Author: adventuresctlb

All too soon it was time to head back to Lou’s. We had breakfast, packed up, had lots of hugs with Tony and Liz, and said farewell. Always sad to leave Krishanda. The only good part was the weather. It was fair and sunny, much better for driving.

We headed back down the Banana Coast and encountered a bit of traffic through Coff’s Harbor. Coff’s is growing rapidly and is a holiday location, so there is a lot of traffic. A bypass around Coff’s is underway, but that will take years to complete. It is a beautiful area with a nice climate.

Clare and Margaret wanted to make a stop at the Slim Dusty museum in Kempsey, which was on the way home. Slim Dusty was a very famous and popular country music singer in Australia. He had a career of over 60 years, made over 100 albums and won loads of awards. He sang about bush life and his lyrics are really great. He married another country singer, who performed with him and managed his career. I liked hearing his music and found it nice to listen to.

There was also a small gallery in the center, Nulla Nulla, and the exhibit was photos of Aboriginal men who had been taken (stolen) by the government as children and placed in schools. It is heartbreaking to me to see and read about this abuse of children, the same as was done to American Indians in the U.S. and the indigenous people in Canada, the sole purpose being to eradicate the culture and identify of these indigenous people.

Another stop we made was in Port Macquarie, another growing city on the coast. The area is known for its beaches, its nature reserves, and its penal colony history. After having lunch, we found the town beach, a very beautiful area. We watched surfers for a while and then walked along one of the breakwaters, which was really an art gallery. All of the huge stones used in the construction of the breakwater have been painted by people, families on holiday, memorials, cute sayings, great designs and all kinds of artwork.

The town beach is just one of many, many beautiful beaches in the area. I wanted so much to get in the surf and play in the waves.

After a long afternoon on the road, we stopped in a little town, Denman, for dinner. After driving around the few streets in the town, we finally came across the Denman Hotel. It had a restaurant sign. Lou asked if they were still serving and with an affirmative answer we sat down in the dining room of the hotel. To our surprise, the menu was quite inviting. Clare, Margaret and Christine had the fish of the day, which was Atlantic Salmon, and it was very good. Lou had a nice steak and I had Spring Rolls. So with full stomachs, back in the car we went for the 90 minute drive to Rylstone.

By now, it was dark and part of the drive was up and down the craggy sandstone cliffs with hairpin turns. Margaret did a super job including avoiding a couple of kangaroos, one that was just sitting in the middle of the road as we approached.

It was nearly 10:30pm by the time we got home. We were all exhausted. But it was a great weekend at Krishanda and the long drive for me is fascinating. My head swivels from side to side not wanting to miss any of the wonderful scenery.

The name Tony and Liz have given to their property is Krishanda Park, from the names of their 3 children Kristen, Shane, and Linda. Each time we visit, we absolutely marvel at the beauty of the place and we call it a resort.

They own about 100 acres. They built their house from a shed and have spent decades working to beautify the place with plants and trees they they have cultivated and grown in their greenhouse. The many variety of palms around the house and pool really give it that resort look and feel. The other wonderful area is a huge gazebo they built on top of their huge water tank, which is an outdoor kitchen complete with grill, dishwasher and all the accoutrements necessary to layout table settings and feed lots of people. In the center of the gazebo is a huge table with a very large lazy Susan in the center. Here’s a bunch of photos of their beautiful property.

During our visit in 2023, we met Jack, a young wallaby that Kristen had rescued after the mother abandoned the little joey. She raised it for a while, and then brought it out to her parents. Liz has continued to bottle feed Jack, even though he’s now 5 and should be off the bottle. He comes nearly every day. Liz feeds him a bottle of milk and a carrot. If the screen door is open, Jack comes right into the house and eats the dogs’ food. I was sitting in their lounge watching tennis and Jack hopped in and startled me. What a surprise to see a wallaby in the lounge.

Tony and Liz have 19 head of cattle and two have given birth over the past week. The calves are really cute. The newest one is still unsteady on her feet, but the older one frolics across the paddock and kicks up her heels. Very cute!

Although there were some periods of sunshine, most of the time it was pouring rain. Both nights, the rain was so hard that it woke everyone up beating against the metal roof. Nobody went into the pool during our stay.

During our visit in 2020, there had been the terrible bushfires all over the eastern side of the continent. Tony was successful in preventing his house from burning and he was able, along with the help of his grandson, a firefighter in Tasmania, to keep the fire damage at a minimum around his property. Good management practices of keeping brush clear and bushwhacking throughout the woodlots saved the day, that and having several dams (ponds) around the property so that he had a ready source of water to fight the fires. If you look back at some of my Australia posts from January/February 2020, you’ll see photos of the devastation of bushfires and some from Tony’s property. I’m happy to say that during a tour around the property with Tony, everything looked lush and green. Although there are many burned out trees still evident, it is amazing how the forest takes care of itself.

I saw this lizard while driving around the property with Tony. It was a big one!

