33 To Breakfast

---

It was 4.00 am, Friday 27th May, the alarm had just gone off. I have a day off work booked and Caroline was still recovering from her appendicitis, she is recovering well but is still not quite there.

We have a long weekend planned down in Kangaroo valley as our friend Bec and her fiancé Murray get married this weekend, but before all of that we had to drive down to Bega to collect, the first stage of the box for the truck which is now ready, after toiling long and hard with my tape and pen, drawing up what we considered would be suitable for our needs.

Caroline made a slow appearance from the bed room, early mornings are not her best time, and I have to hide anything that is sharp. It was not long before we were both ready though and raring to go, Caroline more specifically keen by now as I had promised her breakfast in Cooma.

Last night I had taken the side boards off the truck, got all the straps out, so before we left I had to strap our suitcases on to the back and cover with a tarp, just in case it rained.

We pulled out of our car park at 4.45 and on the way I just needed to pop in to the office as I had to send a work related e-mail, and soon we were heading out of Canberra towards the mountains.

I was excited that Caroline was with me, it is a spectacular drive to Bega and she missed it last time, it was still dark and I knew the sun would be coming up at around 6.25 am and I knew she would just be in awe of the amazing scenery

With it pitch black we were on wildlife watch, just in case we came across a wombat waddling home to bed or a roo that was loitering on the side of the road.

As we got closer to Cooma the day had started to come up and as we passed a road sign I said, “Baby its 33 to breakfast.” Caroline perked up, with the thought of a skinny Chai Latté and a brekkie wrap, from Maccy D’s. After a quick break in Macca’s we hit the road again.

This was the section of the trip I was excited for Caroline to see as I just loved it last time.

Unfortunately, the last time I was here, Caroline was to unwell so, didn’t want to come, I was disappointed but I new I would be back, once the box was built and here we were.

With food in her belly, Caroline was awake and enjoying the view and by the time we got to descend the mountain range the sun was shining beautifully.

As we rounded a corner, a field came to life with lots of Kangaroo’s all startled in unison, getting to their feet and bounding off.

The drive slowed right up when we came up behind two Kenworth trucks, pulling swan necked trailers, each carrying two huge concrete slabs. By now we were in the Brown Mountains, the roads were steep with a couple of big hairpin bends, so the trucks were going really slowly.

We had our UHF radio on, listening to the conversations of the truck drivers, making their decent. As the trucks lined themselves up to take a left hand sweep, the lean of the concrete slabs made us wonder just how far they would defy gravity, before they took a one way ticket down the mountain.

Just before the trucks committed to another hair pin bend, the lead truck pulled into a siding, followed by his mate to let us pass, we rolled passed them, and Caroline thanked them over the two way radio.

We were only about 50k’s from Bega, the GPS was plotting out estimated time of arrival at 08.30, which would be great, so depending on how long the box would take to fit, we could be in Kangaroo valley, by late afternoon.

Just as the GPS had predicted, we pulled in to Caragher Steel in good time, we were directed to reverse the truck down to the workshop where all the fella’s were waiting. In no time at all the luggage was removed from the back of the tray and placed somewhere that we would not forget it and then we were introduced to our new box.

As I have said in recent previous blogs, this is the first section, of the set up we are having on the truck, basically it is a utility box, that is fixed to the tray and will be used to keep things like, “The Titanic Fridge” which is essential when we go tripping, tools, recovery gear, and the all important battery management system, which I am yet to sort out.

The Landcruiser is only a “cab chassis”, it’s not a Wagon like the Patrol Was, and has only got 2 seats, so we desperately needed a place to store general bits and pieces.

Two fella’s lifted the Aluminium box and placed it on the tray in the correct position, so whilst the boys still had work to do Caroline and myself wandered over the road to grab a coffee.

Poor Caroline was feeling sore, her scars are right on the “Bend Line” when you are sitting, so a little walk straightened her up for a while, and sitting for 3 or so hours on the way down to Bega, was making her uncomfortable.

I suppose I could have laid her on the tray, and strapped her down, but it was about minus 2 degree’s outside on the way down, so it may not have been that satisfactory.

When we got back from our coffee, we sat in the reception and watched the world go by for ¾ of an hour, then one of the boys said that they were all done and we were ready to roll.

We went and had a look at their creation, and it looked fantastic, just what we had wanted and in a powder coated colour which matched the truck perfectly.

All the financial transactions were completed our luggage had been placed in the utility box and we were again on our way.

Our journey now would be just around 4 hours to Kangaroo Valley, 20k’s North West of Nowra.

The day was warm and sunny and again the drive was just breathtaking, up hill and down dale. We trundled through Batemans Bay, where we had been before which was nice, and without too many holdups we arrived at the Kangaroo Valley Country Club at 3.30 pm, and from leaving home had clocked just over 600 K’s, no wonder we were both tired.

