Vacation fun...continued!

So I left you with us near Wollongong wondering why Outback Steakhouse actually exists in Australia. Enough ranting from me on that. We got some fries (chips over here) from Mackers and moved on. We travelled down the Princes Highway through a couple of quaint little towns (Berry and Kiawa) and on toward Nowra, stopping off at the information center to load up on more tourist guides and restaurant brochures. Nothing much else in Nowra except a big Navy base and a train station which we'd end up back at in about 11 hours.

The journey continued south toward Jervis Bay another 30 minutes to the town of Huskisson which was our layover spot for the night. It's a small town situated right on the Jervis Bay with a nice beach, a few hotels, a pub, and a few restaurants. It's also adjacent to the Booderee National Park that encompasses about half of the Bay itself. That was our main reason for stopping here for the night and after checking in with Brian at the Bayside Motel and dropping our gear in Room 26 we hopped back in the Astra and rolled to the park.

Our first stop was Hyams Beach which is famous for having the whitest sand in the world. It was a bit chilly but the water was warm and we strolled down the beach for a few minutes and took a look at the Guiness Record sand. Pretty white stuff. A few beach houses lined the sand, but nothing much else was going on so we moved on to the National Park. Back in the Astra we drove about another 15 minutes, paid our $10 park entry fee and took in the sights at some of the beaches. First was Green Patch where there were campers and A LOT of birds. They've (all the parrots) have almost become domesticated to the campers since they get fed by em all the time. We did find out that birds don't like Muesli bars though and I almost got my hand pecked for trying to push one on one of the rainbow lorikeets. Nina snapped a few pictures, we wandered down to the beach and spent some time just watching the birds. We headed back to the carpark, Nina offered to drive, but I said, "I'm fine to drive a bit more" and we drove to Murrays Beach.

Murrays Beach has amazing views and abundant wildlife and will forever be bittersweet because of the events that unfolded there that evening. We arrived at about 6:30pm, expecting to walk around a bit on the beach and then drive home to go out for dinner and grab a beer or two. Didn't quite work out that way unfortunately. We got down to the beach and headed out toward some rocks that jet out into the bay, hoping to find something interesting amongst the rocks or see some dolphins out in the bay. As we walked down the beach we spotted a female wallabie (smaller version of a kangaroo) chewing on some leaves. We weren't sure but it looked like she was pregnant or had a joey in her pouch. He was a bit skittish so we didn't want to get too close. Pretty neat though since we're still new to this kind of wildlife. We proceeded to the rocks, me still with the car key in my hand. It's one that has a button to flip the key outward, so when it's folded up it's just a black plastic box with buttons for the keyless entry. Maybe an 2 inches x 1 inch x 1/2 inch. Nothing huge. I got the bright idea that it's be safer to have it in my pocket with my wallet so I unzipped the pocket of my board shorts as we walked over the rocks and slipped the key in the pocket. We continued around the rocks for a few minutes, snapped a few photos of ourselves and walked back up the path to the carpark. Here unfoldeth the story and we'll hack the clock.

7:30: Charlie unzips his board short pocket. He realizes there's no key but his wallet is still there. He doesn't want to ask, but he says, "hey Nina - do you have the car key?" She looks at him, concerned, checks her purse, and says she doesn't have it. Charlie frantically checks his pocket and sees that he has a hole in the bottom of the pocket, not big enough for his wallet to fall though but large enough for the key to slip through. Not good. The car is locked, there are a few other cars in the lot, and I (Charlie) race back to the beach to start searching for the key, knowing it's probably going to be a crapshoot since the tide is coming in.

I searched down there for 15 minutes, Nina joined in after a bit and we resigned ourselves to the fact we probably weren't going to find that key. There was another couple and their kids from Japan out on the rocks taking pictures and having a jolly good time and there was us, crazily searching for a piece of plastic and metal that was missing and the link between us and continuing our vacation. The sad thing is that as we were angrily looking for this key that we knew we probably weren't going to find the dolphins showed up and started jumping clear out of the water in what I believe was an act of mockery directed toward us and our lost key. They are smart animals you know.

Well, we looked, like I said, for a few more minutes and thank God Nina had taken her purse out of the car before we locked it up after initially going down to the beach. We called our insurance company who transferred us to roadside assistance (which we don't have) and they offered to sign us up for $350 on the spot to have a guy come out and unlock the car. We declined knowing that our car has a double-lock feature and knowing the only other key for the car was in Newcastle. We reckoned that in order to get the car going again without that key would require the car being towed to the Holden dealership and having either a new key cut (with transponder etc). It was Saturday night and that definitely wouldn't happen until Monday. We Also knew that our vacation plans would fall apart if we didn't make it to Merimbula by the next night (a 4-hour drive South of our present location), and Healesville (another 8-hour drive) the night after that. Hmm, life was all the sudden not so serene as the wallabies and jumping dolphins would have you think.

