Anyway, as I was navigating, it came really apparent that Matt has no sense of direction nor an attentions span. He had told me this in the past, but I really didn’t realize until this trip just how bad it really was. Perhaps this is because it is the first time we have driven somewhere that was mutually unknown to both of us since we drove to the Blue Mountains two and a half years ago. And when we drove there together, I assumed responsibility for the wrong turns and missed stops because I was trying to navigate from the wrong side of the road and also trying to learn about traveling in Kilometers instead of miles and interpreting all the weird signs along the road. Who wouldn’t be a bad navigator under those circumstances. But now, I am pretty well practiced at the Kilometer thing and have worked out most of the signs and symbols used here on the Australian roadways. I really do think it is Matt and not the navigator. Left and right seemed to have become too complicated to retain for more than about 30 seconds and forget trying to give directions for something more than five minutes away. Hence, I was constantly watching the map so I could make sure to harass Matt in time for a turn or two. Sadly, this meant that I didn’t get to look around me all that much on the complicated route to Manly, but I did get to gaze in awe at a few sites along the way. I want to point out that if you think Seattle traffic is a nightmare… oh my, come, try to drive in Sydney. It is absolutely ridiculous. When you come to visit this lovely city… stick to public transport because it is far easier to tackle and it takes you to pretty much all the sites anyway. So as we wound down into Manly, a much praised surfing beach of the rich and famous, I was shocked to find out that we were staying RIGHT near all the action. We were right across from the pedestrian mall and kiddy-corner to the Manly Warf.
The mall was quiet. Even though it is school holidays here and a lot of people travel this time of year, they weren’t bombarding Manly. They probably went further north to find warmer weather. The weather was fair while we were there if only a little too windy. I can tell that this area is insane during the summer months and packed to the gills. The mall was lined with shops, eateries and “hotels” Hotels here mean pubs/bars. Usually with a ‘bistro’ inside serving just about anything you want for grub.
At one end of the mall is the Manly Warf where the ferry from central Sydney arrives every half hour or so and the other end lands you at the beach. Not just any beach… but a boardwalk lined beach with nudists, kids and tourists most of the day and then at lunch time the folks dressed in their business suits and skirts come out to have lunch on the steps of the beach. Some even must change at work just for the occasion and take quick swims or surfing stints… Anyway, the place did get crowded from about 11:30 to 2 on Monday. 
I managed to find a nice spot to sit and read along the steps until a little Chinese woman decided to plop down with an ENTIRE loaf of bread… She began feeding the Seagulls you can see here and then hords of them came flocking to the area. The noise of them fighting over each little crumb of bread drove me away and I went to find a new place to settle down to read. I did walk by about an hour later and she was still there feeding the birds and was only about halfway through the sack of bread. There area had pretty much cleared of people, so I wasn’t the only one driven away by the scene.
The day spent people watching at Manly really made me start to compare living here with Seattle. You definetly can’t go surfing at lunch in Seattle and you can’t renew your energy stores by catching rays everyday. Although I still think that the overall beauty of Seattle is better. Come on, you have snow capped mountains on either side of you and on those really clear crisp days, you have to relish in the nice weather because they don’t happen everyday. Here, there are in the midst of a 4 year drought and water supplies are down to 18% of capacity here in Melbourne and 50% in Sydney. Some areas are worse than that and we all have water restrictions to some degree. The threat here in Melbourne is that they will move to stage four restrictions come August if they haven’t gotten X amount of rain (by the way X is a VERY large number). Yet, everytime it rains, everyone is complaining about the drizzle and grey skies. The folks at the bakery are always shocked about how non-chalent I am about the rain… walking to work in the rain, I don’t carry an umbrella as when it rains in Seattle it is usually windy too so the umbrellas tend to just snap up and break. I tell them this is nothing because I know that the next day the sun will come back for at least half the day. I tell them about the 29 days of rain we had in Seattle during the winter of 05/06. And not just drizzle of showers… full on rain most of the day. They don’t believe me. Like I said… the rain here is NOTHING!
So the next day we drove further north to the city of Newcastle. This isn’t exactly a city that makes it on many peoples radar when seeing the sites of Australia, but I will say that I really liked the town. It was fairly good sized, but still felt like a small town. It had all the necessities, but retained most of the olde town feel of colonial times.
