Golfing in Eden

On the second-last Tuesday of August, this year, Jenny used the viewing tower, on the third hole at the Eden golf club, to ensure that the fairway was clear for our tee-shots.

From 2010-09-18

We were lugging renting clubs having left our own sets back in Canberra and not realised this until almost half-way there. (The rented clubs were probably better anyway.)

From 2010-09-18

Jenny takes a shot from the fairway of the seventh from within the middle of a mob of kangaroos, who are evidently very familiar with the game.

From 2010-09-18

On Thursday, we took our leave from Eden and returned to Canberra. I'll post, next, some photos from my final group dinner and our last Bramley's Bar.

Ben Boyd

At the end of August, Jen and I visited the Sapphire Coast and stayed at Eden. On the first afternoon, we took a walk around Lake Curalo and along Aslings beach to the rock pool. Afterwards, we climbed the steep embankment and followed Imlay Street back through town.

From 2010-09-18

After viewing the old whaling works, we headed up to Boyd's Tower. Nearby, the water, as viewed from the southern head of Twofold Bay, was very enticing!

From 2010-09-18

Boyd's tower is imposing and in great condition. It was not granted a licence from Sydney to operate as a light-house so Boyd packed up and headed to California instead.

From 2010-09-18

After taking some lunch near Boyd's tower, Jen and I headed right out to the tip of the headland.

From 2010-09-18

Later we took an afternoon hike in Ben Boyd National park from Bittangabee, past the ruins to Saltwater Creek and back again. On the return journey, the urge to bathe was once more irresistable for me!

From 2010-09-18

A little further south is the grand Green Cape Lighthouse. It's a beautiful structure though its function is now carried on by a small electric, automated system, just visible on the right edge of the picture. Construction of the lighthouse was started by a private operator that won a government contract. Though he ran out of money, the project was finished with government funding and was staffed by three full-time lighthouse operators.

From 2010-09-18

In the evening, we walked to the marina and watched the sun set over the fishing boats, and then took 2 x everything on the menu at the restaurant behind us.

From 2010-09-18

In the next post, I will show you how we faired on the course before our few days in Eden closed.

Last game of the season with the Uni-Norths Owls

Our rugby team had its last game of the year in August against Easts. We came out victorious from the clash. I'm pictured below with the club's third-grade side. Though we didn't make the finals this year, I had a great time with the club and reckon that it helped to keep me sane during my final year at the ANU. The club attracts a great bunch of blokes and I am always grateful to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them. Here's to a huge 2011 season!

From 2010-09-18

Last beer at The Fox

On Friday, 20 August, Jenny and I finally moved out of The Fox. We packed and swept, scrubbed and vacuumed. Here is the kitchen, formally home to my oft-thought-of keg-fridge.

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Here I am vacuuming carpet (yes, thrilling) that, along with every other furnishing, was removed to make way for the ensuing refurbishment days after we moved out!

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One of the best things about The Fox was the garden in the backyard. There were these lovely big olive trees and it most mostly pretty peaceful to barbecue, play darts and relax out there.

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Gav, with Rhiannon, came to give us a hand with the last couple of heavy items. Rhi didn't do anything and so she didn't get to have a beer.

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Here are Jen and I in front of our first little home together.

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It took all of my modest Tetris-skills to pack my gear on to the truck! See how compressed the rear tyre is? From here, we headed to Cowra and added to the Pinkerton family collection of washing machines (now four) and fridges (now five).

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After all of this hectic activity - through finalizing the thesis, selling the motorbike, saying our farewells and the moving out of The Fox - Jen and I took a trip at the end of August to the Sapphire coast. I'll mention a few of the highlights in my next post.

Outta Fox

Though we had disposed of some old furniture, we still had a lot of things to move out from the Fox. With this in mind, we started first with moving Jen's things across Canberra. The ute pictured, so kindly loaned to us for our move, was invaluable. I'm shown below on the Monday morning, 16 August, and obviously making light of the job ahead.

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So for a few days there, we had only the most rudimentry of furniture. (Good practice for the way I have "furnished" my apartment in the US now.)

