Two repair jobs well done

In the three weeks since we reached Sydney much has happened and we have got to know the ins and outs of the Australian medical scene as well as the Hills bus system. Both can be a bit of a challenge at first. Travelling around here in a large Winnebago is not an option but fortunately once one understands the vagaries of the buses, they work quite well.

The said Winnebago was duly delivered to Winnebago headquarters with an ultimatum that we did not want to see it back until all its woes were fixed definitively this time. They kept it over a week and I must admit there was goodwill and a genuine attempt to satisfy us (probably for the sake of peace also!) They replaced the oven with a new one, also the table, the toilet cassette and the big offender, the kitchen tap AND the whole water inlet system, where the pressure was the cause of the tap blowing all the time and flooding into the drawers below. Sundry other minor bits and pieces were replaced under warranty which by rights we should have paid for, and the van was returned to us, full of diesel, by a driver rather than our having to go and get it. We have not yet been away with it since all of that but we expect everything to be running well when we do get away next week. All in all a pretty correct job after all the grief it has given us.

The other repair job, Isobel's face, was done on Monday and although at the moment she looks as if she has just lost a boxing match, the job itself looks as if it has been well done. The post-operative scans are really very interesting. The surgeon was a bit surprised at the size of the hole but he has reconstructed the floor of the eye cavity with a titanium mesh which is fixed in with a couple of screws. He also picked out the shards of bone one by one and released the nerve, which he now expects has a good chance of coming back to life although not just yet. Since this is really the worst part of the whole thing, hopes are certainly high that he is right as he was originally saying the face could be numb forever. Not a pleasant thought.

It was certainly interesting to deal with a large city public hospital after so much experience with the Clinique de Genolier! One needs TIME and PATIENCE. Time was not such an issue but the summoning of enough patience to sit for often several hours waiting in a queue of about a hundred people who have all been given the same "appointment" time was hard. One doesn't even dare leave and come back as one has only dropped to the bottom of the queue by doing so. Lots of crosswords and sudokus were the order of the day.

It was good to have the support of the family during all of this and although the surgery was part of the reason we didn't get away on a whole family camping trip, it has not prevented us doing day trips. Rob and Lesley both had the week off and we have had some nice outings. We will be heading off on Thursday for about ten days to backtrack on some of the places we missed and to go back to Canberra before coming back for May 9th to start another round of medical check-ups. The nights are a bit cooler now and of course it is getting dark earlier so it will be interesting to see how we do. Canberra was 3 degrees the other night. We do have a heating system in the van, which we have not yet used so it might be an idea to get the instructions out.

Today, Easter Sunday, is sunny and promises to be very pleasant for the barbeque to which we are all invited. There will of course be an egg hunt and a huge surfeit of chocolate.

Happy Easter to all.

Large fly in the ointment

The mountains were beautiful, the ski resorts interesting. Compared to the Swiss ones we know so well, there seemed to be a shortage of skiing space -- lots of trees and huge boulders in the way. We would love to see it all in the winter. The purpose-built resorts looked fun, however.

Coming back to the coast meant warmer nights and beautiful resorts. We tend to seek out the quieter ones and found a beauty at Pambula. We could have spent a few nights there had it not been for the fly in the ointment.

This took the shape of a stupid accident a few days before arriving here. Accident-prone as always, Isobel managed to crash face-first into the bank of a creek which we were crossing on one of our walks, when either her foot slipped on a rock or the rock moved. It all happened so quickly it is hard to know exactly what happened. Normal people, when they break bones, break arms or legs but this is evidently too mundane and she succeeded in breaking the floor of her eye socket! Ouch!! The long and the short of it is we had to spend the best part of a day at the hospital in Canberra after a CT scan in Bega and tomorrow will carry on to Sydney for a further appointment at a hospital there where surgery will have to be done to put a metal plate in to keep her eye where it ought to be. It seemed to make sense to do it in Sydney where at least we will be with Robert and Lesley and not in some caravan park in Canberra.

Needless to say the mood is not jubilant and some of the enthusiasm has gone out of the trip. This is of course temporary and within a short time, all should be well. Today we have toured parts of Canberra and would like to come back. Australians are usually quite rude about their capital city but we found it pleasant and interesting and would like to see more. The weather helped us to be positive as it was a beautiful day -- a rare occurence in Canberra, it seems. What a pity we went out without the camera.

More (and better, we hope) news soon from Sydney.

Whew!! Missed that!

Well, here we are stuck in a place called Widonga, whose only claim to fame for us is that it has a Winnebago dealership. Again we need some attention and we are waiting for parts!! We were stunned, however, to watch the tv coverage of the storms that hit Wilsons Promontory and caused the closure of the road down there for what could be several months to come. School kids in their hundreds had to be airlifted out. Roads are cut and it is all unbelievable for us who were there only 10 days ago having such a great time. It is so difficult to plan ahead what route to take as the weather is so unpredictable. Tasmania also copped it and we have seen some horrendous shots of places that we were at not long ago.

