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Published: January 19th 2013
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GABLES ON THE LAKE
Our home for a week. We seem to have the fortune—sometimes good and sometimes bad--to happen upon extreme weather situations in our travels. This is true for us at the moment in Australia. We just experienced the warmest day ever recorded in this country. There are also a record number of bush fires, especially in New South Wales, which is the state where Sydney is located. The fire danger is listed as catastrophic and it is taxing all the resources available for fighting the fires. The heat wave has been dubbed "The Big Scorch."
We left Sydney and headed north for the eastern beaches which seems like a good place to be given the weather and the fires. The coast is a mixture of interconnecting islands, lakes and beaches so it makes for gorgeous driving. This being summer, the kids are all on school holidays and it seems like the whole country is on vacation. Many of the resorts and inns are filled to the brim. We stopped at a tourist information center in Swansea to find a place to stay.These offices are funded by the local councils and are a great service for travelers. Ellie recommended a small B&B located in the village of
ILSE
A lovely Viennese inn keeper Toronto on Lake Macquarie. We drove up to Gables on the Lake and were greeted by Ilse, her daughter Martina and their three doggies. Ilse showed us to our cottage at the back of her property. It is just what we like, a small place with a full kitchen and gas grill. There is a lovely pool a few steps from our door. This pool would prove to be very important in the next few days.
We had no sooner settled in when we found that several of our email accounts had been hacked by some evil-doers. “You’ve got (no) mail!” It was two days of frustration and lots of help from a local computer expert and a genius at the Apple store to get things squared away electronically.
After that was taken care of we went sightseeing. Lake Macquarie is the largest salt water coastal lake in Oz. The shoreline is dotted with small villages, marinas and vacation cottages and is a very picturesque spot. Ilse is a great hostess and knows the area quite well so she was able to give us some good touring advice. There are many hiking paths and trails along the foreshore.
At Warners Bay there is an aluminum pedestrian bridge built out over the lake. One hot day we had a great walk on the bridge. We like going to the local markets to shop for dinner. The cost of groceries seems quite high when compared to U.S. prices but the produce is excellent as is the poultry and meat. The fish is delicious with unusual names like barramundi and hokie.
We did have two days of extreme heat—around 115 degrees. On those days we didn’t stray too far from the pool. We set up our computers by the pool and communicated with the Cruise Specialists office, making final preparations for our upcoming cruise. We Skyped with family and friends in the USA and then jumped in the pool between calls. It was a great way to beat the heat---cool by the pool. It was so hot even by the pool that a warning popped up on our iPad screen saying that we had to immediately cool down the computer or it would cease to operate. So we took our babies into the airconditioned cottage to give them a little relief.
On a not so hot day we drove
out to the Hunter Valley, which is the equivalent of Napa Valley. There are about 200 wineries in the valley and many boutique inns, cheese shops and distilleries where you can sample the products. Kevin has mastered the small roundabouts and the left side driving. It is certainly easier driving in the country than in Sydney. I do the navigating using our iPad as a GPS.
We ended up spending a week at Ilse’s inn as she made us feel comfy at home and introduced us to some of her friends. She invited us to watch the San Francisco 49ers playoff game on her big screen TV accompanied by her resident “guard” dogs who cheered on our team with an occasional bark. Go Niners!
We are amazed by the vast array of birdlife in Australia. Every morning and evening we are living in a virtual aviary. The raucous laughing calls of the kookaburra, the screeches of the white cockatiels, the squeaking of the lorikeets and the cawing of the black birds create an amazing cacophony. We are enjoying our land cruise in this antipodean wonderland and the natives are super friendly!
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christy
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Hottie Cakes
Smoking hot, dogs to love and a pool...Susan must have been so happy! ;0)