Quito Ecuador  25 September 2015

Hello occasional followers and others.  I can't believe it has been almost two weeks since we started our trip to the Americas.  We have done so much it is hard to keep straight in my mind, even with the help of my diary.

We left Australia on September 11 via an incredibly crowded Sydney airport.  Took us a good 2 hours to check in and clear security and customs.  LIne ups everywhere in the international terminal.   Half of Australia seemed to be on their way to somewhere else.

Our flight to Santiago Chile was as pleasant as flying in cattle class ever is, and landed on time.  We caught a bus and the new and very reasonable metro to the city and found our way to the airbnb apartment with our friendly hostess Marcela.  We were in the Baquedano area which is very convenient to the older area of the city and to parks and museums. After we got settled, we had a short walk around, but by that time it was about 3:00 pm and we did not have time to see some of the museums near us.  We stopped for a coffee in the Parque Forestal, a big green space near our accommodation.  Bill ordered a cafe negra and I ordered a macchiato.  What I got was a huge mug of frothy milky, coffee: a "Latte Macchiato".  Something was lost in translation there.

The next day we took a bus trip to Vista Del Mar and Valparaiso.   Beautiful drive through the mountains to Vista Del Mar which is a resort much frequented by Chileans and other South Americans.  Lots of parks, big apartments, chi-chi shops and white sand beaches with clear water but few people were swimming.  Apparently the water is too cold at this time of year.  It was certainly warmer than Yamba in winter so I don't know what the problem was.

Valparaiso is a more working class city with more poverty.  We walked through "Happy Hill" an area of late 1800's houses originally occupied by Europeans.  The streets are very steep and narrow.   The houses, primarily covered with vertical corrugated iron sheeting, are painted in bright colours with vivid trim.

 Pablo Neruda's home was in this area and is now a museum.  We visited the building but did not have time to go through the museum.

We had more problems with dinner.  We knew most restaurants did not really open until 9:00-10:00 pm but what with jet-lag and me fighting the flu we really wanted to eat earlier.  Small cafes were open, but Chile is no country for vegetarians.  They have four major food groups, fat, salt, carbs and meat.  We dined at a small local cafe and found another common Chilean occurrence:  A huge menu, of which only a few items were available.  We settled for pizza and beer.  The beer was good, the pizza was a thin, crispy crust with an almost non-existent smear of tomato sauce topped by a lake of rubbery mozzarella.

Sunday we walked around the city, visiting a beautiful park called Santa Lucia.  It is dominated by a large hill planted with gardens, interspersed with

paths and terraces.  From the highest point there is a panoramic view over the whole city, as far as you can see through the smog.  Santiago has very bad air pollution, even though most of the heavy industries have been moved out of the city,  The rapidly increasing number of automobiles is the culprit.   We also visited the Chilean Pre-Columbian Musequm which had a stunning collection of artefacts, all well lighted and displayed.  Pottery and textiles were particularly well represented.  There was less metalwork and jewellery than I'd hoped for, but all of it was very good.

Santiago has a huge population of stray dogs.  They

all seem quiet and somehow fairly well fed,  but are found sleeping in parks, on corners, in the middle of the footpath, just about everywhere you go.

Sunday evening we had dinner of Chilean sushi with our hostess Marcela.  Chilean sushi is light on raw fish and heavy on cream cheese.  I do not think one goes to Chile for the food.

Monday was a very early start for our flight to Quito in Ecuador.  The airport was a nightmare, even worse than Sydney. When we finally got to the check in desk an hour later, we found that they had oversold the flight and we had no seats.  Apparently, with Lan Chile you can go online up to 48 hours ahead and print your boarding pass.  (And if you don't do this, it appears you are unlikely to get the seat you have already paid for.)  The upshot was, they booked us into the airport Holiday Inn for the day, rerouted our flights, and gave us the offer of $US 816.00 each in flight credits to be used in the next 12 months, or $US 408.00 cash each on the spot.  We took the cash.  Whatever made them think that experience would make us want to fly with them again?  Luckily we left just before the earthquake and tsunami that did so much damage in Chile.

