A lagoon and some beaches

Narabeen Lagoon was on our list of potential walks, so I’m glad we made it this week, on what was Pauline and Andrew’s final day here with us.

After parking up near Berry Reserve, we set off in an anti-clockwise direction around the lagoon. If, instead, we’d chosen clockwise, and therefore turned left out of the car park, we would have reached a coffee shop much, much sooner. Still, it was a lovely walk, on a well-made path that stayed close to the water most of the time. We crossed South Creek, with which the lagoon is connected to the sea.

Again, it was nice to be out in the Sun, but it was equally welcome when we could avoid the full extent of its heat and indeed, most of the walk was in the shade.

The soundtrack to our walk was provided by birds, including kookaburras, although it was very hard to see them up in the trees. We did catch sight of a well-camouflaged heron by a tree. But most of the wildlife that we saw consisted of runners and cyclists plus a few dog-walkers.

We crossed over South Creek, Deep Creek, Middle Creek and South Creek. Well, that’s confusing, isn’t it? I think it’s because the lagoon is just a very wide section of South Creek. It was hard not to smile, but seeing this sign was inspiring.

We very nearly missed this little devil.

He was harder to spot than the black swans in the water, but they were too far away to see clearly.

Smalltown Boy came into my head and for a while, I didn’t know why. But I think I must have seen a sign for the Jim Somerville Bridge which takes us over Middle Creek. I suspect it’s named after someone else, not the lead singer from Bronski Beat.

Pauline and Liesel marched on ahead and after Andrew turned back, I really thought I’d catch up with them at some point. But I didn’t.

The school for future sports people was entertaining although I only witnessed one young person falling in the water. “Junior development coaching programs for boys and girls age 12-16 with a focus on developing pre-elite junior athletes for Australian Junior Team representation. Recognised Pathways program for Paddle Australia and NSW Institute of Sport.”

“Could you be our next Olympian for Brisbane 2032?” Well, let me think about that. Maybe I’m just a little too far out of the age range.

Close to the RSL ANZAC Village, there is a series of plaques commemorating various wars and other action in which Australian forces took part. It’s quite moving when you see one after another after another, it makes you realise there’s never been a long, totally peaceful period in our lifetime.

It’s a dead tree on which someone has hung an old tee-shirt, see? Not an actual tea tree nor even a ti-tree. Well, it made me laugh, anyway.

And I did see more black swans later on.

As I completed the circuit around the lagoon, I realised that this walk today, although long, was my favourite so far on this trip. I never felt short of breath, I didn’t feel I had to stop for a rest, I didn’t feel like I couldn’t keep up with the group and I felt I could have walked all day. The perfect temperature helped of course.

A couple of guys were cutting back the vegetation at the edge of the path. The strimmers were loud, but at least the cutting stopped as I walked by. The only disappointment was seeing that they’d left the engine of their van running for no obvious reason. I turned the engine off and threw the keys into the bushes. No, of course I didn’t.

Part of the walk was close to the main road, and here I spotted more exotic birds.

The sign for the Tramshed coffee shop was appealing. I had to check it out because I suspected Liesel, Pauline and Andrew would be enjoying a beverage there. They weren’t but they soon joined me and we had lunch.

This was a good way to spend the day, on what would have been mine and Pauline’s Mum and Dad’s 70th wedding anniversary.

We drove Pauline and Andrew to the airport: it had been a quick week with them. Both were going into work the next day, after a three-hour flight and four hours sleep. Welcome back to Christchurch!

Liesel and I continued in a southerly direction, to Erowal Bay. This was supposed to be for a nice quiet and peaceful couple of days. But at the back of our minds always was, where can we charge the car?

The b&b was easy to find, although we arrived later than intended, thanks to traffic on the main road. It seems half of Sydney are heading south with their boats for the Easter weekend.

Holy Cow! No, that’s not an expletive. It’s the name of the tiny Indian restaurant where we enjoyed dinner.

Liesel had some work to do, the b&b WiFi was dodgy, and her laptop didn’t want to connect to the mobile hotspot on my phone. After poking around, I fixed the problem, hooray. But in the end, even this WiFi wasn’t good enough for Liesel to work. So we tootled off to the nearby Sanctuary Point Library. Liesel worked, I wrote, and the librarian ladies were very friendly and helpful.

The Plough and Harrow, just along the road, made lunch for me. Cheese and salad baguette. I was going to leave some for Liesel. But it was so good, I didn’t stop munching until it was all gone. So, they made another one for Liesel.

In the library, meanwhile, Liesel was plugging away at whatever she was working on, but she had to tell someone else to stfu because he was unwittingly singing along to the music in his headphones!

All work and no play makes Liesel a dull girl, so in the afternoon we headed for Collingwood Beach, parking up at Valencia. The beach was all but deserted and we enjoyed a nice, long stroll, on the squeaky white sand.

