Done and Dusted

Road Trip

Studies finished, time to head south.

Despite the inclement weather ... it rained most of the way as we drove to Orange (NSW) to visit our old friends S and C - with whom we also spent time with when we were in the UK.

We spent three happy days with them in their country-style cottage, helping them look after three little girls.

Floods

Leaving Orange, we were not keen to head south via the Blue Mountains, so we set off to Cowra. Hearing vague news reports on the radio about various flood-ridden shires and blocked roads, and noticing a darkness on the distant horizon ... we dropped into Cowra police station just to be sure. They assured us that there was no way we could drive south from there. So we turned around and retraced our steps - about 2 1/2 hours wasted. We had to endure the slow, winding Blue Mountains road with it's endless roadworks, twists and turns, and varying speed limits.

The Heads

Shoalhaven Heads Hotel/Motel is just around the corner from Mum's little unit, right on the waterfront.

Lovely little spot to recover from the rigours of study and all that!

The Gong

A few pleasant days with the folks, and then off to "the 'Gong" (Wollongong) for our big day. First we attended a video interview (for a job in Darwin) at a site in Wollongong, and then over to the university to finish what we had started.


We both got all clobbered up appropriately, and then graduated (with distinction).

It was an evening ceremony, so then we spent the night in the Boat Harbour Motel in the Gong.

Followed by breakfast by the water. Mmmm-hmmm!

White Sands

To finish off the trip, a few days down at Huskisson White Sands south of Nowra, visiting with brother M and his family. M has a boat ....

... and a spin around the bay was very enjoyable.

M and Peter also went out and brought back a meal for everyone.

Family Time

And of course this was one of those rare opportunities when a large section of the extended family managed to get together.

Various local wildlife came along for the occasion.

Back to Brissie

The weather was beautiful at Huskisson, and we headed back amid warnings of "dangerous thunderstorms" along the way. We heard that there had been thunderstorms in Brisbane in our absence, and Cowra was also now cut off with floodwaters. However, other than a brief shower with huge raindrops, it was fine - and hot - all the way home.

Approaching 'our' intersection in Brisbane, we had the odd sensation that something was missing.



In this photo from several months ago, there is a large traffic-lights pole, and we had often been amazed when looking at it from our windows to see it moving around in even the mildest breeze. Well ... it's gone. I guess it was a casualty of the storms.

AND Santa and friend have apparently moved in to the large apartment block next door.

NEXT??

No idea where to next ... yet. The world is our oyster, apparently.

Beach Hunting

We've had a week of "getting-ready-to-study" - so many things to do. We spent one whole day (well, four and a half hours) in Centrelink applying for Austudy! And we were still in the throes of putting in an application for Advanced Standing with this university.

We were surprised this morning when we each received a package in the mail containing four text books for our four courses - we are quite impressed.

The whole thing has been quite exhausting. So we decided to go out a bit, and Peter has still been hoping to find a place to go fishing.

Nudgee

So we went across to the coast, to Nudgee - a little community with marshlands on 3 sides and a bit of a beach.



It's not as muddy as it looks! It was a long walk out to the actual water, but the water was quite clear out there with little ripply waves.

And obviously something is alive and busy under that sand/mud. We did see one tiny crab, but it looked like it was dying.

No sign of anyone fishing, although there was a boat ramp ... but not enough water to launch a boat at the moment. There was one of those special metal fish-cleaning tables (with a light overhead for when you come in at night), but not a hint of anything ever having been cleaned on it - not a single fish scale.

We came out of the marshy area, and worked our way a little farther along the beach, and came to

Brighton

There's a fairly familiar beach name! No pavillion here, but a lot more sand than at the British Brighton beach!



Pleasant enough - but no fishing to be done here either.

So we consulted our maps again, and came across a spot a little further inland on a river, called

Deep River Bend

That sounded like the place to go.



Well, it is a lovely spot. Green shady trees and picnic facilities (complete with the odd mozzie), and specially built fishing platforms ... and a fish cleaning table that sported some good-sized fish-scales!

Peter got among the fishermen, and swapped fishing stories.

Well, it seems like it is at least theoretically possible to catch fish here.

Another day, grab the Aeroguard and let's do it!