Somebody (who will remain nameless) called us at 4am with a computer problem that lasted for an hour, so we all got woken up and are exhausted (but on the plus side, I know all Mike's secret passwords!). Meanwhile, Mike got pneumonia taking the call in his underwear, unless it's just the flu?!
The weather is nice! It's amazing. We took the little ferry to Bruny Island immediately opposite us. It is really two islands joined by an isthmus. We visited the penguin colony on the isthmus and even though the adults were all out, we saw two young penguins in their burrow. We hiked through Tasmanian woodland, past lagoons to the beach. The trees here are all either in flower or have a new season's growth that's a different colour from the old. The result is that the trees are quite colorful - actually they look as if they've been sunburned. We found another echidna and are starting to get blase about them. This one did not really want to pose for the camera. It preferred to turn its back on us and bury its snout underneath itself, but we were more patient than it was. We hiked to the beach which was lovely and unspoilt and actually pleasantly warm in a sheltered spot with the sun out.
When we got back, there was a kookaburra (I think) hanging around at the end of our driveway. It took off, flew into a tree, dropped a foot or two then recovered. I am suspecting them of not being the cleverest of birds! Mike went to borrow an oyster knife and began shucking 24 oysters to make oyster chowder for his birthday. I suppose he must be feeling better, but when someone callled from France to try to sell us solar panels, we remembered to turn the phone off.