Incredible Scenery EVERYWHERE!

G’day, Everyone!

And WOW, what a day it has been! First off, we absolutely LOVE Western Australia. I think, honestly, it’s our new favorite part of the country – even after the rather rocky start we had in Perth! So, to recap…

Got up this morning in Albany, and started repacking and re-organizing. As it was a rather small room, even with kitchen and dining areas, we had thoroughly trashed the poor room 10 minutes after arrival! I HATE when that happens! Much prefer to have everything in its place – even if only for a while! Got things packed and out to the car, and R decided to take the laptop over to the main office to see if the wi-fi would work – and naturally, it did (albeit a bit sporadically!). As a result, we were both able to check email, and I was able to post yesterday’s blog, including pictures – which took only minutes to download, rather than the really long time it took yesterday. Once we had had all of our computer needs met, we hit the road, aiming to hit Dunsborough about 2 p.m. (check-in time at our house).

R found a really beautiful route up through the rolling hills of cattle country; lovely roads, very little traffic, and lots of things to see. We stopped several times, including once at Lake Muir (hopefully see picture!) – where the flies were VICIOUS! We have decided that if the flies get any worse, we’ll be forced to wear fly netting over our heads and faces!!! Won’t we look the sight! But BOY, are the flies everywhere! Made it to Manjimup (most towns end in –up here; think it must be Aboriginal for something like “place” or “spot.”) in time for lunch, which we had at the Déjà vu Café. R talked them into changing the seafood basket into a prawn basket, with chips; he said it was great! I had their spinach and ricotta quiche with chips (French fries) and salad; several kinds, including a good rice salad. Very good! Then back on the road heading to Busselton, which is one town over from our final spot, Dunsborough.

Made very good time on the highway and pulled into Dunsborough Beach Cottages right at 2 p.m. We had reserved Sandpiper cottage, #8, and it is BEAUTIFUL!!!! Truly amazing! It seems that there are lots of these types of places in OZ – rental chalets or vacation homes, suitable for families and including kitchens et.al. This place is a stand-alone house, two bedrooms on the first floor, a huge loft bedroom (with twin beds) above, then a really good-sized kitchen, dining area and living room! Also: patio with table/chairs, backyard, side yard with clothes line for laundry, separate laundry room with sliding door outside to hang clothes, as well as one large full bathroom, and a separate toilet off the laundry room! There is a stack of games and puzzles, and two shelves full of books to read! And, we’re only steps from the beach! It’s amazing! And we only get to stay here 3 nights!!! (Editor’s note: There is one drawback: VERY poor TV; only 4 or 5 broadcast channels…where is FoxSports 1,2&3 when I need them?! Also no telephone or wi-fi reception; we have to go to the office for that, and they are only open from 8:30 a.m. – 6 p.m…but we’ll manage!)

Settled in to the house – got all unpacked and put things away, then went for a walk. First headed for the beach – it’s truly steps away, and just beautiful. After reading Bill Bryson’s book, I didn’t want to put as much as a toe in the water, but the tide was WAY out, and looking relatively harmless…hmmm….Then thought we’d head for the lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste. Made it in time for the last tour. Julie, our tour guide, was great. The lighthouse was built in 1903 and is still in operation today. The double Fresnel lenses are floating on top of a tank full of mercury, which brought up Mount Wilson Observatory memories. We asked her about other places to see in the area, and she recommended Ngilgi (pronounced: Nil-gee) cave, where we’re heading tomorrow morning. After the lighthouse, we drove to several other lookouts (see pictures); just truly spectacular scenery, and we don’t know if it’s the time of year or what, but we had some places virtually all to ourselves! Wow! The scenery is truly spectacular; so glad we’re here!

We’ve decided that with the two full days that we’re here, we will do something on the nature side – walks, caves (of which the area is full), lighthouses, etc. in the morning, and then have a nice lunch somewhere and then taste a bit of wine in the afternoons! Sounds like something we could easily get used to! So, Ngilgi Cave in the morning, as we work our way down towards Augusta and the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse.