We got a scare when Tony reported finding a dead wallaby on the property. It possibly had been hit by a car and dragged along for a while. It was then attacked by wild dogs that ate the head. Liz would be able to identify Jack from a torn ear he has, but that identification wasn’t possible due to the missing head. We were worried that the dead wallaby might be Jack. We all waited anxiously for Jack to appear and the next day he did. We were all relieved. Kangaroo and wallaby strikes by cars are a very common problem, just like hitting deer in New York. They do tremendous damage to a vehicle because these animals are very solid. But for now, Jack comes for a bottle, which Liz gladly supplies whenever he hops into her kitchen.

Saturday evening we drove into Coff’s Harbor for dinner at a place called the Jetty Beach House. Tony and Liz’s two girls, Linda’s husband and one of her sons with his girlfriend, met us for dinner. It was a nice evening.

On the coast there were gale force winds. The surf was pounding. It was quite dramatic watching the weather from the Jetty Beach House.

Saturday evening we watched tennis, of course. Liz is a fan and she keeps up a running commentary. Margaret and Clare played cards. Tony and Lou caught up on the news with each other.

Sunday started off rainy, but in the early afternoon the rain cleared and the sun came out. Linda came out for lunch. She had recently been to Malta and other places in Europe and was a riot telling stories about their travels. She is so funny, and she’s gotten the gift of gab from her mother.

Christine and I went for a walk down the driveway. We just love being at Krishanda. We passed by Bert and Ernie, Tony’s huge moving solar panels that track the sun’s movement.

Lou, Margaret and Clare drove into Coff’s Harbor late Sunday afternoon. They intended to walk along the jetty at the harbor, but a big storm blew up with strong winds and rain. They went to the Big Banana, a popular tourist destination. This area is called the banana coast as there are lots of banana plantations up and down the hills just inland from the coast.

We had dinner, enjoyed each other’s company, watched tennis, and turned in. Tomorrow we head back to Rylstone.

You’ve probably been wondering what’s been going on here Down Under since I haven’t posted in many days. Well, I’ll start catching up.

Wednesday is go to Mudgee day for shopping. Margaret picked us up and off we went. It’s a lovely drive and I thoroughly enjoy the scenery. It was a very hot day and we were all red-faced moving around the town. Lou and I met with the architect about the church ramp. Lou showed her the photos of the modular aluminum ramps I had found along with the photos I took of the church entrance. After considerable discussion, Barbara, the architect, agreed that it might be possible to use this kind of ramp. The big question is the total rise and would we have sufficient length on the walkway for the ramp. We had forgotten that total rise includes both the rise of the steps, but also the added rise from the walkway that does have a bit of a slope down toward the street. At any rate, with Barbara’s agreement, I think we have a more cost effective solution and Lou will contact the company that makes the ramps and start the process.

Mudgee is a nice little town with many heritage buildings. Here’s a picture of the town hall. Funny to see the Christmas decorations still up, especially when it is so hot.

One of the shopping stops for me was back to the pharmacy to get cold medicine. I can’t seem to shake this cold. After conferring with the pharmacist, I bought more AM/PM cold tablets and a different kind of cough syrup. I’ve been buying Robitussin, but the pharmacist convinced me otherwise and said I need to take 20ml of it with 20ml of hot water. And I will tell you it tastes absolutely terrible! But hopefully, it will do the trick.

We had to wait quite a while after shopping as Margaret was getting her car serviced. She had to wait a long time for the ride to come and then wait for her to pick up her car and come and get us. We were sweltering. But eventually, we were in an air conditioned car headed back to Rylstone.

Wednesday evening we went to the Rylstone Club for dinner. Originally, the club was for returning soldiers after WWII, sort of like our VFWs, but anyone can join. The club in Rylstone has a bowls green and a golf course, which Lou’s sister Marianne calls “rough,” meaning difficult to play with gritty greens (not green at all) and difficult turf to play in. The golf course is what we walk by on our walk to the cafe each morning. Someday, I want to watch a bowls session at the club, which is like bocci. While we were at the club, big storms swirled around with tremendous lightening and thunder, and finally heavy rain. We had to make a dash to the car.

Thursday, Margaret and Lou had appointments and so they took off early to Castle Hill, Windsor and Richmond. It’s a long drive and I wasn’t up for going. I laid on the couch watching tennis most of the day and napped all afternoon. This darn cold is wearing me out.

Friday, we packed up for a weekend away at Lou’s brother Tony and his wife Liz at their beautiful home in Nana Glen, also hometown of the actor Russell Crowe. It’s a very long drive, about 8 hours, and the weather forecast for the drive and the entire weekend was pretty dismal. The coast from Sydney northward has been battered by high winds and rain for days. There’s been significant flooding and damage from the wind. But we set off anyway and had fair weather for the first couple of hours.

I love driving through the countryside. It’s amazing to go from farmland, to sandstone cliffs, to rolling hills.