As a result of our flight delay, we missed half a day in Quito, arriving at midnight instead of the early afternoon. We stayed at the Hotel Vieja Cuba.  It is a small building with whitewashed stucco walls and a tiny garden surrounded by a black wrought iron fence.  It is all nooks and crannies, and has beautiful french paned wooden casement windows and doors.  Our room, number 11, was on the second floor in a curved tower section and had a little lounge and the toilet on the first level, and our bedroom up a spiral staircase on the second level.  It was spotlessly clean and has golden polished wood floors.  The hotel is utterly charming and the staff are very friendly and helpful.  All  day and all night coffee and tea in the dining room and breakfast of muesli, yogurt, fruit, juice, eggs, bacon ham and toast are included in the room price.  For this we pay Australian $110.00 per night.  Excellent.

We lost most of another day in Quito  trying to catch up on sleep and recover from the flu. We did manage to cram in quite a bit into out first afternoon, however, walking to the botanical

gardens situated in a large urban park near our hotel.  Very shady and restful, with a stunning orchid house full of orchids all sizes and colours in full bloom.

We spent Wednesday touring the old town on foot with its green squares patrolled by municipal police on Segways, splendid churches, and numerous museums.  We walked from Independence Square to the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus (Church of the Society of Jesus Quito).  The church took 160 years from 1605 to 1765 to build, and is the utmost expression of the Baroque style in Ecuador.  It was a fabulous building, every available surface carved, painted gilded or decorated.  The Jesuits had to train an entire local workforce of carpenters, stonemasons, carvers, painters, artists, sculptors etc.

It is hard to imagine any modern entity or government undertaking such a massive project that took generations to complete and still retained the focus of the original plans. It has been partially rebuilt 2 or 3 times due to earthquake damage;  the most recent restoration taking place from 1987 to 2005.

We also visited the San Francisco compound, which consists of a Church, Monastery, museum and the square.  The church was built by the Franciscans and makes a big effort to be as ornate as the Jesuits.  I thought they were supposed to be a mendicant order. The church is Baroque again, but smaller and in worse repair.  It is still splendid and magnificent, and has a huge ongoing restoration program.  We saw some of the restoration workers in the church and near the workshop area they had set up on the upper balcony of the monastery.   Part of the monastery is now a museum of a huge display of religious art made by local artisans and artists of the"Quitenian School".  From the monastery/museum you can access the church choir balcony and get a stunning view of the church from the upper levels.

There are many more churches in Quito, including the magnificent municipal "La Catedral", but we only had limited time.  We also visited the Museo Casa del Alabado.

 This is a beautiful little museum of Pre-Columbian Art. 
  The works are thoughtfully displayed and lighted, and every work is a gem.  They are arranged thematically, describing the place of these works in the native religion, world view and cosmos.

Thursday brought another horribly early start to the airport (could Bill have really arranged these flights?)  We flew via Guayaquil to Baltra in the  Galapagos.   For me, this last week has been the highlight of our trip.  We have been on a 'budget" cruise on the ship Darwin around the islands.  The boat is clean and comfortable, if small.  The guide speaks a tortured English but manages to get his ideas across.  It is much better than my non-existent Spanish.  We have been to about 8 islands with snorkelling every day, visits to giant tortoise protection areas and breeding centres, and a few hours in the small towns.  Every island is a revelation, and every one is different.  You can really see and understand Darwin's theories here.  Yesterday we were on two different islands with the Opuntia cactus.  On one, the cactus was short and had soft spines as it had no species that used it as a major food source.  On the second island, the cactus was tall, had a tree-like hard trunk and thick, spiky spines.  Here the giant tortoise and land iguana eat the cactus, so it had developed protective features.

There are many beautiful and diverse beaches, of white or red or golden and even black sand on the various islands.  The water is clear and turquoise.  The fish life everywhere has been colourful and abundant.  I must have over 100 photos (after culling) of fish every day.  The corals are not so colourful or thick as we are accustomed to see in Australia.  There are also many other water animals to look for, including sharks, turtles, galapagos penguins and sea lions.  The bird life is also interesting and many birds are easy to approach quite closely, including the red and blue footed boobies.  We have also seen frigate birds, flamingos, galapagos storm petrels, brown pelicans, galapagos mockingbirds, yellow warblers with a melodious song, and many of the Darwin finches.