Returned to the cottage, and had a nice talk with the innkeeper, who gave us some recommendations about dinner places and wineries in the area. Back to the cottage to change for dinner (polo shirt rather than tee-shirts; that’s as far as we’ll go!) and headed out to one of the recommended places. Got there about 6:10 p.m. which was too early, as they didn’t open until 6:30 – so R reserved us a place then, and we headed a few blocks away to the Coles shopping plaza to get a bottle of wine, as the Bay Cottage Restaurant is definitely BYO! (So many places here in OZ like that!)

Picked out a Vasse Felix Cabernet Merlot, and headed back to the Cottage. Surprise! First ones there! Run by a really neat Aussie guy and his wife and daughter … she’s about 5 and was being a fairy for the evening; a real cutie! Place was lovely; great fairy lights in the ceiling; casual but classy (even with us in our shorts!). Ordered bread first – it’s homemade, very light, with sun dried tomatoes running through it. It comes with EVOO (Extra virgin olive oil) and durrah … had to ask what that was! It’s from the East … as in middle east; when the camels brought in all the spices from the Orient, and the spice bags would be moved around, there was always some spillage. However, the frugal traders, not wanting to waste anything, would sweep everything up and grind it together, making a spice dip for bread! Who knew?? So, we had homemade bread warm from the oven with EVOO and durrah – dipped first into the EVOO and then into the durrah – and it was WONDERFUL! We followed that with a dish of scallops with prosciutto and melon for me, and some garlic-broiled prawns for R. We got the same main course – beef fillet steak with mushrooms and sauce Bernaise on top of potatoes. Everything was GREAT, but we ate so much that we had (unfortunately!) absolutely NO room for dessert! Really a wonderful dinner (see pictures!) – also got some really good wine recommendations from the owner/chef, which we will try tomorrow!

Back to the cottage, and yes, folks, once again, MORE laundry! (You all know by know, I’m sure, that I have laundry issues – but R dropped some sauce on his shirt, and we wanted to get it out, so thought I would try yet another washer/dryer!) Even with some basic instructions, it was hard to figure out, but by jove, I think I got it – at least it looked and sounded like the real thing, and now we’re in the VERY noisy dryer – but at least I am hopeful that our clothes will actually DRY!

So, on that note, with R gently snoring away on the couch, and me starting to fall asleep at the keyboard, I will close for the evening! More tomorrow –

Much love,

m

Moving Low Pressure Center...

G’Day, All!

At the moment, I’m taking the opportunity to run my SPA bathtub full of water! (I know that water is tight, so I’m only doing this once, and with any luck, I’ll be able to convince R to come in with me! You know the old California saying: Save water, shower with a friend!) We’ve had another lovely day in Western Australia, and I have to say: we’re really in love with this part of the world!

We were very rudely awakened this morning about 5:30 by a HUGE clap of thunder! Sounded like it was right overhead! Lovely lightening storm – didn’t seem to rain very much, but quite a display nonetheless. Outside it was VERY cool and breezy and overcast (which, to be honest, we prefer greatly over HOT!) A sweat pants kind of day, actually. And, the very BEST news is that R is feeling VERY much better!!!!! He still sounds really funny (very nasal-y) but at least his throat isn’t sore anymore and he can swallow and TALK! It’s SO lonely traveling when your partner can’t even talk to you!!

We decided to set out around 8 for Walpole and the Valley of the Giants. Lovely drive; about 120 km, through Denmark and several other small communities. The road doesn’t really follow the coast around, which kind of surprised me – more inland, through beautiful forested areas and farm land. Not much traffic to speak of; lovely roads. We were also in search of more throat spray for R, as he had used up the one we got on Sunday. Found an open pharmacy in Walpole; lovely little community, very small. Then stopped at their visitor center and got our tickets for the Tree Top Walk in the National Park, which was a couple of km away.

Reached the Park about 9:45 a.m. and walked through their visitor center/gift shop to the sky walk. It was AMAZING! We had been to one in Otaway along the Great Ocean Road, which may have been higher – but this one MOVED like it was swaying in the breeze! (I was basically OK until I looked down (and through) the walk…we were WAY up in the air!) A really wonderful concept, done to help preserve the Red Tingle and Karri trees. They have a very sensitive root structure, so to keep people from walking around their bases, everyone is up in the sky! The trees are beautiful and really massive. Most of them have lost at least part of their tops to weather and wind, but the effect is spectacular! After doing the sky walk, we did the Ancient Empire walk which is on a board walk through another grove of tingle and karri trees. We were actually able to walk into or through couple of these trees, they were that big!

