Dad's Car

While we were in Australia my dad decided that it is time to stop driving. I understand what a difficult decision it is to make, and dread the day I have to do it myself, but at 92 sharing the road with enormous trucks and people driving very fast cars without any sense of courtesy (or the road rules) is not a lot of fun.

This meant he was able to lend us his car, a 2007 model Toyota Yaris. It's a small town car, very polite to drive - if a little underpowered and with an automatic gearbox that has very little sense of logic. If you want random gear changes and over-revving then a Toyota CVT automatic gearbox is your friend. 

But it performed well, getting us where we needed to be with only a little fuss, in relative comfort, and with all our luggage. Add in navigation via our phones and you're away!

Our first, and longest, trip was from my dad to Susan's dad and returning to JB and Rosy. We did it over the course of two days each way, pausing along the way for many breaks, meals and taking in the view. What's the point of rushing through scenery?

I was interested to see how I fared driving distances after so long away, but apart from one or two times where I ran out of steam and needed a 20 minute nap I am quite pleased. Driving in Australia is different to driving on Europe.

Our Voyage in Numbers

This is a per person count. We didn't spend all of our time together, but the numbers are remarkably similar.

Air: 36,000(±)km

Train: 1548km

(586km in France, 962km in Australia)

Road: 3242km driven

(Plus countless kilometres in other peoples' cars)

Ferry: 109km

Just chillin'

We were away from home for 38 days, slept in 12 different beds, and ate in 28 restaurants.

We didn't turn Strava on, so there's no count for the number of steps or kms walked, but "enough" would cover it.

In total we took 2787 photos (plus a number of photos of knees, nostrils, lens cap covers, and floors). We can show them all to you if you care to visit.

Awaydays Blog Post X: A Wall of Thanks

We're back in Preuilly sur Claise after just over five weeks in Australia. As ever there are a long list of people to thank: JB and Rosy for hospitality, friendship, and loans of all sorts of stuff, Kathy and John for hospitality and for reorganising themselves so generously around us, my Dad for the use of his car, Rick and Helen for hospitality, Kippa for last minute taxi service, Geoff and Christine for a last minute bed and excellent roast lamb, and a host of other people who went out of their way to be helpful and provide meals.

It wasn't a trip long on planning: we had been talking about visiting for the past 5 years or so, but medical things (including a world wide pandemic, don't forget) were always getting in our way. Then Susan emailed my oncologist, asking if we could, at some stage, consider visiting Australia, and he replied "certainly, I've rearranged your appointments".

This forced our hand. I had a week to plan and buy tickets and get my head around the reality of going. In some ways I never really got my head around either going to Australia or being in Australia. Things I would normally just cruise through I found thoroughly stressful, and I made some beginner's errors - luckily not really financially disastrous.

But I'm glad we went. We saw our dads, which was the main purpose of the exercise. There are many people we didn't see due to the time constraints, and only a couple of days felt like a proper holiday. But it was nice (if slightly too noisy and frantic for my tastes) seeing family.

Awaydays Blog Post 32: So Near - Yet So Far

Our flight arrived in Paris 30 minutes early, and we got to the train on time. Unfortunately, due to a suspected bomb on the line at Marne le Vallée we're sitting on a train going nowhere. Latest advice is that the bomb squad will be attending in half an hour, which means our train will be at least two hours late.

People are not yet complaining out loud, but the train is overly warm for my liking.

Awaydays Blog Post 31: Sydney to Perth

Yup. It's almost over. Paris to Perth via the Great Australian Bight, Spencer Gulf shown.

That's the airport in Perth. I've been here three times, without actually bothering Perth itself.

Awaydays Blog Post 30: Three From Manly

Our last night in Australia. It was getting dark, so photo quality varies.

Nativity Scenes in a Secular State

The Chateau Royal d'Amboise have started setting out their splendid Neapolitan nativity scene in the Great Hall. In order to be able to do so they will have had to establish the legalities. France is a secular State and there has been some debate about whether it is legal to have nativity scenes on display in public places (other than churches). Except, and there is always an exception in France, if they have high cultural worth. This is certainly the case with the Amboise nativity, as it reflects the 15th century royal practice in the chateau.

The High Court ruled in 2022 that Town Halls and other public buildings were not allowed to have nativity scenes (Fr. crèche de Noel) except if they can prove 'cultural, artistic or festive purpose'. Most have very sensibly decided that it is a matter for the local church to deal with. Last year I barely heard a 'joyeux Noel' in the street, and there seems to have been a definitive and conscious shift to 'bonnes fetes'.

Awaydays Blog Post 29: Travel Fries Your Brain

We drove from Canberra to Woy Woy today, left the car there and caught the train/ferry combination to Manly. In doing so in the heat I left one of our phones in the car.

Tomorrow I return to Woy Woy to collect it.

In the meantime, the Hawkesbury River from the train.

Awaydays Blog Post 28: Gawn Bush

JB and I went for a drive in the foothills of the Brindabellas this morning. The weather wasn't great, but it was a nice run out.

Awaydays Blog Post 27: Running Up That Hill

Yesterday was another excellent day, divided between the coast and the high country. We started with a walk along the Merimbula boardwalk, past oyster beds, followed by a really nice lunch at Sunny's Kiosk.

