Pals on the Perisher Pistes

After our late arrival at the caravan, it wasn’t surprising that Hez and I slept in a bit later, not waking up until nearly 9am. With all the covers, extra blankets and doonas, along with wearing several layers of clothes and having turned the heaters on full blast for the whole night, we woke up absolutely roasting!

Today was not particularly good weather wise, in fact Hez’s boyfriend Dylan (who works at the resort making snow) called us to tell us that the conditions weren’t great and that we might not want to ski today, but we decided to give it a go and it was good enough for the likes of me! Hez drove us up to the resort from Jindy, and the drive took us up and up through the Kosiosko National Park. I was quite surprised that there was no snow to be seen as we climbed, but I figured that eventually we would come across some! It turned out that there was indeed snow, but not as much as they’d want at this time of year – for that reason only four of the many slopes were open, whilst Dylan and all his colleagues beavered away making snow to speed up the process and get more of the slopes open, in time for the peak season and school holidays about to start that weekend.

When we arrived at the resort, despite the fact that it was really cloudy, I could see the slopes hiding behind the haze along with lots of little black dots moving slowly down! We parked up, got our stuff together, put our kit on and headed to the ticket office. It seemed busy – the school holidays hadn’t quite started although it looked like there were quite a few children whose parents had made them bunk school to get to the snow a little earlier than the masses.

Once we’d bought our ski lift passes, it was time to get clipped in (Hez onto her snowboard and me onto my skis) then make our way to the lift to head up the Front Valley slope. I was a little worried that the lift only went to one place – the top of the slope; you couldn’t get off part way up, so it meant I would have to go all the way up and come all the way back down again by my own efforts. What was particularly worrying was that I couldn’t see the top. I hadn’t been skiing since 2008 and that had been the first time in decades, so I wasn’t sure I was going to be Eddie the Eagle Edwards – although actually I am not sure if I would want to be!

I was pleasantly surprised by my first run down – despite the low visibility caused by the low cloud and the fact that the slope was teeming with people, on skis and snowboards, hurtling past me. I took my time, went at my own pace and made it the whole way without falling once! At the base of the slope I was very excited and keen to carry on! Hez was really sweet and took the slope at the same pace as me, to make sure that I was comfortable – we did the Front Valley slope several more times as I built up my confidence, tried a few different turns, went a bit faster and generally found my ski legs! I was loving it and even more happy that despite pushing my boundaries, I still hadn’t fallen over!

After a quick coffee and pie break, we hit the Front Valley slope again and then went to a neighbouring slope, Goat’s Gully. This one was far more scary than the Front Valley slope – for starters it was higher which seemed to mean that the visibility was lower (I guess it was higher up in the clouds?!) and the first section of it was much, much steeper. There were several icy patches too, which freaked me out when I hit them (probably because I had an epic crash in Switzerland where I hit an ice patch which sent me flying off the side of the mountain, leaving me tangled up and dangling in the crash net over the ravine below!), but somehow I managed to keep it together and didn’t fall or crash at all, let alone epically! There was also a set of moguls which the snowboarders were enjoying doing tricks on, I just concentrated on getting over them in one piece, which I did. Eventually, I made it to the bottom and took a moment to regain my composure, whilst also feeling pumped with adrenaline!

The adrenaline meant that I agreed to go back up to the top of Goat’s Gully, but this time rather than going the whole way down, we did the first bit (the steep bit with the icy patches) and then took a little diversion off piste to a point at which you could follow a route which led to the top of the Front Valley slope (which I felt much more comfortable with!), then headed down that.

We noticed a change in the temperature and soon realised that the snow falling was no longer solely the snow being made by the massive fan/hose combinations, but instead it was being supplemented by real, actual snow from the sky – good news indeed for skiers! After a few more runs down the Front Valley, each time with me getting progressively faster and more daring, we decided to call it a day, as the visibility was getting worse, as the late afternoon meant that the light was now beginning to fade.

