Canberra

10.10am. Beginning of Road Trip to Port Stephens- a holiday area three hours north of Sydney.

(BTW- delay in posting due to lack of wifi when away)

The rains started and it’s still humid but almost cold today ?; certainly a temperature I prefer.

The ‘Dove’ kind of fake tan should have been started a month before I got here, the two weeks worth I thought would be enough hasn’t really done the job. So my legs still look fairly pale. No worries.

I’m being driven out of the city as I type just now. So I will ramble a bit about my father. (slow traffic out of city).

My grandfather on my father’s side, a good man who I never knew worked for several years in Canberra as a mining engineer in 1920s. My grandmother took my father, I think aged 6, out to Canberra to join him. His sisters aged 10 and 4 had died of Scarlet Fever in Scotland whilst their father was in Oz so that’s why she joined him. My grandfather had never seen his youngest daughter.

Some folks think they’ve got issues. Are we a molleycoddled society, expecting much and giving little?  Oops I’m on holiday-back to my musings. ?

My father had very fond memories of Australia and my family house where I grew up in Scotland was a bungalow called ‘Brindabella’, named after the Brindabella Mountains near Canberra.

They only stayed 3 or so years as my grandmother’s  sisters made her feel so homesick that they had to go back to UK. My grandfather was apparently very well thought of and could have been greatly involved in the growth of Canberra and perhaps even Government duties; it was a time of speedy growth as Australia grew as a country.

Back to the journey- (slow out of city – add one hour).

Port Stephens.

Lovely resort.  Really nice.  The Pacific Blue resort quotes itself as having the biggest/longest swimming pool in Australia. The pool goes round the whole complex -500 metres long. We swam round it and here’s a photo of me reading, managed to snatch a few moments.

I really enjoy swimming and hope to get into the sea tomorrow.

We smartened ourselves up and got a taxi to take us to The Maverick; a good bar by the numerous yachts in the port. We ate in Sienna’s a very  popular Italian restaurant: fun and very good staff. An extensive menu with a great selection of specials. Portions of really good food was served which we did our best to eat. We failed to finish. The restaurant was heaving with two big parties of people- and the rest. It all ran smoothly and the banter was good.

The one local taxi service was able to get us there and back (thank you!) and I bet their takings this evening  pays for something worthwhile – run off their feet they were.

And Yes I am hoping a Restaurant review guide or book/ travel site  may employ me to critique standards around the world.  (Think big Susan!).

We watched a film when we got back, although I slept through half of it – title- Everest. Pretty good though.

At bedtime, I went into bedroom and I have double bed with clothes laid on a single bed; but tonight a cockroach was on the single bed too. It skiddaddled behind the  pillow.  Boy that kind of wakens you up when knackered.  Really put me off a treat.  It was big, yucky and took me back to Doha years when occassionally we spied one in the house. It’s no good chasing the buggers as they run very fast and can be the stuff of nightmares.  Rachel was sympathetic and said I could share her bed as long as I promised not to snore.

Cheeky pup.

After 10 minutes I went to bed believing that the horrible ghastly thing had fled the room.  Working in the belief system and understanding the power of the mind I knew that it would either screw me up or it was manageable. So I dealt with the mind chatter as best I could ( a quick reimprinting that the pesky creature had gone and I could relax and sleep as best I could). It worked ?

I did however keep the door open to help it escape should it be watching me as I type! They are indeed very bold, fairly indestructable  and grossly ugly beasts.

I hope to sleep.  I knew Herb would have his uses if he were here.  He would gallantly search and destroy. I would ask and he would do. However I expect he’d probably suggest I do what I did and be asleep way before me.

It worked and I slept well. When I got up to go to loo in middle of night I banged the table before putting on the light to frighten it and to avoid my seeing it if the pest was still sculking  around.