This time - Tucson

I had to sign off before finishing writing about my two weekends in Arizona in March.  Here's the second one, the last weekend in March.

A group of 30 or so like-minded traveler friends decided to get together in Tucson to celebrate some birthdays, and just in general explore the area and have a good time.  These are loosely structured get togethers with people making their own plans, and a few planned activities that people went to, or not!

The big event was on the Saturday night at a local friends' home.  On Sunday night we had a smaller get together for those still in town.  

Here's the recap!

Friday Night

Oops! I got a direct flight to Phoenix, with arrival time at 9:30 pm ish.  I had a two hour drive to Tucson, but I wasn't worried about it since I figured it was really only 10:30 ish.  Except I forgot that AZ doesn't do daylight savings time so it was really 11:30 ish.  Oops!  Oh well, late at night it was easy and no traffic.  I picked up my rental car and was quickly on my way.

Hilton Tucson East

Our GTG was at the very eastern edge of town, and I was walking in the Susan G. Komen on Sunday at the University of Arizona, so this seemed as centrally located as anything else.  Using a combo of points and cash, I got the room for $75/night.  The hotel is a little dated, but the price was right, the staff really nice, and the rooms big and the beds comfortable.  I hit that bed and went right to sleep upon arrival because I had an early morning Saturday.

http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/arizona/hilton-tucson-east-TUSHEHF/index.html

Saturday

Madera Canyon

http://www.friendsofmaderacanyon.org

Steve and I had visited Madera Canyon a couple of times before, staying at Santa Rita Lodge there.  The draw, of course, was birding, but even without the birds I love it there.  It's an easy hour drive south of Tucson and I had agreed to meet one of my fellow travel friends there in the morning for a few hours of birding.

I wasn't running on a lot of sleep, but I managed to wake up and make it down there by I think 8 or 8:30.   We drove up to Santa Rita Lodge first, where they have several feeding stations and hummingbird feeders.   

I could have sat there for hours.  The humming birds were so close you could easily view with the naked eye.  Between there and the other BnB up the road, we saw five species:  Magnificent, Black-Chinned, Anna's, Broad Bill, and I think White Ear but this is why you should write things down.  I remember 5, but I don't remember the fifth species!

The Acorn Woodpeckers were hilarious.  I never knew woodpeckers could be so gregarious, and at one point there were eight of them hanging out together, flitting around, and for all the world looking like they were playing.

After that we walked up the road to the next BnB where there are more feeders, and where I had seen the Elegant Trogon before.  No Elegant Trogon that day, but wonderful looks at the Painted Redstart, and this is where we saw the Magnificent.

We started up the road to the third BnB.  We knew there wasn't going to be parking, so we would have to walk, but the elevation and my fat self started to take its toll so we finally decided it was further than we thought.  Naturally, if we had kept walking it would have been just around the next bend!

But, we decided to go off road instead.  Madera Creek runs all the way down the canyon, so we knew if we followed it downhill we would make it back to our car.  It was fun scrambling down hill to the creek, then following it along, looking at birds as they showed themselves.

Santa Rita Lodge http://www.santaritalodge.com

There is a parking area here and a small gift shop, but the parking is limited.  Guest parking is for, well, guests.  Steve and I have stayed here twice.  It's incredibly peaceful and beautiful, and nice to walk out the door and start birding.

Kubo BnB  http://www.maderakubo.com

We did not stay here but it is another location where there are plenty of feeders.

Chuparosa Inn 

http://www.chuparosainn.com

We didn't stay here either, but isn't it gorgeous?  There are only three places you can stay in the Canyon. It is National Forest, so there won't be further development.

A couple of weekends in Arizona

I attended a conference in Phoenix at the beginning of March, and a get together with some fellow travelers in Tucson at the end of March.  It would have been great if the GTG occured a little closer to the conference time, but it didn't, and I enjoyed my two quick visits.

First, Phoenix.  

Golf!

I attend a conference for this organization every year, and they are always at beautiful resorts, with beautiful golf courses.  Unfortunately, I never get to take advantage of them since I am there for the conference, and the green fees are often crazy high.