Once back at the car, Hez and I started our way back to Jindy, picking up a hitchhiker in the carpark before we left. Now before anyone reading this begins to panic, there was no danger involved in this – he was one of the instructors at the resort, wearing his uniform, name badge and the like, plus we had seen him teaching a bunch of kids on the slope (often the staff live in Jindy which is a 40 min drive away from the resort, so transport can be a problem if they don’t have a 4x4). We chatted to him on the journey and discovered he was a fellow pommie, from Gillingham.

After we’d dropped him off, the first thing we did back at the caravan was to get warmed back up in the shower (over the course of the day, the outside temperature had varied between minus 6 and 0, so we had gotten quite chilly!), then got wrapped up in warm clothes and headed into the town. We had a mooch around the small selection of shops and found somewhere to have dinner. Our plans to cook at the caravan had been scuppered by the fact that the oven wasn’t working, so instead we had a pizza at one of the few eateries, which turned out to be a fantastic idea as the pizza was great!

We whiled away the rest of the evening back at the caravan with a few drinks, watching tv, chatting and nibbling on the snacks we’d brought with us. We decided that considering the rubbish weather, we’d still had an amazing day and looked forward to what the next would have in store for us!

Sisters, Stunning Scenery & Setting Sail for Snow

This morning I had to get up super early, ready to be picked up at 7.30am. Thankfully I managed to get myself ready in time and even had time for a cuppa with Robyn. Shortly after finishing that, there was a noise outside and sure enough a ute pulled up to the house. As we went outside, the doors opened and out came Dave Clark (a Rotarian) and Larissa. Dave is one of the Rotarians we met in 2005 and is a really lovely chap – he organised much of our trip. When we’d been at the Rotary meeting last week, he’d offered to take Larissa and I to the Blue Mountains.

We all hopped back in the ute and I met the others on the trip – Dani (a German Rotary school exchange student) and her friend (Amelia – a daughter of one of the other Rotarians). We headed off in the ute on the long drive to the Blue Mountains – somewhere I had never been before.

It was a fair way and as we got closer, we could see the blue of the mountains in the distance – apparently the blue colour comes from a gas that the gum trees give off. Dave was born and bred in the Blue Mountains, so knows the area very well. We passed through several little towns, including Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson (named after the men who first crossed the Blue Mountains), all of which Dave seemed to have lived, worked or owned a business in at some point in his life! We were stunned at the amazing number of different jobs and businesses he has had over the years.

Eventually we arrived at our first spot, a town called Katoomba, famous for its views across the Blue Mountains and specifically the iconic ‘3 Sisters’ – three massive rocks sticking out of the greenery. There were many other mountains in the distance but I can not remember what they were called. The vista was beautiful, if a bit windy, but well worth the long drive. We went for a walk down the path, through some trees, down some incredibly steep and worryingly rickety old stairs (which apparently Dave used to have to run up and down when he was a school boy, during PE lessons as a cross country run!) and right up to one of the Sisters; once upon a time you could climb and abseil on it, which would have been uber cool, but sadly it is no longer possible. The rocks themselves were really clearly layered (I am no good at geography or geology so can not remember what that sort of rock is called) and had lots of foliage growing from out of the cracks between the layers.

After clambering back up the steep steps and hiking back up to the top of the viewpoint, we heard the ominous sound of bagpipes being played. We all envisaged the romantic image of a lone, kilt and sporran clad Scotsman, stood, facing out across the landscape, playing his pipes sombrely. When we arrived at the top, we were disappointed to find a white hoodie wearing bloke in jeans stood in the car park playing the pipes with a baseball cap on the floor in front of him – shattered our lovely image!

We all hopped back in the ute and Dave took us on a short drive to our next stop – a very posh hotel. The purpose of our visit was nothing more than a brief hello – Dave’s daughter works there, so we had a quick look around and then jumped back in the car.

Our next port of call was to the aptly named ‘Scenic World’, where the first thing to greet us was the sight of statues depicting three naked women and a naked man. It turned out that these represent the Aboriginal story behind the 3 Sisters – apparently they fell in love with three men from a neighbouring tribe, but could not marry due to tribal law, so a battle started and the sisters were turned into rocks by a village elder, to protect them from harm, but he was killed in the battle and so no one could turn them back.

