Getting Away

This has just been one of those weeks that seem to happen more often than I would like. I've had this crazy rash on my face for a week which I think is something I picked up from the pool as we had been going swimming daily. We didn't go any where because I didn't want to scare anybody. Also, Ray needed to pay for a domain and internet service for a project he is working on and they were supposed to take out a monthly charge. Instead they wiped out our entire checking account of over $500 by charging for the year. They still have not reimbursed us and we're hoping they actually get around to it before we leave. We also received an email from my sil saying that the local police needed us to email them regarding our property (still don't know what that is about). Needless to say, it has been a pretty stressful week, so it was very nice of my mil to add some funds to our checking account so we could actually do something. After a bit of internet work we decided maybe we would go north of Sydney to Gosford. They were having a walk that went along the coast going through 5 towns, I believe. Of course, by the time we actually left the apartment it was noon so we missed the walk but thought it would still be fun to go up there for the pelican feeding at 3:30. We didn't count on it actually taking us 3.5 hours to go 1 hour north of Sydney. The train ride was an hour and 20 minutes and then from the train station to the part of Gosford that is along the coast took us another 2 hours. The one good thing about sitting so long is that you get to meet a lot of interesting people. On the train we met a man who was from Gosford and was wondering why we were actually visiting there when we live in Sydney. He taught us another version of the Kookaburra song which Marra wanted him to sing over and over again. He recommended we go to The Entrance which I guess is the only thing in Gosford worth visiting. It was a nice scenic ride though, riding along the Hawkesbury River, seeing the oyster beds and visiting with the locals. Amazingly, Marra managed to get a picture of a Kookaburra sitting on the electric line. Once we got off the train and found a bus we thought we would get there in plenty of time to see the Pelican feeding. The bus ride was unbelievable. We were watching the signs thinking we should go one way, seeing certain landmarks and 1/2 hour later see the same landmarks again. We thought maybe we hopped on the wrong bus but after striking up a conversation with a local, he mentioned that there are only 2 buses that go from the train station to The Entrance and the other one is only about 5 minutes shorter. He seemed a bit amused that we were visiting too, along with the bus driver who said that it was a "bloody long ride". Crazy Americans! We were still quite happy to have gone after seeing the town of Gosford (I thought it was quite the cool town), all the pelicans and walking along the water finding seashells. We also met another American who was from Milwaukee and was biking from Sydney to Brisbane. He said that he can tell who the Americans are because we are the only ones wearing shorts!