Okay, okay, Coochiemudlo Island isn’t exactly floating – not yet, but it has been raining very hard over the last two days (shall we call it Terra Mudlo?). Thankfully, the bad weather didn’t deter my visitors today, all eight of them (family and almost family), because, despite the fact that I had only crackers, cheese and fruit left in the larder, lunch turned out to be akin to the miraculous feast for five thousand; we had barbecued steak, sausages, chicken, potato chips and other snacks, and delights too numerous to mention (as well as cheese, crackers and fruit salad!).

Now I’m back at Belivah and it feels as though I have been away for three weeks (that’s island life for you!). I had a great time looking after Cheese Cake (the sweet little terrier). What of the donkey, the goat, the sheep, the ducks, geese, chooks, cats and the guinea pigs? Well the less said about the antics of the first three, the better (let’s call it a learning curve), but something marvellous happened yesterday morning in the guinea pig and baby chick area… I became aware that Cheese Cake was fascinated by something – I thought it might be a snake in the pen – and when I followed his eyes I saw that he had been watching the birth of a guinea pig. The tiny mite was wet and still, and the mother had left it to its own devices.

I miss Cream Cake – I got used to him being around (especially after his bath) – but now he is back with Hayley, and the rest of the animals are there with Hayley, I’m not sad to be back on terra firma… with no red mud or mosquitoes!