Kerry's "Letter from Australia" - February 2007Well the New Year started off well, NOT! Kevin got a speeding ticket on 1st January at 8am, it was his first ever. We had started out early on our journey to Sydney (900km), the roads as ever were empty and once on the motorway we were able to legally increase our speed, we were chatting away when Kevin saw a police car in the rear view mirror and immediately checked his speed and saw that he had gone over the limit. He had no one to blame but himself and was handed a fine of $215.00 and 3 points on his license. So that as you can imagine put him in a fine mood for the journey. We stopped several times on the way and eventually arrived on the outskirts of Sydney around 5.30pm. We stopped and asked directions (in a garage) to the nearest hotel/motel (yes I know, a man willing to ask for directions!! It doesn‘t happen often). We followed the instructions and checked in.
In the morning we headed for the nearby railway station on foot through an industrial estate and went in to Sydney and got right out at the Harbour. We had a harbour cruise getting off at stops on the way, had Fish at Doyles famous Fish restaurant at Watsons Bay (I had never heard of it but my brother back home in England told me it was a “must visit” place, though plenty of other people had, judging by the stampede to get off the ferry at the dock). The homes around the bays and inlets were a sight to see. Then it was on to the Opera House; we didn’t actually go to a performance but had a good look around inside. We wanted to do the Harbour Bridge Climb but they didn’t have any vacant slots until Friday morning (3 days time), this despite groups setting off every 15 mins 24 hours a day. We had dinner in town and then headed home, getting back to the station near our hotel at about midnight, tired and happy we all ambled along chatting away. It was not until we had returned to Melbourne that a friend of Kevin’s asked where we had stayed and when he told him, he was aghast “That is Vietnamese Gang country, no one walks around there at night”. As they say “Ignorance is bliss”.
We decided that rather than wait in Sydney until Friday we would head up to the Blue Mountains and spend Wednesday and Thursday there. The views were spectacular (but as I mentioned last month I couldn’t make the most of them as I only had Holly’s camera) and some of the walking tracks were vertical (steps). I didn’t attempt the hard ones but Kevin and the girls did. They looked a trifle worn out on their return. There were some quaint little towns on the way through and I didn’t realise until my return that there was a huge scrap booking shop nearby. It was unlike me not to have done my research; I will not be as careless again!! The girls and Kevin heaved a sigh of relief though. Then it was back to Sydney.
We were lucky to get on a new climb they had started a week earlier and instead of climbing up the outside arch we went through the infrastructure of the bridge on the lower arch and then climbed vertically near the top to come out on the outside arch directly at the top of the bridge. The views were wonderful, right over Sydney’s suburbs and as if to run salt into the wound I could even see the tall buildings of the different camera companies who had their offices in the district, knowing my camera was languishing on someone’s desk over there.
We then returned home all down the coast of New South Wales stopping off along the way, Lauren had a surfing lesson at Wollongong (a week after we got home and man was attacked by a great white shark just down the coast from there. Just as well it wasn’t the week before otherwise she wouldn’t have been in the water at all) and Holly went body boarding. I did find a scrapbook shop here though, which had lots of stock, however Kevin was waiting outside with Holly at the time so I didn’t like to browse for too long!! Unfortunately about three planned days from home Kevin got food poisoning, after a day spent in the hotel room he decided he would be better off if we did the rest of the journey home the next day with me driving. Luckily Australian roads are made for frequent stopping with plenty of service areas along the way. He was ill for the next week and very weak for about 11 days all told.
The week after we got back I was driving down the lane from my house and on the road were several kangaroos. I slowed down to a stop to let them hop away: they all headed off to the right except for one that kept on hopping along the side of the road until eventually it started to squeeze under a fence, why it didn’t jump over like the rest I don’t know. So I started to move forward slowly, when the dozy thing decided it wanted to head to the left instead, in his panic he charged straight at the car, flipped over my bonnet, onto the roof and down the back of the car, then hopped away into the distance as happy as Larry, I however was left with a nice dent in my wing and Holly in shock in the back of the car. Most of the wildlife I have encountered here are a bit lacking in intelligence, when you approach birds on the road, they run across the road instead of flying off, you think for goodness sake what do you think your wings are for and as for the flies, they get 10 out of 10 for persistence. When they land on you, naturally you swat them off but they return to the same place time and time again driving you insane!
We now have a new member of the Starr family, DIESEL our dog. He is a cross between a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a Labrador and he is 16 months old. Holly had wanted a dog for ages and Kevin said once we get to Oz she could have one. So we went down to the Animal Rescue and choose him. He is very bright and loving. His only fault is mouthing when excited. Which if he catches you against his teeth can be a bit painful. We are taking him to classes and the lady running the classes said that it isn’t uncommon in adolescent dogs and has given us instructions on how to stop him. He came with his name and although it is not something we would have called him we thought he had been through enough without a name change to get used to, so we have kept it.
Well, older daughter Lauren has now left us for South Africa; she starts her course on 30th January (Nature Conservation). There were tears at the airport; mostly Kevin’s as he is finding it hard to let his first born grow up. She will be back in November or thereabouts. Will tell you more next month when she has settled in.
We had a tiger snake in the garden the other day (venomous). We have a book showing us the different markings. We all had a look from afar and then left it to its own devises. Apparently it is mating season for them, so they are about and about looking for love!
Still no luck for me on the job front. Not too worried at the moment as my Mum flew out on the 1st of February, so I really wanted to be home to show her around.
Well that’s all for now folks, will speak to you all again in March
Love Kerry