Well, this year one of the vendors sponsored a 4-person scramble the morning the conference started, where we only had to pay $100.  I was in!  Beautiful course, and a beautiful day in Phoenix at the Kierland Westin Resport and Spa:  http://kierlandresort.com

Here's the view from my room!

Desert Botanical Garden

In addition to the conference and golf, I was lucky enough to see one of my college roommates who now lives in Phoenix.  I flew in the night before the golf tournament and stayed with them, then was also able to meet up one evening.  And, that evening we went to the Desert Botanical Garden.  Not only have I always wanted to visit the gardens, it so happened that there was a Dale Chihuly installation at the time.  I have seen his botanical garden installations before, and really enjoy them.

The gardens are wonderful.  We got there about an hour before sunset, and stayed an hour after.  As dusk fell, and it became night, many glass installation were lit up, and if possible were even more spectacular.

http://www.dbg.org

I see that according to the web site, it is still going on through May 18.  My friend enjoyed it so much that she took her parents over one evening before they returned from their winter sojurn in Phoenix.

Some pictures:

On the wing and on the hoof - Spring Migration in Texas

My niece tells me if I have a blog, I have to post.  I tried the defense that the blog is named Meandering Merri so I only blog when I meander.  She wasn't really buying it, but, I am meandering around Texas right now, so here is an update.

Spring Migration on the upper Gulf coast of Texas

If you are an avid bird watcher in the US, you know about spring migration.  Birds are on the move from their wintering sites to their breeding locations.  The spot we go to on the upper Gulf Coast is the first place many birds see after their overnight flight across the Gulf of Mexico from their takeoff points on the Yucatan Peninsula.

They are tired and need to replenish their energy stores before dispersing across  all of North America to their summer breeding grounds.  It is the one place where you will see many birds all at the same time, in breeding plumage, low to the ground, plus a little tired so easier to see.

The Dillinger Annual Spring Migration

We have been going to this part of Texas every spring now since 1999.  For us, it is now as much social as it is about the bird watching.

So, I'm in Texas

I usually try to get some golf in, and head to the Chambers County Golf Course in Anahuac.  For $30 I get cart and as much golf as I want.  I then drive back over to High Island to pick up a friend.  Monday I got a reminder that I was, in fact, in Texas.

These cattle weren't loose, they were being moved down the highway to a pen.  Eventually the cowboys parted the herd and we drove through.

Mooooo!

We spend most of our time in Sabine Woods over outside of Sabine Pass, TX, and on the road out to Sea Rim Sate Park.

I spend a lot of time in a camp chair at this pond, reading my books and watching birds coming in to the drip.

And this is what I look like most of the time.

Saturday, January 4 2014 - The End

And so it ends.  An absolutely fantastic trip concludes.

Staying up so late the night before meant we needed to pack this morning, so we had to scuttle plans for breakfast.  So we packed, and had coffee, then headed to the Sydney airport.

Helpful tip--even if you cannot print your tickets, check in online before you go.  We were able to stand in the online checkin line and it was MUCH shorter.

We breezed through and had plenty of time for a nice lunch, and made a valiant effort to spend the rest of our Australian cash.  We had our preferred seats in the back of the plane, plenty of room to stretch out.  14 (15?) hours and 3 or 4 (I lost track) movies later, we landed in Dallas Fort Worth.  Global Entry paid off and we whisked through passport control and customs...but you still have to wait for your luggage and go through security again for the domestic flight.

Our fabulous pals Randy and Bea were there waiting for us and drove us home on the slick roads.  It was a brutal shock to traipse down the hill to the house through snow in my flip flops.  That was cold darn it!

About blogging the trip

I'm not sure I'm crazy about this format.  I thought it would be easier than compiling a trip report for the travel site I participate in, and also writing emails to my family (who claim to actually like reading them) about the trip.

But, it was more difficult than I thought, mainly a time and access thing.  I only took my ipad and I found a lot of things difficult with blogspot on the ipad.  Loading pictures especially was a pain.  We didn't have internet every night, and even when we did we had such long days that a lot of times I was too beat to take the time to write.  Once someone suggested Blogger that helped as I could write offline and publish later.

But, as you can see, I ended up writing a ton of it AFTER I got home, and loading more pics.

