Last Day

Yesterday was our last day here in Red Rock. We will be catching the plane later this morning for Sydney and then it's on to Hong Kong the next day.
Yesterday was the most fun day ever. We walked about an hour down the beach to Station Creek where there is a campground and beautiful little sheltered beach. Carmel followed in the car with Reve and the lunch . Marcel and Joe walked back but the rest of us opted for the car.
When we got home the guys had a roll-up (game of lawn bowling) while the rest of us rested. I'm not sure where all their energy came from!
Later that evening, after it was dark, Carmel took us and their friends' kids along with Sacha and her friends hunting "ghost crabs". This involves catching fast little crabs in a flashlight beam while the kids try to catch them. They vary in size from thumbnail size to palm size. As soon as you see them, they quickly tunnel into the sand to hide so they are very difficult to catch. They were more scarce than usual but we managed to fill the bottom of a pail. Then was the fun part. They dug a small hole in the sand and everyone put their feet in it. Then I, being too chicken for the next stage, poured the crabs onto their feet. The last person to take their feet out of the hole is the winner. You can imagine the screaming as the crabs scrambled around trying to escape. This game has all the elements kids love: being out after dark, flashlights and LOTS of screaming!
Sorry that there are no pictures but we forgot to bring the camera and during the crab hunt there wasn't time.
Once we leave here we won't be able to charge up the battery on the laptop because of the power difference so we will be out of touch until we get home unless we use an internet cafe. I'll see you all in a couple of weeks.

Beach Walk

This is one of the walks to the beach over the dunes. We went for a walk yesterday to try out Krazy Karpets on sand. We thought they might work as well as they do on snow. Unfortunately, the sand is just not slippery enough to go very fast. The boys had fun anyway.





This one is of the boys clowning around on our walk this morning.

Time Flies

How time flies when you are having fun! We have only four more days here and then we head back to Sydney. One day there and then we're off to Hong Kong and China for two weeks. This picture was taken on our daily walk along the beach. I'll miss that when we are back on the lone prairie.
While we are in China we will be offline because we won't be able to charge up the laptop since they have different power over there and I don't want to take a chance on frying my computer. I am using the one Carmel has while we are here but I doubt that she would appreciate me absconding with her transformer.

Another Snake!

Yesterday Sacha went to the beach with some friends she has met here and they saw a Brown Snake, one of the most poisonous in the world. They moved away from the area where they saw it and then a man came and killed it with a long stick. Apparently, most people who get snake bite receive it while trying to kill the snake. I think the best advice is to run and don't stop until you are home. It was over a yard long and still quite frightening when we saw it in the evening. I have heard that they are protected and that you shouldn't kill them but I suppose the guy thought that since it was at the beach where there were children playing it was better to get rid of it.


On a more pleasant note, here is a Lorikeet in a tree just off the deck. There are noisy crowds of them everywhere here.

Snake!

This afternoon Carmel's friend Tim called to say there was a big carpet snake in their garage if we wanted pictures. A carpet snake is not poisonous but is a sort of python or boa that might try to squeeze you. They took it out on the rake and let it go. I am quite happy to spend the rest of my stay here without seeing any snakes at all.

Byron Bay and Brisbane

I have been away from the computer for the last week. We took a road trip up the coast to Byron Bay and Brisbane. Byron is a beautiful spot with a famous lighthouse. It also has the most eastern point in Australia. We stayed there two nights and were lucky enough to be there on market day.

We also stopped at the Natural Bridge. The water has worn away a cave leaving a bridge of stone. There is a walkway through the temperate rain forest and you can go into the cave. We saw bats and at night there are glow worms but they must sleep in the daytime.




We went on to Brisbane, where our daughter and son-in-law had gotten us tickets to see Cyndi Lauper in concert. What a fantastic show that was! I have never seen anyone with so much energy. She sang all of our old favorites and a few new ones as well. We totally enjoyed that evening.
Finally, here I am enjoying an early morning latte (well, actually waiting for it to be delivered in this photo) at a seaside restaurant in Byron. What a life!