September 16

Sunday September 16, 2007 12:30 PM Lismore NSW Australia

The following was written on September 18.

This was our first full day in Australia. Here is our first morning seen from the verandah where we are staying.

morning

My morning began with a fresh pot of coffee.

I was introduced to a few new books on Virginia Woolf:

"Granite and Rainbow: The Hidden Life of Virginia Woolf" (1998) by Mitchell Leaska.

"Ottoline Morrell: Life on the Grand Scale (1992) by Miranda Seymour.

The primary activity was to try driving. The car was in first rate shape, having just had a 40K maintenance and a set of new tires put on. We have certainly had our friends busy keeping everything ready for us. I drove into Lismore to visit a couple of our favourite people (next door neighbors from a stay here in 2001). The driving presented no difficulties, although one is never sure until one tries it. I only turned the windshield wipers on once while trying to signal. The visit was wonderful. We will be getting together again soon.

On the other hand, the car was now a mess. A flock of fig birds occupied the tree under which I had parked the car. When we cam out the car was brown (the original color was grey). I had never seen anything like it. I bet there must have been a couple of hundred large "droppings" over all parts of the car. I could barely get the winshield cleaned enough to drive home. As soon as we arrived we set to washing the entire car before the stuff became hardened.

We all worked together to make an incredible chicken vegetable soup/stew. I chopped some of the veggies. It was superb - a real hearty meal. Another couple, good friends as well, joined us for dinner. We really felt welcome.

Another unexpected activity was to become absorbed in a couple of chess problems. This quickly became addictive. Great fun.

Tomorrow morning we drive to Lennox Head to see the unit we have rented and to move in. We are making good progress, right on schedule.