The last blog ended with me cowering in the car in Canberra avoiding the
rain and desperately scouring internet weather sites looking for an escape route to drier climes. My initial thoughts were to repeat the manoeuvre of several weeks earlier i.e. escape the wet south by backtracking north west and try to get in behind the weather front. But, as subsequent events revealed, our decision to flee straight back to Sydney was very, very sensible.
Initially we didn’t take the most direct route back to Sydney “Let’s take the scenic route” she said. Of course by this stage of the trip you would have thought that I would be alert to feminine subterfuge. The Kings Highway just happened to
pass through the craft village of Bungendore which Sandra had circled on her map as a place to visit. The highlight (?) of Bungendore was the Wood Works Gallery full of, admittedly, high quality wood products ranging from bookmarks at a reasonable $10 through to tables at an eye watering $13,000 and on to a clock at £28,000 (I bet they don’t sell one of those every day!) This was obviously the place to supplement the “cheap and cheerful” tourist souvenirs with a bit of “quality” – and I am sure Harvey and Oliver back in Scotland will enjoy what their grandmother bought. How we get the damn thing back to Scotland of course is another matter!
Thankfully most of the shops closed by 4pm and we were able to get onto the
Federal Highway, then the Hume Highway, and make our way quickly to Sydney. Our first port of call was to visit Steven and Ana to catch a quick glimpse of Anatalia, now three months old and who we last saw as a two week old in September. Within seconds Sandra was as besotted as Steven. Anatalia is a very attractive wee girl who seems remarkably contented and spends her life either sleeping or gurgling happily with crying kept to the minimum – long may it last!
Over the last few days the newspapers and TV have been full of horror stories about flooding particularly in parts of New South Wales where a number of Natural Disaster Zones have been declared. Some rivers are swollen by up to 10 metres, vast areas are under water with billions of dollars worth of crops ruined and hundreds of people evacuated from their homes. Near Broken Hill shooting of the 4th Mad Max movie has been abandoned. The Mad Max films have been set in a post apocalyptic desert landscape with not a drop of water or a blade of grass to be seen. The area is currently either awash with floodwater or swathed in green and it looks as if the filmmakers will have to come back in 2012 to complete their work. In one area weather records began 131 years ago in 1879 and in all that time there has never been such a wet November. With this as a backdrop, our decision not to try escaping the wet weather in Canberra with a move to South West New South Wales was, unintentionally, inspired.
Sandra had her first Sydney craft market in Balmain yesterday. Over the last few weeks she has been doing a stock take of all her work produced as we travelled around Australia, finishing things off and packaging them ready for sale – not the easiest of job
s when on the road. The final touches were put in place whilst at Johann’s house in Sydney with my job being to conjure up a market stall from our camping equipment. The big day arrived yesterday and, surprise surprise, it rained. Being an outdoor market this was a major problem as, even with my makeshift tarpaulin cover, things got wet and, more importantly, hardly anyone customers turned up. However Sandra was not alone as all the other stallholders grumbled about the weather and lack of custom, so much so the market organisers cut the entrance fee by 50%. With a paltry $140 take it was the worst return of any of the markets so far on the trip. Let’s hope the returns, and the weather, will be better over the next two Saturdays.
[The photos show Sandra preparing, setting up the stall and the “sales” team of Sandra and Ana]
The net return from Saturday’s market was further reduced as Sandra, ever full of generosity, went round other stall buying up competitors wares including a very sophis
ticated christening dress for Anatalia. The christening takes place on Sunday 12 December at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Sydney with Johann as one of the Godmothers. My debate is what to wear the choice being either (a) my kilt - which is now too big for me due to unexplained weight loss (b) my camping gear, which even after washing leaves a bit to be desired or (c) bite the bullet and buy some new clothes. The biggest issue is footwear as everything has fallen to pieces leaving me only with a pair of smelly trainers or equally tatty Crocs – neither really suitable for a christening and neither going terribly well with my Douglas tartan kilt. 
