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Thursday 4th April 2013
I slept well again, although I had a late night messaging on my phone, I knew I'd regret it in the morning. I'm not sure what I did in the night but when I woke up my sheets and pillows were all over the shop. I quickly got up around 8.30am and got dressed. I went into the kitchen were both Blanche and David we up in their dressing gowns. We sat at the table and I had some cereal and the some melon with a cup of tea. There were also some more photos on three table from Broadgate and Nether Wallop. Once breakfast was over Blanche and I sat and chatted for a while, mainly about her grand children all of whom are terminally ill.
After a while David asked if I still warned to go on a walk to which I said yes. I got changed into some long trousers and put on a vest and light weight top. I sorted my bags out for 10mins before we headed out. We were off walking with Doug (the birdy next door neighbour). We jumped into his truck and headed off. It was only a 5min drive. We went to a reserve and parked up the truck.
Just at the start of the walk there was a massive dam however there was no water in either side. The two men spoke as we went by, either about some matter of the fact issues, telling me stories or saying bits of information about the trees. We walked at a steady pace, Doug had just had a knee operation 2 weeks ago. The walk was on tracks through typical Australian bush. I originally assumed bush would be vast open areas of land, sandy, dusty with a few bushes but I was now understanding it involved plenty of trees. The trees we walked through were toweringly tall, but with skinny trunks and leaves and branches only at the top of the tree where they could reach the sun. The track was littered with leaves, bark and rocks. You could see the dried creeks, paths of jabbered rocks and stones of all sizes. At first our walk was flatish with a few inclines and declines. We made steadily progress although I was starting to warm up. We stopped for a water break just before the inclines started to really kick in. I had some water and took off my longer top. The inclines were steep and a good little work out. We walked up several steep inclines and these were often followed by slight declines. Conversation carried on throughout the walk. 20mins short of the top, we stopped our walk as Doug had had enough. After a short break of water and a banana we headed back. It was still a lovely day and I was shown trees, bark and leaves. Some trees had string bark (Stringy Bark) or one that had paper thin bark in layers like an onion that left a red colour inside (???). The walk back was slower, I think the decline effected Doug's knee. The slightly tight trainers I was wearing was slightly painful coming down the steep sections. Underfoot the ground was slippy at times and occasionally I slid down. We eventually got back down to the car, I was warm and felt like I had done some good walking. My appetite for lunch was gaining. We jumped back into the truck and headed back to the house. It was a lovely walk. Once we got back lunch was on the table, French bread, cold meat and salad. We were also given a prune scone too which was delightful with butter and some strawberry jam. David and I tied away lunch and I then sat down in the sitting room and wrote some of my diary. David found some more photos but of this time of some floods of where we had been walking and the creeks. Seeing the level of water and the force was quite something. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the sitting room, writing my diary and I may have drifted off for a bit. Soon Blanche put on the TV as David and I sat in the sitting room. We watched a murder mystery and I slowly got hocked, it turned out to be a little dark for a Thursday afternoon. As I watched the programme, I half heartedly wrote some of my diary but also sent some emails and messages, and looked into some courses for when I am back.
The afternoon soon disappeared and it wouldn't be long before some friends of the Wilson's came around for a drink. They also knew Granny and Grampy Jack and had been to Nether Wallop several times. It was lovely to meet them. We spent a few hours eating some nibbles and chatting, they all did most the talking about local gossip and news.
After various conversations the couple left and we sat to have dinner. But after some photos to show Granny snd Grampy Jack. We had a casserole which had been cooking since the previous evening with mash potato. We ate on our knees in from of the TV (watching murder mystery programmes). It was lovely to have a relaxed evening and again homely food. For pudding I was given a bowl of ice cream with coco in it and handed the bowl of small chocolate eggs for pudding. I broke up one egg ad scattered it in my ice-cream. The perfect way to finish the meal. We say and watched a weather programme and about the atmosphere. David then went to bed as Blanche and I watched another murder show. During the show I was messing around with my phone and found a deal in groupon for a show at the Opera House. I had been tempted to splash out on a ticket just to go into the theatre, but the offer was for $30 off. Once the TV programme was over I headed to bed. I was tired from the previous late night but found it hard to settle (I think because I had had a nap in the day). I brought the voucher for the show and messed around for a while on my phone before settling down to sleep.
I couldn't believe it was my third and final night. It had felt like a stay with grandparents, nice a chilled out (although I should have slept earlier in the evenings, but I'll never learn).
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