End Of The Road

Monday 27 November

What a shame today is the last day of this tour. It has taken two weeks for everyone to get to know each other, and today there was a continual buzz of chatter, as everyone kept changing seats in the coach to chat. Maybe this tour works better round the other way, when there would be less options for activities or dining at the start of the tour – should have mentioned that on my comment sheet – please note Jenn if you’re reading this.

The day dawned very cloudy and but was still warm as we set off for the final 550 kms from Coffs Harbour to Sydney. One of the first towns we passed through was Namburra Head – aboriginal for wide water or river. There are large oyster beds here, which require exposure to freshwater, sun and moonlight, and cover – to protect them from damaging cold winds and other intemperate weather – they use giant blue plastic floats which can be moved over the beds easily. We like oysters and would have liked to stop and sample some, but we were on a tight schedule as Sue and Norm had a plane to catch, and we were heading for Sydney in the “rush hour”!

We headed on towards Kempsey – our mid morning stop. The name of the town came from the birthplace of the first settler in the area – Enoch Rudder – who set up a ferry business on the McCleay River at this point. He did not want the settlement named after him, so when he died they named the town Kempsey – also the name of his property – in memory of him. The river was named after Alexander McCleay, a local supreme court judge, whose collection of butterflies and insects is now in the Australia museum in Sydney. He was threatened with his life on numerous occasions because of his unpopular decisions, but eventually died at the age of 82 when the carriage he was traveling in tipped over into a ditch.

We have passed through lots of small towns each of which had a peculiar charm of its own. Well I’m sorry to say Kempsey had none – it was a linear town out of the 1950’s, built along the riverside, with shops that looked tired and selling mainly ‘tut’. There were a few unappealing small cafes, all empty (usually these are meeting points for the locals and you are greeted warmly when you walk in, but here the waitresses looked gloomy as they sat in the windows waiting for customers) and we walked the length of the high street twice to find out there is only one card shop. I have loved Australia, but I wouldn’t want to come back to this town. It probably didn’t help that the weather was still grey and getting cooler. Everyone was back early (they all felt much the same), and we were pleased to set off again.

In the 1960’s the area around here had been a conglomerate of small dairy farms, each with about 250 – 300 ‘milker’ cows. But in the 1970’s it became necessary to have 500 ‘milkers’ to make a living, and farms were sold off to combine and make bigger farms. The number of ‘milkers’ required to see a return on the investment continued to increase, so that the farms, as they merged, became too big for one farmer to manage, and he ended up employing the farmers who had sold out. Nowadays most of the farms have herds in excess of 2,000 cows.

We passed through an area known as Mile Lakes – which has two large lakes and several smaller lakes – nicknamed the Great Lakes of Australia. The area was mainly forested – large tracts of “State Forest” – most of which are now owned by private companies. Here we saw lots of the Spotted Gum Trees, the tallest and fastest growing of the eucalyptus trees, averaging over 200 feet. Originally these were used for fruit boxes, but they found that the wood, a pale rosewood colour, made excellent dance floors and decking. In 1957 Grahamtown was washed away in terrible floods and one bright spark in the town realized that the flooding and droughts went in approximately seven year cycles, so they built a large lake to hold the flood waters, which could then be used during the years of drought – some Aussies must have brains – I bet it was a woman!!!

For lunch we stopped at Bulahdelah – didn’t sound too hopeful again, but “Detours Café” came up with some excellent food – I think from the menu, there was a lot of Turkish influence, but I chose smoked salmon and salad sarnies which were brimful of filling and delicious. We continued on our journey, stopping only briefly at a Service Station (which advertised 5* toilets – I don’t think they were any different to the rest), and crossed the Hunter River, the area famous for Hunter Valley wines – the valley in fact being a series of valleys, where they also mine coal – at the edge of the Blue Mountains. Newcastle, on the coast, is an important export port and industrial centre for coal. This is also one of the most important horse-breeding areas in Australia – the first Australian horse to win a British race, was trained in this area.

South of here is the Hawkesbury sandstone basin, a huge slab that is 900 metres deep and provides a safe foundation for Sydney, protecting it from earth movements and tremors. The sandstone is covered by a 3 metre thick layer of shale (red clay) used to make roof tiles, resulting in Sydney’s nickname “red roof city”. Sydney was actually named after Tommy Townsend – a friend of William Pitt the Younger and Joseph Banks. Townsend was responsible for setting up the first fleet, under the command of Arthur Phillip. He did a very efficient job and was knighted for his efforts just before the fleet sailed, taking the title Lord Sydney. Arthur Philip became the first Governor and was going to name the settlement Albion, but William Pitt the Younger let it be known, via Joseph Banks, that he would be pleased if it was named Sydney after his friend, so Sydney it became – the Albion Opera House doesn’t have the same ring does it?