At Scenic World, there are a number of things on offer in order to appreciate the beauty of the Blue Mountains. The first was the Scenic Railway – the world’s steepest railway, with an incline of 52 degrees at its steepest point. As we waited for the train to arrive, we chatted to the man on the gate, who was holding a wild parrot (eek!). He asked me if I would like to hold it, which of course I did, so he gave me some peanuts and transferred it onto my hand. We were taken down onto the little platform and he said that I should just take it down there with me, as it would leave whenever it wanted to. I was rather over excited about holding the parrot and got even more excited when I saw some of its friends down on the platform. The train arrived and I wasn’t sure if it was going to take the train with me or not, but right at the last second, it decided against it and flew off to sit with its buddies, allowing me to get into the train with both hands (which turned out to be for the best!).

The train itself was really a bunch of cages with benches, sitting in the front ‘carriage’ with Dani and Amelia, we soon realised that it was indeed an uber steep train track – we couldn’t see where it was going to go, as the track kind of disappeared, much like when you get to the top of a rollercoaster track before a big drop! When the train started moving, we had to use our feet to keep us upright and it was actually quite scary! As we went down, I could feel the pressure change in my ears, so I could appreciate how far we had dropped down – over 400m. The views across the mountains were very pretty, but we were soon unable to see them, as we were enclosed with trees. Once at the bottom, we looked up and could see the visitor’s centre at the top in the distance.

The train had brought us to a little boardwalk through the rainforest and bush, which explained about some of the coal mining history of the area. We also saw one of the original trains which was exactly the same as what we had just travelled in, only without the protective cage. At the other end of the boardwalk was a vertical tram (also called a tram, but not like any tram I’d been on in Melbourne!) which would take us back up to the top – it was interesting to see that it had been built by the company that make the vertical trams they use in Switzerland. The journey up offered more views across the Blue Mountains and a lone rock, appropriately called ‘Orphan Rock’.

Back at the top, it was time for lunch and Dave treated us to a meal in the revolving restaurant, which both offered delicious buffet food (especially the pavolva!) and amazing views, although we it did keep us on our toes every time we tried to come back to the table from the buffet – the revolving aspect of the restaurant confused each of us on several occasions!

Following lunch we went on our last gondola, this time rather than up and down the side of a mountain, it went between two. As we started the journey across, the floor beneath us changed and suddenly it was clear, so we could see straight through to the ground below! It looked very far off, despite the thick canopy of trees! Again the views were beautiful and I enjoyed watching white dots (cockatoos) flitting about in the distance below. The cable car itself was not completely sealed so it was incredibly cold and we could feel the chill of the wind whipping through, which meant we were quite pleased when we got to the other side and then began our return trip!

Once back, we headed for the car and Dave took us on a drive through some more small towns (telling us even more stories of having lived, worked or owned businesses in them!) and to some look out points from where we had more wonderful views of the mountains, each as impressive as the last.

Weary, we started our journey home, stopping for a quick drink at the Whip and Pin, a very quaint cafe, then back to Berry, arriving eventually at 7pm. It had been such a lovely day, we were so lucky with the weather, as by all accounts, if you go there on an overcast day you really can not see anything, not even the 3 Sisters. It was also really wonderful seeing Larissa again, and spending time with her - she is looking so well having been so terribly ill. Dave is such a kind guy and made a wonderful tour guide, although he said as much as he loved living in the Blue Mountains, he is so pleased to have come to Berry as he never did like the cold climate that the mountains always have.

There was no rest for the wicked, despite an early start and a long day, with lots of fresh air – I had to finish packing my bags for my trip with Hez to the Snow. We then had a quick dinner of chops, before packing up the car (it was literally bursting at the seams, which was very funny seeing as we were only going for two days!) and heading on our way at 8.30pm.

The drive to the Snow first took us through an area called Kangaroo Valley – the clue is in the name. We had to be super careful and super alert, as the risk of some form of wildlife running out in front of the car was high and this can be very dangerous indeed (collisions involving kangaroos and wombats will write off a car). As we drove, Hez and I discussed the wildlife and I mentioned that I had never seen a real live wombat (I think I may have said before that I do not consider animals in zoos as ‘real’ – I believe they are only real if they are in the wild), apart from a dead one at the side of a road back in 2005. Anyway, only moments later, suddenly there one was, standing stupidly in the middle of the road, not sure what to do. Hez stopped and eventually it ran off! Woohoo! My first ever real live wombat! Hez was equally as excited for me! About five minutes later a possum ran across the road, then five minutes after that, a wallaby and then a couple of minutes later, another wombat! How exciting and also a good reminder of the importance of driving carefully and slowly at night.

