Hi everyone and Happy Thanksgiving to you all. We finally have a decent internet connection so we can make some semblance of a blog entry. Photos are taking forever to download though so you might have to wait for that part.

We are presently on the central coast of NSW in the area where Cathlyn lived. We have settled in at a caravan park in Kiama for a few days (we are leaving today to head further south). This place is Doug's favorite so far (there have been lots of favorites). This caravan park sits out on a point and is surrounded by ocean on 3 sides. The views are spectacular and the weather has been perfect-----lower 80's with a nice breeze. It's been pretty nostalgic for Cathlyn to come back to her old stomping grounds. Brings back lots of memories. The area has changed enormously but the beach communities in this area still have that laid back feeling. We were able to find the block of flats where C lived and it has been well maintained. There are huge trees in the back yard now where there was only dirt and cement in the 70's.

We had a wonderful time in the Newcastle/Lake Macquarie area where we stopped off to spend time with Steve and Carolyn Meadows again on our way back down. They took us on tour to the Hunter Valley wine country where we visited several wineries. The specialty of the Hunter is Shiraz and Semillon. Steve made a huge sacrifice by volunteering to be the designated driver so he missed out on the tasting. We also visited the botanical gardens there which is patterned after Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C. but on a much smaller scale. We spent the night at Hotel Meadows and we were treated like royalty.

On our way down from Byron Bay we stopped off to visit Kent and Deb Brummitt one more time. We had a wonderful visit with them and even got to see Donovan----Debbie's son who was on break from uni.

When we left there we headed up into Bellingen and Dorrigo-----in the rain forest along Waterfall Way just west of Coffs Harbour. The rain forest lived up to it's name-----we had rain the whole time and we were often in the clouds at around 4300 ft. above sea level. Unfortunately the rain put a damper on any desire to do much hiking in the area. It's truly beautiful country though and the waterfalls were amazing.

We spent one night in the town of Tamworth------the country music capital of Oz but it was pretty dead the night we were there.

When we left Tamworth we learned a valuable lesson----"don't rely completely on your GPS". What we've found out is that the GPS doesn't always take you the most practical or efficient route. It is often very scenic though. Looking at the map the best and most direct route to Newcastle would have been hwy 15 which is mostly freeway. We kept thinking our GPS was taking us to hwy 15-----but no, instead it took us over hill and dale and eventually along Thunderbolts Way and over the Great Dividing Range. By the time we realized what was going on we were commited and it was too late to turn back. With less than a quarter of a tank of fuel we had to get to the closest petrol station which turned out to be in the tiny little community of Nowendoc----which again is above 4000 ft. in elevation. Fortunately we made it and we were very happy to pay the very high price of $1.46/ liter (we've been paying between $1.18 and $1.23).

From Nowendoc Thunderbolts Way took us into a charming little ranch town called Gloucester

Where we had a wonderful very reasonably priced lunch at one of the several little cafes.

We finally made it back down to Lake Macquarie and the Newcastle area.

And, now to get back to where I started this entry----Kiama is about 40 or 50 miles south of Sydney. We are thinking of going down to Bateman's Bay today which is only about 2 hrs. from here. We have scaled back our plans somewhat and we may not make it to Tasmania this trip. It seems like a big undertaking at this moment and we have been moving pretty fast up until a few days ago.

Much love to you all,

Cathlyn and Douglas

The Zoo

Chenresig institute

Rain forest,

Rain forest, Caravan Park Buses

Byron Bay Photos

Byron Bay to Noosa Heads and back to Byron

We finally have a good internet connection (but only for 2 hrs.)

Since our last entry we made our way from Coffs Harbour north to Byron Bay (the north coast of NSW) a 2 1/2 hr. drive from Coffs. Byron Bay has always been one of Cathlyn's favorite places. It's grown a bit since the 70's!!! It still has a good feeling though. It's a popular tourist destination and mecca for surfers, hippies and spiritual seekers. Emily Brummitt (Kent's daughter) lives in the hills above Byron. She has a humble abode in the country-----a very peaceful place where creepy crawlies abound. We spent a wonderful afternoon and evening with her and we will see her again tonight.

From Byron Bay we drove to Noosa Heads, another beach community that held fond memories for Cathlyn. Noosa is north of Brisbane in Queensland, about a 4 hr. drive from Byron. To say that Noosa has changed is an understatement! What was at one time a sleepy little surfing community is now more like Carmel, Ca. Very upscale and spendy. We ended up staying in a very nice caravan park in Tewantin-----the next town over from Noosa. So far it has been our favorite CP-----very clean and tidy and quiet with lots of beautiful bird sounds in the mornings and a lovely swimming pool which we enjoyed. We spent 2 nights there and one of the days we drove up in to the "hinterland" through the towns of Montville and Maleny. We fell in love with that area which sits at about 1500 ft. above sea level. The town of Montville has a very charming, quaint flavor. We had a wonderful lunch there-----a delicious chicken salad with mango and avocado-----yum! From Maleny there is a beautiul view looking down in the valley to the Glasshouse Mountains. There is also a rain forest and wild life sanctuary there with a nice walking trail.

The last day in Tewantin we took in a car race called the Noosa Hill Climb. The course was about a mile long up a curvey mountain road. The cars included everything from classic race cars to Ford Fiestas. It was an interesting bit of culture.