The driving is quite challenging through the mountains, which are the western edge of the Dividing Range, lots of hairpin turns both up and down. We eventually got to the major highway, the Pacific Coast Highway, and finally the rains came. Margaret is an excellent driver and she steered us through lots, and lots, of rain.

We left the Pacific Highway at Coff’s Harbor and made our way to Nana Glen and arrived at Tony and Liz’s at about 7:00pm. We were all happy to finally get there.

More about Tony and Liz’s lovely property in the next post.

It’s Tuesday and I can’t believe we’ve already been here a week. Time flies! Lou and I walked to the cafe this morning. The cockatoos were making a racket around the golf course. They don’t stay in one place for very long, but I managed to get a picture of a few sitting in the top of a pine tree.

Another bird that fascinates me, because of its throaty, sort of trill-like call, is the pied currawong. It’s native to Australia and is like a large crow with a few white patches. It has such a distinctive sound and I always pause to listen to it. Pull up a YouTube video of the pied currawong and take a listen.

Lou and I then drove to Kandos to pick up sound equipment from the church there. The Catholic churches in Kandos and Rylstone share a priest and equipment. The Sunday service is in Kandos the first and second Sundays of the month and in Rylstone the third and fourth Sundays. Lou’s friend Angela is the sacristan at both churches and between the two of them, I think they do all that needs to be done taking care of things.

The weather has been difficult to judge because the forecast has been for storms and rain, but so far, in Rylstone, we have watched storm clouds swirl past us without getting any rain. The iffy forecast has kept us from doing much, fearing we’d get soaked, but this afternoon we decided to chance it and go for an adventure to Ferntree Gully.

In past visits, I had seen signs for Ferntree Gully and had read a little about it. It’s a nature reserve just 16 kms from Rylstone. This was on my list of things to do this visit. So with Margaret and Clare, off we went.

The reserve protects an area of unique rainforest and western plant communities. The gully is a ravine that was formed through the rocks by rushing water. The track takes you down to the floor of the ravine. It turned out to be a bit more than we bargained for. You might not be able to see it, but in the lower left of the trail map it says, “some sections of the walk involve a fair degree of difficulty . . .” They weren’t kidding!

We did the gully walk and came back on the overlook loop. It was a beautiful area, but if the steps down didn’t wear you out, the scrambling over rocks and boulders on the way down to the gully floor did.

It was very cooling heading down into the gully. As we got lower into the ravine, the rock walls began to close in and the temperature dropped considerably, a good thing because it was hot and sunny when we started. It was quite a steep descent down into the ravine.

As we neared the bottom of the gully it was remarkable to see the patterns made by rushing water over the centuries. The sandstone was scooped out and rubbed smooth by water.

It was pretty narrow moving through the ravine. It was interesting to see tree roots clinging to the sandstone from trees standing at the top of the ravine walls. Once we were on the floor of the gully, the track was much easier to walk. Christine, with her non-flexible ankles, really had a difficult time picking her way through the rocks and boulders. Clare was so helpful in offering guidance on foot placement and extending a supportive hand during the descent.

On the floor of the gully is a boardwalk through protected rainforest vegetation. At the end of the boardwalk was a bench and we rested for a bit. During that time, Louis felt his shirt pocket for his prescription glasses, which he had taken off at the start of the hike, and they weren’t there. Somewhere along the way they apparently had fallen out of his pocket. Bummer! We talked about splitting up and having a couple of us retrace our steps back up the descent looking for the glasses and the others continuing on up the overlook track. We decided against that and continued on.

Of course, when you are at the bottom of a deep ravine, the only way back out is up. And so we started our climb up out of the ravine. First there were about a hundred steps. And then the boulders and rocks lodged into the gully from rushing water needed to be traversed. It was difficult for everyone, but especially for Christine. Having to step up and heave one’s body over and across large rocks was not easy.

While sitting in the rocky depression in the photo above, Christine’s cellphone slid out of her pocket, unbeknownst to anyone, and fell into a crevice. As I was helping her get up and pushing her over those rocks, a bluish color caught my eye and I reached down into a crevice to see what it was. It was Christine’s cellphone! I had no idea, nor did she, that the phone had fallen out of her pocket. Boy, were we lucky to have retrieved it. Margaret said it would have been a really expensive hike between Lou’s glasses and Christine’s cellphone, had we not retrieved the cellphone.

The hike back up took its toll on everyone. Lou, with his knee replacement, and Christine, with her inflexibility and fear of heights and trails on rocky edges, took the brunt of the strain. Lou said he was really pleased with himself that he did as well as he did. Christine had some dizzy spells, I think from heat exhaustion, and so for the last half kilometer we had to support Christine to keep her upright. At one point, she said, “I’m never going on another hike!”

We reached one of the overlooks and it was quite a site to see how far down we had hiked.

Once back at the car park, Lou, Christine and I waited while Clare and Margaret set off down the track we had hiked down. They wanted to look for Lou’s glasses. While we were waiting for them, we tried to cool off. I put a wet handkerchief around Christine’s neck and I poured a bottle of tank water over Lou’s head, which he greatly appreciated.

