Wednesday, 9/19

Meeting Kim's parents and neighbor

     During breakfast we talked about plans for going to Kim's parent's ocean condo in Iluka, a town about four hours away. At first we were reluctant to go, not wanting to impose any further on Kim and her valuable vacation time. But I think she genuinely wanted to show us the Pacific Coast around Iluka so we said yes and made plans to leave on the next day.

     An hour before noon we drove to the little town of Uralla about 15 minutes away. We met Kim's parents Neville and Pat at the old granite and brick McCrossin's mill in town, which now houses a historical museum. Kim's neighbor Jenny is a volunteer at the museum and kindly offered to open it for us an hour before normal hours. Pat is a lot like Kim, very friendly, talkative, and inquisitive. Neville is quieter, but also open, and has a dry sense of humor.

     A typical small regional museum, the mill does have a special emphasis on an old outlaw named Thunderbolt, who's story mirrors many of the bigger than life bad guys of the American West. There was also a small section on WWI and WWII veterans, which brought up the story of Neville's brother, who was captured by the Japanese and killed during the Death March of Sandekan near the end of the war. Neville harbors a deep regret of his brother's death and revulsion of war, even after all these years.

    Jake had already arrived on his motorcycle at the pub/hotel where Pat and Neville treated us all to lunch. Almost every town in Australia has at least one old hotel with similar architecture to the Top Pub, a two story facade in which the second floor porch, often on two or three sides of the hotel, sheltered by a wide overhang of a low pitched corrugated metal roof, itself shades an arcade on the ground floor. Most of the hotels have cast iron railings along the upper terrace. The ground floor will house a wood paneled pub and a separate restaurant, while the second floor usually has rooms for rent. I had barramundi fish and chips and Diana had the Top Burger, which had a filet of beef, Oz bacon, sliced beet, pineapple, spinach, caramelized onions, and a fried egg, all on a Kaiser roll. Both meals were delicious, and probably not typical Aussie pub fair.

Jake, Neville, Pat, Jenny, Kim, Diana

That's  a really big burger, and she ate it all!

Bush walking

     We said goodbye to Kim's parents and Jenny after lunch and drove to the Gwydir River. Kim's family would go there when the boys were younger, Thomas called it Mum's River. Kim had showed us a photograph that Thomas had taken of a platypus swimming in the lazy water meandering through the quiet gum tree woods. Her son had a keen eye for finding a special perspective with his camera. His photos were startling original for a teenaged lad and conveyed his deep love of nature. We walked quietly along the rocks on the bank of the river, observing the special significance of the place.

At Mum's river

     Kim next took us to Mount Yarrowyck, where we took a twenty minute walk to see Aboriginal paintings on a sheltered rock face. We met two guys working on the trail that Kim knew, she knows a lot of people in these parts. We talked for several minutes about the lunacy of a court case where a woman successfully sued the Australian National Park Service for breaking a leg after tripping on a tree root on a forest trail. I guess we've all got similar stories, no matter where we live.

Car carpentry, an assistant, and lamb chops

     We arrived back home a couple hours before sunset. Kim put lamb chops coated in barbeque sauce into the oven, then took Diana into town to get material for curtains for the car. I stayed back and got to work installing the bed in our LC.

     As I was measuring and cutting and screwing pieces together Kim's neighbor Jenny wandered over. I assumed she'd leave when she discovered that I was there alone, but she started asking me about what I was doing, told me about her family, and generally carried on a conversation while I worked. When I sawed off a board she'd hold onto the end to keep it from falling onto the gravel drive. I joked that she was my assistant.

     Kim had told us that Jenny was an old bush woman, that she was a bit tough on the outside and that she didn't hold anything back. She said she took some getting used to. I had been intimidated by her description, but I found her garrulous, with a self-deprecating sense of humor, and pleasant to talk to. She's 75 years old, wears a skirt and lace blouse, never trousers, and is as strong as a jackaroo ( an Aussie cowboy). She has raised sheep although doesn't have any now and let's Kim use her pasture for her herd. She also raised four of her own children, had foster kids and told Diana that she liked but didn't love her husband, but had always wanted to have children. She also collects coins and has a TV, police scanner, and radio going on all the time in her house because as a child she was afraid of the dark and needed and still wants plenty of noisy distraction so she doesn't have to hear and worry about the things that go bump in the dark.

     Jenny has been a great neighbor for Kim. She has watched the boys, helped deliver lambs at three in the morning, and even helped her parents on their farm. Kim says that she and Jenny argue like sisters, but there is a bond between them that is at least as strong as a family.

     By an hour after dark the lamb chops were done and we went inside to eat, Jenny staying for dinner. Umm umm umm, were they delicious, maybe the best chops of any kind I've ever had! We stayed up until after ten, talking, drinking wine, and enjoying the company.