We woke up at the Gordon Foreshore Reserve to a morning that felt like it was put on just for us. Steve was up first, sitting out in the crisp air while the rest of the world was still tucked away. There’s a particular kind of quiet you only get by the water in Tasmania, and watching that sun creep over the horizon was a real soul-filling moment. For about an hour, everything felt exactly right with the world.
The sky was a masterpiece, starting with a deep, fiery orange that stretched right across the water, silhouetting a lone boat out in the channel.
As the sun climbed a little higher, the colours began to shift. The heavy orange softened into shades of purple and grey, but there was one stubborn, fluffy cloud that caught the light perfectly, turning a brilliant, glowing pink. It looked like a giant brushstroke right above the dark silhouette of the hills.
Once Lisa was up, we settled in for a birthday breakfast. It isn’t every day you turn sixty, after all! Steve handed over her card and a few "scratches" to see if her luck was in for the new decade. While we were sitting there, Lisa suddenly spotted a line of black swans gliding gracefully past the van.
She was absolutely chuffed, pointing them out and counting six of them—one for every decade of her life. She took it as a wonderful omen for her 60th year. Now, Steve saw quite clearly that there were only five swans in that line, but he didn't have the heart to correct her and ruin the moment! Whether it was five or six, watching them drift past the old, weathered jetty on such a still morning was a gift. The grandkids would have loved seeing them so close to the shore.
It is moments like these, with the water like glass and the air so fresh, that make us so glad we decided to take this journey. We sat there for a long time, just taking in the peace of Gordon and feeling like the luckiest pair in Tassie.