 The Galapagos has been the highlight of our trip so far for me.
Tomorrow we finish our cruise on the Darwin and head for the Ecuadorian Rainforest near Coca. Till next time.

Out of Africa 3 Kruger, Okavonga, and Victoria Falls

We left you as we arrived in Johannesburg by train, picked up our VW polo hatch and headed for Kruger NP. Overnight in Middleburg in a nice BNB and then 6 nights in Kruger. On the first game drive (on our own) we saw a very fat, well fed, leopard sleeping in a tree,  and later we saw a leopard's kill hanging in a tree, but missed seeing the leopard. We stayed at 4 different camps during the stay, and every day we drove around seeing gazelles, kudu, hippos, elephants, giraffes, warthogs, cape buffalo, vultures, honey badgers, and more. Had to backup on one road, to give the elephant, who was pawing the ground,  right of way.

Fat Leopard

Elephant Crossing

One morning, we had a personal guided walk with armed rangers thru the park. Most animals were scared of us, and stayed far away. We did, however, see fresh lion tracks as we were returning to our vehicle - disappointing as we didn't see any other lions in Kruger.

Next stop was Johannesburg again, over some potholes caused by coal mining trucks,  and then off to the Okavonga Delta.  Gunn's Camp was without Wi-Fi but otherwise 4 star. Excellent food, (and lots of it--5 meals a day!!) with morning and afternoon boat or mokoro (poled fibreglass dugouts) trips thru the Delta. Sundowners, one evening next to 3 hippos in a pool, were a highlight of the day. The nights were also interesting with elephants wandering through the camp, knocking down trees and railings. We were obviously not allowed to go out of our tent at night!

Okavonga Sunset

Hippo Pool

We were sad to leave the tranquil green marshes and rivers of the Okvango Delta,  but our next adventure beckoned.  We flew from our camp to Kasane in Northern Botswana,  and from there by car to Zimbabwe and the famous Victoria Falls.

We are now about to leave Victoria Falls, after 2 nights here. Seeing the falls took about 2 hours and US $30pp, but even now, in the dry season - spectacular! The rest of the time we checked out all the shops, watched the adventure tourists white water rafting and zip-lining, beat off the street sellers with a stick, swam in the hotel pool and ate. Dieting is going to be required, on returning home!  Victoria Falls was also the worst place for mosquitos that we have encountered.  And they are totally silent,  no high pitched whine to give you an early warning they are about to attack.

Victoria Falls

2 more days in Johannesburg to see Soweto and the apartheid museum, and 2 nights in Perth, and we will be home. Final blog will probably be from Yamba...

Out of Africa 2 Cape Town & Western Cape

Our last blog ended with us descending Table Mountain and ending up with very sore legs that persisted for a few days.    Before we left Cape Town we also visited the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens,  an awesome spread of beautiful  plantings on the lower slopes of Table Mountain,  with the mountain itself as a backdrop.  The spring flowers were beautiful,  especially the hedges of Bird of Paradise in orange and yellow. We also visited the V and A Waterfront, an upmarket shopping mall on part of the old harbour. We thought about going to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned,   but the grey, stormy weather and rough seas put paid to that idea.

We also visited Green Market Square, an area that used to be a handmade craft market,  but is now just immigrant Nigerian and Somali traders selling the ususal tourist junk.

Leaving Cape Town the next day we drove along the coast via the stunning  Chapman's Peak Drive that clings to the ciffs as it winds its way along the coast to Cape of Good Hope and the Cape Point Lighthouse. We took the funicular railway most of the way up to the lighthouse. The wind was very cold and blowing a gale,  interspersed with showers of horizontal rain. The area is wildly beautiful with heathlands,  craggy rocks and peaks,  and pounding surf on the shore. 

Cape of Good Hope

We also stopped at The  Boulders, an African Penguin Sanctuary where we watched the release of some rehabilitated penguins back into the wild.