We carried on the drive, through some little towns, then huge expanses of nothingness – total darkness. I felt so incredibly tired but had to stay awake to talk to Hez and help her stay awake! It actually wasn’t too bad as we had lots to chat about and probably didn’t stop talking for a single second along the way! Eventually at 1am we arrived at our stop off – the ski hire place. I had found it hard to believe that a ski hire shop would be open 24 hours a day, but apparently it is! So we popped in, had a wander about looking at various bits and pieces to give our legs a stretch, then I sorted out hiring my boots, stocks and skis, before chucking it all in the already-incredibly-full car and carrying on our way.

The next stretch of the journey took us through an area heavily populated with kangaroos and we saw many dead ones at the sides of the roads – some looked absolutely massive and must have done quite a lot of damage to whatever vehicle had hit them. We also saw many live ones hopping or just standing about near the roadside, so once again we had to be really attentive and alert to avoid a crisis.

Eventually, just before 2am we arrived at Jindabyne, at the caravan we were staying in. As I stepped out of the car it was impossible not to feel a drastic drop in temperature compared to Berry – it was minus 6 degrees! We dragged our stuff out of the car and over to the caravan, feeling incredibly tired, then had a bit of a saga trying to get the door to unlock (it is amazing how tiredness can reduce two women to be completely incapable of using a key!) but at last we got in and instantly turned on the heaters to try and warm the place up a bit.

The caravan seemed really nice, although I wasn’t paying much attention as it was so late and I was so tired. After we had finished unpacking the car, we got our beds sorted (with lots of extra blankets and an extra doona each!) and finally at 2.30am climbed into our bunks before shivering ourselves to sleep!

Balmy in Berry

Having stayed up late for the football, then not been able to get to sleep, I woke up rather late. Heather had gone to work already. I had a cup of tea and chat with Robyn, before she and Jim headed out to Nowra to take the car in for a service. Although I was welcome to go with them, I opted to stay home and chill as it was another gloriously sunny day, so I thought I might potter about.

Once I had gotten showered and dressed, I put on a load of washing and switched on the tv, only to see that the football dramas were still dominating all the news and talk shows. I sat with Roland and Ben for a bit on the veranda, then hung my washing out on the line to dry.

Roland decided to climb a tree next to the chook pen, then stood there looking down at the ground, so I couldn’t tell if he was stuck up there or not, so spent a few minutes trying to coax him down. Eventually he came down of his own accord, so I guess despite being a kitten he isn’t too bad at jumping. I sat with him and Ben, clicking about on the internet (every now and then being nudged by one or both of them, to get some attention and have a stroke!). I then went for a bit of a walk around the garden with Ben, who struggles with arthritis now, so seemed to quite enjoy a walk close to where he could head back to his spot on the veranda when he got tired.

The morning evaporated and soon it was arvo. Seeing as it was still so sunny, I thought it might be a nice idea to go for a longer walk to town. Robyn had explained to me that their house numbering system relates to distance; so their address is 670 Beach Road – this does not mean there are 670 houses along that road (far from it – I think there are more like 5), instead it means it is 6.7km from the top of the road. I figured this wasn’t that far, then at the top of the road it was probably only a k or two to the town centre. I got myself together, put the animals where they needed to be, then started wending my way to town; walking along in just a tshirt – it was coldish but still very sunny, plus the walking kept me warm.

The road undulates loads; something I hadn’t really noticed in the car, but it was still a lovely walk, with the birds singing and sun shining. After a while, I went past one of the other houses along the road, then another, then a cemetery (well, a sign to the cemetery – it must be behind some trees). A little further along, I noticed a car slowing way down on the other side of the road; I looked around and realised it was Robyn and Jim. I crossed over and spoke to them; they’d gone past me (I don’t know why I didn’t spot them!), then had turned around to come back and check I was ok – we joked that I was running away from home! I told them that I was going for a walk to town; they pointed out that time was getting on, so the town would be closing up quite soon, probably about the same time that I would arrive if I walked the rest of the way, so they gave me a lift and dropped me there, arranging to pick me up a bit later.

