The Cottage @ Penguin Hill Farm

⁣The cottage looks out over it. And we’ve been told, at the right time of year, you can sit on the balcony and watch whales on their journey north, to warmer waters. ⁣⁣We haven’t seen any yet, but we can imagine. We’ve watched whales before, from a trail on another hill, almost two thousand kilometres away in Hat Head National Park, South West Rocks. ⁣⁣South West Rocks, that’s where the story really begins. ⁣⁣It begins in 1987, when a young couple decided to take a holiday by the sea.⁣⁣They buckled their toddler into his car seat and drove north to a hundred-year-old house, surrounded by trees. ⁣They booked a unit in the house for a week, and they loved their time by the sea.⁣⁣In those days, before lockboxes, leaving a holiday rental meant driving into town to drop your keys at the real estate agent’s office. So at the end of the week, that’s what they did. They cleaned up, packed the car and drove into town with the keys. ⁣And in the office, the lady at the front desk asked them a question that would change their lives forever,⁣⁣“Do you want to book the same week for next year?’ ⁣⁣They did. So they booked the unit in the house with the trees again. ⁣⁣And then again the next year, and the one after that. ⁣⁣And the holidays became a tradition. ⁣⁣The place wasn’t fancy, but they loved the simplicity of it. ⁣The children loved the blue ocean they could splash in, the sandcastles, the ice cream shop and the kangaroos who lived on the grass near the bay. ⁣⁣But the couple loved the way on holidays a week or two could stretch ahead of you with nothing to do but walk by the ocean or sit in the sun with a book. ⁣⁣Today the couple are Grandparents. ⁣⁣And this week they picked up a set of keys at a real estate agent’s office in the main street of Penguin, Tasmania. The keys are for the cottage they own, but they see it differently somehow. ⁣⁣They haven’t bought this house to live in, they’ve bought it to share. ⁣ Jan 2020.⁣