My sister Darlin' came to visit me! Yipee, another family visit and so soon too, how lucky am I? Darlin' was here on business so was quite busy in Sydney so was very tired by the time she arrived. I decided she needed to see Jervis Bay as I have fallen in love with Jervis Bay and the lovely community of Huskisson. This time Darlin' and I stayed in a different B&B, instead of my wonderful Jervis Bay Guest House, this time stayed at the Huskisson Bed and Breakfast. Kate and Steve were awesome hosts, very friendly and accommodating and the rooms were lovely. They had loads of books available for reading which of course made me very happy!
I plugged the B&B's address into the GPS, who was nicknamed "Tomy Girl" by my sister Deej's friend Stacy on our trip through Europe. Tomy Girl is only a computer and as the default setting for calculating the route is "Fastest." Well, hmmm....not so sure that is always the best. We ended up on Turpentine Road, which was...scenic. And unsealed, which is Australian for gravel road. Luckily it had been recent graded so no major potholes, but...it was bumpy and dusty. But you know you travel for the adventure!
After we had settled into the B&B we went to the beach Steve had suggested to us, Steamer's Beach. He warned us that it was quite steep downto the beach. And it was! When Darlin' sends me the pictures she took I'll add them to this post. It was at least 250 steps, some quite steep down to the beach, but it was so worth it. The water was so many wonderful shades of blue and had a perfect surf, big and with lots of bubbly water as it crested, it made you want to jump in however, Darlin' says, it was darn cold! I plan to go back there and bring a blanket and picnic and spend a few hours next summer. Wow!
Later, we went to dinner and a pretty good Thai restaurant and had an early night. That night it rained. And rained. It's hard to begrudge drought ridden Australia rain, but why me? Anyway, we leisurely got up, had breakfast and got ready to leave and it was still raining -- so rather than going to another beach as planned, we headed to the Kangaroo Valley. It is the cutest little town, I picked up British first editions of two books by Frank B. Gilbreth, one written with his sister, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. One book was "Belles on Their Toes," the sequel to their 1948 book , "Cheaper by the Dozen and the other "Time Out for Happiness."
Then we headed to a few of the wineries in the vicinity of the Kangaroo Valley. At the first one we encounted the owner, who was rather rude and so we left. The second one, Jacob's Creek, was awesome the owner was very nice and welcoming and his wine was very good. He gave us a taste of a sparkling red wine, which is apparently quite popular in Australia now. Then we headed for another winery, well this was a unique place. The wine wasn't very good, but the owner which a kick. He was somewhat elderly, his white hair was sticking out on end, he had "British" teeth, which is to say they were crooked and missing. He was wearing the ubiquitous Australian shorts and a flannel shirt and had a very winning manner. He told us they hadn't expected anyone, and as it was a cafe as well as a winery, had no cook. But people kept coming in! He was so busy, he couldn't handle everything which included giving out tastes of wine, seating people, taking orders, deliverying orders. We didn't buy any wine but we quite enjoyed his personality.
Finally, we headed back home -- on the way we needed the "facilities" somewhere, anywhere!!!! Plus we were hungry. So as I saw another winery/cafe sign I knew they had to have a toilet so I stopped there and planned to eat as well. We were able to do one, but there were no seats to be had for lunch. But we did try their wine, it was very good and we bought quite a lot -- I mistakenly told Darlin' I could mail it home -- but later found out I couldn't. My very bad. So then we headed home and stopped and Maccas (Aussie slang for McDonald's).
It was so nice to get off the road for a bit. On Monday I went to work and Darlin' went on a run. That afternoon we headed to Tidbinbilla, I got a bit lost on the way, but we eventually found it. No koala's this time, but we saw emu's, a kookaburra, wallaby's and numerous kangaroo's. It was very nice. I took Darlin' to the airport and discovered that she had too much in her bag, and she ended up with overage charges -- darn budget airlines. So I took some home to bring with me when I head home at Christmas. Then I gave Darlin' a hug and was very sad to see her leave.
I had a great time with Darlin' and we sort of planned the trip she'll do with the kids next year. So much too look forward to!
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