Tuesday, September 12, 2017: Waitui (Y2E) and Surrounding Area

**Just now figured out this morning that I'd left my power converter back in Kirribilli, most likely plugged into the power strip just behind the flat screen TV in the main room. Avril has messaged back to the folks handling the AirBnB and I'll keep my fingers crossed. Not a big deal since we have a spare, just an irritant.**

Up very early, 0430.  Rosie followed at 0530.  I had coffee brewing via a device Ross and Avril had that was tailored for 2 great cups of coffee.  Ross tells me it's an espresso maker.  I'd not seen one before and thoroughly enjoyed using it.  Came in 3 pieces: a base that you unscrewed from the top 'catch' reservoir and a coffee ground drip basket that is inserted into the base.  Works just like the more familiar (at least to me) top loading percolator coffee makers in the U.S., where you can see the coffee bubbling up at the top.  Fill the bottom with water, insert the coffee drip basket adding 2 generous scoops of ground coffee, screw on the top piece that collects the coffee and, put on a burner until you hearing a gurgling sound followed shortly thereafter by a shrill whistling - if you wait too long to pull it off heat.  Coffee!

Cuppa in hand, on to catching up with my blog.  The shaky internet connection here in Waitui makes it challenging to upload pics into the blog but, will wait until we're back in Sydney to catch up with that.  Once Rosie was up and about, she immediately went outdoors to enjoy the smells and sounds of the Bush under the brightening sky.  The sounds are really interesting... so different than what we hear/experience in NJ/NY.  Most, if not all, unrecognizable to our unaccustomed ears.  Believe she made a recording (it is so peaceful and relaxing here at Nellies Belly) of what she heard on this morning.  Will try to share that in the blog.

Once Ross was up and dressed and while Avril sorted through him things (most notably with their Internet Service provider), he asked if we'd care to take a nice walk about his property?  Sure!  Before taking off he offered up a sturdy walking stick to me which I accepted.  Wasn't quite sure whether it was for protection or balance but, better safe than sorry.  Off we went.  Headed down towards where one crosses the creek to drive up onto their property.  Paused along the way to check out a bunch of honey bees from God knows where, enjoying the nectar/pollen of a yellow 'bottle brush' flower, aka: Spider Flower, actually known as a 'Grevillea.'  I want to grow some in NJ!!  Tons of nectar.

Continued on our morning trek.  Once we neared the creek crossing, we made a left turn up another dirt road that forked off to the right of Nellies Belly.  The road winded around some and had a few up and downs.  Enjoyed having some time with Ross out in his Bush.  Had a wonderful running conversation covering many topics including the fact that he enjoyed taking his dog, Bobbie (who wasn't here on the property at the moment - away staying with relatives.), out for walks along this path.

The path did lead somewhere, up to their friend, Yvonne's property.  It was really a good and invigorating stretch of the leg.  As we neared another bend, to the right, in the road, I noticed a well defined layer of what appeared to be smoke spreading across the path we were walking.  Ross reassured us that it was just some mist in the forest.   Ah, that mystery solved.  :-)  As we continued to approach the mist, it certainly had the odor of plant matter burning?  Hmmm, might it have been something other than mist?  After passing through 'Ross's Mist,' we looked to the right and behold, we discovered an Australian 'mist-maker!'  Turns out their neighbor, Yvonne, a lovely lady, was home doing some controlled burn while also working hard to move some fallen trees around to reduce the overall risk of fire to her livelihood and home in the Bush.  Had a nice introductory chat with her that included the Brown's 'other' neighbor, Wayne, and the fence he was in the process (an extended process by the way) of erecting around his property.

Bid our farewells to Yvonne and headed back up the dirt road.  The stream that surrounds Nellies Belly, Starr Creek, has been extremely low with the lack of rain and we all decided it would be fun to head back to the homestead along and on the creek.  Not a lot of fish to be found but, Ross tells us there are a fair amount of 'Marron,' Australian lobsters making homes in the water.

Side Note:  Australian freshwater crayfish.  Turns out all freshwater crayfish in Australia belong to the Family Parastacidae.... The three main species used in yabby farming and found in pet shops in Australia are the Dam Yabby Cherax destructor, the Marron Cherax tenuimanus from Western Australia, and the Queensland Red Claw Cherax quadricarinatus.  The surprising and important fact that most Australians do not know is that there are almost 140 species of freshwater crayfish in Australia, in 10 genera. The genus Cherax includes the yabbies, gilgies, marron and redclaw, but also a couple of dozen other species that have no common name at all.
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Ross had on good, sturdy boots.  Rosie and I had on our sneakers.  The walking stick suddenly became very helpful since you couldn't walk along the Starr creek the whole way but, had to step on and over many of the large stones lining the path of the creek - some a bit slippery.  Four (4) wet sneakers later along with a few good laughs, we were all back at Nellies Belly to clean up and start our day out-and-about.