Once in town, I went for a mooch about, looking at some of the shops I hadn’t been to before including the local lolly (sweet) shop, called Bon Bon. I then found a cafe and grabbed a coffee. I was surprised that everywhere I went people were flabbergasted that I was only in a tshirt – several people asked if I was cold! Several other people I spoke to wanted to talk about the football – they seemed genuinely gutted for England, which was nice! They told me how sorry they were for us!

When it was time, I met up with Robyn and we headed back to the house, she then winged off to a private tutoring lesson and I went and sat in the lounge with Hez. We discussed the plan for our trip to the snow and made a list of what we needed from the supie.

Hez and I went to the house she has been going to, to feed the pets (whilst the owners are on holiday), she left me there, clicking about online whilst she went to a house a couple of doors down, where she tutors. I spoke to my friend Iris from Goulburn and made a plan to visit her and Pete, then shortly after that Hez arrived back from her lesson. We fed and watered the pets, then went to the IGA where we collected the groceries from our list. I met a couple of Hez’s work colleagues whilst we were in there and all were very jealous of our jaunt to the snow.

Back at the house, we packed up our bags for the snow and I tried on Hez’s spare snow gear – all good! We were really excited as we chatted about the trip over dinner, then watched some tv for a bit in the lounge with a couple of beers, before having an early night.

Trek Through The Tree Tops

This morning, Hez and I got up bright and early, said goodbye to April and James, then headed out. We drove from Woolongong to the big Maccas at Albion Park, where we met Robyn and Jim. We sat and had a coffee, along with a quick bite of Maccas brekkie, then all hopped into Jim’s car for our drive out to the Southern Highlands, to go to the ‘Illawara Fly’.

The drive took us up and up some very windy roads, which Jim said he didn’t like and I could see why; some of the turns were hair-pins and when there is a large vehicle towing a caravan trying to go in the opposite direction around the hair pin at the same time as you are trying to go around it, it does indeed feel a bit scary! Apart from being a bit scary, it was a beautiful drive, as the views offered much in the way of contrast between lush green land and the dry brown countryside.

As we went, we drove past places I came to in 2005 with Rotary – i recognised some of the centres where we went to give presentations! Jim was quite impressed that I could remember and spot the buildings; but then again, so was I!

Eventually we arrived at the Illawara Fly – a purpose built boardwalk through the trees. It was really beautiful walking amongst the canopy of gum trees. Despite the glorious sunshine, the air was much colder here, really crisp indeed – I guess because we were up high and relatively near the sea. The walkway led us to a cantilever bridge, which took us further out to a look out point. Robyn was a bit tentative on the bridge – she is not a massive fan of heights, so did very well to get across, as the walkway was made of a kind of metal grill, so you could see through it and down to the floor, quite far below! The views from the lookout were incredibly pretty – across the tops of the trees and out to sea, with the sun shining down, twinkling off the water.

We walked back over the bridge and to another, where the lookout was at the top of a tall tower with a step, spiral staircase on the outside (it looked kind of like a helter skelter). Robyn decided that she would wait at the bottom for us, so Jim, Hez and I went up. Once at the top, we were very impressed the views, similar to the last look out, but from way higher up! We learnt an interesting fact – the bridge we’d crossed has the capacity to hold 28 tonnes, which is the equivalent of 800 wombats! That fact made me chortle to myself for some time. We had a good look at the views, before going back down and finding Robyn at the bottom.

There was another bridge which took us to one more lookout, Robyn wasn’t sure about going across, as she had decided she was not a big fan, but we convinced her to come with us. This one was colder and windier than the others – it was freezing! It was so windy we could feel the whole thing swaying – this freaked Robyn out a bit, so she didn’t stop there long! From this lookout we could really appreciate the mixture of views – in one direction; gum trees, in a second; rainforest and in the third; the sea. We could see Woolongong quite clearly, in particular the steel works rising up high in the distance.

