Warm and sunny in St Helens.

The captain.

While we in Melbourne suffer a freezing cold and damp day, it's a warm and sunny 12°C in St Helens. Ben's at the waterfront talking with "the captain" (the captain of the cray fishing boat that Ben helped crew a few months back). The current interest is in learning how to sail so he's investigating certificates required and courses available.

The gem scales arrived and are exactly what he needed. There are gems being cut in Hobart, a few in Beaconsfield and a large number on their way to Lambert Holdings in Thailand. Price is based on the final weight in carats and some of the stones may be costly.

Finally, Ben may head up to St Mary's today to have a look at the shed mentioned in an earlier post. There has been lots of email correspondence about it recently. What's the plan? I don't really know for sure.

Evening update: Didn't get to see inside the shed because the tenant, whose occupation is "roo culler", had the only key and was away. Did have time to look around though and it was then that a neighbour wandered over for a chat. He mentioned that the land was bought not all that long ago for much less than the current price. Also mentioned that it may be contaminated with diesel oil, since heavy trucks used to park there. It seems that there's more to it than meets the eye. People sometimes tell you things you need to know.