Headed back toward Albany, stopping at the indoor/outdoor Figtree Café in Denmark for lunch (eating indoors, as it was a bit chilly!). R ordered beef satay and rice (which actually was more curried beef than satayed, but was good nonetheless!) and I ordered their foccacio sandwich with salami, feta, tomatoes and spinach – GREAT! Both dishes came with salads, and we shared our meals, which was fun. Decided on the way back to Albany that we would use the leftover chicken from last night to make fajitas – of course then the question came up, could we find guacamole and tortillas??

Decided that we should at least try a Coles grocery store (could it be better than Woolies?) so stopped there on our way into town. And was it better? It was fine; very similar, although R says the veggies are better at Woolies. And there were tortillas!! Our problem came with guacamole! No guac that didn’t have neuchatel cheese as its BASE – and a VERY odd pale green color! So, decided to make our own. Unable to find Serrano chiles, so used jalapenos instead; found all the other ingredients. Back to the motel and I put a load of laundry in to wash, as R just about out of clean white shorts. Then made guacamole … quite a challenge, as there are NO decent sized bowls; had to use pots instead! It actually came out really well, so I’m pleased, although I did need to run back to Woolies for plastic wrap to cover it, as well as corn chips to use for leftovers.

R made wonderful fajitas – we figure we were probably having the only mostly authentic Mexican dinner in Albany!

Wanted to take just a moment to address a couple of things happening in OZ at the moment! The first thing is the huge number of pregnant women we’ve been seeing! Then we heard on the radio about something called the Baby Bonus, which went up this year! Can only imagine (although we haven’t confirmed this) that families get bonus payments for having kids! Interesting concept! Secondly is that we seem to be in the middle of a national election – and you’d almost not even know it! Looks like John Howard’s Labor Government may be in trouble – but the party just announced its policies – and the election is 10 days from now – and there is a GREAT rule that says there are no campaign ads running the last three days prior to an election! What a GREAT idea! Will let you know who wins!

Had planned on posting yesterday’s blog first thing this morning, but when R tried to log in, no luck! Apparently (according to the motel front desk…) the storm must have knocked out the server! So! Did manage to post it (with photos!) this afternoon, using the phone lines … and boy, is that SLOW! So, will post this when we get to Dunsborough tomorrow, unless were somehow back on line in the morning! We sure do get spoiled with wi-fi!!

So now to the bath! Leaving tomorrow for Dunsborough and our three nights on the beach! Hopefully the weather will warm up a bit! Looking forward to exploring the costal caves as well as tasting some wines at Margaret River (what a NICE name for a river, don’t you think?)

Much love to all,
m

What a Difference A Drive Makes!

G’day, All!

Well! It’s AMAZING what a change of scenery and hotel can do for your outlook! Woke up this morning and decided that we’d had enough of our dumpy hotel room in Perth – wasn’t sure where we were going to go, but someplace else was definitely in order. So, looked at some places on the web, and finally called the Best Western in Albany, and, voila! They had one “spa” room left, so we took it! Had breakfast at the hotel (WAY overpriced; and you will almost NEVER hear me complain about $$!) and checked out and were on our way south.

R feeling about the same; I’m hoping that the antibiotics kick in today. The doctor said that what was necessary was for the drainage to stop running down his throat, and instead head out the other direction! We can hope!

We had a fair amount of traffic heading out of Perth, and then suddenly, the road cleared, and we had it to ourselves! Really wonderful drive! We drove for about an hour through very thick forested areas, and then popped out into a much more agricultural area – cattle farms and sheep. In all, the drive was about 5 ½ hours; Albany is on southern-most coast on the Southern Ocean. We stopped several times, including at the Wool Shed, a terrific arts and crafts shop, with café. There was a lot of information about sheep, shearing and turning raw wool into wonderful things – and of course they had a great variety of “wonderful things” for sale! Really good prices, but somehow, when it was in the 90’s in Perth yesterday, not really in the mood for wool articles!