We were given the keys to Chalet No 30, it was a picturesque setting and I had Wombats on my mind. Sadly our drive from Bega, had been littered with dead Roo’s and Wombats on the side of the road, and as we got closer to our final destination, there seemed to be even more evidence of human stupidity, these poor creatures, cast aside like old gloves.

What gets me, and I am not on my soap box here, is the size of a Wombat, they are a big creature, with the stocky build, if you hit one, your vehicle will generally take some serious damage, so there must be big business of a car repair place somewhere near by.

Our Cabin, was perfectly situated, and the views over the golf course were great, in the distance we can see some kangaroo’s enjoying themselves on the green, much to the annoyance of the golfers!

If you remember last year, we stayed with Bec and Caroline stayed when I went to Christmas Island in August, so she had a companion whilst I was away, oh and lets not forget Cooper the cat.

Well Bec’s fiancé, Murray, comes from Kangaroo Valley, and as it’s the place they love and where they first met, they thought it would be nice to get married here and I cannot say that I blame them, this place is gorgeous.

If you have read the blog from the start, you will appreciate that Australia, is a country of extremes, from the arid deserts of the centre, to the tropical rain forests of far Northern Queensland.

Well this area is again stunning, so lush and colourful, certainly reminding me of our old surroundings back in the UK.

Back in our Cabin, we put a cup of tea on the go and made our selves comfortable. Rob, Sarah and the boys had come up from ACT, so there were going to be plenty of people we knew.

The sun was going down, it was getting ready for bed so we stood on our decking looking out over the valley, starting to strain our eyes looking for wildlife.

Kangaroo’s padded around one of the greens, nibbling the grass, I would suppose every day the green keepers have to go and pick the Kangaroo Poo pellets up, so the golfers don’t get annoyed.

We were inside watching the news, it is dark out side and my mobile goes off, it’s Rob “mate, there’s a Wombat outside, we are in cabin 26.” As quick as a flash, we grab the torch, slip feet in to boots and head down to 26.

As we get down there, in the torch light we see our first live Wombat, since Tasmania (March 2009).

We stupidly,(I stupidly) shine the torch on it and they stay, as still as statues, this is possibly why they get hit on the roads, as their survival mechanism is to stay so still, but in the middle of the road, this is not a good move.

It’s pretty big, and when it starts to move, it only takes 3 steps then stops to have a scratch, then another 3 steps and the same again, sadly the poor creature has mange, and all it wants to do is scratch.

We try to get closer, but it’s had enough, with its short stumpy legs at full tilt, it gallops away.

Whilst this is in my mind, I have just got to tell you an interesting “Wombat fact”. As a Wombat is a “marsupial” (It carries its young in a pouch) and they are herbivores, (They eat) roots, fungi, bark etc and are called Natures Bull Dozers as they “Dig’ for their food.
Now the interesting Wombat Fact” why does the pouch of a female Wombat faces the opposite direction as a males pouch.??

Well as they are such prolific diggers, as they are excavating with their front paws, the female’s pouch, if pointing in the same direction as a males pouch would become full of soil, and thus would “endanger” her young, so the pouch points the other way. Another amazing fact of nature!

It has been arranged that we are all going to the Pub in the village tonight, as most of the wedding party would be there.

Nana’s, Auntie’s friends and relations of Bec and Murray all enjoy an evening in the pub, a great place and the food was good.

We are both tired, we were up at 4.00 am so our day has been long, people are starting to drift off, so we do the same, I can hear bed calling,

We climb in to the truck, the evening is bitterly cold, and we only have a short run back to the Cabin, on the way back, we see another couple of Wombats, doing their things.

We get back to the Cabin, the night sky is as black as a magician’s cape, but the stars look just magnificent.

We both stare in to the universe, wondering if anyone is looking back at us, with the same wonder we are having, feeling the same insignificance in a sky so vast. It’s cold and we want to get inside into the warmth of the cabin, and into bed.

As usual I woke at 5.00 am on Saturday morning, it was still dark, but I was awake and needed a cup of tea, I went outside on to our decking with the torch to see if I could see any Wombats or Roo’s that had decided to have a round of golf.

The sun had just started to come up and the mist just filled the valley and it looked amazing.

Today is the day of the wedding and we were excited for Bec and Murray, but at the moment I was focused on my search for wildlife.

As the mist lifted, there was a mob of Kangaroo’s in the field just over the way they were just sitting in the cool, well cold of the morning, having an easy Saturday.

We went down for a hotel breakfast, which was very ordinary then decided to go and have a look around Kangaroo valley.

We first drove in to Nowra to pick up some shopping, well beer and bread as we had been invited to the Hanily’s Cabin for a lunch time Barbeque and needed to be back by 1.00pm.

Our next stop on the adventure to up to the Canbawarra lookout, were the view was reputed to be 145 Kilometres, it was awesome.

The day was just beautiful and the sun was strong, we were happy to be here.

We descended the mountain and past some just amazing houses, this would definitely be a place where we would consider buying a house.