We spent the next few days making our way north up the spectacular west coast of South Africa.  It is an area of numerous mountain ranges, often marching right to the shore in steep cliffs and crevasses, interspersed with white sand beaches. We stayed with lovely people we contacted through airbnb.   After many stops at beautiful places on the coast including Hermanus, Mossel Bay and the very unaptly named suburb of Wilderness, we ended up in Knysna (pronounced Nys nah). This is a beautiful tranquil bay with magnificent rock cliffs forming the heads either side of a narrow channel to the ocean. We stayed here three days and visited the awesome Storms River Mouth to the north where we hiked to the river mouth and up a very steep climb to a lookout.

Knysna

Storms Bay

We also took a cruise to Knysna Heads and hiked down through the Featherbed Reserve to a tasty lunch at a Featherbed Restaurant looking out at the lagoons and the heads.

We drove back to Cape Town via the inland route to Outdshoorn.  We did the tourist thing and visited the Cango Caves and an Ostrich farm.  Bill took a ride on an Ostrich, but it was so quick, there is no photographic evidence. Did you know that Ostrich is the second toughest leather in the world (after Kangaroo)? We crossed many mountain ranges interspersed with fertile valleys and endless green and well managed farms.  We became connoisseurs of mountain passes  and river valleys through the ranges.   The highway engineering here is truly amazing with excellent quality roads twisting and climbing through rocky gorges and divides.  The roads of all types from expressways to gravel are of excellent quality and all in good repair.

We made our way back to Cape Town through the wine regions and pretty towns of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch.   We sampled some wine in the Robertson area, had an excellent lunch in Franschhoek, and did a walking tour of the museums and heritage Cape Architecture in Stellenbosch.

Stellenbosch

Afrikaans is spoken  widely here,  although most people speak excellent English as well. We were occasionally flummoxed by town street signs with English on one side and a different Afrikaans name on the other.  And a grocery store aisle with signs for versnaperings,  grondboontijes,  verromers,  skyties,  sjampanje,  langlewe sap,  stroopdrank and doos wyn had me worried about what we were going to eat.    But food is very  cheap here in restaurants and supermarkets,  and there are lots of ready to eat meals in the supermarkets so we have eaten well.

Most of all,  the South Africans we met have been wonderful.  We can't fault their kindness,  generosity and helpfulness. They are true tourist ambassadors for their country and have willingly offered food and drink,  rides,  use of a car,  help with washing our (very dirty) rental car--we can't resist a gravel road:  nothing was too hard.   Their only failing is they can't help showing their disappointment that you didn't spend your entire South African vacation in their part of the country that is obviously the best possible place to be.

We have returned our little rental VW Polo to Cape Town and embarked on the Shosholoza Meyl train from Cape Town to Johannesburg.  Our cramped sleeper cabin with purple leatherette upholstry looks like something out of the 1950's but it is running to time so far. Look out for our next installment.

Train travel is tiring

Hello blog followers. Some of you may know that we are on trip through Africa.   We haven't published for the first two weeks as many of the places we were staying had marginal and/or very expensive  internet.  But now we are in Cape Town SA and back in the electronic world.

We flew out of Brisbane on 29 August.   Our trip did not get off to a flying start as Virgin cancelled our flight to Perth,  apparently due to a shortage of cabin crew!! Not very impressive.  The later flight that they put us on missed our  connection to Johannesburg, so we spent an unscheduled night in Perth. We arrived at our eventual destination,  Nairobi Kenya,  a day late.  Luckily, we had planned to be in Nairobi a day before our Safari started,  so we did not miss that  but we did miss out on looking around Nairobi.

Our Kenya Safari started by driving out of Nairobi,  across the Great Rift Valley,  and into the Masai Mara. Mara Simba Lodge greeted us with elephants at the front gate,  and crocodile and hippos in the river behind the lodge.   On our first evening game drive we were overwhelmed by the numbers and variety of game that we saw,  including lions, wildebeest, gazelles, warthogs,  zebra, cape buffalo, giraffe, and a rare black rhino.  And all in just two hours!!

Our time in Kenya  continued in this vein in all of of the parks that we visited.   In Lake Nakuru NP we saw wonderful bird life including large groups of flamingos and beautiful crested  cranes. In Lake Naivasha NP we took a boat cruise and got up close to a mother and  baby hippo,  as well as seeing fish eagles.   Both of these lakes are in a string of water  bodies that run down the Great Rift Valley.

