Antipodean Adventures

Thursday 14 th December 2017 Lake Macquarie Very hot day forecast – 40 degrees on other side of lake, but just over 30 degrees on our side.  So went to the beach and walked along the shore.  Hardly anyone else in sight.  Found a dead puffa fish and watched seagulls eating stray cicadas. Waves were crashing somewhat and a quick paddle indicated that the water wasn’t warm. But Pete bravely went for a swim/body surf and took one for the team. Iain put the drone up and took a picture of the gang.    Back for full cooked brunch. Then a day of swimming in four different swimming pools and in Lake Macquarie, watched by some Pelicans and a Sea Eagle.    In the evening, went for a walk with Pete, Iain and Kirstine along the lake.  Watched the sun setting, then back for dinner prepared by Brenda – massive salad and a beefburger with ‘the works’. Heart-stopper!

Wednesday 13 th December 2017 Continued along the Pacific Highway, making good time and arriving at Lake Macquarie for lunch with Pete and Brenda Swan. Dumped our bags, then straight off with Peter to Lake Macquarie Yacht Club to act as crew for some racing on the yacht ‘Lucille’ – a beneteau oceanis 43’ yacht.   We were k indly invited on board by the owner Steve, helm Jeff and other crew Andre.  Weather was hot and windy - couldn't be better.   On the downwind haul, the beers came out and we overtook a boat with a Santa and Christmas tree on its bow – not really serious racing!   Raced around various buoys twice and ended up five seconds off the fastest time and 3 rd overall. Not bad for a scratch crew, only half of whom knew what they were doing!   On way back down the pontoons we also went on board  Jeff’s yacht and Iain downloaded his head with any sailing and renovation tips. Lovely roast lamb dinner awaited us on our return t...

Tuesday 12 th December 2017 After clearing away the remains of the party and generally tidying up, we packed ready for the trip down to see Pete and Brenda. Took turns in driving down the Pacific Highway with couple of stop-offs – coffee at 7 mile beach overlooking Byron Headland, and another at Lennox Head, surfer beach.   Beautiful bays with hardly anyone on them other than a few surfers.  Clean sand, clear sea and places to barbeque or sit overlooking the bays.  Lots of serious roadworks going on in the highway. Huge tracts of motorway being modernised – at least if they say 60 kph, then workers are actually doing work on that piece of motorway.   Stopped at  Coffs Harbour where there was an inlet of a lovely shallow stream running under a bridge with lots of families and dog walkers safely enjoying the waters. On through to Port Macquarie where the motel was well equipped with a fridge, kettle, toaster and some milk in each room....

Sunday 10th December 2017 After a day of preparation on Saturday, the big party finally arrived on Sunday.  Aunt Lily has this annual bash as a Christmas Party. With us, about  25 people arrived, some bringing plates of food - savouries and puddings. An enormous amount of food was devoured.  Good system of all bringing their own grog and individual eskies. Other than the fruit punch, none of Lily's drinks were touched.  Iain took photos of everyone with the drone. A French chap 'Fab' provided some excellent entertainment with magic tricks.  Andy provided the music.   A really g ood crowd and clearly they are looking after Lily’s interests which is nice to know she’s supported. A surprise visitor was Lily’s granddaughter Olivia – about 23 years old and looks about 12. Very petite and pretty. Had flown up from Sydney, hired a car just to visit Lily at her party and was returning the same day. She was very interested in the family tree that ...

Friday 8th December 2017 Calypso Bay       Visited Aunt Lily's friends, Gary and Faye in Marina Parade, Calypso Bay - beautiful house that they designed and constructed themselves, with their own pontoon.  Six of us went out on their boat, Santana, out into Moreton Bay, stopping off at South Stradbroke (Straddy) sand island. Kirstine, Iain, Gary and I went off on the tender to walk over the dunes and reach the surf side of the island - not a single other person in sight for as far as we could see.  Nice.   Once back in the boat, the clouds started to gather ominously.  The weather very quickly changed to thunder and lightning storm with high winds.  Gary just set anchor and we ate our picnic sandwiches nicely ensconced in the boat saloon.  The boat hardly moved.   Once the rain had passed, we made our way back and had a guided tour of the palatial house by a rightly proud Fay...

Wednesday 6 th December 2017 Off for a drive, with Lily driving her Saab nutter car and burning various vehicles at traffic lights.   Nothing changes.   Up Mount Tamborine to the village for a wander around the craft shops. Very pleasant hot day with a breeze, and very few tourists around, so nice visit. Bought a tile of a sailing boat, some glass necklaces, couple of tea towels and a Christmas koala – maybe to use next year! Iain bought fudge and a nice Mount Tamborine Vineyard Platinum Cabernet Sauvignon. Mount Tamborine Vineyard On to Sanctuary Cove, which is a bit like a hotter posher Port Solent. Very nice houses line the various lakes and reclaimed land, but a little too clinical for me – Stepford Wives comes to mind. Lunch of club sandwich for me, Barracuda for Iain and a couple of veggie quiches for the girls. Yummy. None of us had room for the heart-attack inducing cakes on display. The Gabba, Brisbane Cricket Stadium... after the English tea...