From Tewantin we headed up to Chenrezig Institute in the countryside outside the town of Eudlo (about a 40 min. drive from Tewantin). The institute is the Tibetan Buddhist monastery where our friend, Tenzin Tsepal (formerly Lynn Gebetzberger) resides. She was ordained as a nun in 2001. Her teaching schedule has been pretty busy for the past couple of weeks but she had the day off on the 15th so we were able to spend the whole day with her. We stayed 2 nights in one of the retreat huts which was lovely. They warn you about snakes in the area but fortunately we didn't see any-----just a couple of large spiders. We gave Tsepal her choice of what she wanted to do with her day off and she chose a day at the beach. She had access to a car so she volunteered to do the driving. She took us to one of her favorite beaches----Coolum Beach and we had an absolutely wonderful day. You can walk for miles on the beach and there are very few people. It was really our first chance to spend any time on the beach. After a couple of hours there we packed up and went into town for a delicious lunch at "My Place". After lunch we headed across the street for a swim in the ocean. The water temperature was much like Hawaii. We had a wonderful time with Tsepal-----she is so easy to be with----a bright, kind and radiant soul inside and out.

Yesterday we left the monatery and went to the Steve Irwin Australia Zoo which was a worthwhile experience. You could walk right up to the kangaroos and koalas and pet them!

We are now back down in Byron Bay and will see Emily and her boyfriend for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we continue on our journey south.

I'll end this now before we run out of time. We want to try to get some photos up for you too while there still a little time left.

Thank you for your e-mails. We will respond to each of you individually when we can.

Green tree frog movie

Nov. 8, 2010----Coffs Harbour, NSW

Arrived in Coffs Harbour yesterday where we have been reconnecting with old friends. We had a wonderful reunion at Kent and Deb Brummitt's beautiful home in Emerald Beach just north of Coffs. In this first photo with me are Kent (my former husband), his daughter, Emily, and our dear friend Mike Galbraith. Kent, Mike and I came to Australia 39 yrs. ago and this is the 1st time since then that we've all been here at the same time. Kent's sister, Cil, is also here so it was quite a reunion.

After lunch we all took a walk out to the headlands by their house where kangaroos are a common sight in the morning and early evening. There must have been at least 20 of them munching on the grass in the area.

Today we met Paul Marsh and his wife Jenni for lunch. The last time we'd seen Paul was 10 yrs. ago when he visited Seattle. We had not met Jenni before. She's a lovely person and it was great to spend some time with the two of them.

Tomorrow Mike plans on taking us on a tour of the area and out to see Kent again.

Wed. morning we will drive up to Byron Bay, a town about 3 hrs. north of here that has always been one of my favorite places on earth. Emily Brummitt lives in that area so we will get to see her again.

We saw on the news tonight that the Sydney area had a huge hail storm today! Glad we're not there right now. It was quite warm in Coffs today and a bit muggy after all the rain a couple of days ago. This area reminds us of Hawaii-----lots of palm trees, banana, papaya and avocado trees. And the bird life is amazing-----parrots, lorakeets and cockatoos abound.

Our spaceship

What was advertised and what we got. The one on the top is our little bucket of bolts.

Port Macquarie

Sat. Nov. 6th.

As I write this 2nd entry we are warm and dry in a hotel room overlooking the ocean in Port Macquarie about 5 hrs. or so north of Sydney. We feel right at home with all the Macquaries (slightly different spelling), not to mention the rain.

Macquarie was a governor back in the 1800's and it seems everything in this region is named after him. Port Macquarie was a penal colony but now it is a lovely resort and retirement community.

So far we have had only one sunny day. We had torrential rain all day yesterday and that's what we have today as well. It reminds us of a trip to Kauai a few years ago when it rained the whole month of March. I think the 10 yr. drought is officially over!!

To bring you up to date regarding the camper van, when we went back to the rental place we found out there wasn't another one available at this time so basically we're stuck with it. It's really not all that bad-----we've made it our home and it seems to run fine so we're making the best of it. We did have to replace the windshield wiper blades which made a big difference on visibility with all the rain. The caravan park we stayed at, Belmont Pines, on Lake Macquarie was very nice with a view looking across the lake and very clean "amenities". We stayed there 2 nights. Lots of bird life on the lake-----ducks, large pelicans, black swans, etc. (sorry---didn't get photos of any of them and oh, by the way, we saw lots of cockatoos in the yards around Sydney). The 1st kangaroo we saw was a dead one beside the road.

We visited friends, Steve and Carolyn Meadows who live in Valentine on Lake Macquarie about 10 min. from the caravan park. They have a beautiful home. We had a great time with them and plan to stop there again on the way back south. They want to take us to the Hunter Valley wine country about a 45 min. drive from their place.

We decided we will treat ourselves to a hotel every few nights-----nice change from "camping", particularly when it's raining.

We will continue north to Coffs Harbour today or tomorrow (about 2 hrs. north of here). There is a get together planned with everyone there mid day on Sunday-----Mike and Helen, Kent, Deb, Emily and Kent's sister, Cil.

Arrival Sydney

G'day maties,

Well, we're here. We felt pretty wiped out after 26 hrs. of travel including lay overs so, after picking up our van we got a room for the night. We feel much more refreshed after a good nights sleep. Now we just need to practice driving on the left side of the road. Yikes!!!

Everything went well until we got to the camper van rental place and our credit card was denied. I had called the credit card company before we left to let them know we'd be in Aust. They asked me if there would be any major purchases over $500.00 and I said the only one that I was aware of was the payment for the camper van which would be over $2000.00. To make a long story short, we finally had to go and purchase a calling card so we could use the phone at the rental place to call B of A visa. We got it cleared up and the payment went through. Whew!!!

Then they gave us the van. Not quite what we had been expecting-----sort of a "bait and switch". It will do but it's not in the best of shape. We are going to go back there this morning to see if we can perhaps get a newer model. Stay tuned.