I spent a few days revisiting the beaches and city before I moved on. I was able to hire a bike in Centennial Park for a couple of hours and enjoyed remembering what cycling was like. I really wish I'd bought mine over to Sydney, if only for the speed at which I'd be able to get around. I also went to see X-Men Origins, which was rubbish.
On Wednesday 6th I left Edgecliff, and got the train from Sydney Central to Newcastle, where I met my great uncle Don, and aunt Winsome. I've now got all my relations sussed and what cousins are what too. Before, I was staying with Wendy, who was my first cousin once removed (a generation older than me), and her daughters are my second cousins. My grandmother is her aunt. So Don is my grandmother's brother (she had 8 brothers and 1 sister), and their children are my first cousins once removed, and their children are my second cousins. Easy.
Anyway, I met Don and Winsome at Newcastle, and they showed me around the town before we drove another 150 km north to Forster. All the way Don talked about the local wildlife and history of various things. We saw the roadworks for the expansion of the Pacific Highway along the way too, which was interesting. We also drove past his old farm, which I visited in 1995, and unlike many things in Sydney, I didn't recognise it this time. In the evening we went to an all-you-can-eat dinner at a local bowling club, and I enjoyed the beginning of what was to be a totally free, money-saving week.
In the morning I walked around the area, and got to see the town and a couple of the nearby beaches. Don and Winsome have a house a few rows of houses away from One-Mile Beach. The beach had recently been ripped up by cyclones and a brutal ocean; several feet deep of sand had been torn up and washed out to sea. At the end of the beach is a sand-dune, and my walk round brought me to the top of it, where I got some great photos and had fun running down. Running up is another matter. The sea was beautiful there too. I took a body-board out and jumped through and down some waves, but it rubbed my body badly, and afterwards I stuck to swimming and diving through waves.
Forster was incredibly peaceful. A lot of the houses around there are normally rented out in the summer, and since it's now approaching winter, not many people were around. And besides that, Forster is a world away from the buzzing atmosphere of Sydney. Dead calm at night, with only the ocean washing against the shore to stir you. The moon was extremely bright too, and created beautiful reflections on the water, as did the sun first thing in the morning. The view from the veranda was stunning.
On Friday Don took me on a drive south to Seal Rocks, showing me the beaches and lakes along the way, all the while telling me about each area and its history. Seven-Mile Beach was particularly impressive, and driving alongside it with Wallis Lake on the other side of the road was awesome. Beautiful green vegetation and blue water as far as the eye can see, with only the tarmac and phone lines as man's influence. It wasn't primitive, just lush. At Seal Rocks is a lighthouse where we got rained on - we could see the where the rain started and ended on the water - and I went to the top for a spectacular view. There was a rock placed there, commemorating a lighthose keeper who had died; his body was found on the rocks in the sea below, which was grim.
The next day I went to stay with Don's daughter, Ingrid, my first cousin once removed, and her husband on their small farm in Hallidays Point. It was fairly luxurious there. I rode their mower, fed their horses, and saw wallabies and kookaburras in the field! At lunch time she took me to meet her friend Chris, a keen surfer, and we went out to Black Head Beach. Chris lent me a wetsuit, a surfboard, and he gave me my first lesson in surfing. Incidentally we were in water which recently had been the site of a shark feeding-frenzy. Hmm...
I haven't used my arms for exercise since I did rowing at St Paul's, 3 years ago, and wow paddling out on a board was tiring! My legs are alright with exercise from all of the cycling I do, but after about half an hour I was exhausted, and could barely lift the board. The "surfing" was fun. By the end of it I could just about judge catching a wave, and out of the few times I did get one, I only managed to get onto my knees once. My arms are weak. But it was good fun, and I'll need to have another few goes and start doing 100 press-ups a night.
Sunday 10th was Mother's Day, so Don and Winsome came over to Ingrid's for lunch. I played the piano for them all, and later did something"crazy", according to them, which was play the piano whilst listening to my iPod. I also uploaded a load of photos to facebook - what an exciting day!
Monday was my last full day in Forster. I had only anticipated staying until the weekend, but because it was so beautiful and peaceful I spent a bit longer there. I spent the day walking back to Don's from the town, swimming in the town beach, and running up and down the sand dune at One-Mile. In the evening, as I had done every evening, I walked a few blocks after dinner with Don while he gave me a history lesson either about the first settlers in Australia, or about the Lawler family and the history of my ancestors, and so on. The moon was particularly bright on that last night, so much so that we were casting two sets of shadows - one from the moonlight, and one from the streetlights. It was nice. But I had to be up at 6:00 a.m. the next morning to get the bus from Forster to Sydney Central. I didn't have to pay for it (thanks to such generous relatives), and the six hour journey was bleary. Travelling by myself is something I need to fix with companionship (soon), but at least I had my iPod.
So Forster was beautiful, and I'm quite upset that I've left it. I wish I'd gone up there much sooner, especially because it would have given me more time to see other people afterwards. Oh well.
On Tuesday afternoon I went back to Wendy's to sort out my stuff, and also topped up my phone with $300 worth of credit ($49 real money), before meeting the husband of another first cousin once removed at Martin Place in the evening. Barbara is the daughter of another great uncle, and her husband Phil met me in the City, from where we got a train to Sutherland before driving to their house in Bangor, a suburb very south of the City, which is where I am now.
No comments:
Post a Comment