Our last National Park in Kenya was Amboseli, located at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro.   Unfortunately,  during our whole stay there the mountain was shrouded  in clouds and we never got to see it. We did see more interesting birds including Ostrich,  Kori Bustards and Secretary Birds.   Our main interest this trip was wildlife and Kenya was awesome.

The second week of our Safari took us into Tanzania,  and out to the Serengeti Desert. The sky in the Serengeti never ends.  The vistas are vast and empty.   Animals were not as concentrated as in the Masai Mara,  but we did see vast herds of wildebeest and zebra stretching to the horizon on their annual migration.  We also saw our first leopards, a mother cheetah and cub, and prides of lions. At one point a grumpy elephant charged us,  but luckily he was  not as fast as a Land Cruiser.

We also visted Ngorongoro  Crater,  an incredible circular plain surrounded mountain ranges.   Our hotel was high on the crater edge and we  could gaze down into it from our rooms. We spent a beautiful day down in the crater,  where we had breakfast beside a pool full of hippos.   We later watched anothef huge group of hippos take mud baths and roll over to coat themselves with mud.   An upside down hippo,  kicking his feet in the air, is a never to be forgotten sight.

In between game drives,  we managed a few other activities,  including an early morning  ballon flight and visit to a Masai village in Kenya,  and guided nature walks and Swahili  lessons in Tanzania. (The most useful words of Swahili we learned were "hakuna metata"--"no problem")

We have left Safari life behind for the immediate future,  and are now in Cape Town SA.  We are staying at a beautiful bed and breakfast house in Geen Point,  on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the stadium built for the 2010 world cup.   Today we took the cable car up through the  clouds to Table Mountain,  then walked to the highest point at Maclear's Beacon.   We later walked down the mountain via Platteklip Gorge,  a spectacular 2 hour walk that left us with jelly legs and and aching knees. A local member of one of the mountaineering clubs took pity on us and offered us a ride back to our accommodation.   We gratefully accepted,  and shared a beer with him at a pub on the way home.

We are staying in Cape Town for 2 more days,  then picking up a rental car and heading up the east  coast.   Stay tuned for more adventures.

2013 YE Report from Yamba

Friends,
Here I am, on Christmas day, dictating the newsletter to my phone. 2013 was a busy year for us settling into our new home in Yamba. We just celebrated 1 year in Yamba with a party on our back deck for 30 people. All were new friends and their partners we've met since we moved here. Most of the year we've spent setting up our new home. We added a pantry and dishwasher to the kitchen, installed 2 televisions, built-in wardrobes in both bedrooms (who builds houses without wardrobes?!), weeded the yard and did the inevitable maintenance on the the two tenant's places.
Bobbie has re-established  her jewellery studio, and is making and selling the creative results.  She has also joined the local Arts an Crafts Group and has her jewellery for sale in their co-op gallery at nearby Maclean.  A piece she entered in their annual award show was highly commended.  Not too bad for a first go. Bill has refurbished his boat and has finally completed a club race just before Christmas. He has also taken Bobbie's cousin Janet (visiting from Canada) for a sail.
We had an exciting introduction to life in the sub-tropics during January to March of 2013.  During January, massive storms flooded and washed tons of driftwood down the Clarence River that flows through Yamba.  Instead of moving out to sea, as it usually does, the wood washed back onto all of our beaches, up to a metre deep in places, leaving the local Council with a massive clean-up headache.  The heavy flooding also caused a lot of damage in low-lying areas and Yamba was cut off from the main highway for 5 days.  Luckily, our house is up quite high so the flooding does not affect us.  Later in March, storms again cut the Pacific Highway near the coast. This forced us to travel to Sydney via the New England Highway (the inland route) on our way to meet friends in Sydney.

