Lycanthrope's Lair: Northerly Orientation

The day after arriving at Lake Munmorah, we took a little orientation tour of the immediate surroundings. By now I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll never know what direction I'm going. Aussies don't believe in laying out streets and roads in a grid, certainly not oriented with the cardinal directions. If you find yourself on an inexplicably linear section of road, rest assured that will be quickly un-rectified, and it's highly unlikely that you are headed due anything.

While my travels so far have been limited, I am becoming aware of an architectural anomaly. Sydney is known for its tile roofs, but aside from the roofs there is a considerable variety of styles when it comes to every other architectural feature. However, the small shops I mentioned in my description of Kogarah seem to be the rule everywhere. These little downtown areas are ubiquitous and omnipresent, in each town and community, and they each are only a few blocks long and all look the same. They are mainly glass for the front walls, and the signs are all of a uniform height, a couple of feet high and spanning the entire width of the building. Each shop's sign is a different, usually bright, color color than its immediate neighbors, but usually covered with text and lacking other graphics. There may be racks and stands of goods spilling out onto the sidewalks. Taken all together nothing really stands out from its neighbor, and it's not all that attractive.

Downtown anywhere, New South Wales. This happens to be Kogarah.

If you're not a local, you're certainly not going to be able to distinguish one town from another by a quick look at its downtown area, nor will you be able to easily discern which storefront contains the thing you're looking for.

Toukley (too'-klee), about six miles south of the town of Lake Munmorah, is no exception. We stopped to stock up on groceries, grab fresh meat pies for lunch and cream rolls for dessert. Meat pies and sausage rolls are Australian staples, found anywhere you would find hamburgers or hot dogs in the States. They are savory and delicious and always piping hot, but as you might expect can vary a lot. They usually cost less than half what an Aussie hamburger does.

After dropping the groceries by the house, we took a peek at nearby Birdie Beach. The road is circuitous, and studying a map can't prepare you for the constantly turning track, which has no landmarks to help keep your directions straight, especially near midday. I fear I will never quite be in sync with the actual directions on that beach.

Birdie Beach looking north-northeast.

Birdie Beach looking south. That's Bird Island out in the ocean on the left.

Another view looking toward the northern end of Birdie Beach from the Tea Trea Picnic Area, showing the profuse vegetation covering the whole area other than the beach itself.

I have no idea what this flower is, but it's beautiful and prolific in the area.

Next on the agenda was a quick trip to an ATM at Budgewoi (Bud'-gee-woy), about two thirds of the way to Toukley, followed by lunch back at the house. After lunch we went back out to the beach and "sunbaked" for a couple of hours. It's still early in the season, but the beach was far from crowded, and the amazingly clear water and clean sand coupled with the cool breeze made basking in the afternoon sun an idyllic experience.

If that weren't enough, after returning to the lake house and rinsing off the sand, we started a wood fire in the barbecue grill and created a feast of sausages, lamb chops, onions, hand-crinkle-cut potatoes, and tomatoes.