What's next

I might post a few more miscellaneous things.  And now that this is done I will finish truly processing my photos.  When that's done I might come back and post a link.

January 3 - Can it already almost be over?

The answer is yes, yes it can.  This is our last full day in Australia.  4 weeks went by sooooo quickly.

There is some haze outside, and we can smell something burning.  We never did see smoke, but something was definitely burning somewhere in the Capertee valley.

I took a short video off the veranda in front of the cottage, scanning from left to right.  This was our view that morning:

We hated to say goodbye, but managed to be in the car and on our way by 6:30 am.  We were hoping to make it to Sydney by noon so I could spend some time with Fiona.

I got a great final sendoff as far as wildlife.  As we drove down the roads away from the farm, we spotted a mob of absolutely huge Eastern Grey kangaroos.  These ere big boys.  You could see the power in their chests and hindlegs.  There was also a female with a joey in her pouch.

Then further along the turnoff towards Kandos I got to see a live wombat bounding across the road and off into the woods!  Since so far I had only seen two dead wombats ( :-(  ) I was happy to see this one.  They really do look like a little black bear when they are bounding away from you.

We had taken a different route into Kandos, trying to avoid rough roads with the little car.  Always interesting to see new countryside.  We passed forest, fields, and wineries.  Once in Kandos we found our way through town on the main road, and I saw another opportunity for a flat white, so we stopped at the same little grocery as the day before and I picked up a coffee, then we were on our way.

We were headed now back to Lithgow, but via a different route.  More really beautiful countryside, and we appear to be at a fairly high elevation.  There were fields with granite boulders the size of houses, tumbling down hillsides just like children's blocks.

There were also some signs that perplexed us.  They simply said Fog Sign.  and Snow Sign.

Okay, yes, they are signs, but is that not inferred from the fact that they are, well, signs?  What are these signs for?  To warn you that there might be fog?  or snow?  I guess so, but it just seemed so odd.  I should have taken pictures.

We stop at Lake Wallace in Lithgow for some birding, and a pretty flower or two.


















On our way again, we head back through the Blue Mountains, and stop at Evans Lookout again.  The skies had been blue, but as we approached the lookout, fog descended (should have had a fog sign).  There still some birds, and butterflies, and flowers, and eventually the fog started lifting.

A view from Evans Lookout in the Blue Mountains

We needed to get back on the road if we were going to make Sydney by noon, so got back on the highway.  We still didn't make it by noon...traffic was terrible, and there was a lot of roadwork.  We didn't get lost though, so that was a plus.

The rest of the day?  Visiting with Fiona, washing a few clothes so we had clean clothes to travel in, and a traipse over to Paddy's Market to see if Steve could find more Australia hats, and we wanted to see if we could find a few souvenirs.  

It was fun walking through Darling Harbour, it was packed with people.  Lots of families, lots of kids playing, buskers doing their work.  Steve and Fiona are giants with very long legs and took the walk at a trot.  I was hard put to keep up :-(

We arrived at Paddy's market starving (at least I was) and had a bite in the food court.  I have to say that mine at least was definitely above normal food court fare--Thai Basil Chicken that was decent.

Now for shopping.  Sometimes I just have to be in the mood for places like Paddy's Market, and I was having a hard time getting in the swing of things.  (for Tacoma Peeps, Steve described it as almost an Australian B&I--for the rest of you, too hard to explain)  It was crowded and hot, and I just wasn't seeing anything I liked.

I wanted some tea towels, but just couldn't get close enough to even ask about them.  Finally we picked up a couple of things and made our way back to the shops near the Pyrmont foot bridge, and had a lot better luck there.

I'm not sure I remember the rest of the afternoon!

But, we went back out that evening for dinner with Fiona and Mark, walking back to Darling Harbour, more people watching, and finally eating at The Meat & Wine Company--a fabulous meal.  We wandered back, then back out on the balcony overlooking the Harbour Bridge, drinking wine and talking into the wee hours.

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.

What a way to spend the first day of the new year - Blue Mountains and Capertee Valley

Fiona really needed to rest, and we knew she wouldn't if we stuck around.  And Steve really wanted to go out to the Capertee valley.

