Having a cuppa with Tim Tams...

Becky's turn: I'm sitting at the table in our unit at Pacific Palms Resort about 20 min. south of Forster (pronounced "Foster"), NSW, drinking the above-mentioned cup of tea, having just downed a couple of TimTams. Those of you who've been to Australia know TimTams - addictively good chocolate cookies. I'm trying to figure out how to get a case of them home with us. OK, not a case, but there will be at least some TimTams in the suitcase, I can assure you.

It's Tuesday afternoon and we've been in this lovely part of NSW since last Friday night. We (Cheryl, Bob, David and I) left Sydney in the afternoon and made our way north and east through some lovely country. We made it to the timeshare resort shortly before 6:00 PM, after wandering around, semi-lost in several places. We really lucked out selecting this resort, though, which was done more-or-less randomly through RCI. It's a small "country resort," clean as a whistle, well-maintained and run by a delightful couple! We're in a two-bedroom unit with a balcony/veranda out the back where I can see palms and gum trees, ferns and vines. There are birds everywhere, and strange and wonderful bird calls are heard constantly. We've learned to identify some of the more distinctive - especially the magpies and the kookaburras (which sound like monkeys!). We've also seen black swans, lots of huge pelicans, a white sea eagle, herons, and many others I can't identify.

On Saturday, we drove the two hours back inland to the Hunter Valley, one of Australia's premier wine-growing regions. It reminded me a lot of the Napa Valley, but wider. There were dozens of beautiful wineries! We stopped at three and tasted some lovely shiraz, merlots, cabs, chardonnay, reislings (sp?), and some delicious semillon. It was disappointing to learn that we can each bring only two bottles back to the US with us (duty free), so we had to be judicious in our buying. We ended our day at a beautiful winery up in the foothills, where there was a spectacular 360 degree view and a vineyard planted in the 1880's.

On Sunday, we drove into Forster and attended a little Presbyterian church. It was packed with a congregation of about 60 people (a guess). The service was led largely by elders as they are between pastors, with the message delivered by a retired pastor who has been filling in for the past couple of years. They do have a new pastor called, but he can't be there until the end of the year. It was ironic to be in a church in the midst of such a transition, but we were warmly welcomed and enveloped in the common experience of communion and worship with brothers and sisters in Christ.

After church we had brunch at Beach Bums, an ocean beach-side cafe. As we sat outside in the blazing sun, we had to keep reminding ourselves that it was a mid-winter day! (The temps here are much like they currently are back in OH.) This area is in the middle of a national park called Booti Booti (that's not a typo) and is a tourist favorite because of a string of large lakes - actually tidal estuaries fed by rivers and opening into the Pacific - and beautiful ocean beaches. The resort where we're staying is a 5-minute walk in one direction from a beautiful white-sand, crescent-shaped beach, and about an equi-distant walk in the other direction from Wallis Lake, which is surrounded by forest covered hills. It's truly beautiful and peaceful.

Bob and Cheryl headed back to Sydney Monday morning and Dave and I are enjoying getting to know the other guests and Susan and Nick (the managers), resting, reading, playing cribbage, walking the beach and trails, and listening to the birds. Oh, and whale watching! We hopped aboard the resort van this morning and went in to Forster to board the Amaroo, a catamaran whale-watching vessel. We motored out of Wallis Lake and a couple miles out into the Pacific. We saw some glimpses of bottlenose dolphins and the spout and tail of a humback whale, but that was it. It was a fun couple of hours, however, and because we didn't see much, the crew offered everyone on board a free trip back out on Thursday morning. We'll see what the weather is like, but we'll probably head back out and try our luck then.

In the meantime, we're filling our time with the above-mentioned slow-paced activities, plus some Tour de France and cricket viewing on the telly. Ahhhh... This is the life :)!

The view from our resort living room... comes complete with birdsongs any time during daylight, especially in the morning!

The Audrey Wilkinson Winery, looking out from the top of the hill at the valleys all around.

One view from the winery.  The Hunter Valley is beautiful country.

This is winter?!!!  Becky ponders our experience down under while waiting for our order at Beach Bums Cafe.  We would soon be able to move to the umbrella table in the foreground (whew!).  One nearby diner, upon leaving, stopped by to wish us a very enjoyable summer vacation.  Gotta love the Aussie sense of humor!

 

Kookaburras!  Not sure what kind of gum tree this is.  They can make some pretty raucous sounds, like monkeys fighting.
We learned that these particular sounds are often used by movies and audio producers as jungle (monkey) sounds!

A nice view of the Sydney skyline from the Riverside area as a bunch of boys learn/practice their rugby skills.

Wallis Lake just across the highway from our resort... a salt-water estuary.

Becky on the upper deck of the whale watch boat as we leave harbor through the channel in the large oyster beds.  Oysters are a very large industry in the Australian economy.  In our travels we saw oyster beds in many places along the coastline.