Sunday, April 6th ....

I use this blog as an aide memoire to remind me of things we have done so I should record some of what occurred between the cruise and coming back to Tasmania. I took the chance to see Uncle Archie who is looking well but is clearly more disabled ever day. He says he is wondering what life is all about when he can't take part in what he enjoys. If he were an Eskimo, we would put him out on the ice for the polar bears but both ice and bears are in short supply in Wollongong, so he just has to sit in God's Waiting Room until his turn comes. It's a bugger!

We had some great days out. We took the train to Kiama on our own one day and really enjoyed just wandering around this beautiful village. We were there again the following week meeting up with Jim and Di. It's always great to see them and hear about the interesting way they live their lives.

After much speculation about the weather, we had a day out with Sandy and Jenny, taking the train to Sydney and a ferry to Abbotsford for lunch at the Sydney Rowing Club. This is a proudly historic club whose early members included Alfred Deakin and AB Paterson. Now, of course, to stay open, they rely on day trippers buying lunch.

On the Saturday that I was catching the night train to Melbourne, Marilyn came with me to Sydney and we took a ferry ride to Watsons Bay to fill in time. It's a great place with terrific places to eat including the famous Doyle's Restaurant. Somehow, we missed a ferry and the next one was late so we were sweating on getting back to Central Station in time for Marilyn to catch her train back to Bulli, but we made it with 5 minutes to spare.

The XPT to Melbourne was great. It's not a patch on the European or Japanese trains but I had booked in First Class so I avoided the Ferals and Bogans who were clustered back in Economy. There were only a handful of passengers in our carriage but the computer had designated another person to sit beside me. How ridiculous, with dozens of empty seats, they opted for that. Of course I moved but the guard was careful to note where I was sitting, no doubt to help in identifying my body if there was a train disaster.

I was only an hour into the journey when Marilyn rang to say that Jamie wouldn't be on the plane, so wouldn't be waiting for me at Melbourne airport. The best laid plans .....