After about 30 minutes, Margaret and Clare were heard coming back up the track. Clare was about 30 feet from us and we were looking at her for some sign about the glasses. I thought she was going to shake her head, but then she leaned down and picked something off the ground. Lou’s glasses! They were right at the start of the hiking track and only 30 feet away from where we were sitting. None of us could believe it. We had all walked right past them lying there on the ground coming back to the car park. It was downright miraculous that Clare saw them.

So our adventure at Ferntree Gully came to and end. It really was a wonderful hike with many interesting and beautiful things to see. It was just a little challenging for Christine, but she made it in spite of the rough terrain and I was proud of her for hanging in there.

Back at Lou’s, showers were in order as we were hot and sweaty. Refreshed from our showers, we went to Margaret’s for dinner. She roasted a chicken and had lots of veggies. It was a delicious meal, and Daniel joined us. It was the first time we’ve seen Daniel since we’ve been here. He’s doing well and is working at Woolies managing online ordering and delivery. Clare brought out the cards after dinner, but we were too tired from our hike to play so we begged off.

Back at Lou’s we all were in bed fairly quickly. It was quite a hike today. I imagine we’ll be a little sore tomorrow from all the scrambling over boulders we did.

Saturday and Sunday were spent relaxing. My cold doesn’t seem to be getting better, so I haven’t been too chipper. So hanging out at Lou’s was just the right activity, although we did work on plans for a wheelchair ramp at his Rylstone church, St. Malachy’s. The sacristan, Angela, has a friend who professionally does planning and designing for building accessibility. She, Angela and Lou met and she sketched out some initial thoughts. Later, Angela, Lou and I went to the church to take some measurements based on the sketch. I thought the design was more than what was necessary and we debated pros and cons.

I wandered around Lou’s property enjoying the warm weather. Lou is really happy here and it makes us happy, too.

We watched some of the early round tennis matches of the Australian Open. We get a kick out of watching the AO in Australia.

Sunday we stayed home while Lou went to church and then a birthday party for his neighbor. Margaret and Clare came for dinner. Lou roasted a leg of lamb and it was really good. After dinner we played Uno, always a fun game. Christine was really tired and was having a hard time staying awake. We called it a night and went to bed.

Monday was another day of just hanging out. Lou and I walked to the cafe in the morning. It’s a really nice way to start the day. Of course, I don’t really need a cappuccino (full cream) every day, but hey, why not??!! Since we walk nearly 2 miles round trip, I can rationalize that it’s okay.

In the late morning, Lou said let’s go to the dam for a coffee. Christine didn’t want to go, so Lou and I set off. The countryside is so beautiful with rolling hills and the craggy mountains off in the distance. The dam is the Windemere and it is a very big dam that forms the Windemere Lake, which is a reservoir. It was nice to see on the welcome sign to the park that the reservoir is 90% full. The LA fires have been getting a lot of TV coverage here in Australia. We’re horrified to see the devastation and makes one sensitive to how full reservoirs are.

In Aussie speak, a dam is a body of water. Margaret calls her small ponds on her property dams, which really confused me initially. Lou pulled in to the Cudgegong Waters Park, which is a caravan park. It has a lovely little cafe overlooking the lake (or dam). I couldn’t rationalize the second cappuccino of the morning, nor the huge slice of carrot cake, but it was delicious.

On the drive home, I asked Lou to stop so I could take a photo of the landscape. It is so beautiful.

Once home, I did a little research on wheelchair ramps and found a company that makes modular aluminum ramps. I did some screenshots of various ramps in different settings and put together some information for Lou to show Angela. I think a straight on modular ramp right up the 3 steps into the church is better than what the designer suggested, and certainly more cost effective. We’ll see what happens.

Lou and Christine went to the beautiful outdoor pool in Kandos. It’s an Olympic-size pool. Christine did her laps while Louis paddled around. I’m glad Christine got a swim in. There were very few people using the pool in the late afternoon, so I think that should be a good time for a regular swim for Christine

We watched more tennis after dinner and then off to bed. I hope this darn cold finally gives up and goes away.

It was a beautiful morning for a walk to the cafe. I really like this routine, not only for the cappuccino, but for the exercise and watching the comings and goings along the main street of Rylstone. Louis is chatty with everyone and it’s nice to see him as a part of the community. Rylstone is such a lovely, historic town with many beautiful buildings.

There are lots of the trees pictured above all along the main street and down around the show grounds. I thought they were sycamore trees as they have a similar distinctive bark and the little round seed balls. But they are not sycamores. The are Liquidambar, also know as Sweetgum. Now it makes sense that they are a type of gum tree, as various types of gum trees are all over Australia that have this distinctive bark.

Banjo has a grooming appointment today and the groomer is pretty close to Mudgee, so after our morning walk to the cafe and a cappuccino, Lou and I set off to the groomers. Christine is holding the fort down doing her investing research.

