Cooey

I’m thinking a breakfast consisting of a flat white and two Krispy Kreme donuts (for the record: caramel glaze and chocolate sprinkles) hardly comes as recommended by Mr. Motivator and his leotarded friends, but then earlier in the week it was a struggle for me to eat at all thanks to some annoying virus. I actually had some sick leave from work – the first in my time in Australia…can you believe it?! Anyway, you didn’t come on here to read about illness and sickly going-ons. Why did you come on here exactly, hmm? Bored? Some mistake when you really wanted to find out about golf course holes with treacherous greens leading to lots of bogeys? Or worse?

Now what you really want to read is that, apart from a few spots of rain last weekend, May has been dry and almost always sunny, though not without the odd cloud forming to trigger dramatic skies as the day closes at an almost horrific 5 o’clock in the evening. While recuperating earlier in the week I visited that jewel of recuperation, Red Hill, for some fresh air and general hearty fill of nature and those previously quoted dramatic skies.

As usual with Canberra, that drive to get out of town gradually builds and builds until you just have to cross the border lest you start to get too comfortable in your slippers watching the ABC news. On Saturday, I picked up Jason, a mate from work, and headed to Bungonia Gorge for a very hearty bushwalk. The highlight of course being the lookouts, and Adams Lookout in particular.

Not only serene as the day ends horrendously early but a natural amphitheatre in which to shout expletives and hear them echo around the valley walls. I have to say it wasn’t all expletives, but Australia has recently become obsessed with Gordon Ramsay (finally, f*@!&*! ‘ell) so they are used to it. For the most part, Jason was doing a fine impression of an opera singer warbling a very loud high pitched “Coooooo-eee” at frequent occasions. Hopefully, if I have been successful in my Internet protocol web transfer nerdage upload there will be a video clip of this exercise and, if the quality is sufficient, you can pick up the echo. Anyway, it was cool.

Now, a couple things of note on the drive back to Canberra. The first was I kind of hit my first kangaroo on the road. Now before all you tofu chompers despair, I only clipped the very end of its tail and it bounded back into the bush seemingly unharmed. And it’s not like I was deliberately trying to run it over, the stupid bloody thing decides to jump out onto the road. My car was unhurt and managed to click over to 100,000 kms just out of Goulburn (that was the second momentous event). It was so exciting, Jason managed to snore away as the radio blared out loudly. I guess all that screaming into canyons is pretty tiring business.

Random Ramblings

The fine autumn weather continues as May has brought continuously sunny days with temperatures in the high teens (…which means finally the UK is beating us). Such cool clear mornings are ideal for a bushwalk, however last week I felt the need for something a bit different with cravings of a stroll in a fresh needle covered pine forest. I could’ve just bought some toilet freshener but instead went to a pine plantation on the Eastern slopes of Mount Majura, where the Aussie critters didn’t seem too confused by the absence of gum trees.



The autumn also seems to be a special time for everyone’s favourite… sunsets! There must be something going on in the upper level atmosphere, the position of the sun and maybe just global warming or something. So it was that emerging from a carwash in the glamorous suburb of Fyshwick the sky was a glow and I popped to the nearby Jerrabombera Wetlands for a peek.


This weekend has brought a few more random ramblings with nature sightings, as I revisited Red Hill for the first time in a while.



The cool evenings are also fostering more homely, comfort food and on Sunday I cried and cried and cried in my efforts to make a big pot of Aussie Onion Soup. It was all rather hearty but a bit too oniony (Duh, I should’ve worked that one out from the name!). I could’ve cried. And now I smell like a Frenchman! Should’ve got that pine air freshener after all.