Mount Gambier Part 2

To pick up from the other day – Mount Gambier informed me on Monday that there was no accommodation to be had within a 50 k radius of Mt. Gambier on account of the annual Jazz Festival. I spent the next two days telephoning all around the  area  outside the 50 k to try and find accommodation. I felt it was important to attend. I finally found accommodation in  Dartmoor, Victoria about 55 k from Mt. Gambier.  I was quite pleased about that. Last night, Wednesday , a new email to inform me that because of the lack of accommodation in Mt. Gambier and surrounds, it was decided to  change the date of the conference from Saturday 7th May to Saturday 14th May. Can’t say I was terrible impressed since I now had to contact the Dartmoor Hotel,  cancel the booking and explain why. Actually they were very good about it and I thanked them for their consideration.   How that effects us here – we had organized  a congregational dinner for Saturday 7th May.  It was decided, that because of the clash with Presbytery, the dinner was changed from Saturday 7th May  to Saturday 14th May to allow me to attend. We cannot alter it again – that would be just too much and it would start to impact on other things. So, I wont be attending the dinner – I’ll be driving back to Adelaide. I’m not impressed. Anyway, the only real consolation is that I can spend a bit more time at the Lady Nelson Sailing Ship and the Umpherston Sink-hold Gardens. It also means that after a spot of dinner I can go back down to Umpherston for a night tour because I understand at nighttime the place has a lot of possums and they are very friendly- so that should be interesting. However, I have read that the possums are not around every night, so I hope they are when I am there –  I would love to see them.

Benji and the WaWa.

Benji is fairly calm and placid, but for all that, he is not a pushover and will stand up for certain things. He is used to playing with his toys on his own or with me.  The other day he brought his toy into the lounge and was playing with it for a while, then he left it. A short time later the wawa started playing with it and  a bit of a disagreement ensued. Benji went back to his toy, lifted it and walked out of the room with it and put it on his bed, which is in my room. I just stood quietly and watched this. It was very interesting and I really wish I had had a camera on me at the time. Actually, there are toys all over the lounge and it looks more like a large play-pen than a lounge room. Also, although the wawa seems to have “adopted” Annabell, she does come to greet me when I get home after being out – however, Benji gets a tad jealous about this and pushes her out of the way.

The last few mornings have not been all that great so instead of going out early, I have coffee and  a play on the computer then we drive down to the wetlands and spend a good hour and a half down there. We still go walking around the district at night but the mornings in the wetlands have been very interesting – never knew that the place could get so busy with walkers, joggers and cyclists. Fortunately for us ( Benji and me)we go off the  the general track and since the walkers, joggers, etc. don’t go there ( it’s gravel and dirt tracks rather than  bitumen)  we can  walk in peace

and quiet. It’s amazing how many people think the  wetlands is the area  enclosed  by the bitumen – which covers about two ponds, when there are seven ponds in total. Admittedly, the area of the bitumen is the area that has been most developed with swings, barbecue area, flying fox, grasslands for sport and recreation, whereas the remaining area is still gravel and dirt track – it’s also the area where much of the wildlife is – Black Swans, Ducks and  Australian Moorhens – or Marsh-hens, which I first came across in Naracoorte two years ago. The ones here are very skittish and take off as soon as you approach them – perhaps having the dog might have something to do with it – I don’t know.