So, we got up about 8:30, made some sandwiches, grabbed some bananas and boiled eggs and packed up our handy little soft-sided cooler.  Then Mark took us down to the basement and gave us lessons in taking down the top of the convertible, and putting up the wind shield.  Soon we were on our way out of Sydney, headed out over the Anzac bridge and up into the Blue Mountains.

The Blue Mountains

We've been to the Blue Mountains before, including the Three Sisters, Leura, and Scenic World, all great stops.  

This time we took the turnoff to go out to Evans Lookout.  Steve was looking for the Rock Warbler, and this involves clambering around on rocks with really super steep drop offs.  I declined.  Instead, I walked around up top, looking out over all the different viewpoints from the lookout.

As I understand it, they are called the blue mountains because of the way all the eucalypt oil hanging in the area give it a blue haze.  Here's a better description:

The Blue Mountains is densely populated by oil bearing Eucalyptus trees. The atmosphere is filled with finely dispersed droplets of oil, which, in combination with dust particles and water vapour, scatter short-wave length rays of light which are predominantly blue in colour.

http://www.bluemts.com.au/info/

In any case, it was living up to it's name today.

I scrambled around a little bit, but not as much as Steve.  Lots of sandstone, and instead of painted graffiti, the stone was soft enough that people just carved inscriptions (e.g., Steve loves Merri).

The Capertee Valley

The Capertee Valley is the world's largest enclosed valley.  It's spectacular.  It's also designated as a Very

Important Bird Area (that's a real designation, I didn't make it up!).  It's sparsely populated, and there are virtually no services in the valley.  Certainly there isn't cell or internet service.  As on our other road trips, just the drive itself is interesting.

Glen Davis

Eventually we ended up at the Glen Davis campground.  One of the interesting things we have seen around Australia are these small, free, community supported campgrounds.  The center was closed, but there were bathrooms, showers, and potable water.  Steve was birding, and I was catching up on reading and writing.  We were both grateful we had packed a lunch!  (thanks Fiona!)

I read all the history of the area, and chatted with a few people.  This is apparently also a good starting point for lots of bush walks as well, and the next day I ran into a family who had been out for about two weeks.  They were all taking showers!

The town is almost non-existent now, but the history is pretty interesting.  It was basically a company town started in the 30s for Petroleum/shale oil production.  At one time they had up to 2500 people living there, and had a theater, garden, and a bowls club among other community benefits.  Now there are mostly shells of houses.  They still do a reunion of the workers every year, and there's a monthly community dinner.

Finding a place to stay, oh, and a breathalyzer!

Eventually we drive back up through the valley headed for Rylestone and Kandos, looking for a place to stay.  That's right, miss super planner here had made no reservations for the two nights we would be out there.  To be fair, we decided at the last minute and I did try to reach a couple of places but one was not available and the other never returned my calls.

Entering Rylestone I saw a police checkpoint to the right and someone (cough, cough, Steve) did not have their seatbelt on so I turned the other way and wound through town looking for lodging.  We didn't see anything promising, everything looked pretty shut down.  It was, after all, New Year's Day.

Seatbelt securely fastened we headed back out of town, and got waved over by the police checkpoint.  What?  Another breathalyzer in Australia?  Seriously, I've never done a breathalyzer in the US, and each of the last two times to Australia I've gone through these checkpoints.

In any case, after he admired my Missouri drivers license (he'd never seen one of those)  and noted how colorful it was, I passed my breathalyzer test and asked him about lodging in Kandos, a small town just up the road.  He mentioned a motel right as you enter town, right at the golf course.  And then said, Don't expect much from Kandos.

Hmmm

So, we pull in, get out of the car, and Steve immediately spots a yellow-tailed black cockatoo and is off while I go over to the office.  It's about 7, and after office hours.  Just before I reach the office I see a screen door to the right, glance over, and see an ancient couple seated side by side at a kitchen table, looking out at me through the screen.  I'm sure they were watching a tv mounted on the outer wall, but it was just so funny.

I ask if they have any rooms for the night, and they answer yes.  She starts to rise, and he asks if she is okay to take care of me.  She mutters yes, yes, and gets to her feet, reaches her walker, inches into the office, and eventually the door to the office opens and she beckons me in.