As far as travel is concerned, we have been back to Sydney (700 km) 3 times. Bobbie was also back in Canada  in November, as her mother, Lucille, passed away this year and she went back to spend some time with her sister Naomi and settle the estate. During the year we also spent 10 days minding a motel. A friend of Bobbie's, who owns the motel in Hawks Nest (about 2 hours north of Sydney) needed a vacation to visit her daughter in Vanuatu. We haven't completely forgotten about our camping and have been camping for 2 weekends in nearby national parks. We also spent two weeks travelling and camping with Canadian friends Mike and Rhonda when they visited Australia for 3 months.  It was good to catch up with them and share some travels.  They later visited us in Yamba before heading home. No long trips were taken but our plan is to do more camping in the new year. We have also been to Port Macquarie to a craftshow/ exhibition where Bobbie displayed and sold some jewellery. In Port Macquarie we stayed with a friend Peter Thompson and caught up with Dave Moxon another old friend from Sydney

We are thoroughly enjoying the slow and easy life in Yamba with a weekly routine much different from that in Sydney. On a normal day we walk to the beach and go for a run and/or a swim. Bill dips his toe in occasionally Bobbie always swims. Wednesday is market day, in the park near the lighthouse, where we pick up fresh fruit and vegetables for the week after our trip to beach. Additionally Bobbie swims 3 times a week with the local masters swim club as well as swimming on Sundays with the surf club as she has for many years now.  She has also joined the local surf club and is already involved in an executive role. Bill does the sailing race most wednesdays, and usually goes to the Yacht Club bar on Friday nights.
Keeping fit and doing regular exercise has insured our health has remained good despite Bill having a swollen foot and cellulitis from an ant or spider bite and spending a couple of weeks recovering.
In other activities Bobbie has been going to the Men's Shed (oops Women's Shed) every Friday and has completed several projects. The first was a wooden toolbox so she can carry her tools to and from the shed. The second was refinishing a stool and the third is a very elaborate 11 spool clothes rack to hang under the model boat ( built by her grandfather ) which functions as a hat shelf by our front door. See picture below

P. S. Dictating to the phone was OK, but the extensive editing required didn't save much time. BTW my new phone is a Phablet - Sony Xperia Z Ultra with 6.44“ screen...
Best wishes for the New Year and we hope it is happy and healthy for you.
Cheers,
BiLL & Bobbie
M: 0411 877 499 / 0412 832

Travelling North -- Our New Home In Yamba

Belated Merry Christmas and a Happy 2013

Yamba NSW

The blog has been a bit thin lately as we finished our travels in mid November and spent some time in Sydney.  There was a bit of coming and going, but after looking at houses in the area we used to live in Sydney, we decided we did not want to spend the money required to buy a house there and made the big decision to move north.

 In early December, we put an offer on a house in Yamba and it was accepted.    Yamba is a coastal town in northern NSW about 7 hours north of Sydney and 3.5 hours south of Brisbane, Qld.  It has a population of about 7,000. The economy is based on tourism with fine surfing, swimming and fishing beaches.  There is also a  successful commercial fishing industry.  Sugar cane is grown in the area, as are blueberries, which might surprise Canadian readers who think of them as cold climate plants.  The area is sub-tropical and there are a number of interesting coastal and inland national parks in the area for camping and exploring.  There is sailing on the mouth of the Clarence River for Bill, and golf courses in town and 20 kilometres to the west in the town of Maclean.

Our new house is 2 blocks from one beach and a 10 minutes walk to another.  It is two stories with a 3 bedroom + study flat on the top floor for us, and 2 x 2 bedroom units on the ground floor.  The ground floor units came complete with tenants so we have truly taken on a new lifestyle.  We think it will be handy when we travel, however, as the tenants are pleasant and it will be good to have people around while we are away.  There is also a big double garage which has been a lifesaver as we “downsize” into this smaller living area. 

1/58 Yamba Street (corner of Ager Street)

Living Room looking out onto front porch

Outdoor covered entertaining deck

Our new address, for all those intending to visit or drop us a line, is

1/58 Yamba Street

Yamba  NSW  2464

Australia

Our mobile phone numbers are the same and so are our email addresses.

It was difficult to leave all of our friends in Sydney and the many organizations we were involved in – the Mona Vale Surf Life Saving Club and Silver Plus, the jewellery group which after three years in the wilderness finally got a new workshop – were dear to Bobbie’s heart.  Bill will miss his sailing buddies, Chris with the Monday Night Twilight Races, his Wednesday golf group and the dune regeneration group at Mona Vale Beach.  We hereby issue an open invitation to all our friends to drop in to Yamba and check the place out.

