I love my Aussie cousins! They do surreal things and don't bat an eyelid. I never imagined that I would be walking along the beach watching Wayne with an old sock filled with a dead lizard, a few very old prawns and a couple of slices of salami dragged back and forth through the surf, with Jill at the ready to pounce with a pair of pliers to catch the worms that come out after the stink. Great fun, but definitely surreal!
I tried to make the bus times work, but had to admit defeat. Moruya is not an easy place to get to via public transport so I hired a car and drove myself down the Princes Highway. It was lovely to get behind the wheel of a car again after months of travelling. I put my iPod on and enjoyed the sunny drive through the gumtrees. The Princes Highway may be the main North-South route but it is still mostly single carriageway, with regular overtaking lanes on the uphills. I quickly worked out my little Hyundai I30 was not quick on the uphills and settled myself in the lefthand lane for the duration.
It didn't take long for Jill and I headed down to the beach at Moruya Heads. Three beautiful beaches link together around out to the headland so we ditched our shoes and walked all the way along. Jill would have you believe she was the first in and swimming around before I was halfway in, but I know the truth! She only ducked in when I threatened to splash her! The water was lovely and the day was warm enough to dry us off by the time we had walked back to our shoes.
Wayne had a couple of places to survey in Bermagui, an hour or so down the coast. A lot of his family still live in the area so I tagged along and we had lunch with his aunt Sandra. On the way back we stopped off to see the sea eagles flying over Camel Point, a rocky outcrop that really does look like a camel, and I had a walk along the rocks at Potato Point.
I spent the next morning up at the tennis club with Jill. Her team had a match against ladies from Batemans Bay, so I took my postcards and diary to catch up while she played. A lovely little 4-month old boy named Declan had other ideas for me though. He was about the same size as my twin nephews, Charlie and Oliver, back at home. He woke up and started to grizzle a little, so I picked him up for a cuddle. He quieted quickly and was quite happy sitting up on my knee watching what was going on. Every time I thought he was settled enough to pick up my pen and start writing again, he changed his mind and only me walking him around would keep him quiet. (Cath, how you manage with two of these little guys and Daniel too is just amazing! I have an even deeper respect for you and Sam now!) I was exhausted by the time the match finished and I could hand him back to his Mum, but I did enjoy the cuddle time really.
In the afternoon, Wayne drove us out into the bush and we took the dogs, Harry and Scruffy, for a long walk along the fire tracks. The two little dogs were in their element - all we could see were bobbing tails as they hurtled off into the distance and bright eyes when they emerged from the undergrowth.
The next day, Jill and I went back to the beach. This time the soldier crabs were out in force along the edge of Freddy's Lagoon. They look like blue ping pong balls with orange claws and scuttle around in great swarms like spiders! Jill and I amused ourselves herding them in different directions and watching them bury themselves into the sand like little corkscrews. We had another swim in the same place - Jill was still the slowest one into the water!
In the evening we had a girlie trip to the cinema to see Jack the Giant Slayer, a new action fantasy film based on Jack and the Beanstalk. We loaded ourselves up with popcorn, ice-cream and drinks and giggled the whole way through, despite the realisation that we were actually much older than the film's target audience. Sometimes fart jokes just make you laugh regardless of your age!
On Saturday we headed down to the beach for the aforementioned attempt at worming. The idea is to attract the worms out of their sand burrows with the stinky dead meat in the sock. When they appear, you let them get hold of the sock, then grab their heads with the pliers and pull up as hard and fast as you can. They will fight back hard enough to pull their own heads off sometimes - yuck! - but if you get it right, you can pull them out and use them for fishing bait. Jill pulled one out last time that came all the way up to her shoulder before they found the end of it. However, today was not our day. Although we had several worms that came up for a sniff, none of them were keen enough to come far enough out of the sand to be caught. We got soaked by several big waves, but we didn't get hold of a single worm. It was fun trying though.
On Saturday evening, we had another bbq with the neighbours, Trigger, Kylie and their young children Lucien and Charlotte. They brought around a lovely platter of cheeses, crackers, olives and pate, plus an amazing pumpkin salad, so we were all well and truly stuffed by the time we'd finished eating. It was a lovely evening, topped off with a paper aeroplane contest and hunting around the garden with big torches.
I was very sorry to leave Moruya after such a lovely time. Jill has lived in Australia for most of my life, so the last two visits have been a chance for us to get to know each other better as adults. She and Wayne have created a great life for their family and raised two brilliant kids. It was, as always, an absolute joy to spend time with them all and I look forward to the next visit.
I drove back up to Sydney with a few stops on the way. I found a scrapbooker's heaven of a craft shop in Mogu - how did I not see this place last time around!? It took an unbelievable amount of will power not to buy half the shop!
I continued north in search of Kangaroo Valley and the Great Pacific Drive - a stretch of highway built out over the sea on a raised flyover after the original road collapsed into the sea some years ago. Unfortunately, after several fruitless detours, I realised that the Great Pacific Drive actually deviates from the Princes Highway in many places and is very badly signposted once you leave the main road. In the course of one of these detours I managed to miss the turning for Kangaroo Valley and was almost out of fuel by the time I found my way back onto the highway. My 'kms to empty' guage went from 30 to zero in the space of two km, so I had a very panicky few km until I found the next filling station! After that, I gave up and headed straight back to Sydney airport to return the car.
I finished off the day with a very energetic phone call home. My Aunty Beryl turned 70 and decided she wanted to celebrate with a big family party. Back in Marahau, NZ, I had seen a 'Happy 60th' message written in the stones, so I had changed the '6' to a '7' and taken my photo with the new 'Happy 70th' message. I used this picture to make a Moonpig card and sent it in time for the party as I couldn't be there in person. I called Mum while she was at the party and managed to wish Beryl a Happy Birthday before the phone was passed around all my cousins, aunts and other relatives. I was giggling happily by the time I finally said goodbye and heard the chorus of 'Happy Birthday to you' in the background.
I went to bed with a big grin on my face and thanked the powers that be for giving me such a great family on both sides of the globe.