March 7 - Settling In

SETTLING IN

It just hit me that yesterday was the 38th anniversary of my ETS from Basic Training (AIT actually ... the 2nd part of Basic).  I guess I'm not likely to be called up again at this point.

Today was the perfect Nambucca day of relaxation and enjoying being with our friends.  After my coffee, I began the day with a walk along the crest, a woodsy trail that is very hilly in places but has scenic views of the sea, the beaches, and the town.  Nambucca Heads is in an area that is like the US West Coast, i.e., mountains come down to the sea, rocky coastline (including rocks in the water that you have to watch out for if you're surfing).  It's located where the Nambucca River (about the size of the Leaf or Pearl) flows into the sea, and there's a headland there.  The views from the crest are fantastic ... unfortunately it looked like it might rain, so I didn't pack my phone/camera.  We'll be here 2 weeks, so I'll have better days to do that.  There are a number of beaches -- Black Rock, Swimming Creek Beach, Main Beach, Beilby Beach, Shelly Beach, and Wellington Beach -- over about a 3 mile stretch.  At the headland there are wonderful lookouts over the estuary where the river runs into the sea and another over the sea (the obligatory Cpt. James Cook Lookout -- every Australian town or city has a memorial to Cook, who was the English explorer who "found" both NZ and Australia ... before being killed and eaten by a welcoming committee in Hawaii).  [Sidebar:  If you want a humorous yet informative look at Cook's voyage and life, I heartily recommend Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz, who is also the author of a very funny retrospective on the Civil War called Confederates in the Attic.  He's sort of a Bill Bryson on history and travel.]

Later Keith's sister Gay and her husband, who live south of Sydney, stopped for lunch on their way to a family holiday north of here at a place called Byron Bay.  (We stopped there 30 years ago on our first visit Down Under, and I thought then it was the most beautiful place I'd ever seen. Still is, in fact.)  It was a hippy-dippy/surfer (Aussies call hippie places "alternative lifestyle") town that was "discovered" by big money people, e.g., Olivia Newton John and her boytoy du annee' and Paul Hogan and his Crocodile Dundee co-star tart, whom he had "run off with."  They say that it's more crowded and commercialized these days.  Anyhow, we had a good visit with them.

Yesterday afternoon I walked (about a 15 min. hike) downtown to run a few errands.  Nambucca in many ways reminds me of Ellisville, MS, the small town where I grew up before moving to the Gulf Coast.  Lots of small shops ... it also has 2 outstanding little bakeries.  To my amazement they even make pecan pies, so obviously I had to try a piece.  Not bad! 

Then last night Di cooked steaks on the grill.  (No, most Aussies don't call it the barbie, and they darn sure don't talk about throwing shrimp on it ... in fact, they call shrimp prawns.)  The kookaburras came out as it got dark, and a little bird called a peewee came by for a visit.  Peewees are smaller version of magpies, who are basically crows that are black and white rather than all black.



After dinner, we watched a little Aussie TV and folded the tents fairly early.  A relaxing day Down Under.

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