While we were away, Avril had actually made some good investigative IT headway with the Internet challenges we were all experiencing.  Most importantly, really tough to run Avril's business without it.  Apparently, the tech she'd been on the phone with was pretty good and they were able to isolate the problems to a splitter in use that was the likely problem child.  Working with the tech, Avril was able to restore the internet signal BUT... the whole house had lost power and everything was out!  No worries!

Not much we could do about that so, we were all dressed and out the door by 1025.  Ross thought it might be good fun and scenery to take the 'back' roads out of Waitui.  The roads we jumped on to were primarily logging paths, all dirt, created by the Timber companies to allow huge timber hauling trucks to get on and off the various mountains around Waitui. The roads we experienced hugged the side of the mountains and incorporated alot of 'blind' switchbacks right next to steep drop offs that made riding in the CX-5 less fun than driving the CX-5.  Took a brief pause to park and visit their 'Waitui Falls' on Nellies Mountain.  With the lack of rain, the falls were kind of sad and only a trickle.  Didn't stay long and continued on our thrilling ride.

Ross actually had a particular destination in mind for us on Nellies Mountain, a lookout point, which would have provided some breathtaking, unobstructed views of the vales and glens in these parts, but unfortunately, that logger trail was cordoned off with a sign indicating that active logging was happening.  So, not to be thwarted, we just continued on another path that hadn't been used much. Some very rough terrain along the way that we had to ease our way through - Ross and the CX-5 did great - from road erosion and sharp switch backs abutted up against steep escarpments with steep drop offs all in the midst of what felt like the jungle rain forests (without the rain) of somewhere in Southeast Asia.  There were a few 'white knuckle' moments but, all-in-all, a really enjoyable journey through the Bush mountains.

The logger trail we were on eventually turned into a paved 2 lane road and we made our way down into the village of Comboyne by noon where we found a very nice place for some hot beverages and late brunch: the Udder Cow Cafe.  I enjoyed a plain meat-pie with yogurt and fruit; Rosie, avocado and egg on toast (noticed that poached eggs are favored down under); Avril enjoyed a Turkish Toastie of smoked salmon, cream cheese, Spanish onion and avocado; Ross, had a croissant with ham and cheese.  We've really enjoyed the food everywhere we've been so far!

Side Note:  About Comboyne.  Comboyne is a village on the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales. It is situated on the Comboyne Plateau, some 60 km south-west of Port Macquarie, 35 km west of Kew and 54 km north-west of Taree. It is an attractive agricultural area with fertile soils and a high rainfall. The word "Comboyne" is a corruption of the local indigenous people's name for "a place of kangaroos". At the 2011 census, Comboyne had a population of 453. Previously, the area was covered in sub-tropical rainforest which has almost all been cleared by the early 20th century. The early explorers originally sought the valuable timber of the Australian Red Cedar. The second oldest natural reserve in the state is at nearby Boorganna Nature Reserve which preserves a remnant of sub-tropical rainforest. The Antarctic beech has been recorded at four sites in the Comboyne area.
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Departed Comboyne feeling refreshed and headed out towards Port Macquarie and Billabong Zoo, a Koala and wildlife Park we hoped would be interesting.  Ross and Avril had never been either.  We never actually got to Port Macquarie but, we did find Billabong Zoo.  Let me say we found the entire zoo and experience quite charming and personable.  Before the end of the day we even got to meet the current owner of 15years, Mark Stone, really fine gentleman, full of his subject and very passionate about educating as many people as possible including the very young about the plight of Australia's indigenous wildlife and the value and benefits of zoos across Australia and around the globe.

Entry into the Park cost $15/person, a bargain, and while we were at the ticket desk bought some grated corn we'd be using to feed the wallaby's and kangaroos in the petting area later.  Spent a very fun 2+30 enjoying all the animals and venues.  We all got the chance to pet a Koala, one of Rosie's must do events, right up front before we continued to tour the rest of the Park.  Today wasn't very busy at all, very few visitors... we weren't complaining.  We enjoyed visiting: a massive crocodile; dingoes; birds of all sorts including a large pelican, emus, and exotics; brief run through the reptile area; lions; white leopards; cheetahs; red pandas; 2 varieties of wombats; brand new meerkats; a cassowary, as close to a dinosaur as they come; iguana's running free, and; the petting zoo.

The petting zoo is uncontrolled entry via two gates at your leisure.  There are quite a few wallaby's and not so many gray kangaroos lounging about.  They were all 'pig dogs' as we like to affectionately refer to them and seemed to always be very hungry.  Spent a good 15 minutes being surrounded by them and eating the corn we'd purchased earlier right out of our hands.  Some of the wallaby's were so demanding, possessed with sharp claws, that Rosie bore the results of their clawing hold on her forearms in the form of bleeding scratches.  She took it all in stride.  It was great fun... like feeding sheep/goats back in the U.S.