It really is a lovely drive to Mudgee through the countryside. The area is known
for its wineries, stunning landscape, and historic villages, and is strongly supported by the mining, tourism, construction and agricultural industries. The central tablelands area starts on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, referenced as the Blue Mountains. Around Rylstone you can see volcanic peaks off in the distance. All around the craggy peaks you can see basalt lava flows and sandstone outcroppings. But for the most part, the landscape shows fertile agricultural areas where sheep and cattle graze.

After we dropped Banjo off at the groomers, Lou and I went into Mudgee. We stopped for a cup of coffee. I then wanted to go to a pharmacy and get some cold medicine and more cough syrup. With that accomplished, we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch and then returned to the groomer to pick up Banjo.

Along the road to Mudgee I’ve noticed this very small chapel just off the road in a stand of trees. I’ve always been curious about it. I asked Lou if we could stop so I could take a look. We weren’t sure of the exact location, but when I saw a large manor house off the road in the distance, I felt sure that somehow the manor house and chapel might be connected, and sure enough, just past the manor house came the chapel. I got out of the car to take a look.

There was a sign near the road that named the location as Havilah. The name apparently comes from the Bible. A clergyman found some specks of gold in the nearby creek. In Genesis, Havilah was an area rich in gold, and so the area was named Havilah. The homestead and thousands of hectares were purchased in 1881 by Henry Charles White. When he died in 1905, his son Henry Hunter White, had the chapel built in memory of his father. In 1908, White donated the chapel to the Anglican Church. It’s a lovely little chapel and I would have loved to see the inside. The chapel is named the Havilah Memorial Church.

I did a little research because I was curious about the family. Come to find out, the sixth generation of Whites remains on the homestead, which is called Havilah North since division of the property. The main business for the Whites is cattle and they have raised prize-winning bulls for generations. Also for generations, the family has raised race horses. It’s fun to be able to do this research and know that the White family remains on the homestead.

Back at Lou’s we tackled more dismantling of the Christmas decorations. We spent hours taking ornaments and strings of light off all the bushes and trees. We packed up many displays from around the front of the house and Lou took down the big strings of light that he set up to look like big sails around his flag poles. Again, I say it’s a good thing Lou has that big shed because he needs the space to store all his, and the church’s, Christmas decorations.

We had a light dinner of quiche and salad and afterwards, I was again so tired I could barely keep myself sitting upright. So, I went to bed. Because I was feeling so lousy, I did take another COVID test just be be sure I didn’t have COVID. Nope, just a bad cold. The cold medicine is helping to dry me up a bit, so hopefully I’ll get a better night’s sleep tonight.

Lou has lots of birds and so he spends a lot of time preparing food and feeding his birds. They are beautiful birds and I enjoy watching them, although many of them don’t take kindly to me standing up close to their cages. Over the next few weeks you may see many bird photos. Some of their colors are fantastic.

Wednesday is go to Mudgee day. Rylstone is a small town of about 1,000 people. The closest larger city is Mudgee, a town of about 11,500 people. This area is in the Mid-Western Regional Council, which I think corresponds to our county governmental areas. Mudgee is the largest town in the Regional Council. It’s about 35 miles from Rylstone and is a 45 minute drive.

Margaret drives some ladies to Mudgee for their shopping on Wednesdays. Lou and I went along to do our grocery shopping. Mudgee has 3 grocery chains so you can get whatever you need. Woolworth’s, referred to as Woolies, is the largest, I think. Margaret’s son Daniel works at Woolies, which means the family gets an employee discount. You save up shopping, errands, medical appointments and whatever, to do during your weekly trip and so we all scattered to do whatever needed to be done.

When we got back to Lou’s, I was totally wiped out. I’m getting quite a bad cold and with the jet lag, I was feeling pretty lousy. I fell into bed and slept like a log for 3 hours. With my head congestion, I guess I was snoring loudly because Christine said she heard me all the way down the hall into the main room of the house. When I got up, I did take a COVID test, just in case. But with all the sneezing and coughing that was happening during our flight, I’m not surprised I contracted something. Christine came with a bad cough, but fortunately, she seems better. Hopefully, this cold won’t last long.

On Thursday, we took the traditional morning walk to the local cafe for a cappuccino. Lou and Banjo (his lovely dog) do this every morning. It’s nearly 2 miles round trip, a nice morning walk. This morning we met 2 of Lou’s friends, Arthur and Gary. Gary and I engaged in quite a conversation about world affairs, including “justified” war. It was a very deep discussion, but after about 30 minutes, I kept giving Lou the eye with a slight head bob, indicating I was ready to leave. I imagine Gary would have carried on for possibly hours. He definitely knew his history.

We walked back to Lou’s via a route along the Cudgegong River and across the golf course. The screeching cockatoos were flying around making a lot of racket. They are beautiful birds, but really noisy.

I helped Lou pickup some Christmas tree forms from the church and then helped unloaded the trailer he, Margaret and Clare loaded up last night with the nativity display.

