WARNER'S BAY AND HOME

Thursday August 17, 2012:

After a good and healthy breakfast we were soon on our way south. Heading out from Kendall we had to re-join the Pacific Highway for a while before turning off to take the old coast road. There was some good looking country back there and a number of small towns that had shrivelled after being bye-passed by the highway. Some seemed to have clung on to life with the annual transfusions from holidaymakers, but others seemed nothing more than a small collection of sad looking buildings.

We finally had to swing back onto the highway and into the urban area around Newcastle. It was a bit strange to be driving with traffic lights and traffic after a couple of days in the bush. Tomtom led us to our destination, the unit where Rab’s brother Graham and wife Molly now live in Warner’s Bay. It is a very comfortable spot in a seniors’ complex. I’m very fond of Molly, but she and Graham are very bossy people and clearly have taken over the administration of the complex despite their not having been there as long as some of the other residents.

Molly, Graham and Rab, Rab and me (behaving)

We had a good chat and a pretty substantial lunch of lasagne and then headed across to our motel which was  at the opposite arm of the bay. The receptionist seemed to be a little young and somewhat untrained as were the rest of the workers in reception. Turned out that the motel had changed hands only two weeks earlier and the new, and very pleasant, owner was training up his crew, supervising painting etc.  As he said, they’d invested in new pillows, mattresses and linen, so we enjoyed very crisp sheets when we got to bed later that night – and an excellent shower the next morning. 

But before we hit the sack, we went back to Molly and Graham for more reminiscing and a light evening meal. A pleasant day, even if I had, under strict orders, to bite my tongue and not argue with any of Graham’s pontificating. I almost broke away when he was telling me about how bad the racial problems were in the UK – in response to a comment I made about the census disclosing a total population of about 54 million with less than 5 million coming from outside UK or Europe. He blustered “If you had seen what I have seen….”  To which I responded unwisely that he could have no idea where we had been on our frequent visits to Britain or what we had seen. Then I realised I was on a slippery slope downward and forbore to respond to his following comments. Discretion being the better part of valour if familial relationships are to be maintained.

Friday August 18, 2012:

Molly wanted to show us the area around Nelson’s Bay where they had first lived when they moved from Sydney after Graham had retired, but before that she wanted to show us two other spots that she thought would be of interest to us.

The first was the garden shop which had a substantial shop selling all manner of knick knacks which might be used in the garden as well as plants, seedlings and everything you might need. There was also a very nice café, so Molly’s idea wa that we could look around – or Rab could anyway – and then we could have a bite to eat before heading off. Amongst the delights in the shop Rab spotted the Three Wise Rabbits – Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil – which she had seen some years before but had been unable to make a decision to buy – and then regretted. This is not an unusual experience. Many is the time when, as we lift off from some exotic place, Rab says “Maybe I should have bought that ……..[fill in item]”. She still couldn’t say “I’ll have those, having to consider where they might fit into our (rather small) residence which already has many souvenir items, despite many having been abandoned in recent years.  So we had breakfast instead – I had an excellent muesli with fresh yoghurt and Rab had what had become a signature breakfast -  fried egg and crispy bacon on Turkish bread.

Next stop was a wholesale food shop up the road – Bibina Foods. Now that might not sound very exciting, especially to someone not particularly interested in food and eating. To the two of us it was like going in to Ali Baba’s cave. The first thing that caught my eye was a refrigerated grotto filled to the brim with exotic lollies/sweets/candy from all over the world. There were dozens of American lines (although no Cow’s Tales) some of which we knew, some of which were new. What to choose, bearing in mind luggage consideration? Choosing a small selection I moved out into the main arena and was even more amazed by the range of foodstuffs to suit any and all manner of cuisines. Most were in huge jars for catering, and many were items we’d never seen before. What an experience! If only we lived in Warner’s Bay.

On we went after our mastodon shopping – to my amusement, Molly drove and I sat in the front while brother and sister shared the back seat. They have a history of mutual antipathy and although both have mellowed over the years, I thought it might be like putting a couple of Kilkenny cats in a bag. But all was well and both retained their composure for a very happy day. Nelson’s Bay is a very pretty area and must have been even better before the development which drove Molly and Graham out. That and the crowds of people from Newcastle who flock there in summer and school holidays. There is a series of bays, each with white sands and very good looking sea. We stopped at one pier which had a restaurant which had a fine reputation, but which looked distinctly run down, so maybe there has been a change of owners. We spotted some pelicans coming in for a free feed on seafood scraps – and also a rather curious warning in some prawns in a refrigerated area. If you couldn’t use them for bait or to feed aquatic animals, should we be eating them? We went on to another restaurant with a great view and less great service, which lit Graham’s fuse. He’s not happy about staff who do not meet his standards. The meal was OK, but not memorable – hence the reason I cannot recall it. Rab says we all had salads – not very exciting. But it was warm and sunny and I had no complaints.

We headed for home and another snack meal after the large lunch while the two ladies dug further into their combined and phenomenal memories of days gone by in Durban.

Saturday August 19, 2012:

Today was set aside for a deal of mastodon shopping by Rab and Molly. Probably as well because there was a howling gale blowing, so there would be shelter in the shopping centre.

White horses were galloping across the Bay as we left the motel with the tall eucalypts creaking in the gale. I’m always wary of those trees which have been known to drop very large branches under the weight of heavy winds.  Didn’t happen this time and we got across to Molly and Graham for a light breakfast with them. I ran into a potential problem area with Graham when I commented on the fact that the Bay was so stormy. “It’s not a bay!”, he said, “It’s a lake.” I forbore to point out that there are hundreds of bays on the Great Lakes – or that the name of his suburb was named Warner’s Bay not Warner’s Lake. I was quite proud of that.

I drove the shoppers off to the shopping centre, leaving Graham at home, and we found a comfortable seat in one of the levels where I was able to sit and relax, catching up on several of my magazine and newspapers on my iPad. It was rather pleasant to sit and do nothing until the ladies came back to pick me up and carry me off to the  food court. We all chose variants of Asian food – I had some pretty good green curry prawns – but when I volunteered to go back to the counter to pick up the orders, I didn’t realise that the food was served on pretty large, substantial and very heavy china plates.

We dropped Molly off at home and headed back to the motel to pack and for a Nana Nap before going back for supper and to watch rugby on the television. The Australian Wallabies were playing the New Zealand All Blacks. World #2 playing #1 for the Bledisloe Cup, an annual competition between the two countries which the All Blacks have won for about the last ten years. They won again and although there were some good plays during the game, I have been converted to Footy – Australian Rules Football – which is a much more exciting game.

Sunday August 20, 2012:

Hear, See, Speak No Evil

We had agreed to meet Molly and Graham at the garden centre for breakfast and Rab finally made the plunge and bought her rabbits, who now sit at home on the TV cabinet (There was room in the house after all!). A last bacon and egg on Turkish bread – crispy bacon, of course and we were on our way with fond farewells and a promise from Molly that she would come down and see us when she wasn’t involved in golf competitions.

We dropped the car off in good time but had a couple of hours to kill at what is a pretty small airport. Part of the time was just people watching – an amazing bunch of extraordinarily dressed folk. Made me realise that the people at Eumundi were dressed in what passes for normal in these parts.

Nothing too exciting about the flight home, packed in like sardines. Nick was there to pick us up but for some reason chose a route home that led us into a traffic jam of working day proportions, where we sat for the best part of a half hour.

Good to be home, as always. Your own bed is always so pleasant. All that was missing was the boys – and we picked them up the next morning, joyous as ever to see us.