same with face book. Give me a good old fashioned mechanical engine any day and a wrench. I'm coming to terms with my digital camera and learning little bits as I go along. Now I can take photos of moving boats and get them in focus. Have you heard from Isabelle? I wonder how they are coping with the floods. We ought to be trucking their water south.
all from here, hope you are all well. We will be in Edinburgh 17th July until 20th. see you then Z.
love Kate