Back at the house, we helped Lou begin dismantling his Christmas decorations. Lou has a huge 3-bay shed back behind his house and all the church decorations and his own decorations get stored in the shed. Lou has a lot of Christmas decorations! He loves decorating his house. You can see some of the decorations below.

We’ll try to finish up the dismantling, packing and storing of his decorations tomorrow.

Lou took us to the bistro at the Globe Hotel for dinner. Surprisingly, this little town of Rylstone has two hotels. The Globe has been here and operating since 1855. When we got back home, I was knackered and headed to bed immediately. My cold is bad and I’m feeling unwell. Lou gave me whatever cold medicine he had, which is helping some. Christine’s cough is getting better each day, so that’s good. I hope I don’t reinfect her with my germs. Maybe I’ll feel better tomorrow.

We had an uneventful day in Los Angeles awaiting our 10:30pm flight to Sydney. We checked out of our hotel and hung out in an area at the Hampton used for breakfast. We essentially had the place to ourselves. It was comfortable and Christine set up her computer and did some of her investing research.

I didn’t realize that the breakfast area turns into a bar at 4:00pm and even serves some food. We got something to eat there, saving us the hassle of finding a place to eat at the airport. We ended up ordering way too much. We put the food in takeout containers thinking that we would finish the food on the plane during the long flight.

At about 6:30pm we ordered an Uber and made our way to the airport. The first challenge was to tackle the check-in kiosks which required scanning passports. Kiosks are not our friend and so we had to get some help. Eventually, our luggage tags printed and we headed to baggage check, where again we had to show our passports and answer a bunch of questions. We then headed to TSA security. It wasn’t too difficult and we moved through relatively quickly.

We settled into the waiting area at our gate. We had about a 2-hour wait and before we knew it, we were boarding the plane. The flight had a nearly on-time departure and we tried to think positively about our 15-hour flight. There’s no two ways about it, 15 hours on an airplane is torture. Neither of us slept much. The people in front of us reclined their seats, taking away a great deal of our seat space and making it virtually impossible to get anything out of our under-seat bags. The other problem it causes for me is the seat back video screen is hard to see because when it is that close to my face I have to crane my neck back to see out of the bifocal part of my glasses. Taking off my glasses makes for fuzzy viewing. Needless to say, I didn’t watch much during the flight. Christine watched a couple of movies. We both played a lot of games and did puzzles on our iPads. The rest of the time we watched the flight tracker and walked up and down the aisle.

We didn’t need to bring all that takeaway food because we got dinner, a mid-flight snack, and breakfast. Australia has very strict rules on what’s allowed into the country and veggies and nuts/seeds/grain (like our Caesar salad and grain bowl) had to be tossed before we got to immigration. We did declare our packaged trail mix and snack packets, just in case customs stopped us in a search. Better to declare than to be fined. At any rate, immigration and customs went smoothly, we kept possession of our snacks, and we were off to find the train.

In past visits, we were met by one of the cousins who had to drive quite a distance to the airport and then get us halfway to Rylstone. I decided that we could get ourselves to Lithgow on the train. Lithgow is about an hour from Rylstone and Louis and Margaret would pick us up at the train station. Lithgow is about 90 miles from Sydney Airport. From Lithgow to Rylstone it’s about 60 miles.

We managed to find the train to Central station and purchase tickets to Lithgow. We had to ask what platform the Lithgow train would leave from because it was a little confusing reading signs and finding which way to go, but we managed to get to Platform 6. We had only a 24 minute wait for the train. However, an announcement was made that there was disruption on the line and the train coming into Central and then turns around and goes to Lithgow would be delayed. And it was delayed nearly an hour.

The train arrived and we boarded for the 2-1/2 hour trip to Lithgow. Unfortunately, the weather was awful, rainy and foggy, so we didn’t get to see much going over the Blue Mountains. We made 27 stops, some with great names like Emu Plains, Warrimoo, Bullaburra, Katoomba, and Zig Zag. And we finally rolled into Lithgow.

Margaret, her daughter, and Lou were doing some shopping, but we finally met up with them and it was a very happy reunion. We were very excited to see them.

We stopped for lunch and then headed to Rylstone. By now, it’s 4:00pm Aussie time and we’re exhausted. Margaret dropped us off and Lou’s. We unpacked and had dinner. Before we headed off to bed, Lou wanted to show us the nativity scene he put up at his church, St. Malachy’s. He’s dismantling it tomorrow, so he wanted us to see it all lit up. It was beautiful!

So, we’re here safe and sound.

We’re going to Australia! We’ve been planning this trip for several months. One of the things we do since our more recent trips to Australia is to have monthly video chats with Louis and Margaret, Christine’s oldest and youngest cousins in Australia. We have established very close relationships with both. During our past trips, we’ve stayed with Louis and so he is our home base while in Australia. Our last visit was exactly two years ago in 2023, and since we’re all getting older, we’ve decided to visit again sooner rather than later. So we’re off to Australia.