On our journey down we past the driveway to a house, that had a fridge or locker, selling Toffee and Fudge and it was done on a trust basis, which in this day and age is refreshing.

We took 2 slabs of toffee and left our money in the box, happy in the knowledge that the trust they had given us, was not betrayed.

We drove back to the Chalet, just before lunch time, had a quick cup of tea, then went over to Rob and Sarah’s Cabin for a BBQ lunch.

Ted and Cheryl had just arrived from Canberra, who is Rob’s mum and dad and they are always great fun.

Rob knocked up a great lunch and washed down with a few beers, we all had a good natter, and were all starting to think about getting ready for the wedding at 4.00pm

We went back to the Chalet for a shower and shave and the afternoon drifted on, and soon we were both suited and booted.

We walked out to the 8th Tee where Bec and Murray were to be married, the surroundings were just perfect.

We all gathered around, in the sunshine, Murray appeared looking sharp, the wedding music was playing and Bec turned up looking just radiant.

The celebrant, who conducted the ceremony was Murray’s mother, who was very proud to be marrying her son to such a lovely person as Bec.

The whole ceremony was just great, and is the first out door wedding we have been to and our first wedding in Australia.

The reception was at 6.30 and was being held in the woolshed, so it gave us time to go back to a cabin for a cool down and a beer.

We got ourselves ready for the reception and went down to the woolshed, found a seat and waited for the festivities to start.

Murray and Bec arrived to a standing ovation and soon the reception was in full flow, with a beautiful hot buffet and good music.

We got to 10.30 and Caroline was tired, I encourage her to rest as she is still healing, so I am happy that she needs to get sleep, it is so under rated.

We went back to our Cabin and on the way back saw a Wombat, doing its thing, they have the most peculiar walk, they feet turn inwards and they just sort of waddle along, they are so lovely.

We got back to the cabin, we had left the heater on and it was lovely and warm, so we both climbed in to bed and instantly drifted off.

Sunday morning arrived to soon, I was up far to early again, we had to check out by 10.00 am so as soon as Caroline was up we started to pack and load our stuff in to the truck.

Before we left the reception last night, Rob had said that he would be “Doing” a Barbeque brekkie for everyone at 08.30 and we should be there.

We pulled up out side Cabin 26 and rob hadn’t long gotten in from a heavy night.

We got the barbeque going and soon bacon, sausages, hash browns, onions were cooking away and everyone was up and migrating towards the breakfast smell.

We all had a superb breakfast, Rob and Sarah are very generous people, and always are happy to welcome everyone along in to their lives.

It was time or us to depart, we thanked everyone for a great weekend and a good brekkie said our goodbyes and jumped in to the truck.

We had a couple of things that we wanted to see in the area before we left the area, so headed off to the XXX dam to check it out.

When we got to the dam we were fascinated by the fact that the dam had what could only be described as a lift for the native fish wanting to get to the other side of the dam wall.

How it worked was there was an open cage that was submerged, fish swam in to it and when the lift was triggered, the cage would rise with an amount of water still in the basket, and when the basket had completed its manoeuvring cycle which took about an hour the fish would be lifted and deposited to the other side of the dam wall.

We left the dam as we wanted to scope out a free camping ground that the wallaby wanderers had used when they were in Kangaroo valley, they were staying in their caravan and in the middle of the night felt their caravan rocking, it wasn’t the throws of passion, but a Wombat was scratching his/her bum on the corner of the caravan.

We will definatly be back to Kangaroo Valley, Caroline is keen to get out when the warm weather comes and wants to use the swag, so by checking this little free camp site out we now were can come down when it suits us.

We started our journey home and stopped to see the Fitzroy falls, we had a little walk and took some photo’s, doing these things felt like we were back on our adventures.

It was about 3.00pm when we arrived home, the run back to Canberra was just great, sunny and warmish and part of Australia we have never seen before.

We wish Bec and Murray a fantastic new life together and hope its as fun packed as mine and Caroline’s has been.

Caroline and myself have been married for 21 years this year, so we are thinking about how or where we can spend it that is special, we have a couple of idea’s at the moment, so somewhere along the track we will let you know as they will undoubtedly turn in to a blog.

We only have less than 5 months to go before we can apply for our Australian Citizenship, and are already, loosely discussing where we are going to hold our “Pozzie Party” when we can be cross over’s between Poms and Auzzie’s! Bring it on.

We will post separate pictures of Bec and Murray's all the attached pictures are from my Cybershot, Caroline hasn't down loaded her pictures yet, and I wanted to get the blog published


KJ

---

Photos

The Fridge Slide
Where the Titanic fridge sits

Seeing for miles
from the Camberrawarra Lookout

Slow Decent
To the new Woolworths store in Bega

Misty Mountain Hop
Early morning over the golf course

Toffee and Fudge
How cool is this, we couldn't have this in our garden, as we would just sit there and each it all

Get out of the fridge
I had to stop Caroline, climbing in the fridge