‘You did it,’ I said as I stood next to Dan in front of Bill’s castle in all its restored glory. In addition to this pièce de résistance the island now boasted self-cleaning toilet blocks, numerous picnic tables (thanks to the local Men’s Shed) and coin-operated barbeques. A new jetty was in the pipeline, but we didn’t quite have the funds for that yet, so today the shore all around us was dotted with boats of all shapes and sizes.

Smiling down at me, Dan squeezed my hand. ‘We did it.’

He took a couple of steps towards a microphone to address the crowd gathered for the official opening of what was now a registered picnic spot. He was right, what we’d achieved here had been a team effort, one that included many in Ragged Point and beyond. The island ball had been a massive success, raising the money we needed for the structural assessment of the castle, and we’d managed to secure some grants, generous donations and people-power to achieve the actual reconstruction.

Hence there were too many people here to count—some old friends, many new and lots of faces I didn’t even recognise—but all the important ones had made the short boat ride across to celebrate what had been almost two years in the making. Well, that’s if you counted from the cyclone, but maybe we should be counting from the day Bill first visited the island, or the day he started on the castle, or even the day he disappeared in Vietnam.

Who knew where anyone’s story really began or where it would end—it was the journey that mattered and although mine had taken a few surprising turns over the past couple of years, I didn’t regret any of them.

Saying that, I still couldn’t cut oranges without thinking of the day Adrian asked me about nest parenting. At the time, it felt like the end of my world, but it was simply the beginning of a new one. Since then I’d done so many things I’d never have even considered possible back then. I’d conquered life as a single mum, started a new business, had my faith restored in love and, most importantly, I’d become my own person again.

Dan began his speech with an acknowledgement of country, introducing and recognising the traditional custodians of Bill’s island, before a little spiel about the restoration project. He thanked everyone involved individually and then all present for coming across to commemorate Bill, his amazing creation, and to celebrate the opening of a unique tourist attraction for Ragged Point.

Gesturing to the impressive structure behind him, he added, ‘Coffs Harbour may have the Big Banana, and Rottnest its cute little quokkas, but not many Aussie towns can boast a castle!’