Flying out of Binghamton in winter is always dicey. Although the weather forecast has been for just cloudy skies the day before and the day of departure, it snowed. We got about 4 inches yesterday and today. I guess Mother Nature wanted to remind us that we really are in winter, the cold snowy kind here in upstate New York, and not the sunny, hot kind of winter we’re heading to Down Under.

My brother Grant picked us up at 9:45am Saturday morning. We follow the suggestion of arriving at the airport 2 hours early. Our airport is under a massive renovation and it was kind of a mess. Two hours early meant there was no one at the ticket counter and no TSA staff of duty. So we waited in a cold hallway that’s under construction. Eventually, staff arrived and we were told our plane would be at least an hour late. Uh-oh! We have a two hour layover in Detroit before our flight to LA. An hour delay was doable. Of course, it wasn’t an hour, it was nearly an hour-and-a-half before pulling back from the gate. Gulp!

The flight to Detroit was uneventful. It was overcast all the way so I couldn’t take many airplane shots. But I got a couple.

We arrived in Detroit and moved swiftly through the C terminal to the tunnel to the A terminal. We love this tunnel, although we didn’t really have time to enjoy the changing light show today.

Of course, our departure gate was nearly to the end of one wing of the A terminal. We stopped and bought sandwiches on the way and arrived at our gate just as the plane was boarding, so that all worked out okay. Phew!

The flight to LA was nearly 5 hours. I don’t want to think about this being just one-third of our fight time from LA to Sydney. That’s what we have to look forward to tomorrow.

Once again, there was thick cloud cover until we got close to California. I love looking out the airplane window, but there wasn’t anything to see this flight until we were almost on the ground.

Whenever I see such a massive display of lights from the air, I always wonder what Thomas Edison would think if he saw the same view. It’s a pretty amazing site.

Amazingly, our luggage made it to LA and we retrieved our bags and headed to the bus stop that takes us to the area for taxis and ride shares. It’s in an area named LAX-it. A bus is supposed to come every 5 minutes. Not! We waited a long time, about 30 minutes, and watched many empty buses pass us by. When a LAX-it bus finally came, getting us and our luggage on it was not easy as it was pretty crowded. Christine got wedged into a seat with one of our small bags pushed up against her legs and pinching her into the seat. The ride was about 20 minutes all around the terminal. We got on the bus at terminal 3, and the LAX-it lot is before terminal 1, so we had to go the entire way around 8 terminals. Fortunately, since we were packed in like sardines, we didn’t have to stop at any of the other terminals to pick up other passengers.

I was going to order an Uber to take us to our hotel, but the Uber line was long. There wasn’t anyone in the taxi line, so we hoped right into a taxi. Our Hampton Inn is just a couple of minutes away from the airport and we arrived at about 7:30pm California time, and it was cheaper by taxi than it would have been by Uber. We were both exhausted and happy to be at the hotel, with all our luggage.

We ate our sandwiches,chips and cookies for dinner and settled in for the night.

Even though this photo was at the start of our trip, we both look tired to begin with. I should have taken another photo when we got to the hotel for comparison.

We both got some sleep, but awakened early. We’re still on Eastern time. That gave us an opportunity to see a nice sunrise this morning.

Now we have a long day, Sunday, as our plane isn’t until 10:30pm. We have to check out of our room by 1:00pm, but we’ll hang around the hotel lobby for a few hours. I don’t want to get to the airport too early because hanging out there, if we can’t check in several hours early, won’t be very comfortable. Christine has an errand on her agenda which involves a long walk to a store for a certain product she wants. Before walking that distance, she’ll call to see if the product is available. That will take up some of our time.

At any rate, we’re excited to be on our way to meet up with Louis and Margaret. We have another mini adventure awaiting us there as we are going to try and get ourselves from the airport to the Central Station by train, and then getting a train to Lithgow, where we’ll meet up with Louis and Margaret. That will be interesting!

Our final day in Sevilla, and the end of our four week trip. I’m definitely ready to head home. Always nice to go on an adventure, but even nicer to go home.

Christine was still feeling poorly this morning, so she opted to get some rest and stay in the hotel. Some of the group joined Lucia in a walk to Triana Market to pick up some items for our cooking class this evening. We are learning to make paella.

Again, a beautiful day in Sevilla, but very hot and humid, so walking to the market was not exactly pleasant. We were all happy to be out of the sun when we got to the market.

The market wasn’t as big as I expected, not nearly as large as the market we visited in Rome. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful place. First of all, being in Triana, a ceramics mecca, there were so many wonderful tiles all over. Most of the stalls had beautiful tile signs overhead. And the colors of the vegetables just added to the visual delight walking around the market.

One of the things I’ve really enjoyed eating is Iberian ham which comes from the hind leg of an Iberian pig. However, reading about this meat gave me a little bit of a sick feeling. It’s illegal to import Iberian ham into the U.S. because none of the slaughterhouses in Spain conform to U.S. food safety standards. I’ll just leave it at that, but it sure is tasty. Meat shops have several pig legs hanging up and when someone wants to buy some jamon, the butcher takes down a leg, puts it it this holder, and slices off very thin long slices.