That evening Matt and I walked to an RSL. Returned Serviceman League. This is a club for members that pay an annual fee. However, if you are a visitor to the area and live greater than 5 K’s, you can come for free and play on the slot machines (pokies) and get cheap food at the bistro… I qualify since I am from another country. J And when I say cheap… I really mean cheap! It was great food, and the prices are subsidised by the house takings from the machines. Think Vegas in a very small establishment. Anyway, we had dinner and I put $20 bucks in the pokies. (remember---slot machine!) I played for about half an hour and was down to about 10 bucks when I hit the ‘bonus’ play and won $37. So I cashed out and found Matt where he was playing Roulette. He was down to about $7 bucks and he had also put in $20. He survived for another 20 minutes or so and then crashed and burned. Meanwhile, I was having my first Ginger Beer. It is SOOOO YUMMMMMYYYYYY. I can’t go back to Ginger Ale after having that stuff! It was like what I imagine going to A&W and getting a fresh root beer must have been like 30 years ago. Matt was jealous of my winnings and so we went back to the hotel. The next day he had to go back up to the suburbs to work at some stations and I was going to walk around the town until he came to pick me up around lunch time.
The town did suffer from severe flooding about three weeks ago when they had some torrential rains in the hills surrounding the Hunter Valley. This all drains into the Hunter River which is a major port at Newcastle. The main level of all the buildings in downtown Newcastle were all boarded up or having repair work done as the flood waters had receded. It was a little eerie to walk down the street and I kept picturing New Orleans in my head. I haven’t been to New Orleans before or since the damage from hurricane Katrina, but can picture in my head now the desolate destruction that must have happened in some parts of that city. In the storms a Bulker ship anchored off shore managed to get blown into the reef/sand bar off the Knobby beach. The spectacle of trying to recover the giant ship was all over the news here for weeks on end and the night before we arrived in Newcastle it was finally tugged off shore 13 miles. From a tower in Newcastle I could see the tanker off shore with its tug boats still attached and later in the day it was tugged into the port for further inspection and repairs as the propellers were damaged while it was stuck and some damage was done to the hull. With damage to the major rail lines and the harbor itself, the major export of coal from the area wasn’t available. In the mean time, the ships scheduled to come pick up there loads to take to China were backing up outside of the port. From Newcastle Beach I could count 24 large bulkers waiting offshore and on the news that night they indicated there were some 74 ships waiting to pick up there loads. The mines inland were all in working order but the rail lines weren’t keeping up because of the ongoing repair work. It sounded like they were close to being 100% again, but who knows. I did take the train out to the suburb Matt was working in to help save him some time and everything seemed fine.
We then drove further north again to the town of Taree. This town is true rural Australia. Even though it has a population of around 18k, it is spread out and we stayed at a Best Western along the Manning River. It was just a small portion of the river that was sectioned off by a decent sized island. The water was thick with brown mud and the banks crowded with overhanging bushes and shrubs. In the morning while Matt was checking out of the hotel, I went down to the BBQ pit to check out the river and half expected to see a crocodile floating just under the surface. I have never got such a chill before. I had to leave pretty quickely because I had freaked myself out so much. I am sure that there aren’t any Crocs in the area, but it definetly felt like there could be. So after Matt worked at the service station for two hours we started to drive to Singleton which is a bit west of Newcastle. There was a town on the map with my name so we took a back route hoping to find a sign with my name, spelled correctly, on it. But, after winding through and around some beautiful valleys, bluffs and stations, there wasn’t so much as a sign for the turnoff. I then promptly fell asleep because the winding ride had exhausted my brain with sensory overload. It was the epitome of Australian landscape. The 100 Kilometer drive was vast, rugged and energizing. The sun was baking the already dry, crusty earth and the muddy streams had evidence of large washouts with scarred sand bars swirling around them ten or fifteen feet on either side. The road followed the path of druken cows through the ruff landscape and if I was the type to get car sick, this would have been the trip to do me in. Luckily, I can hold my own as long as I am not drinking something while reading in the back seat. So, I just marveled at the landscape and since it was the only way to anywhere, I didn’t have to study the map much so I could gaze out the window most of the time. It really made me feel small. As we pulled into Singleton, it was getting dark so I didn’t know what to expect the next day. It was a smallish town that was A shaped. The two main streets colliding at the tip of the A with little side streets crisscrossing in between. The main strip that was to the south had shops and cafes lining the busy street and I went exploring over in that direction since Matt had to work at yet another service station. As I wandered along I came across a sign for the worlds largest sun dial. Okay… Can’t resist that, so I went to have a looksie. Sure enough there was a nice big sun dial and a man wearing white socks, tennis shoes and shorts was animately talking to a woman with long hair, sunglasses and a light jacket. Americans. I made my way over to them and asked them where they were from, they were surprised when I said that I was from Seattle (remember—Australians have no idea where Spokane is for the most part). So I chatted with them about where their journey was taking them and recommended a few places along the coast (Narooma is one of them) and they went on their way so I could take this picture of the worlds larges sundial that points south instead of north!