We walked the full length of the beach, as far as the creek, which we could have waded across, but nah, not today.

Time to charge the car. What a nightmare. The provider associated with the car rental company only has slow chargers. We needed a fast charge. We found one, so we drove there. The card scanner didn’t work, which meant we had to download the app. The app isn’t available in this country. Despite having an Australian SIM card, as far as Google Playstore is concerned, I am still in the UK. So I called the helpline. The lady was very sympathetic but couldn’t do much to help. What if I give you my card number so I can pay that way? Nope. But she did give us a couple of other leads. Which is why we found ourselves in Gerringong. This EV charger was slow, but at least it connected, and I was able to download its app. We might not be stranded after all.

Gerringong Bowling was very welcoming. We bacme temporary members so while waiting for the car to sort itself out, we ate our dinner. It was also Trivia Night here, so we decided to have a go. Our two-person team was called The Antics.

After the first round, we were tied leaders with 8 out of 10 points. We should have stopped there. Two music rounds were almost fruitless. The picture rounds were Aussie-oriented. We ended the quiz with a total of 30. Sadly, there was no prize for coming last. Dinner was good but I think we’ve both had enough French fries for the time being, the portions are huge!

The car needed more oomph and we decided to return to Gerringong for the day. It would take another 9 hours to fully charge the beast. But our first port of call the next morning was Hyams Beach, famous for its squeaky sand. It was a busy place, lots of families here for Good Friday.

Proper sky blue sky here today too, fabulous. And congratulations to nephew Rob who is now a Canadian citizen, they’re very lucky to have him.

Back to Gerringong where we plugged the car in for several hours. While waiting, we had a quick walk on the beach, and a sit down, watching people, boats and even a helicopter.

When the Bowling Club opened, we joined again, just by showing our driving licences. Nobody was pointing at us for being total losers at the quiz last night: so glad I was wearing a false beard and glasses, and so was Liesel.

Lunch was great, no chips, but a lot of bread!

So while at Gerringing Bowlo this arvo, we could play bingo or even music bingo, we could place bets at Keno, we could have eaten at Cabo Pacific Grill and then after all that, we could book a cab home via Rydo.

Instead, we watched some people playing bowls, mostly in bare feet.

After charging for five hours (!), the car finally had enough charge to take us home. It shouldn’t have been this stressful and anxiety-inducing. But it has been a wonderful learning experience. Liesel and I had previously agreed that our next car should be electric. But our confidence has been shaken. There are too many variables: fast and slow chargers, different cables, different ways to pay, you might not be able to download a required app for arbitrary reasons, and then of course, you might turn up at a suitable place only for the equipment not to be working that day.

I tried to steer clear of the red zone in the bed, but it was a fruitless endeavour. When I woke up, I realised what a ridiculous dream it had been. It was time to return the rental car. The ‘assistant’ wasn’t bothered by our comments. The navigation system in the car tells you where the charging points are. It does, yes, but most are unsuitable, you can’t just rock up with a BYD at a Tesla charging station and expect it to work. His apathy made us forget to tell him that the vehicle was only 60% charged when we collected it, but when the email arrives inviting our comments, well, I’m rubbing my hands in anticipation…

We have a couple more hire cars booked, and I can confirm that both are gas-guzzling vehicles with infernal combustion engines, but at least we know we’ll pass petrol stations on a regular basis.

We went to Sydney Airport via bus to the Mall for breakfast then a bus to Manly then a ferry to Circular Quay then a train to the airport. Yes, Liesel was off to Honolulu to meet her Mom and bring her back to Brookvale. We remarked on how easy and relaxed the journey to the airport was, compared with our EV experience this week. Liesel checked in OK, and after a coffee, she headed for the departure gates while I headed off for the city sights.

On the train, we’d wondered where Museum Station would take us. Well, of course, on my return to the city, I found it was The Australian Museum. Which I already knew. I didn’t visit today because there’s a chance we’ll come along with Leslie, Liesel’s Mom, at some point.

I wandered close to Chinatown, and generally walked in a downwards direction, back to Circular Quay, then beyond, to the Opera House.

People were still walking up and over Sydney Harbour Bridge, but I didn’t have time to do that (!): instead I set myself the task of taking a picture of the Bridge at sunset. Rotten timing though. The best shots were taken from the ferry back to Manly.

Back at home, where I arrived much later than I thought I would, I recorded the nightlife, whether it be frogs or grasshoppers or whatever and then for my supper, I had a cheese and chutney sandwich with the sourdough loaf we’d bought earlier.

A few days ago, Helen asked me if I’d be alright on Saturday night on my own. I responded ‘Yes’ almost before she’d finished posing the question! So here I was, by myself on a Saturday night, in someone else’s flat. A perfect opportunity for a rave, I thought, so I invited a few friends over and we had a great party, lots of drum’n’bass turned up to 11.