After the market we strolled around Triana for a bit. One of the tourist attractions is a statue of a bullfighter who has an opening through his chest. At the right angle, one can see the bell tower of the Sevilla cathedral through the opening, representing that the heart of the bull fighter is Sevilla.

There were some nice photo ops crossing back from Triana. The jacaranda have been glorious.

During the afternoon back at the hotel, it was time to get ourselves packed and organized. We need to be up at 4:15am tomorrow to get to our train that leaves for Madrid at 5:50am. With our cooking class this evening, we didn’t want it to be a late night, so we got ourselves about 95% packed with a plan made for in the morning.

We then went down to the bar in the hotel to have a drink while waiting for our group to gather. One of our group was already there, Dennis, who is a retired white collar crime prosecutor. He is having a tough time in life since his wife died 5 years ago. His kids talked him into going on this trip in an effort to get him out of his funk. He seems like an interesting man, and we enjoyed getting to know him a little better. I’ve liked talking with him to get his take on the Trump trial since the issues are his expertise. He’s been following the testimony very carefully.

And now off to cooking class to learn to make paella. We all walked back to Triana for our class, which was in an area in the market. Leo, our instructor, was a good teacher and explained each step in the process. We made both a vegetable paella for our two vegetarians and a chicken paella for the rest of the group. We set about cutting up chicken and vegetables and Leo guided us through each step. It’s really a complicated process, or at least there are many steps. Paella originated out in the fields where workers picking vegetables would use whatever was available to add to their rice. Traditionally, chicken or duck, rabbit, and snails were used. Now, paella can be made with any kind of meat or seafood. Leo made a big point of saying anything but chorizo.

You start by searing the chicken. The chicken used are the de-boned thighs, legs, wings and some bits from the carcass, like the tenderloin and the oysters.

When that is done, it’s pushed around to the outside of the pan. The pan, which is the paella, is a large, flat-bottomed pan with sides that are about 2-3 inches high. It’s a round pan. Leo’s pans were sitting atop a two ring burner, one ring around the outside perimeter, and one around the center of the pan so that each area could be controlled. After the meat is pushed out around the edges, vegetables are added. You can use anything you want. We used flat green beans and added some other soft kind of beans, like very large butter beans.

Once those are done, they get pushed out around the edges and the minced garlic and onions go in the center. Then the smoked paprika (lots of it!), then a bit of oil. That gets cooked a bit forming the basis of the sofrito. Added to that is the rest of the sofrito, which is red and green peppers and tomatoes that have been cooked down and blended into a puree.

Next comes the broth that was made from the chicken carcass, but an important step is to grind up some saffron in a mortar and pestle, and to not waste any of the expensive spice, add a little of the broth to the mortar, stir around with the pestle, and pour that into the pan.

Then broth that was cooking using the carcass and bones from the chicken we cut up is added.

As you go along, the ingredients are stirred using a large flat utensil which is pushed circularly along the bottom of the pan. Leo said stir this way so as to not make waves which slop over the side of the pan.

Next comes the rice, a Spanish rice called bomba. How much? Leo showed us how to add the rice by pouring in an amount in a strip across the paella pan from side to side.

The rice gets stirred in using the circular motion. Once mixed in, Leo warned not to touch the paella pan again. A few sprigs of rosemary are charred and laid on the top of the mixture.

Cook on high heat for 5 minutes, then medium heat for 5 minutes, then low heat for 8 minutes. Not touching the pan ensures that you get the Socarrat, the crispy rice on the bottom.

We’re ready to eat paella!

We whipped up a quick gazpacho to have as a starter, which was so delicious made from the beautiful large ripe tomatoes from the market. And then we got to eat our paella. It, too, was delicious and we all enjoyed our paella along with sangria that we made. I think we’ll get the recipes, which I’ll appreciate, so I know the amounts of ingredients.

I think everyone had fun, but it got so hot in that kitchen. We were already warm from the walk over to the market in the 90+ day, and to stand around those two very hot gas-fired cooking rings, well, we were all red-faced and very warm. But it was a nice way to celebrate the end of our Roads Scholar week.

Back at the hotel, we said our goodbyes, as we were the first out Tuesday morning at 5:00am. We enjoyed getting to know our little group. I think we’ll have some ongoing contact with some whom we bonded with. Linda and Joel, a couple from Philadelphia, we really enjoyed.

So our four-week adventure in Malta, Rome, Madrid, and Sevilla comes to an end. We had a blast and everything worked out well with all our travel and places to stay. The only down side is Christine’s asthma attack that has triggered a significant respiratory problem. We’ll get her to the doctor when we get home.

So, unless we have a travel misadventure, that I’ll report on, we’ll be home 11:00pm May 14, after a 26-hour travel day. Thanks for coming along with us. We’ll take you along again on our next adventure!