Exciting isn’t it??? I thought so! Anyway, then Matt and I took off to get back to Sydney. And we took the road less travelled back to the big city. Again unequal beauty and mistique as we wound our way through the Yengo National Park. Again, I found myself comparing the vastness of this land and the urban-ness of the city. As I was riding along, I couldn’t help bu be overwhelmed by the cast difference this area felt from everywhere else I had traveled so far. When we went to the Blue Mountains, this landscape is similar to that area, but the emptiness felt much greater here because we still had 100 Kilometers to a city or town. Where the route to the Blue Mountains is dotted with towns and service areas. I really began to realize where the cities and happenings are and why they are so crowded. I miss the country. This trip really made me crave small town America. Taree and Singleton reminded me of Colville and reminded me that there is no going back there for me anymore. My Grandparents house will be sold by the time I return home to the states. This caused a very strange sensation to wash over me. From longing and homesickness to resolve and a renewed strength to make my own way in life and build my new version of home.
No one can tell me that Australia is unfriendly. I have met many nice people. People that are willing to stop and provide directions, information or recommendations. And people that are just happy to be here. America could take a lesson from the folks here. Especially the people in the smaller towns and cities. Absolutely hospitable. The cities are definitely cities here as anywhere… probably slightly nicer than the average American city, but the towns are where the gems are. This trip really made me miss living in the country and being neighbors with people you actually knew. I had a rare experience in Seattle with my neighbor Sharon being so open and friendly I think. Anyway, take some time and meet your neighbors if you don’t already know them. It is invaluable, whether it is for that ‘cup of sugar’ to finish up the baking or someone to notice that something at your house isn’t right… Know your neighbor. I have to take my own advice and meet my neighbors. One of these days very soon, that is my goal for this month, to meet my neighbors. Just wait, I’ll meet them all and then Matt will finally decide to be serious about house shopping and I’ll have to start over again. That’s okay. J It will give me something more to write about!
I do want to share a few more things (told you it was long winded!). First of all, driving back through Sydney to the airport was costly! We had to pay a toll for the freeway into the city. $4.40 and then to take the tunnel under the harbor was another $3.00… Not only that, but it was very confusing. We wanted to try and take the Harbour Bridge (the one you see in all the pictures) but at the last second realized that we were in the wrong lane. We were hoping to see the USS Kitty Hawk that has anchored in the Harbor for a week to let its crew have a bit of a rest on its way to or from—not really clear on that—the Middle East. There are about 5000 crew members on board and the city of Sydney was quite excited to have all the boys on shore. Oh… by the way, prostitution is legal here and the Brothels were at the pier ready to welcome the ‘boys’. The news was interviewing a couple of the women and asking about their rates and how much they anticipate making while the soldiers were in the city… unbelievable!! None of them actually said their rates, but hinted about making >$10,000 this week alone. OMG!
The last thing I want to share is this link to a map I created on Google. This has all the sites I have visited since meeting Matt. I don’t have my original trip on here as of yet and I haven’t decided if I am going to put it on there… but as I see sites, I’ll add book marks. I also put Matt’s family’s homes on there as reference. J
If you click on the link and then on any of the funny blue bookmark peg things and then zoom in, the bookmark you selected will stay centered and you’ll be able to see a lot more detail.
As always, keep letting me know what the news at home is because I love hearing from all of you! If any of you have a web cam and want to chat, I am usually logged in 3-4 times a week around your early evening time on MSN. alison.edgett@hotmail.com send me an invite, I would love to see you!!
Cheers,
Alison
