Felt very ordinary this morning after 2 rest days, pizza last night, and running out of muesli for breakfast – the things that can bring you undone! Getting ready to leave Murray’s beach, my friend and first business partner Richard Milroy joined me with his 4 month old daughter Flo. We haven’t seen each other much since we sold the business, so it was fantastic to catch up. He’s always wanted to have a kid too, and its wonderful to see him so utterly besotted. Also waved goodbye to friend and rock-climbing buddy Sam who dropped in on his way up the coast.
Murray’s beach (pictured) is as idyllic a spot as one could imagine and was once the site of a proposed nuclear power plant. Fortunately that got scuttled, and then they tried to put a huge sewerage works there instead while across the bay they tried for a steel works. Fortunately none of this went ahead, and today Jervis has a healthy, diversified, sustainable economy. It is also about to become a word headquarters for a Shao-Lin Monastery, bringing 3000 jobs to the area. My friend and Jervis Host Geoff Bliss will write up the full story - to be posted to the site as yet another example of choosing sustainability.
Leaving Jervis Bay I encountered the first headwind of the trip, and the slower pace gave me plenty of time to check out the sea caves that undercut the cliffs South of Jervis. A nice long paddle into the wind on an empty stomach and a couple of necky surf landings soon sorted out any stiffness in the joints, and now I’m at Bendelong Point, which is a little bit different from Benelong Point, but still a great place to be thinking about what to say to our PM to encourage him to explore more sustainable solutions for Tasmania.
Arriving Bendelong, I heard that Hunter Hall Investment Management has donated $2000 to the Round Table. Hunter Hall has a charter which prohibits it from investing in environmentally destructive practices such as old growth logging. They believe that there is as much money to be made in companies who do the right thing by society and the environment, and their stellar investment performance tells the rest of the story. Just in case you are wondering, they didn’t ask me to say this about them, it’s just something that people should know.
I also heard that a new head of the RPDC has been appointed – already. Hope its someone good not a mate of Paul Lennon. I’ll find out tomorrow and let you know.
Sim