No worries, she was going to take care of me all right.  What a sweetheart.  Turns out she only had room for the one night and so after getting me all checked in for tonight she makes it her mission to find a place in the valley for Thursday night.  She's unlucky for the first few calls, and each call involves conversations that go something like this

Hello, Marie here from the Fairways Motel in Kandos.  Fine, fine, hoping 2014 is a bit better than 2013, been in and out of hospital for the lat 3 months but feeling better now--yes yes, we have had the firefighters staying with us.  They are a lot of work, they pack and take their things but come back and I have already washed the sheets--oh well, you have to take the bad with the good.  Oh, you know Richard?  Well, I have an American couple here, they are birdwatchers.  They need a room in the valley tomorrow night.

And so on.  It was great!

I tell her not to worry, that we can always drive over to Lithgow tomorrow night.  Well, that just won't do!  (Lithgow is a bit away, and not necessarily scenic.)

Then I ask  if she knows a place we can gt dinner, and she makes that her net mission.  She calls around, asks if we like Chinese, then draws me a mud map.*

Unfortunately, she draws it on paper on the counter, well below where I can see it.  She tells me the instructions as she writes, but doesn't actually show me the map until she gives it to me.

She then has another idea for accommodation, and reaches Diane Page at Glen Alice Farm.  They have a cottage near Glen Alice, and so I write down another set of instructions and make plans to stop there the next day.

At last, we are checked in.  It's another 50s style motel room.  Cinderblock walls, avocado green fixtures, the same 50s patterned bedspreads, designed so as to not show the dirt.

*I finally asked on our last trip why they called them mud maps as I had never heard the term before.  They said because people used to squat in the dirt/mud with a stick, and draw a map.

Chinese Food in Kandos

After a few wrong turns, and a short tour of downtown Kandos, we pull in to a parking lot behind the local RSL Club.*  There are two ladies sitting there having a smoke, so we asked them if this was where the Chinese restaurant was.  They say yes, and I ask them were to enter.  They point to a door that says DANGER, DO NOT ENTER on it.

So we shrug and enter.

We enter a pretty large bar area, with gambling machines (pokies?) on one end, a stage at the other, and well decorated for Christmas.  We still don't see a restaurant and are pointed through another set of doors.

Aha!  We've found it!

But it turns out it is cash only so we look in my wallet and I have all of $40 so we peruse the menu and figure out what we can get for $40.  Steve orders Fish and Chips (they do Australian meals as well as Chinese) and I order Curry Chicken.  Could we order pop?  No, we need to get that from the bar.

Back to the bar I go, and order 2 cokes.  Upon hearing my American accent the bartender asks if I would like 2 glasses of ice.  Yes please.

It's only 4 dollars and a creatively bearded and tattooed man offers to carry the cokes while I carry the glasses of ice.

There are two Chinese Cooks and one Chinese woman working and it is hoping.  There's a possibilty it's the open place New Year's Day night!  It's well over 30 minutes before we get our meal as they fill takeout orders, orders from the bar, and orders for people there in the dining room.  And it was worth it.  The curry was super good.

After a longer tour of the main street, looking to see if there was a Westpac ATM and where the grocery stores are, we head back to the room.  Time warp or not, it was the best shower I had in Australia.  You could regulate the temperature and it was hot and had water pressure.

Refreshed, we watch Roger Federer win in Brisbane and go to sleep on the super soft sheets.

Here's the link to the Kandos Fairway Motel...you can take a look at the rooms!  http://www.kandosfairwaysmotel.com.au/index.php

*RSL - I wasn't sure what RSL clubs were, and had seen them other places.  This is what Wikepedia says:  The Returned and Services League of Australia (often abbreviated to RSL) is a support organisation for men and women who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

It also says this about licensed RSL clubs:  Licensed clubs operating under the RSL 'banner' usually have bar and dining facilities for their members and guests, and sometimes have extensive gambling areas. In licensed (RSL) clubs, each evening a one-minute silence is called for in respect and an ode is read to honour those war veterans who have served their country.^[11]  

Given the setup of the one we visited in Kandos, I suspect it is a licensed RSL club.