Rowing and Cronulla Beach

Hello Faithful Bloggers,

Here we are again, reporting live from Australia. With a plan set to go rowing Saturday morning, Sarah and I awoke to find yet another downpour. Our spirits were a little down as we thought of being soaked on the river. But luckily, our the sun came out just in time and equipped with our backpack and a yummy lunch, we set forth to take the train from Penshurst to Sutherland, where we met up with Michelle and Margaret. We were meant to meet up with Michelle's cousin Kristen and her husband Sam, but unfortunately they had to take a raincheck at the last second.
Driving into the Royal National Park for a second time was different because this time it wasn't raining. We parked and "hired" an old row boat that looked a little shakey, but Margaret assured us that it would get us to our destination safely. We headed up the river which was quite high, about a foot more, due to all the recent rain. The row upriver was beautiful and we got a scenic view of Australian wildlife. There were many little waterfalls and birds which we enjoyed looking at and listening to. Except for hustling to avoid a few rocks, our paddle was calm and it was nice to visit with Margaret and Michelle. Our turnaround point was at two large waterfalls and we pulled the boat to shore and ate our lunch on a rock at their base. It was lovely to watch the water and bask in the sun. Except for a few interruptions by some teenaged kayakers who, on this freezing day, had purposedly flipped their boats in the waterfall, we didn't see many other people. Michelle was particularly annoyed at the kayakers when they pulled out some cigarettes because they were lighting up in a public place and ruining the serenity of nature. Recently, a law has been passed in Australia that you cannot smoke in any public place, be it a restaurant, pub, or park, which we appreciated last night when we went bowling.
Since we couldn't go back to the manse to change out of our shorts before bowling, Michelle had the time of her life dressing us in stylish Aussie outfits. After dinner with Margaret and her husband Owen and their daughter Carolyn, we headed out to bowling in style. Australian bowling is no different than American bowling, which was a relief. This time Kristen and Sam joined us along with Jeff. We had heaps of fun and laughed our heads off.
Beginning this morning with Fear and Courage, which was the sermon at church today, we had successfully made it a week in Australia. After church, we received a pleasant surprise in the form of a gift from the oldest member of the congregation, Norman Heldon. He is 90 years old and still hiking the Blue Mountains. He gave us a signed copy of his book A Literary Smorgasboard.
Michelle invited us to go visit the nearest beach in the town of Cronulla, or as the Australians say 'Cronullar'. When we arrived there was a plethora of people in the streets celebrating their Spring Festival. We saw some Bollywood dancing, and a South African eleven piece band drumming in the new season. We picnicked at the beach and saw some brave surfers out in the ocean. When the weather gets warmer we will be spending more time here. We wondered around the streets filled with vendors and soaked up the sights until we were hit with a bulldozer in the face of tiredness so we decided to catch the train homeward. Which brings us to now.
We can't believe we've made it a week! So much has happened. Each day we have met new people, explored new places and adjusted to the Australian lifestyle. We really feel at home here, although we miss everyone at home greatly.
Tangent: Did we mention how successful our dessert was? Well, it was a HUGE success. There were rave reviews and everyone remarked that the last time they ate strawberry shortcake was in the States. This we thought extremely humorous because we hadn't thought of it as an American dessert. By the way, our guacamole was...let's just say we made way too much, but it was enjoyed.
We have really enjoyed reading your comments on our blog. It inspires us to keep writing when we know that this is actually being read.
Hope your Sunday is as filled with fun as ours was.
Happy Holidays Folks!
Carling and Sarah