Awesome Trip

We've just returned from four hectic days on the road. On Thursday we drove to Sydney (about 550 km) and this was very pleasant. The next day, I left where we were staying - Dot's brother's apartment (Dick), for a quick trip to see my stockbroker in the city. We concluded that our self managed superannuation fund is in good shape, but he did persuade me to part with $10,000 for an investment in a company (IMDEX) providing services to oil drilling ventures. Since our investment in Oilsearch is doing so well, it didn't take much persuading! Then it was a quick trip to consult my St Vincent's specialist (Dr Abdullah Omari - a good catholic name) about my thrombosis. He was very happy with my progress and doesn't want to see me again. Then it was a second quick dash across town, this time by taxi to the Domestic terminal to intercept Max, Beck and Rob as they had just flown in from their 3 week trip to Disneyland, Baltimore, Washington and New York ... and places in between. Max was in great form and glad to see us for 90 minutes before flying on to Canberra.

Then there was some shopping, though I was wary of having just spent $10K (about 5K GPB). The next day was also exciting as we went to the 60th wedding anniversary of Dot's Aunt Hazel and Uncle Max. Hazel is Dot's mother's sister and both she and Max are well into their 80s. This little dash - for a 12.30 luncheon - was just 400 km through the Blue Mountains (which are spectacular) and the Central Tablelands through Bathurst and Orange, two largish cities dating back to the mid 19th century gold rushes. After a short stay in Orange, we headed off down the western slopes of the Dividing Range to the little village of Cudal, where Hazel and Max live on the farm they developed over many years - one of Australia's premier mohair goat studs. It's now operated by Doug and Rosie Stapleton (Doug is one of Hazel and Max's sons). I knew Doug while he was doing a doctorate at UNE and Rosie did an honours degree in my department. It was a great occasion and we eventually retired to a classy motel in Orange for the night. Today, Sunday, Dot and I shared the driving back to Armidale via Bathurst, Sofala (an historic gold mining village), Ilford (!), Mudgee (a premier wine-producing area), Ulan (with its enormous open-cut coal mines), Coolah (one of my research haunts), and the Liverpool Plains (one of Australia's richest agricultural areas). The whole trip was scenically brilliant, but tiring as we continually stopped to track down geocaches en route.

The round trip was all up about 1450 km (900 miles)! It's just as well that I back driving (albeit too fast).

AS