We also passed through what appeared to be a good wine making area, but I was thinking that R needed to rest rather than taste … hmmmm….

Found the hotel in Albany, and it’s GREAT! Low, old-fashioned motel units, all on the ground floor, but we’ve got unit 1 – formerly known as units 1 and 2, knocked together to make a “spa” suite. And, unexpectedly, there is a kitchen, couch and dining area as well as a Jacuzzi tub! How fun! MUCH better than staying in Perth, believe me! Looks from the layout in the hotel information that we’ve got one of the only rooms with a kitchen! Let’s cook!!

Rested for a couple of hours, and R beginning to feel a bit better! YEA! (Doctor said plenty of rest and liquids.) Decided to go into town to explore. Really a LOVELY town! The first settlement in Western Australia. Lots of really old buildings, lots of brick; very picturesque! We drove along the shore (which is being developed in a BIG way) and took several pictures that are appended. The ship is a replica of the Brig that landed here with the first settlers. Albany has a Woolies (short for Woolworth’s) (in case you haven’t noticed, Aussies abbreviate most everything!) and a Coles and an IGA, so we decided to make dinner tonight rather than go out. Went to Woolies for supplies – needed virtually everything, as we have only garlic and onion salts with us (as well as laundry detergent) from our time in Coffs Harbour. Decided to bake chicken with baked potatoes and green and yellow beans with salad. Woolies was REALLY crowded, as it was now around 6 p.m. Found everything we needed (with the help of some very nice employees!), checked out and headed back to the motel. Cooking in a strange kitchen is always a challenge (this time, there is silverware for 2 people – do you know how often you need a fork when cooking??); also an interesting stove – gas, that needed to be lit burner by burner, but with a nice oven. Got everything on the table about 7:30. SO glad we didn’t have to go out, as R is definitely doing better with more rest. (In fact he’s falling asleep on the couch now!) Our new place also has Fox Sports 1 and 2 (but not 3!) so we are able to watch the season-ending Master’s Championships (Men’s tennis) from Shanghai live! What a concept!

So…tomorrow the plan is to be at the Tree-Top Walk with the big trees when it opens at 9 a.m. Hopefully R will be doing even better!

Take care, love to all!

m

So how hot IS 36 Degrees Celsius anyway??

Howdy, y’all!

(Don’t know why I said that; just figured enough already with G’day, Mates!)

We are in Perth, which is WAY the heck out here – guess I really am surprised how far away from everything else it is! But to recap, I think our last note was right after lunch on Saturday, when we’d returned to our hotel in Brisbane for a “nana-nap” as Marg calls it! Well…to be lazy and completely honest, when you have a lovely hotel suite, a cricket test match on TV and a lovely bottle of sparkling white wine (from our Two Tails wine tasting event) there is really not much further need of activity! So, instead, I decided (one of my more insane impulses) to see what I could do with the washer/dryer combination. We didn’t have (fortunately!) that much to do, but having “laundry issues” I was determined to do it anyway, especially as neat little laundry soap packets were provided along with the unit. Put in the clothes, followed the directions specifically (and they were printed on a LONG sheet that was subsequently laminated!) – did look a bit askance when it was suggested that for washing length, a time somewhere between 60 and 120 minutes be selected…right…could have gone for 190 minutes! Probably would not have had any clothes left at that point! So, I chose a nice conservative 30 minutes (clothes not being THAT dirty) and let it rip … and it ripped, and it ripped…as R said, it did sound at times as if a 747 were taking off in our room!...and it washed, and it washed…fortunately, as it turns out, I had picked “only” 30 minutes, because in total, it probably took something like 2 hours to run through – and it STILL wasn’t ready when we went out for dinner, so we left it go!