The last bit of walkway took us through some of the rainforest, which was very pretty and verdant. It lead us back up to the normal path, which pleased Robyn as it was low and firm ground once more! We followed the rainforest path back up a very steep slope and back to the entrance, where we gathered our breath before getting back in the car and going back to Albion Park (this time along a different route which was less winding).

Jim and Robyn dropped Hez and I off at the Maccas, then the two of us drove to Gerringong to the supie (the IGA where Hez works). We picked up some salad stuff and went back to the house to prepare it, just in time for Robyn and Jim to get home with some tasty crumbed fish and chips from the shop at Werribee beach. This proved to be a very delicious lunch indeed.

Hez and I spent the rest of the arvo just chilling out, watching tv, chatting, playing Scrabble online and generally doing not a lot, but enjoying sitting in the lounge in front of the fire, with Roland jumping on us every now and then, vying for some attention. This brought us round to one of the most important points of the week – Dr Who (Hez is a big fan!). Sadly, once again I was not particularly wowed by it, but hey, never mind.

Robyn prepared us a lovely stir fry for dinner, which we enjoyed whilst watching Masterchef. Hez and I then spent the rest of the evening watching tv, surfing the net and chatting with a few beers, trying to stay up so as to be able to watch the football. We kind of wished we hadn’t. Sad state of affairs indeed. It prompted much discussion between us and between the Aussie pundits on the show after the game. So once that was all over, we turned in.

Wagon Wheels & Woolongong

This morning I got up and showered, then had breakfast with Hez and Robyn. We watched some tv and chatted about the strange behaviour of some people – having watched odd reality programmes like Toddlers & Tiaras and What Not to Wear.

Hez and I took a ride into town, for a look around the shops. We had a particular look at jewellery in the little gift boutiques and then popped into IGA to ,mget a few groceries. We then decided to go to the bakery and get some sweet treats for afternoon tea. I was amazed by the array of cakes, slices and all sorts of other delicious looking indulgences; it made it hard to choose!

When we got home, we had some lunch with Robyn and Jim, then enjoyed a cup of tea with our cakes – I had a gigantic (and I mean, really gigantic!) Wagon Wheel, it was very tasty indeed, but it so big I could only manage half of it! Hez had a passion fruit pastry, which also looked delicious! She then went off to work and I spent the rest of the afternoon clicking about online and then looking at the results that Robyn had found whilst researching my family tree. I couldn’t believe how much she had found out in such as short time! She then showed me her family trees and it was absolutely fascinating – she has worked on both her side of the family and Jim’s. Robyn has found lots of old documents online whilst searching her ancestry, so we looked at scans of the original censuses and births/deaths registers. I also saw lots of really old photos of her relatives and I was stunned to see one of them was taken outside Latimer House, near Chesham! She couldn’t believe I knew the place! How strange!

I then got my things together for my night out and Robyn drove me to meet Hez from work. She is currently pet-sitting for a family, so we sorted out the pets – giving them their dinner and letting them out for a run around in the yard. Once they were done, we hopped in the car and drove to Woolongong, stopping at a bottle shop along the way to buy some cheap and cheerful pink bubbly wine. We then continued on to her friend April’s, where I met both April and her boyfriend James.

We had a few drinks at April’s and chatted about all sorts of things, including Michael Jackson – I think it might be coming up to the anniversary of his death, or it may well be the anniversary, I can’t remember, either way, several tv stations had back-to-back Jacko. We watched Moonwalker – none of the others had ever heard of it, I couldn’t remember if I had seen it before, but I had heard of it. We laughed at the comedy nature of the film; the horrific acting, bad costumes, peculiar story line and feebly tenuous links between the story line and the MJ songs they included in the film!

Once we’d gotten changed, James drove us to the city and we went to a fantastic Thai restaurant. The girls recommended some dishes that they particularly enjoy, one of which was called Crying Tiger – a very entertaining name, it reminded me of that film I’ve never seen (and have no interest in seeing still) called Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, so as a result, I kept accidentally calling it Crying Dragon. We enjoyed a delicious meal and some entertaining fizzy wine called ‘Pink’ - as it was a BYO restaurant, we’d picked up some silly drinks to take there – Pink was indeed pink!

