BERMAGUI TO ULLADULLA TO GUNDAGAI TO ALBURY

Preoccupied  by domestic matters and the health of Mrs P, the Prop has not attended to the Blog as assiduously as some readers would, apparently, have liked.

The good news is that, Mrs P, true to her robust disposition and "never-say-fractured" ethos has insisted that the "Peregrination to the Centre of the Earth" (as the current expedition is now commonly called by the travel cognoscenti) should continue apace and unabated.

                                 Beer can be purchased at this place in Bermagui

The bad news is that "continentality" is an undoubted fact of meteorological life.  Put more simply, it is colder inland at night than it is on the coast. This accounts for the fact that the minimum temperatures experienced by Hobart are almost always higher than those experienced by Launceston - for although Hobart is not located on the coast as such, it does lie adjacent to a considerable body of water (i.e., the Derwent estuary) whereas Launceston is in a hole in the ground miles from anywhere and, more particularly, miles from any water (if you don,t count the so-called Tamar River which is, in truth, a water mudslide and not a river at all. This temperature differential is due to the fact that water both absorbs and retains heat from the sun more efficiently than does dry land - which also explains sea-breezes which are no more than giant convection currents.

But the Prop once again digresses.

The short point is that by staying on the coast we might have enjoyed the moderating influence of the maritime provinces.  We might have continued to enjoy the ample delights of Bermagui (despite the unpleasant memories) and of Ulladulla and Nowra and other coastal settlements too numerous to mention by name.

                 Tremendous Tuross Head - a very nice place for a swim in warm weather

                                    Unbelievable  Ulladulla - more than meets the eye!

                  Gracious Gundagai - the dog and tucker box are not shown

Instead, we are now in Albury. 

[TIP: Never call Albury "Albury-Wodonga" in the presence of a denizen of Albury.  Should you do so you may be the subject of a violent physical attack - if you are lucky! The people of Albury (NSW) do not, as a rule, like the people of Wodonga (Vic) and not just because they are Victorians.  There also other very good reasons)

Instead we now thrill to daytime maxima of 12 and sometimes 13 and overnight minima approaching 0 degrees Kelvin!! For the moment we have the benenft of mains electricity and an air conditioner and fan heater in the Spinnaker  - unlike in Campbell Town (q.v.)

"Why Albury?" the Prop hears his readers ask.  

Well, Albury happens to be the family seat and hometown of Mrs P - not that any of her relatives live here any longer and not that the place looks much like it did in the 1960's.  Nevertheless the family home is still standing (despite having been gentrified by some well-meaning but tasteless "Gardening Australia" viewer) and so is the primary school and the hated  Scottish "ladies college" that passed for a high school in those days.

Westward Ho!  And hope it doesn't get too much colder 

By the way, Germany won the FIFA World Cup.  Daft game soccer!  At least the final was decided by two teams playing soccer instead of by playing a completely different game (i.e., a penalty shootout)        

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