A Day Off?

The farm across the river where we work has a table top 4WD which is at our disposal. For the last two weeks there has been an engine symbol alight on the dashboard. It has done this before and then disappears after a day or two. After the first week we booked the ute in for a check up with our mechanics. Today was the day to drive the 50 kilometres into Newcastle for the examination. We took two vehicles so that we could do some chores while the mechanics examined the problem.

Second port of call was a wholesale food supplier in Warners Bay. They have very well priced items in a number of categories. We replenished our stocks of NZ mussel meat and whole range of lentils, beans and nuts. Spent a pile of money but we won't be back for a few months.

Next stop was Newcastle University to return a few books and we didn't miss the chance to collect a few more. My interest in Henry Wallace a vice president to Franklin D, Roosevelt was sparked by a radio interview with Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick who have just made Untold History of the United States. I collected a few books on FDR in which there were good sections on Wallace. Jean has always been interested in Thomas Hardy and she collected a large amount of material on him and the era and landscape in which he lived. That is one of the pleasures of a large library collection. You can find a wide range of books on any topic. We also indulged ourselves and had a shop bought coffee from one of the endless outlets at the university and spent a relaxing time watching students and teachers.

Called into a specialist bearing place and were lucky enough to get a replacement bearing for the unwell mulcher and still having plenty of time dropped into the fish co-op to see what was on offer. It is not as impressive as the Sydney Fish Markets but did have some variety. We limited ourselves to a small quantity of freshly caught prawns to have as an entrée tonight and a couple of kilograms of Cuttlefish we will clean and freeze for use in other dishes.

With time to kill it was a short drive to Nobby's Beach for lunch. It was an unusually warm day, the sun was bright and the beach was a lovely setting. We sat in the car looking at the ocean and the people passing by as we enjoyed last night's leftovers and some freshly picked Mandarins. Such a nice day.

Nobby's Beach

The rest of the day went quickly collecting the 4WD and heading home for a few chores before celebrating such a good day with a glass of our own sparkling Chardonnay and a few prawns followed by a seafood laksa.

Some days just stand out as being special and different from the routine.