A Change of Pace

Lucky us! We got to experience driving into Sydney in rush hour on the M5, to return our car to the airport – what I'll do to save a day's car rental charge. We arrived to a glorious and welcomed change of weather in Sydney; it was about 25 degrees with cool breezes wafting off the ocean. Friends (J&R) that we met eleven years ago on a month long voyage around South America, reside in the UK but have in recent years transplanted themselves to Sydney for four months of each year. Their son, his wife and children emigrated to OZ three years ago which made it such an easy choice for J&R to make the escape from the dark, gray winter days of England.. J&R have a lovely little apartment in Coogee, a beach suburb which is on the coast only a few miles south of the city centre and they generously shared their home with us for four days and we had a wonderful time together. For me, it was such a pleasure to be chauffeured around town after a week of driving on the wrong side of the road.


Having visited Sydney previously and spent quite a bit of time there, we had explored all the usual tourist haunts, so this time we saw more of the locals' hangouts. There's a cliff walk that winds up and down the coast for miles – north of Coogee, it curls up to Bondi Beach (the most famous beach of them all – I think).


There was a display of objet d'arte (modern sculptures) spread along the pathway in Tamarama, on the rocks, tucked into niches and on the green open spaces. They were massive creations with humungous asking prices - $30m and up and I'm not sure how many people would have room for them even if they could afford to buy one. It made for an entertaining stroll even though my attention was more on the magnificent cliff and ocean views. 'Two Hat Jimmy' had his home in the rocks on a precipitous headland in the midst of the art walk.


He'd squatted there for many years and nobody bothered him. But he was accused of molesting a young woman and so the police dragged him off. A few days later, two huge cranes were brought in to lift all his possessions out and it was noted that the smell was extremely putrid as they disturbed his pathetic belongings.



At J&R's apartment in Coogee, we had a little balcony off our room in the midst of a tropical garden and with the door open, we awoke each morning to the cawing of cockatoos, chattering of parakeets and the raucous racket of the kookaburras. How different from our chirping robins and cawing crows. I swear it sounded like we had monkeys in the trees too.


While we were in Sydney, J&R along with their son and daughter-in-law (P&A) closed a deal on a pair of adjoining houses sharing the same property. P&A and their three children are making Australia their home and have no plans on going back to the UK permanently. J&R will spend four or so months per year there, perhaps even longer. They all get on wonderfully and will respect each others privacy even when living in such close proximity. J&R will have the pleasure of being close to their grandchildren and their house will be looked after by P&A when they're back in the UK; P&A will enjoy a bit more freedom by having grandparents next door always willing to babysit. Reciprocity at its finest!. It doesn't look as if J&R will ever see dreary winter weather again.


Restaurant meals being so expensive here, it was a treat to look at a menu with prices more like those at home. That was only because we were at the right time for the early bird special and the entire menu was discounted 50%. J&R frequent Danny's, a little seafood place in the quiet seaside haven of La Peroussa and it's where we dined on a shady balcony our first night along with J&R's son and daughter-in-law. A great meal, superb company and the ocean below. I could live here very easily. (that is if we could afford it).


We woke up day after day to sunshine and moderate temperatures and we explored a different part of the city each day. We never tired of walking along the cliff-hugging path through beaches and around rocky promontories. Along the way, we found a few geocaches, giving R the GPS to hone us in. J was far less enthusiastic about geocaching than R. We've put her in the “what's the point?” category. We've found when we've introduced friends to geocaching, there are basically two types, they either love it (like me) or they don't understand why we geocachers bother.....there are far more in the 'What's the point?' group.


A miraculous sight – a pod of whales cruised slowly past our rocky bluff as we re-hid a geocache. They appeared to be frolicking; they blew their waterspouts, they breeched and crashed back into the surf repeating the process every 15 seconds across our sight line and around the headland. It was a thrilling encounter. I questioned some locals as to what sort of whales they were but it was only when we met up with J&R's 13 year old granddaughter, wandering along with her group of friends, who pronounced them 'humpbacks'.

Look closely and you'll see the whale fully out of the water - do you know how hard it is to get a photo of a breeched whale?

Evenings were always spent playing bridge which we love; not playing too well because it's been years since we've played. Just wish we had J&R at home in Vancouver to play with.


Australia is a brash, in-your-face but friendly society, yet it is by far more like the UK than Canada is. The schoolchildren wear uniforms to school; many of the houses are built of brick in British style; tea and beer are the drinks of choice. But it's certainly not as conservative in manner as Britain or Canada. Sydney is a youth-oriented beach society. Sports are loudly supported by everyone; rugby, cricket, Australian rules football, horse-racing, golf and of course surfing and other water sports. Melbourne is a trifle more sedate and doesn't appear to be as youthful.

We were treated to an Aussie barbecue on our last evening in Sydney – at P&A's. They threw some 'shrimp on the barbie' (or prawns, as they're really called in Oz), followed by salmon, chicken, filet of beef and accompaniments – a 'carnivore's feast. A storm rolled in midway and there was a terrific sound and light show as the thunder roared and lightning lit up the sky.


The days passed so quickly and it was time to head back to Melbourne. Qantas owns a domestic airline, Jetstar that offers cheap no frills fares, especially if you don't check luggage. We flew from Sydney to Melbourne for $80 each including all taxes and fees – great deal. They use a tiny little airport way out in the country, south west of Melbourne, towards the Great Ocean Road - Avalon Airport. But conveniently there's a shuttle bus that meets every incoming flight and it only cost $20 each to get right back to the Southern Cross station which was right across the road from our hotel. We sat in the front seats and the friendly bus driver chatted to us all the way. He told us about 'Black Saturday', which somehow we'd never heard of in Canada. It was in February, 2009 and Melbourne's temperature soared overnight to 50 degrees C and Avalon reached an unimaginable 55 degrees C. (These temperatures are purely what we were told; others have told us that they are much exaggerated) Forest fires raged and towns were obliterated; many folks died in the blazes and the extreme heat. They've now created a new fire danger rating in addition to the existing 'low' 'moderate' and 'high' – 'catastrophic' is now the highest possible warning and it has been declared for November 19 in Southern Australia which is where we're headed next. This is the first time such a warning has been made. I don't think we'll be walking around the streets of Adelaide if the heat blasts like that.

We reclaimed our large suitcases from our hotel in Melbourne, repacked them a bit, compacting all our miscellaneous odd and ends to make it easier to move over to the Dawn Princess. Our young taxi driver was an Indian who emigrated from Bombay ten years ago. He had no Indian accent left,...he was totally Australian. I asked him about Black Saturday and he likened the temperatures to a furnace and said that never in India had he experienced such heat. Other than Thailand, I think India is the hottest place in the world. I do know I've read of the extreme deadly heat waves they experience every year. The cab ride was only $23 to the port and we embarked on the next portion of our Australian adventure – Fernie's favourite part, the cruise.