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Jenny made the tough decision to sell her motorcycle before we departed for our post-doc jobs in the States. This was Jen's first motorcycle and she learnt to ride with it. I was a bit attached to it and then it wouldn't start for the prospective buyers! I imagined that it was for show, so that we would keep it. I persevered and now it lives out near Belconnen. I'll hope to see it around town again (and probably still with an L-plate on it) in 12 months. Jenny rode this bike all the way to Eden with me at one stage and took it to Newcastle and back another time.

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Friday, August 20, 2010, was our last day at The Fox. It was going to the biggest day of packing and cleaning, so we started early. In the next post, I will show you how we managed it all. Before I finish though, I point out the daffodil in the photograph below. This daffodil is descended from one of a number of bulbs that were given to Jen along with some tulip bulbs. We planted these here in preference to the problematic Jerusalem artichokes that we had tried previously. Every spring, we saw that these bulbs were multiplying and were gratified that some of the daffodils bloomed in time for us on our last days in our old home. I bet that the tulips are in full bloom now and trust that they are again brightening people's days.

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Last party at The Fox. I still can't believe it!

Jenny and I had a good supply of ale on hand for our last party at The Fox on Saturday, August 14. The weather was still pretty cool at this stage, so we had the fire bin chock full at all times. I had been hoping to have that last hurrah at the Fox for some time but had to wait for revisions of the fateful document. The beer though, never had tasted so good!

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Here we are, playing with some sparklers, later in the evening.

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You can see how full that bucket is! Also, it reads "Live Free or Die", the state motto of the US state of New Hampshire and the host of Jen's postdoc job.

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Some rickety old garden furniture was dispensed with as well and reduced the amount of things that we'd have to shift later.

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Next time, I will show you how Jenny and I, in a fairly rapid manner, set about emptying the Fox. Having been so comfortably settled there for over eight years, one accumulates quite a lot of gear but we get there in the end, so hang in there. And imagine how after so long I can be so nostalgic about my rough'n'ready little sharehouse in Lyneham. Once we're done there, I'll show you a little of the trip Jen and I made to the beautiful Sapphire Coast.

Puss moves and we visit Cowra

On Monday the 9th, following Jen's soccer game on Sunday, we decided to relocate Puss to Cowra. It was figured that he would love it there where he could lounge in front of a wood-fire, hunt mice around stacked trellis post and would be spared the intrusion of almost any vehicular traffic. As well, he would be pampered by Jan and Les! Puss was very put-out by the whole affair and was little comforted by my reassurance. We stayed in Cowra for a few days to try to help him settle in but were suprised by how quickly he reverted to a kind of half-wild state. He comes by now, under the cover of darkness for his dinners, and is extremely elusive. Eight-and-a-half years of sharehousing together have been put aside and now Jan and Les are doing their best to win him over again. Inadvertently, they also end up supporting a number of neighbouring felines that appreciate the extra suppers!

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Jan and Jenny and I took a morning tea of scones with cream and jam to Les, on Tuesday morning the 10th, while he took a break from spraying prior to the impending bud-burst. Though still quite cool, the relatively wet recent conditions have made Cowra lush and green again. As well, the harvest this year is expected to be quite good.

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In the next few updates, I will be relating the last hurrah that we held at The Fox and then how we got serious about moving out. We did really hook in to the moving gig so that we could get away on a little driving holiday, the details and some photos of which will be appearing soon too.

What has been happening since mid-July?

It's high time that this blog was brought up to date. Over the next couple of weeks, I will update the blog regularly and document the huge events that have taken place in the past two months. Summarily, I submitted my PhD thesis and we celebrated, Jenny and I moved out of the Fox and were kindly farewelled multiple times, Puss was repatriated in Cowra, and then Jen and I moved to the US this month to take up post-doctoral jobs.

In the early hours on the 3rd of August, I received endorsement from my supervisor to submit my thesis. Though incredibly relieving, this spurred me, after Jen and I enjoyed this eagerly anticipated milestone, into frantic activity in order to make the final revisions and then print and bind the document. There was a kind of tranquility, knowing that the thesis was on the cusp of being submitted, that I will always remember.

The final surge to submit the thesis meant that I snatched only scraps of sleep over the next few days as I was determined to have the thesis submitted by Friday, the 6th. My advice to colleagues at the RSC about to go through the same process, just have the ANU printing unit take care of the printing. It turned out to be so much easier than doing it at the RSC! (And you are re-imbursed anyhow.)

