Kingscliff hot, humid happy holiday

Well, we had four really lovely days in an apartment at Kingscliff, walking distance to a beautiful beach with golden sands, rolling surfing waves and hardly any people. A paradise spot. Weather has been very hot and very humid, so we haven't done anything too exerting. It was lovely to have a family time with Rhys and Elizabeth and Bryan and Margaret, not forgetting the star of the show, little Theodore, who is an absolute poppet.
Theo unfortunately got a urine infection a couple of days ago but Elizabeth realised he was off colour and whipped him down to the local doctor's, so he is now on antibiotics and on the mend.
We are currently at Coolangatta airport, relaxing for a couple of hours prior to boarding. Then back across the ditch....
The frilled lizard in the photos came to visit us on the patio of the apartment. It was quite big, quite shy, and loved the raw rump steak we tossed to it.

Kyogle, kookaburras, cane toads and beautiful babies

Arrived safely in Kyogle around 5 on Wednesday. The journey from Tenterfield took a lot longer than we expected as the first 40kms were incredibly windy. Rhys and Elizabeth and Theodore (who is a real poppet) joined us for tea and we had some of Rhys's rump steak which was as tender as fillet steak. We pottered around yesterday and had a nice relaxing time in the town, then today Brian and Margaret took us to our favourite little town, Nimbin. There is always something memorable at that place. Today is was the hippy man, covered in tats, pushing a pram with a very large staffy dog in it. Apparently it is quite old and not very well so he is lavishing care on it. Obviously a much loved dog. There was quite a strong smell of weed, probably more noticeable because it was hot and humid.
We had a cuppa at Rhys and Elizabeth's cottage on the way back and saw the extension they put on, which has given them a dining room and a bedroom for Theodore. Very nice.
Tomorrow we head off to the Gold Coast for a few relaxing days at the beach and more lovely cuddles with Theodore. He smiles and coos, SO cute.
There was a cane toad in the garden last night - not at all cute.
I don't think we will have an internet connection on the coast so if the blog stops that will be why.
x x

Sapphires and steel

Pleased to say it isn't as hot today. We had a look at a local sapphire jewellery shop this morning as this is sapphire country but the stones really didn't compare to my pendant, much darker and denser. Bryan got a petrol head fix at the Inverell car museum which was surprisingly good for a fairly small place. They also had small displays of girly things, like a doll display and old sewing machines (complete with a shy resident lizard). I was quite intrigued by the wonderful facial expressions on some of the old dolls and they even had two aboriginal dolls. The museum pamphlet showed a TR3 on the cover but sadly there were no real mccoys. BUT we saw a green TR3 on the road today.
We stopped briefly at Glen Innes for a bite of lunch and a kookaburra very obligingly posed for us.
We are now in Tenterfield, our last stop before Kyogle, and have found a marvellous motel. The owner has just brought us in a tray with a freshly made pot of tea and bisuits, obviously picking our Englishness. What a sapphire she is!
A mix of photos, most self explanatory but a wee bit about the white mini. It is a 1969 model and automatic, so quite rare. The lady who bought it drove it to town once a fortnight, dropping it off at the garage for a petrol fill up and water and oil check while she did her shopping - which she continued to do until she died. She left the car to a good friend who lovingly stored it in a shed for many years before giving it to the museum. Total miles driven are less than 8000 and the paintwork barely has a chip.
x

Telescopes and more telescopes

Weather is still pretty hot over here but I think it may be a tad cooler when we get to the coast at the weekend. We plan to reach Kyogle tomorrow.
Yesterday we stopped off to  see an array of CSIRO telescopes about 20k from Narrabri. Very impressive. They are mounted on 3k of railway line so can be moved closer and further apart. They rotate together like synchronised swimmers. We got quite excited when a group of workmen arrived with a big cherry picker with an enormous mobile arm on it but they clearly didn't work fast and when we left half an hour later nothing had happened. In fact the only activity we saw was a man with a pot of paint touching up the framework. Pictures attached.
The piccie of the terrain is supposed to show the heat in the distance shimering like water. It really has been quite warm.
Off to a car museum today before heading to Tenterfield for an overnight stop.

Amazing ablutions

Spent last night in Dubbo and had a very nice evening meal at a pizza restaurant. Weather continues to be fairly warm but we aren't complaining. We spent an hour wandering round the Dubbo botanic gardens this morning before we headed off on the next leg of our journey. There were some huge orange fish in a stream in the gardens, and if I had been one of the ducks I think I would have felt a bit nervous. But the highlight of the gardens had to be the loos. Yeah, I know, pathetic...  So you walked into this stainless steel tardis and closed the door then an American male voice that sounded disconcertingly like George Clooney invited you to push the green button to lock the door. George then reassured me that if I didn't for some reason press the unlock button it would unlock itself in 10 minutes.  Soothing music then started to play but disappointingly there were no buttons you could press to change to a different tune. You pressed a button to get a predefined issue of toilet paper but there was NO button to activate a flush cos it did that automatically when you either washed your hands or pressed the unlock button. Smart ass, I thought!
But wait, there's more!  If you happened to be blind the instructions were all duplicated in braille! Although how you would know that, if you were blind, is a bit of a puzzle. Anyway, I realise all this sounds like loo scifi so below are the pictures to prove it.
Scenic photos are of the Warrumbungle Hills which get included because they have such a great name, also a shot of burnt scrub which went on and on. Must have been quite a blaze.
Having a good time and currently in Narrabri where we apparently have a choice of 2 eateries tonight, it being Sunday.
 x x x

Hello family
Having a really good time and we have met some lovely people along the way. Arrived in Sydney and had to get the shuttle to the domestic terminal as our hotel was close by. The shuttle driver was SO helpful! Not only did he drop us off within a stone's throw of the hotel, he didn't charge us a dime. What a lovely welcome to Sydney. We have made a mental note not to stay in an Ibis hotel again. Enough said. The drive from Sydney to Bathurst was incredibly slow, especially the drive through the tunnel which seeemed to think it had had an "incident" but we couldn't see any sign of one. There was a race on at Bathurst so all the motels were booked, which we had half expected, so we carried on to Orange, a really nice place. Motel was good and we had magnificent barrimundi for dinner, wild not farmed, the oner told ùs proudly and even invited us to meet the chef and see the box of frozen fish, complete with all the detils of fishing boat name and place caught. Anyway, it was a superb meal.
We travelled to Dubbo today, stoping off to have a guided tour of Wellington Caves, an old phosphate mine with a wonderful story attached to it. Very enjoyable. Some piccies attached.
Peter, trust you will be doing a blog of the renovations up north.
Hope all is well with you all.
PS weather is great x x x