We were both feeling distinctly “Japanese” so picked a restaurant called “Little Tokyo” from one of the guidebooks on Brisbane. It was about 4 or 5 blocks walk from our hotel, in a different direction (away from Eagle Street pier!) – took about 15 minutes from our hotel. Lovely smallish place on a side street. Walked in, and it was VERY much like a combination Shogun and Miyako’s from Pasadena; Japanese room where you took off your shoes and sat on tatami mats on the floor on one side, and grill-tables for teppan cooking on the other!! How neat! We picked the grill-side, and were seated alone at a table for 6! (Not sure if they “co-mingle” like Shogun does.) For starters, I ordered shrimp tempura and R ordered sushi; split the tempura order, and I got R’s shrimp out of the shushi! (My one and only sushi item!) There were 9 pieces of sushi in all, and some of it was pretty unrecognizable – certainly to me, but also as it turns out, to R!) He, being the good sport that he is, ate everything and enjoyed it very much! This was followed by chicken in a broth, and then our main courses, served with white rice. I ordered the fillet mignon, and R ordered prawns – which we split. The chef who cooked was Japanese, (like everybody in the place; they were speaking Japanese to each other!) and very, very deliberate! He wasn’t doing a flashy show – just a slow, careful cooking of what we had ordered! Just delicious! As R said, the shrimp came out actually tasting a bit like lobster! Of course, he had a good supply of sliced garlic, and that always adds a sparkle to any meal! Cleaned up every bite on our plates! Decided to forgo dessert, and had a nice walk back to the hotel…

Surprise! Our washing was done! With the wet part, that is … still had the “drying” part to attempt … and that was REALLY strange! The first thing it did was add water and re-spin – and then it tried to dry … and dry… and dry…I was getting concerned as we needed to be up at 4 a.m. in order to make our plane from Brisbane, so didn’t want to be up all night with the drying! Finally, after about an hour and a half, I managed to stop the machine – but were our clothes dry??? NO! So, hung all the socks and undies around our room, and decided to iron the shirts to see if I could dry them off! Found that ironing made a difference, and was able to get things folded and into suitcases … the socks and unmentionables I left, hoping against hope they would dry in the humidity of an air-conditioned Brisbane hotel room!

Went to bed about 10:30 p.m. … and once again, my instincts about over-sleeping the alarm clock took over … I was probably up at least once each half-hour to see what time it was!! Grrrr…..finally at 3:30 a.m. I’d had enough, and got up for good! We were finished packing … oh, had to use the plastic bag provided in the room to send OUT laundry for the socks and undies, as they were MUCH too wet to put next to other clothes! So much for washer/dryer combo’s in MY view! Called for the car and checked out by about 4:20 a.m. and were on our way to the a/p. The streets of Brisbane were FULL of young people! We both thought that was a bit odd, but it was Saturday night in a big city and we don’t get out much! Managed to get lost on our way to the a/p, but thankfully darkness covers a multitude of driving sins, so got back on track fairly easily. Made it by 4:45 a.m. Avis still closed, but checked in and turned in the keys/contract at their rental desk drop box. Then, on to Perth!

Nice Virgin Blue 737 flight from Perth to Sydney (our connection point). Plane not quite full, and we had a middle seat between us free, which was nice. Everything ran on time, and we had about 1 ½ connecting time in Sydney. This time, we asked to change the seats originally selected for us – window and middle – and R took the window in row 6, and I had an aisle on row 25. Fortunately, they board the plane at both ends! This time, LONG flight!!! Knew Perth “looked” far away on a map, and it is! It was 4 ½ hours from Sydney! They did have television available for free though, just like Jet Blue, so I had three channels of Fox Sports to choose from; I was happy, even though watching a NASCAR Busch Cup Race did seem a little surreal! Landed around 12:30 p.m. – and it was HOT!! Supposed to be something like 36 degrees; don’t know exactly what that translates to, but figure somewhere in the low 90’s?? And VERY humid! Picked up the car (Hertz this time) and headed for the hotel.

My first impression of Perth was that it was very “San Diego”-y. Like most Australian cities, it is on water, and it has a lovely interior coast line on the Swan River. All the bays and beaches really reminded me of SD; lovely, clean; VERY tidy! We drove into town to find our hotel, right on Wentworth Plaza. VERY disappointing place! (How pictures do deceive!) HUGE suite on a corner, but entire place very tired and worn out and in need of a compete overhaul! (Place was originally built in the early 1900’s, but unlike our place in Brisbane which was old but completely wonderful inside, this was old but not wonderful at all!) People very nice, though, so we will spend the night and figure out what to do in the a.m.

