Eating, Sleeping and Wrapping Up Warm

Hello. I'm still here, blogging.

Ric and I have been sleeping in late, padding about in slippers and woolly hats and stuffing our faces for three days now here in Mittagong. We will have to replenish the shelves before we leave here on Sunday!

We've not been complete Sloths though and have done some activity, even braving the cold weather. Yesterday we went for an 8km hike to see some local waterfalls and returned home with red cheeks, runny noses and sore thighs! There was no one else in the woods, only the animals. Kookaburra's squawked at us from high up in the trees and other birds (or maybe snakes and lizards?) rustled in the undergrowth around our feet.

We saw some stunning scenery including huge brown rock formations, brilliant yellow blossoms, towering silver trunked gum trees and of course the waterfall. It all feels very familiar to me even after all this time.

We are actually quite pleased it isn't too hot at the moment as these activities would be horrid in the summer heat.

We bought an Australian animal spotter book today which should help us identify species from now on. The flora and fauna is so different here and everything seems so colorful even at this time of year. We've seen a few dead wombats on the road side but no koalas yet!

After lunch we went in to nearby Bowral to watch the new Batman film The Dark Knight. It was entertaining, slick and glossy but very sinister and drawn out, not to mention sad to watch Heath Ledger in his last movie.

Tomorrow Dad and Kate are dropping us off at the top of Mount Gibraltar (we'd be floundering without Kate's chauffeur service this week - makes me feel like a teenager again!). We will then find our own way back with the aid of our trusty compass! It's not a huge mountain but if it is a clear day we should see for miles.

And yes, we are procrastinating about finding a place to live. It's impossible to decide where we want to be - near the beach, near the city, near the best restaurants, near Ric's sister Charlotte, in the suburbs? - and it looks as though flats generally come unfurnished here which means we'll have to dash around one of the cheapo home-ware stores too at some stage. We hear there is an Ikea in the city. Yawn.

At the moment, Paddington gets our vote. It sounds like it has a good mixture of things to suit people our age, with our interests and budget and it is central. I'm told most of the radio jobs are in Melbourne but I'm coming round to the idea that writing is my true calling, if there is such a thing for a fickle creature like me. All I know for sure is that I don't want to rush in to anything and having traveled all this way for a fresh start I am reluctant to compromise.