Day Two in the Capertee Valley 2 January 2014

Grocery Shopping - Sort of

It's a bit dark, so Steve lets me sleep awhile, and we get up about 6:30, pack up the car, and are on our way.  We will be staying at a self-catering cottage that night, so we will need something to make for dinner, although they will provide breakfast provisions, and we will need something for the day.  We are down to 1 sandwich, 1 banana, and 1 egg.

We head into Kandos hoping the IGA will be open, but no luck.  It's not open until 9.  We start to head out of town, looking for a service station where we can buy some overpriced water and junk food, when we spot people going in and out of Alan Jackson's General Store.

Pretty limited options but we end up with a frozen pizza for Steve for dinner that night, and pasta and sauce for me.  Picked up some lunch items, water and pop to round out the shopping trip...and then I spot a coffee machine!  That will generate a flat white for me.  And, it's right beside a meat pie case.  Two meat pies and a flat white later, we are on the road again.

Oh, and they had this.

Really Australia?






























Glen Alice Farm and Cloister Cottage

We consider driving back to Rylestone where we had spotted a Westpac ATM (no fees as we are with BofA in the US) but Steve has discovered some cash in his wallet and we have $60 AUD between us, so we figure we are okay.  Oops, as you will find out in a moment.

Diane at Glen Alice Farm has given me directions, and told me the cottage will be unlocked so we can come and go as we please, and drop off our groceries before we start the day.  So we set off through the valley, making a few birding stops along the way, and find the turnoff to Glen Alice Farm.  It looks a little familiar, and shortly we discover a creek where we had birded back in 2007.  Unfortunately the water was pretty low, so not much going on.

We proceed, slowly, to the farm and the cottage.  (I am driving Fiona's car, which is quite low to the ground.  The roads will be paved, then inexplicably not paved.  And even the paved ones will go from smooth to rough in a minute.  Rather anxious about her car, I err on the side of caution and let's just say the driving was pretty leisurely!)

Roger and Di Page are the hosts at Glen Alice Farm, and they have a self-catering one-bedroom cottage on the property called Cloister Cottage.  We unpack the car, and Di spots us and comes on over.  She is absolutely delightful and we enjoy chatting...but it turns out they don't take credit cards!

I didn't think to ask the night before, and she didn't think to tell me.  We should have made that Rylestone stop after all.  We will get it all worked out.

The cottage is very nice and comfortable, and has a wonderful view.

Settled in to the cottage, with new batteries for the ceiling fans, we head back out for some birding.

Glen Alice

We spend a fair amount of time at Glen Alice.  Please understand that when I say Glen Alice, this is not a town.  On one side of the spot in the road is a cemetery and church.  On the other side of the road is a community hall, school, and bushfire shed.  But, there is some public space land where there are birds to be seen.

The cemetery and church are interesting.  The land for both had been donated for that use by an early settler.  The little (and I do mean little!) church is still in use today.  Services are still held by different denominations on alternate Sundays.  It's a wooden building that has been sided with a metal embossed to look like stone.

The cemetery has graves dating back into the 1800s, as well as more recent graves.  It is always poignant to read the memorials, some of them infants, others long-lived, some of them young soldiers, others spouses where one has gone long before.  There are tributes on many of the graves, and I see a cat figurine tipped over, and set it upright.

The original cemetery has been plotted out by ethnicity--Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Church of England, Wesleyans, Indians and Jews.

Not sure if you can see this where this is discussed.

Some views of the cemetery:

Some of the older graves.

There are several graves in the near right quadrant, and then quite a space to the next set of graves.  Maybe another denomination?!  I should have walked out there, but didn't.

Another view.

I'm not sure what Steve is chasing, but I'm watching lots of Superb Fairy Wrens, which I love, then I decide to cross over to the community hall.

That's the green building across the street behind our fun little convertible for the two days.

Again there are public toilets, and picnic tables set up, as well as a public telephone as there is no cell service in the Capertee valley. There's also a big bbq and logs on the ground placed in a semicircle, and it looks like they have some sort of activities there.  Steve's off in the woods behind this and I set myself up at the picnic table and alternately watch whatever birds come my way, read, and do a little people watching as a few people make a pit stop at this spot in the road.

Back to Glen Davis, then back to Glen Alice, then back to the Cottage

And that is what we did.  We went on to Glen Davis, hung out, birded.  It was cloudy and windy and the flies were relentless.  And still we had a great time!

Made our way back to Glen Alice again, just a very nice spot.

Birded our way back up the road to the cottage, Steve getting some firetails.

Back at the cottage Roger comes over to introduce himself and we discuss how I will pay for the night.  They have suggested to us a bank transfer, and this just isn't something we can do easily.  It appears that is done all the time in Australia as it had been mentioned before, but, from the US I did pay one person by wire and it cost me $45 USD.

I could give him my $60 and once back in Sydney give the remainder to my friend and ask her to send a check.  I could drive back into Rylestone to the ATM, but that would be at least an hour round trip, and not preferred.  But, I then realized that perhaps I could call Fiona and see if she could send a check...and Roger brilliantly says, why don't you call and have her do a bank transfer?  (since of course this seems fairly common in Australia.)

Whew, I called Fiona and wonderful friend that she is, she did the bank transfer that very night.  

As I mentioned above, the cottage is very comfortable.  Most self-catering places say they have a fully stocked kitchen...they have never met Di!  I think there was every possible type of utensil  and appliance available.  Usually there is something critical missing like a colander or a spatula.

Di has also stocked it for breakfast, with milk, juice, coffee, tea, cereals, eggs, bacon, bread, and banana bread!  Oh, and fruit!

Steve birded down the road, I sat on the nice bench on the front veranda and just enjoyed the view and the sounds of being in the country.  After dinner, we both went out and sat out there again, even in the dark.   It was so peaceful and restful.