  Tuesday 5 th December 2017 Aunt Lily, Iain and Kirstine had a lovely trip down memory lane, going through Aunt Lily’s photograph albums and working out the family tree. Iain took photograph copies, and Kirstine was the scribe.   Lily also gave them a couple of tankards won by their grandfather - D.B. McLachlan – on the boat ‘Huldra’ in 1954. Also his watch and an engraving of boats by Rowland Langmaid. I left them to it and used the opportunity of softer ground after the rain to cut a slice of ground to embed a heavy duty water hose.   Very hot and humid.   Cooled off by dressing the outside artificial Christmas tree ready for Lily’s party on Sunday. While Lily fed the wild Cockatoos and Lorikeets, I had a go at clearing out the old aviary, which had become overgrown with weeds.   Lovely soil inside which made it easy to clear. Then onto a patch where Lily wants to grow melons – all cleared with Kirstine. We did stomp around a lot and had th...

Sunday 3 rd December 2017 Easy morning wandering around Aunt Lily’s garden and surrounds, while Iain took shots of the house with the drone.   Lily fed the birds in the afternoon with honey and bread, and seeds.   Inundated with wild sulphur crested cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets.   Had a drive around to orientate, then an early dinner of roast turkey/ham dinner in the local pub. Plus light Australian beer.   Back for more gossip.

Monday 4 th December 2017 Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary       Under ever-threatening dark skies, we visited the sanctuary and variously over the day saw lots of Koalas, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Duck-billed Platypus, snakes, wombats, and Tasmanian Devils.   Not a bad selection of Australian species. We managed to see the bird display of owls and just reached the sheep dog show when the heavens opened – the border collie wouldn’t come out from under the table due to the thunder. The show carried on with a Kelpie showing its skills. The Kelpie is similar to, and part Dingo, a very bright quick dog, which then runs over the top of the sheep to avoid getting crushed.     Torrential rain, thunder and lightning ensued.   We sheltered in the sheep shearing display and watched the lake gradually overflow and the paths disappear. After about an hour we ventured into the rain and saw the other displays, including petting a Koala, and wandering...

Saturday 2 nd December 2017 QF598 Perth to Brisbane.   1210 hrs. Collected by Karen at 0900 to take us to airport – domestic terminal and easy check-in.   Finally caught up on blog after a busy few days.   Nice Qantas internal flight which was only 5 hours – another airline which now asks for customers to download the entertainment app prior to the flight and use your own IT to view it.   Lost another two hours in time zones.   Arrived at 5pm and collected by Aunt Lily who had left her car parked in a disabled bay… somewhere in the airport. Finally found it, which had been two hours in a drop-off zone, with no wheel clamps, fine or any problem!   Drove around to her new house – a huge building compared to the last farm. Still a vast amount of grounds, about 5 acres which she manages herself.   Place in darkness on our arrival, so we all caught up on the news with cooked chicken, salad and breads, and very ripe nectarines. Yum.   ...

Friday 1 st December 2017 Stayed overnight at Karen and Matt’s. Lazy morning catching up before a trip to Freemantle dog beach (allows dogs, not a personal comment!), next to yacht club. Beautiful soft sand and clear green sea. Very quick swim with Matt, but quite cold and didn’t want to hang about. Hot weather, which changed a little when the Freeo winds came in and blasted us. Karen supplied a picnic with ice cold Freemantle beer – my first beer in Australia!!! Back to Karen’s where chilled out and went through her photograph album of when she left Gosport police station – lovely pictures and comments from all the old gang from about 16 years ago, happy memories. Rose visited, having been working nights as a nurse.   Very quick catch up with news of her travels (similar places in South America – note to go to Cartagena, Columbia which she recommends) and marriage to Harry. Time went by all too quickly and had to get back to Graham and Alina’s for 6pm. Alina...

Perth - Botanical Gardens etc Thursday 30 th November 2017 View of Perth across the Swan River Jacaranda trees just finished full bloom - lovely       Into Perth. Parked car (for free) at Kings Park Botanical Gardens. Had a lovely walk around the gardens, divided into segments reflecting the different regions of Australia. Hence weird additions of non-indiginous plants such as Baob trees, transplanted from across the continent.  Iain posing with his lovely ladies!     Very pleasant warm weather, great for walking. Then joined up with Graham and Alina for a bus (free again!) down into Perth. Walked around town, including a weird street looking like old London. Indulged in an ice-cream and found a cheap souvenir shop for some postcards. Visited the Art Gallery of Western Australia specifically to see some indigenous art. I wasn’t very impressed – all very basic and have seen much better aboriginal art elsewhere...

Perth Wednesday 29 th November 2017 Into Freemantle for a view of the beach and vista over to Rottnest Island.   Visit to the Sail and Anchor old pub, then onto coffee at the Dome.   Quirky little town and nice shopping precinct with buskers.   Kirstine bought some souvenirs which were lovely.   Iain had been given a pass to visit the DVI drone shop and of course bought some bits.   Then on to visit Andre and Natasha’s house to meet the family and indulge in a fabulous Tiramisu and tea. Joined by Nastya (Alina’s daughter) and her baby Amelia. A   gentle afternoon passed with all of us variously getting abused by their children Bella and Pasha. I’m sure I’m not supposed to wear a tambourine as a necklace and eat the end of a recorder… Mark and Adam arrived back from school and became absorbed into the mayhem with the Russian version of ‘Airplanes’. Not sure what the Russian children think of the Brits now! Gr...