R having health issues. He started being “aware” of his throat on Thursday afternoon, and it has been getting progressively worse. At this point, he can barely talk, and when he does, he sounds so congested I hardly recognize him! The front desk directed us to a medical clinic at the train station that was open, so we headed over there. Lots of places open on Sunday afternoon, and lots of people around. Found the clinic and made an appointment for 5 p.m. which was the first available. Back to the hotel via Hungry Jack’s (what they call Burger King in OZ) for a very belated lunch. Couldn’t find any other place open, other than the pub next door, and frankly, that didn’t look all that promising! Then back to the hotel for a rest (as we had been up since 3:30 a.m.) before the doctor’s appointment…

Waited over an hour to see the doctor; place was certainly busy; mostly young people for some reason! (What do all the young people DO with the middle-aged and elderly in this country?? They have to be SOMEWHERE!) Nice guy, looked R over and prescribed yet another breathing treatment regime (Editor’s note: See my experience in an Italian hospital!), nasal spray and an antibiotic “just in case.” Of course by now it was after 6 p.m. and the pharmacy next door had just closed, so back to the hotel and out with the car to find an open pharmacy. One just a couple of miles away, open 24 hours – next to a grocery store that was open 24 hours. How progressive! Got the prescriptions and then decided to have a driving tour of Perth and find someplace to eat.

I wanted to follow the water, so we drove along the shore of the Swan River; just lovely, but not many boats out (although it was getting on for 7 p.m.) Didn’t see any place to eat along the way, so went out to Fremantle which is supposed to have lots of al fresco places…well, must have missed Fremantle too, as we saw lots of water, including the Indian Ocean, but NO places to eat! Lots of fast-food outlets, and some take-away Chinese, but that was about it! Had just about decided to head back toward the airport (on the premise that people who fly also need to eat!) but spotted an Italian restaurant called Il Ciao; stopped there … well…place was PACKED (only one in town??) and neither of us have EVER had a meal in that kind of DIN! Not only could we not understand the waitress, or she us, we literally had to SHOUT at each other and we were sitting right NEXT to each other! So, as R’s throat hurting, it was a VERY quiet meal for us – good food – R had cannelloni stuffed with ricotta and spinach, and I had my standard fall-back of spaghetti bolognaise with garlic bread and a salad – but needed to get out of that place as quickly as possible; waitress apologized for the noise – we were deafened, actually – wonderful “sound” of quiet when we left! Ahhhhh!!

So, back into Perth central for the night. R did a breathing treatment and took the antibiotic … can only hope that he feels better in the morning! We’ve made the decision to leave the hotel this morning, and will put visiting the Perth Mint off until our swing back through the area (staying in Fremantle) next week. Have instead decided to head south, toward Albany and Denmark, and the area of “Big Trees” and the Tree-Top Walk – let’s just hope that there are no more LEECHES waiting for our unsuspecting travelers! Sorry no pictures from yesterday, but we were more concerned about medical issues than photography – more today, promise!

Love to all!
m

Another Lovely Day!

G’day, Everyone!

Here we are in lovely, sunny Brisbane, our one full-day before we head west to Perth and Margaret River. Dinner last night was great! We’d both been feeling a trifle “steak-ish” so after watching the end of the second day of the 5-day test match, OZ-Sri Lanka, (OZ leading by a BIG margin) we headed back to Eagle Street Wharf to Kingsley’s Steak House for dinner. Big open-air restaurant overlooking the river; just lovely, but I should have brought my sweatshirt, as it did get a bit brisk whenever the wind blew! Bread came out first, just out of the oven, in a round loaf, with soft butter to go with it; just wonderful! They have GREAT butter here! For dinner we both ordered petit fillet mignons, cooked medium-rare with sides that we could share – salad of rocket lettuce and parmesan cheese; incredible mashed potatoes and garlic mushrooms … the fillet came with jus as well as horseradish, and whole grain or regular mustard. Everything was GREAT! Strolled back to the hotel and were in bed by about 9 – so much for the exciting city nightlife.