Departed the feeding area in search of Ross and Avril.  Found them and made our way slowly out of the park via the wombats and cassowary enclosures.  That's when we got the opportunity to meet Mark Stone relaxing in the concessions area and had a nice chat and photo op with him.  Picked up a few souvenirs on our way out and bid Billabong Zoo a fond farewell right at 1600.  They have at least 2 new American fans!!

Ross drove us along the coast road through many small towns and hamlets eventually making our way down to Dunbogan where they used to live in a house just, on and off, for 11 years right along the Camden Haven Inlet - which leads out to the Pacific Ocean.  Dunbogan is a part of Laurieton where the Brown's have their post office box.  A bit of a hike back to Waitui.  Gorgeous area. Stopped by the Dunbogan Boat Shed and Marina for a coffee, coffee shop was closed, so we fed the fish and took some photos.  I also purchased a sweatshirt and we stopped by their old house.  Ross and Avril tell us that this area of Laurieton has been undergoing some level of gentrification, for better or worse.

Side Note:  Bob Hope.  There is an urban legend (apparently an actual event) surrounding Bob Hope back in WWII.  Apparently, he was returning to Sydney with his entourage after a tour entertaining troops in the Pacific Theatre in 1944 when the float plane, a Catalina PBY, he was flying in was having problems and needed to land quickly. That emergency landing happened to be right in Laurieton on the Camden Haven River.  The following is an exerpt for ABC Australia:

"In August 1944, the Hollywood star and comedian Bob Hope, his script writer, dancer, a singer and co-comedian had been performing over 150 shows for troops across the south pacific for the last three months and were making their way back to Sydney when they encountered some mechanical difficulties.

The residents of Laurieton saw this Catalina Flying Boat (PBY as it was know in those days) come down and land on a sand bar on the Camden Haven River. The residents of Laurieton headed out in boats to rescue the crew.  According to Patty Thomas who was the dancer on board that Catalina, before the army rescue arrived, one of the locals approached in their boat and asked, "Have you got any of those American cigarettes?" Patty recounted her story, above, to Fiona Wyllie on ABC NSW Statewide Afternoons.

Mitch McKay, Heritage Consultant based in Port Maacquarei, has written a book about this called: 'It's Not Hollywood But...'  It was reported that Bob Hope walked into the post office and announced: "I'm Bob Hope and I want to send a telegram."  Apparently the then postmaster Mr Plunket Replied: "Young man it's Monday. I'm much too busy for your jokes."

By this time the whole town knew about the stars in town and they were invited to a party at the School of Arts where Bob Hope and his crew gave the small town of Laurieton the same performance they'd been giving to the troops, without leaving anything out. Legend has it that the Laurieton folk all joined in with the Hokey Pokey dance at the end.
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Dusk was approaching and Ross hurried us up to the Dooragen National Park's North Brother Lookout for some spectacular views of Laurieton and surrounding area.  We also got to see the 2 other "Brothers": South and Middle from the view point. The wind was blowing extremely hard atop the lookout.  Headed back down to make our way back to Waitui via a Woolworth's and BWS - one of their versions of a Supermarket and attached liquor store (picked up a bottle of Glenlivit). Ross and Avril picked up some dessert for back at Nellies Belly.

With our original dinner plans done in by loss of power back at Nellies Belly, we made our way over to the Kendall Services and Citizens Club in Kendall for dinner.  We were just a bit early.  Dinner orders usually started being taken and served up at 1800.  One can't just walk into an S&CC without being invited by one of its members, like Ross and Avril.  Very nice and spacious place with a well stocked bar and other entertainment available.  Think USO/American Legion in the U.S.  We all ordered a cocktail, wandered around a bit and, eventually placed our orders and sat down to enjoy the meal.  Avril went with the chicken parmesan; Ross had grilled Barramundi, so did Rose, and; I went with the Scotch filet... basically a fillet mignon surrounded by the other meat removed from around the fillet.  All good.

Dinner over by 1930, we drove back to Waitui.  As we approached the house, it was readily apparent that power was back on!  While we all got relaxed, Rosie and Ross put together a nice dessert of apple/blueberry pie and ice cream, yum!  Washed it all down with a few snifters of single malt - which I enjoyed with Ross.  While all that was going on, I uploaded 4 days worth of photos to a thumb drive I had and we plugged that into their flat screen TV and we were able to quickly review and enjoy some of the sights and scenes we'd captured to date.

Couldn't last much past 0930-1000, so Rosie and I hit the rack.  Ross and Avril will be driving us to Newcastle to catch a train back down to Sydney.  So very thankful for them doing so!

G'night!

Fuji