After dinner, we headed to a pub but the woman on the door wouldn’t let us in because I hadn’t brought any ID. The others all had their driving licenses, but the woman was having none of it. I pointed out that I hadn’t been asked for ID when in other parts of Australia, and she agreed that I looked older than the others, who did have ID with them – but she was adamant that even so I could not go in. This was very annoying and pathetic; clearly she was just a person who had been given a bit of authority and takes great pleasure in lording it about. Feeling rather miffed, we got back in the car and decided to go back to April’s.

It turned out that it was probably a good idea we didn’t stay out as we all flaked out pretty much as soon as we got back to the house. We got settled on the sofas with some drinks and some cheese and crackers! Over dinner we’d been talking about films and it had come up in conversation that I hadn’t seen the film ‘The Hangover’, which I have to say I have heard countless people going on and on about at various points while I have been away, so I figured maybe it would be a good idea to see it. April went and got the doonas off the beds, we all got comfy and cosy underneath them on the sofas and she put on the DVD. Heather fell asleep after about twenty minutes, but April, James and I managed to stay awake and watch the whole film. It was good, but possibly not as amazing as I had expected, having heard so much about it. When the film finished, Heather woke up and we all sat chatting for a bit, playing with the dog, Sooty (a black Labrador) and the mouse, Flash. At about 1am we decided it was time for bed, so dragged the doonas back to the bedroom and turned in for the night.

Bizarre Berry & Blowholes

This morning I got up, dressed and ready, then had a cup of tea with Robyn, watching some tv with her in the kitchen. The news was still dominated by the new PM and all the speculation surrounding her policies and what she might or might not do. We had a spot of brekkie in the form of toast. Hez had been called up by the school to go and do some supply teaching so was out for the day.

Robyn had an appointment in town at the hairdresser, so I decided to go with her and have a mooch about the town whilst she was having her hair done. We hopped in the car and made our way to the shops. Robyn headed to the hairdresser, whilst I mooched around some lovely little boutique places – Berry is full of them, when I say full, I mean that all the shops are boutiques, it’s not that there are lots of shops, in fact it is quite tiny. Obviously I took a look in my favourite random shop – the cuckoo clock shop, then found a lovely coffee shop called Hedgehogs where I sat outside in the sun, with a tasty latte and some raisin toast. I stayed there until it was time to go back to the hairdresser to meet Robyn, finding her waiting just outside.

We got home, made some lunch and discussed where to go this arvo. After looking at some leaflets and thinking about places I had already been to, we decided to go to Kiama – somewhere I have been before, but only briefly.

Robyn and I drove out to Kiama, along the beautiful scenic route, with the sun shining. We first went to the ‘Little Blowhole’; a pretty cliff-side spot where the waves crash against the rock and every so often, when there is a big wave, a massive spout of water and spray shoots up in the air from a hole in one of the rocks. We enjoyed the view across the sea and Kiama, watching the waves until eventually we saw the spout of water; it was quite cool and thankfully we were just far enough away that we weren’t soaked through, unlike a couple of other bystanders!

From there we went around to the other side of the town, to the main blowhole, on the cliffs by the lighthouse. It reminded me of Lands End; with big dark rocks looking out to sea, waves crashing against them. The blowhole here is more dramatic than the other, resulting in a far bigger spout when the waves build up and shoot up through the hole in the rock, set against the backdrop of the lighthouse. On such a sunny afternoon, it was really pretty and we sat on a bench, admiring the view.

We then went into Kiama itself and had a wander around; Robyn showed me some of the oldest buildings in the town, they were so quaint! They had been turned into little shops, so we had a look in them, before hopping back in the car and going for another drive around the town, along the sea front. I recognised a couple of places that I’d come to in 2005 with the Rotarians; it brought back lots of fun memories.

When we got home, Robyn showed me the ancestry website she uses; she’s been looking into her family tree. She looked up my family and very quickly found some information about my grandfather. It was amazing! I spent the rest of the afternoon clicking about online and chilling out with the tv. When Heather came home, we sat and chatted, played Scrabble online. We had dinner – a kind of shepherd’s pie and then watched Masterchef and a variety of other tv shows with a few beers before bed.