8:30pm - We had called NRMA (our insurance company) and they politely transferred us to a local roadside assistance guy (Gary) who offered to come out to our car for a a flat fee and unlock it. We realized this really wouldn't do any good since we didn't have a spare in the car and we had the computer and clothes at the motel. We did however get the name and numbers to a cab company and towing service from Gary and we gave him our (Nina's) mobile number in case he needed it. Unfortunately we didn't have pen (locked in the car) so I wrote the three numbers with my index finger on the back windscreen of the hatchback. We'll post those photos later. We called the cab company and Ian the cabbie showed up 25 minutes later to drive us back to Huskisson. It was a pretty conversation-less ride as I think Nina and I were both trying to think what the heck we were going to do to unscrew the mess we were in. I tried to apologize for the hole in my pocket and Nina pointed out that if she had driven the last part we wouldn't be in the mess we were in. I agreed.

9:20pm - Back at the motel we were faced with a decision. Wait until Monday to get the car towed out of the National Park to the dealership or travel back to Newcastle to get the spare key, and drive the other car (my Commodore) back down to Huskisson. We saw that there was a 3:47am train from Nowra to Sydney which connected to a train stopping 5 minutes from our house, arriving there at 9:51am. Ouch. Oh yeah, and the keys to the house were locked in the car, leaving us locked out of the house. Our going in gameplan was to get a cab at 3am from the motel to Nowra train station, take the six-hour train from Nowra back to Newcastle, get a cab to the house, break into our own home, grab the spare keys, drive 5 hours back to the other car, gather our things, and drive another 4 hours down to Merimbula for the next night's stay. We figured it was the best option.

10:30pm - Lights out with 2 alarms set for 2:15am with a cab booked for 3am.

10:30pm-2:15am - sleep

2:15am - wake up! We got up packed one bag and left the other couple of bags and our cooler in the room. Brian the motel manager was nice enough to offer to take our bags behind the desk for us to pick them up on the way back. We told him if everything went swimmingly we'd be back by 4pm to get them.

3am - We're standing in front of the Bayside motel waiting for the cab. It arrives at 3:05 and we were off for Nowra. We arrived at the station at 3:30am had to run to the ATM to get cash for the fare and get on a bus to the train station at Kiawa where the train to Sydney is waiting.

4:32am - train leaves Kiawa and we witness a beautiful sunrise over the Tasman Sea as we transit north of Wollongong. You can reference the previous blog entry for our state of mind at that point.

7am - Train arrives in Sydney. We take a bathroom break at the station and get some Hungry Jacks (Aussie version of Burger King) brekky. Not so great but gets something in our stomach. We board the Newcastle train and leave at 7:21am. We're on schedule.

9:50am - We arrive at the Broadmeadow stop in Newcastle. One of the more unique train rides in my life as we heard what possibly could have been the loudest woman ever on a mobile phone shouting to her grandchild, daughter, son, and husband in a Hungarian accent. Several passengers also looked displeased. We thought it was hilarious.

10:05am - We're back home at 6 Churchill Circuit, Hamilton South. I attempted to scale the fence several times but apparently I have no upper body strength. Our across-the-street neighbors (who we hadn't met) offered us a step ladder. I guess we didn't look too much like criminals. We obliged and stopped in at their house. Debbie and Rick are really nice folks and, oh yeah, he's an Air Commodore (one star general equivalent) at the same base I'm stationed. We get the step ladder and proceed to the garage door.

Now let me tell you, I never used a credit card to open a door other than at home in Wisconsin Dells - I swear. Nina's Dependent US military ID worked like a charm in the side door. So much for feeling safe away from home. We got into the house, got the keys, got some coffee, returned the step ladder (we're going to have drinks with Rick and Debbie when we get back home) and got on the road again.

10:23am - We're on the road again. Heading south...again. On vacation...again.

11:05am - Nina's phone rings. It's Gary from NRMA roadside. Apparently the tide went out and Cheryl from Jervis Bay found the key to the car. She called Gary's number on the back of the Astra (remember my fingered-in-dust phone numbers?) and he called us. Disaster averted. Now what the heck are we doing back in Newcastle with spare keys and another car. Ahhhhh!!!

Nina and I just both shook our heads and continued down the road, back through Sydney, back to Jervis Bay and net Cheryl to pick up the key. We'd now been travelling Sunday for 13 hours. We got the car out of the national park, dropped the Commodore (my car) off at a small Navy base that was actually inside the Park and continued down the highway toward Merimbula. We're currently in Healesville about to head out on the Great Ocean Road, but I figured I'd fill you in on "the rest of the story" from Australia.

Oh yeah...

10:30pm - We arrive at the Best Western in Merimbula to pass out. So much for the hot tub suite.

Now what did I learn from this?

1. Check your pockets for holes.
2. Always let your wife drive when she offers.
3. Enjoy every minute of your vacation, even if you're listening to an old woman screaming on her cellphone on the train to Newcastle.

Merry Christmas everyone and we'll post again (with pictures) soon!