Up early and out to a very lovely but changeable day…everything from white fluffy clouds and blue sky and sunshine to VERY black clouds and a bit of drizzle – all in the space of a few minutes. Overall, though, lovely and warm. Our hotel is on Anzac Square, and our view out one window is of the War Memorial with the perpetual flame burning. Just a lovely location. Decided to get all-day tickets for the bus/ferries, and managed to do so across the street at the central train station. However, Robert’s quest for a Brisbane bus map proved unsuccessful – whether they actually don’t publish one, or it was too early to find one (everything closed), hard to say! We did find some very good ham and cheese sandwiches to have for breakfast, neither of us being of the eggs-and-bacon school. Eventually wound our way back to the Eagle Street Wharf and caught the double-decker ferry to North Quay. Had a lovely ride – actually didn’t get off at South Bank as had been planned, but rather rode the ferry all the way to the end, and then back the other direction to the other end, and finally got off where we’d started, at Eagle Street. Lovely views of bridge, buildings, boats; Brisbane is a lovely city! One very interesting thing (pictured above) is the walking/biking track that goes over water! We've never seen such a clever idea before!

We did notice something odd, though, for a big city, and that is that lots of the shops and even some of the underground malls are closed for the entire weekend! And it’s not that there is a dearth of people walking the streets, as the Queen’s Street Mall was mobbed! Wondered how it would be possible to stay in business, without being open on the weekends (which would seem like a very good time to be open!) but I guess they must manage somehow!

As it was now lunch time, we returned to the Queen’s Street Mall area and found lunch in the food court next to David Jones department store. Tried Ali Baba’s for kabob-wraps! Very good, actually, although like nothing we’ve had before! Decided to return to the hotel for a nap and hopefully a glimpse of today’s cricket match!!!

Will have lots to do this evening, as I plan on doing a load of wash in the washer/dryer combination (something new for us) and we need to repack, as our plane for Perth via Sydney leaves at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning; presume we’ll need to be up at 4 and out of the hotel at 4:30, as it’s a 25 minute drive to the a/p – although possibly not at that time of the morning!

So, more later!

Lots of love!
m

A few pictures from Brisbane!

Hello!
Here are a few pictures that we took yesterday afternoon and this morning -- our lovely one-bedroom apartment, the memorial next door, the hostel across the street -- note all the white wrought iron everywhere -- it's very typical of the Australian style of building; very pretty! And I think I'm even in one of the pictures -- with a glass of wine next to the river!
Love,
m

Have we talked about Cricket??

G’Day, from Brisbane!

For anyone who was checking about yesterday (our Thursday), I apologize – we had a busy day and evening, and this morning needed to start pressing North, so I did not write … so this will encompass Thursday and most of Friday (at least up until dinner time, which should take place in about an hour from now!)

So…where were we? Oh yes, the rain in Coffs Harbour! Apparently even longtime residents were saying that it NEVER rains like that in Coffs! Well, reckon they didn’t reckon on us! The moving low pressure center! So, got up early on Thursday to quite a rain shower – lovely to listen to during the night, but a bit damp around the edges in the condo. No heat, you understand, and a bit dank … it was actually warmer outside the condo than in! We all hung out during the early part of the day – R, Marg & Norm played several games of Upwards; Norm won the first, and Marg the second. R really enjoys playing, but it’s a bit tricky to get a hang of, apparently; needing to see/read in 3D! R and I went out in the afternoon for a bit to the local mall, in search of a particular mammals book that R has wanted for years. There were two bookstores in the mall, but neither had the book – oh well! Nice to get out and walk around for a bit! Marg put on a movie that her friend had recommended – the YaYa Sisterhood, which sounded dreadful from my perspective, and which Marg didn’t like at all! (Don’t blame her!) But when that ended, guess what was on TV – CRICKET!! We had learned about Cricket some years ago, but I had forgotten most of what I’d learned – it was WONDERFUL having Norm and Marg, both Cricket fans, there to tell us what was going on! And now, by jove, I think I’ve got it!!! Really GREAT! It was the first day of a five-day test match, Australia vs. Sri Lanka; what a wonderful event!

