In revisiting the setting for my novel, The Girl from Simon's Bay, I've been struck afresh by how little has changed since I embarked on the research over a decade ago - but also how little has changed since the heroine, Louise, walked the streets and alleys of the town some eighty years ago. It is a credit to the community that so many of the Victorian-era buildings still remain intact, beautifully restored - and in use. Admiralty House, Sartorial House, The British Hotel with its plaque honouring the members of Scott's Antarctic expedition who stayed there...
The coastline around Simon's Bay also remains largely pristine, although there are some natural changes. I notice that a new beach has appeared. It used to be only fisherman who frequented the rocks in this spot but now a stretch of sand has been deposited which means that at low tide it's possible to swim. Perhaps the most noticeable changes have taken place in the wildlife that lives in these parts, both on land and at sea. Baboons that used to inhabit the mountain tops increasingly come down into the town to forage; while at sea, in addition to its southern right whales, sharks, seals, penguins and myriad fish, Simon's Bay sometimes hosts orcas - killer whales - as I mentioned in a previous blog. While the baboons can be encouraged back up the mountains, rising water temperature in the oceans may be altering the marine environment and bringing new species to the area permanently. Time will tell... but I hope that Louise, David and the characters of the novel would find much that is familiar if they happen to drop by...
I walked towards the water, my feet sinking into the crystal sand, the first prints to touch the beach since the last high tide. A shell was protruding from the sand and I knelt down and dug it out, an elongated, jagged teardrop...
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