Resignation, Revolution, Ramble & Rotary

This morning, after I had gotten up and showered, I witnessed an historic event – the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd stepped down (after his party kind of revolted against him) and Australia got its first female PM! It was really fascinating so Robyn and I spent all morning watching the breaking news on the tv.

We watched live as Kevin Rudd gave a very emotional and quite heart-warming speech, where he spoke all about the things he had done in his two years as PM; all the things he was proud of (every sentence started with “I am proud of the fact that...”). He was so cut up, he found it very hard to get through the speech. I actually felt sorry for him. Then we watched as Julia Gillard gave a kind of victory speech, with her new Deputy, Wayne Swan. She seemed quite confident and was obviously very pleased and proud to be the first female with such power. We watched as she was sworn in and then, just like that, we had a new Prime Minister. I felt quite honoured to be watching it all happen live, it was rather exciting!

I clicked about online for a bit, then Robyn and I went to Gerringong to go to the supie and pick up a few bits for lunch and dinner. We saw Heather at work and I chatted to her whilst Robyn did her food shop. To go home, we went along the scenic route and Robyn showed me some pretty views over the sea. I was impressed by one specific view which those people buried in a particular cemetery would have – it was so beautiful, I suggested they put benches in the cemetery so people can go and appreciate it! Once back, Jim, Robyn and I had a spot of lunch, played with the pets for a bit and then I decided to go for a bit of a walk.

I went to the beach, the same place I rode the bike to yesterday, but I felt much more secure on two feet, even if it did take a bit longer to get there. This time the weather was much clearer, no rain or dark clouds; instead it was rather sunny. I walked along the beach and enjoyed watching the sky start to change colour as the sun began to go down; it went a lovely pink colour. After a nice meander, I went back home and just about had time to get ready for tonight’s big event – Rotary!

When we arrived at Berry Bowling Club (the venue of the Rotary Club of Berry-Gerringong’s meetings) I saw lots more friendly faces I recognised from my visits of 2005 and 2008. The most exciting one was Larissa, my friend who was on the GSE team that came to the UK. It was so lovely to see her, looking so well having been very ill. We had a good chat, when we could get a word in edgeways between the Rotarians who wanted to talk to us! I was swiftly presented with a schooner of Tooheys Old – excellent stuff and soon after that we were whisked into the meeting room, where the proceedings began.

After the Rotary song and grace, we sat down and listened as some of the ‘business’ was dealt with. Jim had to introduce me formally to the Club, then he introduced Larissa and Robyn. The dinner tonight was great – Chinese food! It was a plate with a few different foods on it, and all of it was delicious. Afterwards we had banana fritter and ice cream. I was then put on the spot and asked to tell everyone a snapshot of what I am up to, which was a bit scary as I hadn’t really thought about it, but Rotarians being Rotarians, whatever I said was well received! They did the same thing to Larissa; she also was a bit tongue tied for a second, but then was fine and of course the Rotarians loved to hear about that too.

The speaker tonight was actually a couple who were members of the club, telling us all about their six week holiday to America. It was diabolical; their photo slide show failed and she droned on and on, with no real information of any interest, whilst her partner continued to try and find the photographs which was frustrating; we were looking at the projection on the wall, watching him click randomly about – I had to restrain myself from jumping up and taking over. I could see the whole room was bored and lots of the more ‘senior’ members seemed to be falling asleep. Eventually we were shown a few photos but they didn’t match what she was talking about and half of them were upside down. At last, someone gave her a tap on the shoulder to say she’d been speaking for 50 minutes and had already gone past the finish time (a few people had left when it hit 8.30pm), so she tried to wrap up, which took another fifteen minutes. When at long last she finished, the meeting was hurriedly ended and lots of people scooted straight off. I stayed and chatted with a few of the Rotarians for a bit, then we made a move home. Robyn and Jim told me that the woman speaking tonight is always that boring and likes the sound of her own voice way too much! I could tell!

By the time we got back, Heather was home from work, so we spent the rest of the night chatting in front of the tv with a couple of beers, clicking about online, into the wee hours before heading to bed.