After a few printing hiccups (and a bicycle collision en route to the RSC!), four copies of the thesis (shown below), were signed and made ready for submission to the Examinations Office.

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It was a truly euphoric moment to be concluding this period of intense study and devotion. After four years and five months working at the PhD, finally making my way to the Examinations Office with the theses in hand was overwhelming.

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Jenny and I toasted to the moment with champagne on the deck by Sullivan's Creek. Jen was so supportive of me and helpful while I was going through the final phases of my program, that I had to toast to her at this point too.

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Happily, we were shortly joined by a great bunch of friends and colleagues from the RSC and we continued to toast in the usual fashion.

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Aware that we would be leaving shortly for the US (for Jen, departure was scheduled to take place in just over three weeks time), we soon launched into the next phase of operations: empty the Fox. I reflect now that only seven weeks have passed since this decisive day but I have been so busy that it feels instead like many months. I trust that you will appreciate this, dear reader, and forgive me for the blog's recent lack of updates. I am going to make it all up to you over the next week or so. As such, come back soon for Puss and the last hurrah at The Fox.

West of the mountains again

Down in Moonan Flat on Wednesday morning, it was warm enough for Jen and I to cook breakfast.

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Later, we stopped to view some of the coal mines at Ulan, between Cassilis and Gulgong.

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We stopped for the day in Orange and met Ange and Ant's girl, Charlotte, and then stayed with the Sullivans before meeting up with Marko, Les and Jan for a spot of golf in Blayney on Thursday. Shown below is the shot that I used to extricate myself from this deep gully.

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Polblue Swamp, Barrington Tops

Jen and I stopped on Tuesday evening at the Polblue Swamp in the Barrington Tops. There are a collection of clear streams here but it was so cold that I refrained from swimming.

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Though the timber was a bit wet, we managed to get a stable little fire burning. I used a little gas burner to boil the billy. As the sun sunk, the temperature dropped rapidly and I started putting on extra layers of clothing.

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We had been warned by a kind gentleman at the Gloucester visitor's centre that it would be mighty cold up in the mountains. "We're from Canberra; it'll be fine" was our response. Admittedly, I was surprised to find so much ice on the ground in the late afternoon. These icy outcrops were very widespread at the Polblue Swamp.

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Though warned that we ought to expect temperatures down to −9 °C, the temperature dipped below even that. In the middle of the night, the thermometer registered −10 °C. Thankfully, Jen and I were using good down bags in our tent. Though the cold did have some surprising effects: the hood of my bag was freezing to the inside surface of the tent, our gas-powered light and stove were not useful as the vapour pressure inside the gas cylinders (70:30, butane/propane) dropped almost to zero, and the camera took one photo and then conked out due to battery problems. That one photo was of Jenny's glasses that iced over during the night.

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In the morning, we took the stroll around the swamp and were impressed by the ice-scape.

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Here, Jen and I pause to soak up some of the warming sunshine. As our stove was not functional even after our walk, we postponed breakfast and headed west out of the mountains.

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The tops

We viewed a stand of rare and enormous Antarctic Beech trees.

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The view into the valley here is spectacular and a rival to those we enjoyed at the Kanangra Boyd Nat. Park in the Blue Mountains.

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Gently leaning on the rail, I take in the view from high in the Barrinton ranges.

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The warmth

The fine weather stayed with us as we stopped in at Tathra for lunch on the Monday.

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I found the water at Crowdy Bay very pleasant and ventured a dip. There are obviously dangerous rips here though, so I didn't venture out beyound my depth.

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Again, we paddled at the beach on Tuesday morning.

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Jenny enjoys the ocean in moderation.

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After morning tea, we headed west through Glouster and up into the Barrington Tops.

Newcastle

Jen and I visited Mel and Ryan in Newcastle late last month. The weather is pleasant and mild east of the Great Dividing Range. We drove to the waterfront to watch the Chinese Dong being loaded.

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The dogs enjoyed a run at a beach dedicated to canine fun.

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Here, the dogs await action from their master.

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Later, Lucky Mel won the fish tray at the Minmi Pub.

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