Nelson Bay to Wingham

Last night we headed out to eat, looking for a sunset, but there is a hill in the way and no clouds. So just a bit of glow.

We found out an interesting factoid. Aussies usually eat chips (fries) plain. That is why the wait staff will just drop off your plate of fries without asking what you might want with them.  A growing fad at fish and chips places is to have your fries with chicken salt. Our hostess at Nelson Bay says she finds it tastes really bad. A chicken flavored salt. Ugh!
William ordered fish and chips and I ordered a rather expensive dish. The Carpet Bag. I thought the idea sounded delicious. Oysters stuffed in prime beef and wrapped in prosciutto. The meat was tender and delicious, but I kept looking for the oysters. Finally I found one tiny little oyster up against the prosciutto.  Hmm, definitely not what I had envisioned.
On the way back we pass a large yacht for sale. We could buy it and hire Captain Ron to sail it back to California for us. We could berth it in Lake Tahoe. Plans, dreams.

Only $649,000

I said to William that this blog is getting to be less like a travel blog and more like a Seinfeld Show. Lots about nothing.
The next morning we head on to Tomaree Park thinking to  walk to the view point. The nice brick path heads straight up. Not my idea of an easy walk. We get half way and turn back as the path turns up again.

One reason the path heads up is it has to go around Tomaree Lodge, a state facility for the intellectually disabled. Makes me wonder about this. The USA makes such an effort these days to help the "intellectually disabled" to be self sufficient not warehouse them.
Off to the lighthouse where I spend my time trying to take the perfect picture of a tea room beggar. The wait staff squirt him with water, but he keeps coming back. He has a serious yen for scones with clotted cream.

overlooking the bay

Overlooking the bay and the tea room outside the lighthouse

The tea-room beggar. Some Australian birds have a real black and white thing going. We've seen another moderate sized bird with a distinctive white tipped tail and huge pelicans that are white with some gray/black.

We drive up to see some million dollar homes with bay views and notice a very odd one with a tipped appearing front room.

We stop at Birubi Beach to look at the waves and the giant sand dunes.

the waves

the dunes

We turn into Aussies.

On to the Lakes Highway. A scenic roadway that has little traffic,
We stop at Boomerang Beach, The tide is up. Lots of surfers. A lot of houses have a curved look to match the beach. What's up with that?

just a nearby house.  Lots have curved roofs or roof-lines.

Boomerang Beach toilets

 On to Wingham.  We are the only guests in this antique 8 room guesthouse in the heart of Wingham.
Last week the area flooded. Not right in town. But enough was flooded that sporting events scheduled for the weekend cancelled and so guests cancelled.
We learn that there are nets on the mango tree in the back to protect from flying foxes which sound like a type of fruit bat. But these creatures carry a virus that is fatal to young and old. Also there are many poisonous snakes here. But the red-bellied ones are good even though poisonous, because they eat the other poisonous snakes including the cobra-headed one that chases after you.
Yikes! We hear a clatter in the trees but it is just some very large white birds. They look like cockatoos some had their crests up when they landed, but this 12x photo shows a few in the top of a huge tree with their crests down. There were at least 30 who took off with a lot of noise. They are natives of Indonesia, but I have seen a lot of parrots around and tropical Australia could certainly feel like home.

We dine again in a members only club just down the street. You sign in as a temporary member and are free to enjoy the food and beer just like a member. The prices are low, the food is good and the beer is cold. What more could you ask.
Not only are there no other "foreigners" in town tonight, I don't think there are even any Australian tourists.

From Terrigal to Nelson Bay

Tiarri Terrigal Beach House actually has a laundry. We haven't seen a washing machine since leaving California at the end of January. All our clothes are sink washable, but still. I wash almost all my clothes.

We decide to go low on dinner, so we make our way to the Bowling Club. It is a lawn bowling club. But where they play I can't say as there is no lawn.  What they do have is a bar, slot machines, bingo and inexpensive very good food. Mostly locals eat here. The rules are loose. You have to first "join" for free as a temporary member by filling out a form.  You are then free to order food in a cafeteria looking dining hall and buy a good but inexpensive cold beer in the bar. Such a deal.  Better than going to such as the "Chait Noir" and paying through the nose for "French" food.

After dinner we head to the beach. We are drawn by some really good drumming and some less than perfect fire twirling. Then someone sets off the burglar alarm in the surf lifeguard building. No one turns it off, so we leave.

In the morning we drive out to the headland and walk out for the view.  Few people are here. This is midweek in a slow season.  If there are any other "foreigners" out here walking, I'll eat my hat.

 We set out to drive up the coast. We choose not to go on the superhighway but to stay close to the shore. This works as there is not much traffic and our route is fairly simple. Reminds me a lot of driving down the Florida keys. Sometimes water on both sides. Sometimes bush on both sides. Sometimes small towns. We see a Cole's Grocery store in every town and a Darby's fresh hot pies. The pies are such as chicken or steak. We stop at a Cole's to return an item and to shop for more lunch food.  You can feel the temperature drop when you walk under these sails. Just like Celebration Park in Allen, TX.

We stop to picnic at Caves Beach. We make our sandwiches in a covered picnic area. Some intrepid hikers about our age show up with their small day packs and break out their lunches. These people look tough. They have probably been hiking on the beach all morning. One woman who bears a resemblance to Dame Judith Dench is just totally soaked with sweat.  We walk out to the beach and walk a short ways where William finds a cave. The water is surprisingly cool. After we land at our lodging in Nelson Bay, the proprietor tells us all the runoff from the recent rains has cooled the water. It will warm up. I think about wading in the Arctic Ocean last summer and the Tasman sea in the Australian Fall.

The cave at cave beach

The Blue Mountains

We spent two night in the Blue Mountains at the Glenella Guesthouse in Blackheath. The first day we just landed and decompressed from Sydney. We had a really hard time getting from the rental car place at the airport to out of town.  The signage is so unclear to a non native.
The Blue Mountains are very popular with people from Sydney for the scenery and the coolness.  We are up on a high sandstone plateau that has been cut down by streams through the ages. The deep valleys are filled with dense eucalyptus forest except for the cleared areas that are farms at the bottom of the valleys.  We stop at many overlooks and go to a native show at a cultural center in Katoomba.
I get stung by a bee in Katoomba, an imported bee. Native bees did not sting and did not produce much honey. It hurt, but I am not allergic.
Day one is very windy. We look over the edge at Govett's Leap.

Day two we first head to the Kumurri Aboriginal Culture Centre in Katoomba.  We listen to didgeridoo playing and native dances. Very nice.

Didgeridoo music 

Me with two of the dancers

 We do the scenic drive with many stops for photos.

The three sisters

A close-up

You can see people walking on a board walk between the sisters

This forest is really dense, filled with plants that have sharp serrated leaves and vicious thorns.

Steep down there too

We want to do a short walk. But it rained heavily here when it rained in Sydney and we are stymied.

We turned back

More overlooks

Unusual plants with odd cones

More strange cones

We drive down into Megalong Valley to see the valley bottom. It is a lovely drive although we see none of the hoped for wild life.

No kangaroos or wombats. No cowboys either. Just horses, cows and sheep.

 Halfway back up the Megalong Valley road is a nature trail. so we stop as it looks like a fairly short loop trail. Looks old, too.

We call this tree Curley.

It is all fun until the trail disappears into the creek. This isn't a recent washout either. The Rotary needs to work on their trail more often than once every 10 years.

Day three we head out to Bell and the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden at Mt Tomah.

Time to head for the beach. Terrigal here we come.