September 17

Monday September 17, 2007 8:30 PM Lismore NSW Australia

The following was written on September 18.

We awoke to the sounds of kookaburras. Much better than a rooster. I made a fresh pot of coffee and quickly solved the next chess problem. A positive start to the day. I had my coffee in a coffee cup and saucer - the first time I had seen this combination. I liked it and will try to obtain a set of four for when we have company in Lethbridge.

While sipping my coffee on the verandah, and listening to the birds (it sounded like a Tarzan movie), I made a note to myself that I should add a personal diary page that does NOT appear on the Web, but which contains a few more personal comments.

morning

The mist in the valley below was much more interesting this morning as the trees on some of the ridges appeared as small islands in a sea of grey.

Here is one of my favorite spots: Early morning on the verandah, listening to the birds, and reading a good book.

verandah

Here is the chess problem that was awaiting me when I got up. White to mate in 2 moves.

chess

We loaded up the car with boxes that we had left in storage. We were both surprised, and appalled, at how much we had. When we arrived at the unit in Lennox Head and began to unpack, we realized that we had much more stuff than we needed. We have already made a large package of clothing for St. Vinnies. We also need to make a detailed inventory of what we have so we can avoid bringing over stuff that we already have waiting for us.

We are quite pleased with the unit. It is clean and modern. We have a telephone, but were not able to determine the number of our phone, so at the moment we can phone out but no one can phone us.

Here is the outside view:

unit

We are in the right-hand unit. There is room for our bbq on the right. We hope to have it operational in a few days.

Here is the view from the balcony:

balcony view

Incredible!

After unloading the car we made a quick trip into Ballina to try out the ATM and buy a few groceries. However dinner was fish and chips from the Bream Hole, one of our favorite spots from previous years. It did not disappoint. Lightly breaded, no salt, some lemon wedges, and a few calamari rings that melted in your mouth.

chips

We slept soundly.