aussielozzie18

For dinner, we headed into town to the Bowling Club as recommended by the owner. The Club has a lovely outlook over Lake Jindabyne and offer good size meals and drinks at reasonable prices (without the “Jindy tax” - inflated prices for the tourists/out of Towners). No walking around the lake after dinner or playing in the waters edge playgrounds due to the rising lake levels. The caravan park on the lake’s edge was also closed due to flooding. The recent heavy rains was also the reason for all the potholes I mentioned earlier.

After settling in, the owner recommended we go for a walk around the property. He said there are two hills with very nice views and the chance of seeing wildlife is high. View of Lake Jindabyne: DD was happy to see lots of sheep & lambs.

After rejoining the Highway, we continued on. Eventually we needed a stop, toilet break & DD needed to make a phone call. Lovely view from the rest stop but one of the drop toilets was gross. Thankfully the other one was ok. We then drove into Jindabyne. Jindabyne is the base for access to our ski slopes in winter - if you haven’t booked accommodation on the slopes and is located around the lovely Lake Jindabyne. DD skied here 3 years in a row with her Scout group and both DS & DD went on skiiing trips with their schools. With my school, I went to the Sport & Recreational camp for a week in summer for water sports. We arrived at 5pm. Thank goodness for daylight savings! The owner of the property met us and when we explained re the detour, he said “they are not potholes, we call them craters!”.

We then continued on driving but soon hit a detour. There had been a collision between two trucks on the freeway so cars were being redirected. We needed to drive the scenic route and we started by saying how lovely it was but then we saw the first pothole…and the next…and the more we came across the bigger they got. Eventually DS was forced onto the other side of the road to avoid them. This is in the 80-100km/h zone. He worked out the best tactic was to let a driver overtake him so he could follow the driver in fronts lead in avoiding the potholes. We saw two cars pulled off the side of the road with tyre/wheel damage. Finally after 40mins of precision driving by DS we arrived in Sutton. DS said “that was hell”. We stopped to check the tyres - all good- and were finally able to rejoin the Highway. Phew!

Day 1 - we left Sydney and headed south. First stop was Goulburn. Arrived just before lunch. There is a popular bakery so we filled up on hot pastries, hot coffee and the obligatory photo op with the Big Merino. Yes, DS is almost 6’2’ and I am…not 🤣

This the three blondes - me, DS & DD. We are currently road tripping together. DS is the driver, DD is the navigator and I’m chilling in the back, occasionally passing over snacks.

On no! That’s a bummer.

Seems I can post photos now. So a few more photos from my morning stroll. This little one was friendly, happy for pats but then decided my green jacket looked tasty…..

Another beautiful day on our holiday. After a lovely early morning walk where I saw so many kangaroos (and deer), I am sitting at the kitchen table watching a Kangaroo mum & her Joey munching grass. Every 5 mins or so, the Joey would sprint off from mum, do a fast loop of the bush and return. I watched this three times and then the penny dropped and I laughed, clearly baby Kangaroos get the zoomies too. Saw lots of mums and joeys on my walk.

@Momof3gurlz I enjoyed reading your review and sorry you came home with a souvenir. Hope your symptoms remain mild.

Had a lovely day today. First day of our road trip. We left Sydney this morning and drove most of the day. This trip was my son’s idea and he booked us the lovely accommodation several months ago. We are currently in modern self contained accommodation on a private property surrounded by bush, beautiful views and wildlife. We only have 4G and CC is being glitchy so will post photos at the end of the trip. Had the fire going tonight and could see the eclipse but didn’t think our photos would do it justice so didn’t take a photo of it.

@bobmacliberty im also curious the reason why they have dont wish to cut the cake (is it the type of cake they are serving?). Also, curious what other traditions they are negotiating? Re cake cutting. When my parents renovated their house, a long steel ceremonial sword immaculate in it’s sword case was discovered by the builders. My dad displayed it in the house on the wall. When we were planning our wedding, dad suggested we use the sword to cut the wedding cake. Mum was very quick to nix that idea!

Lovely photo of you both. Glad you had an enjoyable evening and had your dancing shoes on.

I loved your cabin door decorations! They made me smile everytime I passed your door and it was the best one I saw. My first cruise with our teens was on a Christmas cruise. Loved decorating our cabin door in Christmas decs and seeing others doing the same. Sorry to hear your teens got criticism but glad they got complimented in their behaviour. Maybe try Royal Carribbean if you haven’t already. Very popular with families especially teens because of all the activities.

If I am converting correctly, the price from South Pacific francs to AUD is $950.00 for the earrings in the top row. Beautiful pearls.

This is gorgeous. Think this leaf pile photo should be framed

Thank you. I can’t remember ever doing this for concert tickets or midnight releases of anything like your grandkids, but it certainly makes them happy and yes she was doing a happy dance..

With the talk of the New York Marathon, I hope @singinalot is having fun in New York. One of my favourite cities.

@bobmacliberty how wonderful that the Right Whales are being brought back from almost extinction. I love Whales. On my recent ship excursion whale watching cruise, seeing the mother and calves and just hearing them almost brought tears to my eyes.

My daughter and her best friend have been trying for 6 years (including the two years they lived in London) to get tickets to the annual Glastonbury music festival in England. Last night was their second and final attempt to obtain tickets for 2023. So, at 8pm on the dot when the second round of tickets were released, she had her phone, her laptop, my phone, plus her dad and her brother with their devices all set up in a family room. Her best friend in Sydney was doing the same at her house as was her best friend in England… From 8pm onwards, I would open the door to the room every 15mins and get a sad shake of heads. At 7.50pm, DH came out and said it’s not happening. At 7.55pm, I heard a shriek. Yes, her Sydney BF had finally secured 3 tickets, 5 mins before the event sold out.

My son has been away for the weekend in the Hunter Valley winery region which is about 3hrs north of Sydney. A mob of locals checking my son out as he went for an early morning walk: I have always seen mobs of wild Kangaroos on our previous visits to the Hunter Valley region and my son said they were everywhere on the weekend.

Headland views, a garden that appealed to me, another rockpool with a bit of wave action And a “life aquatic salad bowl” with a large Chai latte that was a delicious way to finish off our walk at Avalon Beach - in the one of the many cafes in Avalon village before we collected our car nearby.

Whale Beach, Rockpool, first of 4 water dragons we saw on walk and another headland view.

Anyways, the reason we were on the bus was because we were doing a one way 7km walk from Palm Beach to Avalon Beach. Beautiful coastal views, 3 headlands, beautiful homes and 3 lovely beaches & rockpools: Palm Beach & Rockpool & first set of stairs:

Well, my word for today is glorious. DH and I stepped off the bus at Palm Beach on a beautiful sunny Sunday in Sydney and I looked at the sparkling beach and clear water and turned to DH and said “ oh my goodness, isn’t this glorious ?” Then I left hubby on the bench whilst I popped into the ladies and the lady washing her hands in the basin next to me turned to me and said “isn’t it just glorious? - we are so lucky to be here today”. I could only agree. Then as DH and I started walking to the other end of the beach, we overheard an older gentleman who had just come out of the water turn to his friends and say “isn’t it just glorious? The water is so clear”. So there you have it, the beach that the actress Nicole Kidman holidays at every summer and gets papped, is glorious😀