Friday 9th - Long run and a plan is hatched

We set the alarm to wake up early and try to go fishing again on the high tide. But when we woke we realized we hadn't prepared enough (amongst other things I couldn't find the keys to my parents' car), so went back to bed. I was pretty relieved about this as I just didn't feel like going, though I was keen to make the effort for Tatsuya's sake.

After a bit of breakfast I set off for a run to find a walking track brother Peter had found on an earlier visit. It was a bit over a km from Chris' house and I found it alright. It wound its way along Coffs Creek from the Pacific Highway down to the Jetty part of town. From the jetty I headed up Muttonbird Island. This map shows roughly the territory I covered, mainly the green walking and cycling tracks. And this page shows the sort of scenes that greeted me when not running through the ti-tree and mangrove forests of the Coffs Creek Walk. It was a really pleasant run without any of the discomfort of Thursday, and all up I managed to clock up just on 25 km.

During the run, while passing the marina, I was struck by the idea that if it was fishing that Tatsuya wanted, then it was fishing I should give him. I enquired about charter fishing cruises at a booking office, and although it would cost a bit, decided that a) we were on holiday and b) Tatsuya had been away for five long years and had really missed Australia, so I kind of owed it to him to give him something special to remember. Money doesn't really come into it when you think of it that way. I decided to surprise him by saying we would go fishing early the next morning and then just taking him to the boat. Naughty Dad.

Later in the afternoon Chris and I went to pick up the reclining arm chair the family had collectively bought for the mother's birthday (yet another surprise in the making). We dropped Tatsuya at the jetty to try his luck by himself for an hour or two.

All the women went to the local RSL in the early evening (a local ritual I believe) while Michael, Chris, Tatsuya, and I had a quiet evening yarning with Dad.