Betty, a friend of Norm & Marg’s, lives in Moonee Beach, about 5 km up the road, and had very nicely invited us all to dinner! Got there around 5; still in pouring rain. Betty has a really lovely house, situated on Moonee Creek, which leads to Moonee Beach and the ocean. She is a delightful person; really a lot of fun; originally from VT, then to OZ by way of New Zealand! Didn’t even mind when Marg asked if we could put on the Cricket match, to see the end (of the first day’s play)! Australia’s team has been doing really, really well – Norm says they are one of the best if not the best in the world! So, back to dinner! Betty invited another couple – Margaret & Jeffrey, so there were actually 3 Margaret’s there for dinner! WAY too many, R says! And I’m sure he would know! Spaghetti with meatballs and salad and garlic bread for dinner, with a lovely home-made triffle for dessert. Everything delicious, and we had a really wonderful evening! Lots of stories and laughter. We were joined by Betty’s son Michael and his new wife, Joanne; both lovely people. (And just for the record, Joanne’s middle name is … what else?? Margaret!) Got home around 10, still in the pouring rain; stayed up until about 10:30 chatting, as this was our last evening together!

Up around 6, as usual, and started the packing up; strip the beds, shower, and pack everything away. Were ready to go around 8, although SO hard to say goodbye to Norm and Marg! They have been so incredibly kind and gracious – we had a lovely week, and only hope that we can some day repay their generous hospitality in the U.S.! And, surprise, there was actually a bit of blue sky and something that looked very much like sunshine, although we didn’t want to be too rash about it!

We headed north, destination Brisbane; had a really lovely drive, almost 6 hours. As I mentioned earlier, (and Bill Bryson points out) outside of the BIG cities, much of urban Australia looks like it’s from a 1950’s-60’s film set – with current technology! Most of the houses have corregated tin roofs, and here in northern NSW (New South Wales) and southern Queensland many of the houses are also up on stilts; very much above ground. I know that there are flood markets throughout the area, so this is probably the reason…but even the McDonald’s in Grafton was raised up to the second story! After Grafton, the next big spot is Ballina, and most of the time the road follows inland rivers or streams; this part of OZ is just honeycombed with rivers. At Ballina, we ran into the jumbo PRAWN – see picture! So had to stop and have some of the real thing – we both had plates of wonderful, fresh prawns with chili sauce – YUM, but really spicy! My nips were lumb!! Had a variety of weather on our way up – everything from big fluffy white clouds to very heavy downpours, and everything in between! Brisbane loomed on the horizon – very much a modern city – lots of traffic! Found our way through town to our hotel, the Rendezvous Hotel, Clarion chain; really a lovely place! We’ve got a one-bedroom apartment, with lovely fully equipped kitchen on the 4^th (top) floor. The building is an old one, built in the 1930’s, with lovely moldings and high ceilings – best of both worlds, as all modern conveniences, including a washer/dryer in the bathroom! YEA! (I know, didn’t I just do laundry yesterday??) Well, I did … but as everyone knows, I do have serious laundry issues – this will enable us to leave Brisbane for Perth with ALL clean clothes! What a concept!

Got settled in to our hotel, then headed out to explore. Walked through the Anzac shopping center (actually on the ground floor of our hotel!). Found a GREAT mystery bookshop (dropped $$ there!) and a great travel/map store; got a good map of Perth. Then on to the Eagle Street Pier. Wonderful location, lots of restaurants – and found one of the stopping places of the water bus, that takes people back and forth around the city! Decided to leave that for tomorrow, when we can get an all-day pass. Did manage to find Vino, which – guess what? -- is a wine bar and restaurant with an incredible view across the river! Settled down for a couple of glasses of wine, and enjoyed the view – until R found that the cricket match was on the TV in the bar … at which point we decamped inside, forgetting the view, to watch more cricket! Have decided to go to Kingsley’s steak and crab house for dinner tonight – also on Eagle Street Pier, but we’ve been feeling really steak-y, so tonight’s the night!

So, we are now back in the hotel resting until we head out for dinner … not too many minutes from now! Sorry for flaking yesterday, but sometimes things happen! So take care, lots of love, and hope to hear from you all soon!

Love,
m