However my sartorial credibility will come under intense scrutiny tonight (Sunday 5th) as I have been told, naturally without consultation, that I have been appointed Santa Claus at the street party – and of course I have forgotten to pack my Santa outfit. Possibly photos in the next blog. Ho! Ho! Ho!
rain and desperately scouring internet weather sites looking for an escape route to drier climes. My initial thoughts were to repeat the manoeuvre of several weeks earlier i.e. escape the wet south by backtracking north west and try to get in behind the weather front. But, as subsequent events revealed, our decision to flee straight back to Sydney was very, very sensible.Initially we didn’t take the most direct route back to Sydney “Let’s take the scenic route” she said. Of course by this stage of the trip you would have thought that I would be alert to feminine subterfuge. The Kings Highway just happened to
pass through the craft village of Bungendore which Sandra had circled on her map as a place to visit. The highlight (?) of Bungendore was the Wood Works Gallery full of, admittedly, high quality wood products ranging from bookmarks at a reasonable $10 through to tables at an eye watering $13,000 and on to a clock at £28,000 (I bet they don’t sell one of those every day!) This was obviously the place to supplement the “cheap and cheerful” tourist souvenirs with a bit of “quality” – and I am sure Harvey and Oliver back in Scotland will enjoy what their grandmother bought. How we get the damn thing back to Scotland of course is another matter!Thankfully most of the shops closed by 4pm and we were able to get onto the
Federal Highway, then the Hume Highway, and make our way quickly to Sydney. Our first port of call was to visit Steven and Ana to catch a quick glimpse of Anatalia, now three months old and who we last saw as a two week old in September. Within seconds Sandra was as besotted as Steven. Anatalia is a very attractive wee girl who seems remarkably contented and spends her life either sleeping or gurgling happily with crying kept to the minimum – long may it last!Over the last few days the newspapers and TV have been full of horror stories about flooding particularly in parts of New South Wales where a number of Natural Disaster Zones have been declared. Some rivers are swollen by up to 10 metres, vast areas are under water with billions of dollars worth of crops ruined and hundreds of people evacuated from their homes. Near Broken Hill shooting of the 4th Mad Max movie has been abandoned. The Mad Max films have been set in a post apocalyptic desert landscape with not a drop of water or a blade of grass to be seen. The area is currently either awash with floodwater or swathed in green and it looks as if the filmmakers will have to come back in 2012 to complete their work. In one area weather records began 131 years ago in 1879 and in all that time there has never been such a wet November. With this as a backdrop, our decision not to try escaping the wet weather in Canberra with a move to South West New South Wales was, unintentionally, inspired.
Sandra had her first Sydney craft market in Balmain yesterday. Over the last few weeks she has been doing a stock take of all her work produced as we travelled around Australia, finishing things off and packaging them ready for sale – not the easiest of job
s when on the road. The final touches were put in place whilst at Johann’s house in Sydney with my job being to conjure up a market stall from our camping equipment. The big day arrived yesterday and, surprise surprise, it rained. Being an outdoor market this was a major problem as, even with my makeshift tarpaulin cover, things got wet and, more importantly, hardly anyone customers turned up. However Sandra was not alone as all the other stallholders grumbled about the weather and lack of custom, so much so the market organisers cut the entrance fee by 50%. With a paltry $140 take it was the worst return of any of the markets so far on the trip. Let’s hope the returns, and the weather, will be better over the next two Saturdays.[The photos show Sandra preparing, setting up the stall and the “sales” team of Sandra and Ana]
The net return from Saturday’s market was further reduced as Sandra, ever full of generosity, went round other stall buying up competitors wares including a very sophis
ticated christening dress for Anatalia. The christening takes place on Sunday 12 December at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Sydney with Johann as one of the Godmothers. My debate is what to wear the choice being either (a) my kilt - which is now too big for me due to unexplained weight loss (b) my camping gear, which even after washing leaves a bit to be desired or (c) bite the bullet and buy some new clothes. The biggest issue is footwear as everything has fallen to pieces leaving me only with a pair of smelly trainers or equally tatty Crocs – neither really suitable for a christening and neither going terribly well with my Douglas tartan kilt. 
However my sartorial credibility will come under intense scrutiny tonight (Sunday 5th) as I have been told, naturally without consultation, that I have been appointed Santa Claus at the street party – and of course I have forgotten to pack my Santa outfit. Possibly photos in the next blog. Ho! Ho! Ho!
Grandma Sandra in her element - will she want to come back to Scotland. You have certainly caused havoc over there with the wet weather that followed you around.
ReplyDeleteAnatalia is veryveryvery beautiful. Hope being santa was fun - you should be glad the weathers so crap as a santa suit in the heat can cause a bad "heat rash"
ReplyDelete