We have already jumped into the Yamba lifestsyle.  Bobbie has joined the surf club and today entered the Yamba 2K Ocean Swim.  A year on the road with more running and cycling than swimming resulted in a modest performance and a great sigh of relief when she finally crossed the finish line.  Bobbie found a Masters Swimming Club with many friendly faces and hopes to get back into swimming form in the next few months.  She also met the Surf Sports Coach for Yamba SLSC but is not sure she wants to get back into board paddling.  We shall see.  Bill went out for Wednesday afternoon races with the local yacht club, and was much appreciated crew for one captain whose other crew weren’t available.

Overview of Yamba and mouth of the Clarence River

Main Beach Yamba

Pippi Beach Yamba

Downtown Yamba.  Update to Google Maps required (see sign)

We end this blog with an unashamed commercial plug for our friend Jenny, who runs a sparkling clean and friendly motel in Hawks Nest, NSW.  She has kindly put Bill and I up on our travels back and forth to Yamba.  The hotel is in another beautiful coastal tourist spot about 2 hours north of Sydney.  Jenny can recommend the best beaches, hikes, kayak hire and fish and chips in the area.  Go to www.hawksnestmotel.com.au

Hawks Nest Motel

Going down the coast

Just a few pictures and comments on our trip down the Queensland and NSW coast. Apologies to my Aussie readers, who have seen it all before and might find it boring. We still enjoy revisiting many of the areas you see below. We are also looking for a place to buy a house and settle down. Bobbie wants a surf beach where she can swim daily, and Bill wants a large bay where he can sail his yacht (a 24' keel boat), and not have to sail on the open ocean.

Rolling Stone Big4 camp site near Townsville with Green En-suite facility

Beach at Yeppoon - sunset

After Townsville we stopped at Hervey Bay, but found that there is little sailing, and the beach is a mud flat at low tide. Next was Agnes Waters where we re-discovered the wonderful ocean surf beach and relaxed lifestyle. Unfortunately there is little sailing with the channels behind Fraser Island quite shallow. On to Yeppoon, where there are ocean beaches and a good harbour (we used it on our way to the Witsundays a few years ago), but sailing on the unpredictable ocean would be required.  We did however enjoy cycling there, as it is mainly flat.

Water Park in Hervey Bay

Next stop was Noosa where we stayed with friends Jan & Lindley, and enjoyed sleeping in a house for a change. Sorry Noosa has no bay to sail in, although one of the best beaches in Australia.
From there we went to Maroochydore and Coolangatta to enjoy the beach life again. Nice cycling along the beaches and we remember stopping in the Rosslyn Bay harbour when we sailed a friend's yacht to the Whitsundays a few years ago. Unfortunately again there is only open ocean for sailing.

Beach entrance at Maroochydore

Moving down now to NSW we stayed near Cabarita Beach and visited a friend in Tweed Heads and had lunch with other friends from Queensland. Not surprising  they were almost an hour late for lunch, as Queensland is the only state not on daylight savings. We looked at new houses in a nearby beach-side development called "SALT". Very nice houses in our price range - but there is unfortunately not a bay in which to sail. BTW, we finally recovered from the flu, after getting some antibiotics from the clinic in Tweed Heads.

Bobbie's morning swim at Cabarita beach

On to Byron Bay (a mecca for alternative culture), just to relax and lay back. Jogging on the beach, cycling and swimming were excellent. Then to Yamba, at the mouth of the Clarence river. Finally a large river on which you can sail a yacht  Here Bill met some local Yacht club members, and we attended a house auction. Definitely a possibility for settling down again.

Cloudy sunset over moorings on Clarence River Yamba

 It is Melbourne Cup day and we just finished a pleasant afternoon in the South West Rocks Hotel. The beaches are fine although the weather is windy.

Beach at South West Rocks

On to Port Macquarie tomorrow, where we will stay in a house again with friend Tommo.
We are on our way back to Sydney to check out the real estate there on the northern beaches. We know that area has swimming beaches and both Pittwater and Sydney Harbour to sail on. We are not sure it is always relaxed or laid back.

Mona Vale beach