After taking our leave of Rick and Helen we drove to Canberra via the Mount Darragh Road, a very picturesque country road that winds its way up the Great Dividing Range through temperate rainforest and tree fern lined gullies.

Awaydays Blog Post 26: A Day at the Seaside

I went swimming today. Aslings Beach Rock Pool is an ocean pool in Eden on the NSW south coast. According to unreliable sources it was built in 1961. It's ace!

However, you do have to be careful, because there was an undesirable on the beach: the Pacific Man O'War (Physalia physalis), also known as the man-of-war or bluebottle, is a marine hydrozoan found in the Pacific Ocean. It is considered to be the same species as the Portuguese Man O'War. It's not a jellyfish, it's a community of nasty stingy things suspended below a gas sack. (Read more here).

Awaydays Blog Post 25: Rock Oysters

Today we had oysters for lunch. They're grown, harvested, and sold about a mile from where we're staying. They're Sydney Rock Oysters rather than the bigger but less regarded Pacific Oyster, and were very tasty indeed.

Growing near the shop was the biggest patch of samphire either Susan or I had seen, so we stole a bunch as an accompaniment.

Awaydays Blog Post 24: Being Noble

A couple of days ago I teased you with a picture of a Chiko Roll.

The Chiko Roll is an iconic Australian food, first introduced in 1951. Supposedly inspired by the Chinese spring roll, it's designed to be a convenient meal for people on the move, either at sporting events or in the car. The filling consists of a mixture of beef, barley, cabbage, carrot, celery, and spices, all encased in a thick, deep-fried pastry shell. The exterior is really solid, almost to the point of being indigestible. Today, for lunch, I had a chiko roll and a potato scallop (a battered and deep fried slice of potato).

I do these things so you don't have to.

Awaydays Blog Post 23:Capital!

 If you squint, you can see Australia's capital city.

I grew up in Canberra, but left 46 years ago. My parents were curious about history and natural history and the like, but on returning I have discovered all sort of history things that were forgotten in the 1970s and 1980s. The world war one training trenches are where we spent many hours canoeing and having BBQs, yet were unknown to us.

Awaydays Blog Post 22: Finishing What We Started

The beginning, middle, and end of today.

Awaydays Blog Post 21: On the Road Again

We're overnighting in Coonabarabran after leaving Pittsworth. 531 km in 6 hours of driving.

Food for truckers (and others)

We're sharing the road. This photo was taken in the same place as the last photo in this blog post, but heading in the opposite direction.

The Kaputar ranges from a distance - and on the move.

Awaydays Blog Post 20: This Wheel's on Fire

Completely fortuitous. The first sound you can hear is thousands of frogs.

Awaydays Blog Post 19: Sky's on Fire

This week we have had some pretty impressive clouds and sunsets, but no weather. That'll probably change as soon as I attempt a 1000km drive.

Awaydays Blog Post 18: Acting with Reserve

In the 1970s Susan's father started campaigning to have a parcel of undeveloped land on his farm listed as a nature reserve. Yesterday we took him to see what it has become.

John did the cross country wheelchair pushing, Roz drove the Taxi, Susan and Kathy were dutiful daughters, and I did the sweating.

Awaydays Blog Post 17: Deafened by Frogs

Whilst visiting Susan's father we're staying in a motel on the edge of town near the highway. Next to the motel is a catchment pond for rainwater. It's full of frogs to the extent that after dark you can't hear yourself think. So far we've seen 4 species and heard 3 more.

Here are two of them:

Spotted Marsh Frog

Peron's Tree Frog (Emerald Spotted Frog) 

Awaydays Blog Post 16: Filthy Clouds

We arrived in Pittsworth this evening, and the sky was looking filthy. In the end we got some rain, but others got a whole lot more.

Awaydays Blog Post 15: Mountaineering

We drove two thirds of the way from Woy Woy to Pittsworth yesterday, via Thunderbolt's Way. You could skirt around the bumpy bits of the Great Dividing Range, but where would the fun be in that?

Look Out for European Spindle in the Touraine Loire Valley

 European Spindle Euonymus europaeus (Fr. Fusain d'Europe). 

A shrub or small tree, abundant in almost all of France, and very noticeable in the autumn because of its shocking pink seed capsules which spread open to reveal equally vibrant orange seeds. Grows in mixed hedgerows in areas with calcareous soil.

 

 

The species is the most important overwintering host of the Black Bean Aphid. As such they provide an important food source for early emerging hover flies with predatory larvae.

 

 

The species has a surprising number of uses for man. As referenced by the French vernacular name, it makes the best artists' charcoal, and the best charcoal powder. It has a hard fine grained yellow wood, ideal for sharpening to a point and making meat skewers and spindles, as well as being used in horology for cleaning brass and rubies without scratching them. The seed capsules can be used as a source of dye for certain Moroccan leathers.

 

 

The other time of year you might notice spindle is when it is being attacked by Yponomeuta spp small ermine moth caterpillars in the spring. This looks devastating as they eat all the leaves and cover the plant in a silken web. But the plant recovers, and by June has grown a full covering of leaves again.