It is surprising just how many more town names are familiar, suggesting the homeplaces of the original inhabitants – in one area there is Newcastle, Hexham and Wallsend in close proximity to each other and as we neared Sydney the signs were for Windsor, Richmond and Paddington and, of course Kings Cross, near to where we were staying..

Sydney is surrounded by National Parks on all sides. In 1950 the Town Council passed an Act limiting the development, as Sydney was growing so fast with no infrastructure of roads, rail and sewerage. Land can only now be bought in the north-west or south west of the city, which you may not be able to build on – perhaps for ten or twenty years. Currently the population is around 4.5 million, and the estimate is that it will grow to 6 million by 2020. New South Wales has a total population of 6.5 million, the majority of which lives along the eastern seaboard, and represents about 14% of the total Australian population.

We saw lots of schoolchildren on their way home from school. All children here have to wear uniform, since Lord McQuarie, the fifth Governor, in 1812, ruled that convict’s children were no longer to be discriminated against, and wearing a uniform made all children look the same. There are two education systems in Australia; State schools – free education, except for uniform – mostly coed schools; and Private education, run mostly by churches and private finance, but supported by the Government – mostly single sex schools. They have similar advantages to private schools at home, and about 40% of children here receive private education. Children cannot leave school until they are at least 15 years old, but most matriculate from Higher School at the age of 17. School fees are in the region of A$20,000 per year (8,000 GBP) Only a small percentage go on to university, which can be quite expensive – between A$3,000 and A$7,000 for course fees per year, plus books, accommodation and living expenses. Many families cannot afford this, and although there is a Government help scheme, this has to be paid back at the rate of 2% of the student’s wages when they get a job.

When convicts and free persons first came to Australia, they were not allowed a passage if they were Roman Catholic – and no Irish people were allowed! Gradually a few filtered through, but were harshly treated when they arrived. For 200 years Australia was predominantly Protestant. But in 1972 a new socialist Government changed the immigration laws to allow anyone to emigrate here. Consequently Sydney has now become the most cosmopolitan city in the world having 164 nations represented out of 172 recognized by the UN. Many came from Roman Catholic countries, so this has now become the predominant religion in this country.

We drove into Sydney over the Sydney Harbour Bridge having a fantastic view of the Opera House, harbour and surrounding city. Although the sky was grey, it did not diminish the spectacle. We were dropped in the middle of the city at the Sofitel Hotel and after lots of hugs and goodbyes, we bundled into a taxi to take us back to our guest house in Potts Point. It did not seem nearly so far as when we left, and in no time we were climbing the steps to this old Victorian house. John, the owner, and Wendy (his partner?) gave us a really warm welcome, wanting to hear all about where we had been. We were given the same room we had before, on the ground floor, so no carrying our heavy cases up stairs. We had a quick sort out, read a few emails and caught up with posting the blog, before getting ready to find dinner.

John had given us a flyer for a small bistro restaurant just around the corner – called “Chelsea’s”. The guest house is situated at the edge of back-packing land – turn right out of the door, and there are lots of similar guest houses, and at the end of the street, a fire station, turn left and you are in the realms of back-packers accommodation and restaurants. Chelsea’s was situated in a road parallel to Victoria Street, only a few minutes walk away, even though we took the wrong turning at first. Frank Sinatra was crooning in the background as we entered, the red wine list looked good, and the food sounded fine on the menu. It is situated in the middle of a row of shops, the rest appearing empty. It had a slightly Victorian feel, with chandeliers and lamps with glass droplets, and was quite dark. The waiter was in his fifties and looked “gay”, the waitress was a big lady, with brassy dyed blond hair and a short skirt. They didn’t seem compatible. The starters were a surprise – they were so good – octopus in sweet chilli sauce, and mussels in a tomato and cream sauce, and some garlic bread. We both chose steaks – hey! I am back on the mad cows again, but they were beautifully cooked and yumm – with lots of red wine. No room for dessert, but I had chamomile tea – another first for me – I really enjoyed what I thought was a strange flavour – is there no end to my tea drinking habits?!

We decided to walk home around the block - up the road, away from the hotel. At the next junction we found ourselves in Kings Cross, the red light district of Sydney!! Lots of striptease shows, sex shops, bright lights and sleezy cafes. Almost on our doorstep! We found our way back to Victoria Street fairly quickly – the clientele didn’t look too salubrious, It was weird not to be setting the alarm tonight, or thinking about repacking our bags, or what time will we be leaving in the morning. A lay in tomorrow morning – wow!!!