Sunday 14th August 1811

Dear Diary,

I suffered another restless night. 

I know not what causes it but when all is still and quiet I hear a distant rumbling from time to time and the very house in which we dwell appears to tremble gently in fear of it. 

I swear also that in the night I heard the distant and plaintive mewling of a cat. I crept from my bed and stepped out upon the verandah and peered out into the moonlit grounds beyond the house to listen again. Suddenly there came a wild and terrible hissing and rasping sound from close beside me and I grasped the verandah rail in fear. There, a few feet away, was a cat like beast with a long tail and large eyes but its snout was more protuberant than that of a cat. It was all I could do to grip the rail and stop myself from screaming and waking the rest of my party. The beast stared at me with its round dark eyes and I gathered my wits and gibbering, dashed back to the safety of my boudoir and sought sanctuary beneath my woollen blankets. 

In the light of morning I told Willow of the beast and he thought it to be a possum. I was not convinced the harmless and fluffy creature he described was the same as the one I encountered in the night. 

Our day was very relaxed and once again filled with pleasant perambulation upon the beach, this time along the beach to the north. We returned for lunch and enjoyed a nourishing salmagundi before, to my great embarrassment, I absent-mindedly locked our room with the only set of house keys inside it. 

Luckily, the Orchid sisters had a neighbour, a Mr Jackman who also possessed a set for use in watching over the property whilst they are occupied in Queanbeyan and Willow offered to collect them. Once our own set of keys was freed from their incarceration I offered to return Mr Jackman’s set to him as the whole debacle was of my making. 

I found his somewhat unkempt home and knocked upon the door gently for fear of loosening it from its hinges. I was somewhat surprised by the fellow that opened it for he was quite enormous both in height and girth. 

“Thank you Mr Jackman,” I smiled handing him back his keys. “You have indeed saved our day.” 

I held out my hand again.

”If I may introduce myself, I am Wayne Austen and I bid you good day!” 

He did not smile but eyed me suspiciously not unlike that pestilent possum. 

“G’Day” he said enveloping my hand in his own.  “Everyone calls me ‘Huge’”.