With a bit of luck our van will be fixed (again!) and we can move on tomorrow. Meanwhile we are not in the worst place -- and we have met some very interesting people. More soon.

Lakes to mountains

It's more than time I updated this blog, especially for those who may have seen today's news of flash flooding. Fortunately we decided to leave the coast for a while and go up into the ski resorts of Victoria. Had we not done that we could have been copping the worst of the latest flash floods. In fact we got rain, heavy at times, but nothing to compare with places like Orbost which ended under water.

Looking along Ninety-mile Beach

Since we left Wilson's Promontory we have been at the Gippsland Lakes, an interesting and very scenic part of Victoria. The lakes are very close to the coast, with a narrow strip of beach between them and the sea. The beach is actually ninety miles long and is superb but swimming is a little doubtful as the currents are pretty strong. There is a holiday resort at the opening from the sea to the lakes, which goes by the original name of Lakes Entrance and there we spent three days.

In this part of the world bird life is abundant and we are doing our best to learn what they are and something of their characteristics. We have not come across much animal life otherwise, in spite of the roadsigns that would have us believe otherwise.

We assume that they are all sticking strictly to the rules of being nocturnal and are well out of the way during the day. On our walking trails there is ample proof of their existence, however. Wombat poo in particular is everywhere and very recognisable. Interestingly, wombats produce cubic turds, often deposited on a rock or a root or some other prominent place. By the amount that we come across on our walks there must be a lot of wombats or else they have dire gastric problems! Sadly, the only wombats we have seen around here are dead by the side of the road. It is always upsetting to see them. At least here the amount of roadkill is much much less than in Tasmania, where it was excessive.


We will be in the mountains tomorrow and perhaps another day before heading back to the coast (depending of course on floods which we will try to avoid!)

Culture shock and aftershocks

Well, here we are back on the "Big Island" and experiencing a bit of culture shock! Admittedly, we found ourselves in the city, and although the caravan park which we now know well, and is so well situated for the ferry, is extremely well kept and upmarket, it has the misfortune to be situated on the edge of one of Melbourne's less salubrious suburbs. Walking out from the caravan park, we couldn't help noticing the litter, the scruffiness of the streets and gardens, all in sharp contrast to the cleanliness and tidiness of Tasmania. There even the most modest of houses was surrounded by a beautifully manicured garden brimming with flowers. Tasmania lives at a different pace also.

All that being said, we are at the moment on Wilsons Promontory, not far from Melbourne, in a beautiful National Park. Warwick was amused to read a warning notice informing people that they should not leave food in their tents, but put it in their cars. Wombats apparently can smell food in tents and will rip the tents open to reach it. People are asked to report aggressive behaviour by wombats to the ranger. One wonders what the punishment is!

Meanwhile, of course, we are again seeing nature venting its wrath on the world. We had no sooner sent off a donation via an ex-student of mine from Jakarta days*, the daughter of a friend now back in Scotland, to help the Christchurch disaster effort than the tsunami struck Japan. Horrific events there.

*Lucy has had beautiful long blond hair all her life. With a husband from Christchurch, she wanted to raise money for the Salvation Army's disaster relief effort and to publicise this she had all her beautiful hair shaved off. Bless her, she has raised over 2000 NZ dollars. We could hardly resist adding our little bit of support. Well done, Lucy! Since she now lives in Brisbane we may be able to catch up.

So now we are making gradually for Sydney and expect to be there in about three weeks or so. Winnebago at last dry but still no television which in this time of dire world events is very irritating.

More soon.

The spirit of Tasmania

Russell Falls, Mount Field National Park

Nelson Falls, Gordon-Franklin National Park

   

 Waterfalls and canyons 

Hogarth Falls, Strahan

St Columba Falls, Pyengana

Leven Canyon, looking south

Leven Canyon, looking north

The spit of land joining North and South Bruny Island.

Coastlines .....

Coastl 

Cliffs on Bruny Island

Maria Island from Bruny

Looking down from the South Bruny lighthouse

Hell's Gate

Cliffs on Maria Island

"Painted Cliffs" on Maria Island

Looking down on Wineglass Bay from the lookout on The Hazards

The coastline of the Freycinet Peninsula

The blowhole at Bicheno

Rocky foreshore at Bicheno

Beaches at the Bay of Fires

Looking down on Stanley Caravan Park from The Nut

The sea at Arthur River on a wild and windy day

..... and mountains

Mount Wellington standing above Hobart

Bishop and Clerk on Maria Island

Cradle Mountain from different angles

 The Hazards on Freycinet Peninsula

The Nut, above Stanley

Flora .....

.... and Fauna

.....

.... and bits and pieces