Who Would Believe?

The phone rang. I could hear it from where I was. In the bath, 7.15pm, I was due at a meeting of the Friends of the Gembrook Bushland Park at 7.30.  I'd defrosted the freezer that morning and taken out two mini roasts for dinner. Gord and I were batching still, Lib was due home the next day.

I thought it would be secretary Merle on the phone, with some new request to bring something to the meeting. There were two messages on the answer phone from her when I got home, and there were emails that morning. Merle's printer had broken down.

Gord brought me the cordless phone with a bit of a grin on his face, reinforcing my thought that it was Merle. I can't even wash the sweat and stench from me without being hounded, was my feeling.

"Is that Carey?" It did sound like Merle. Or did it?

"Yes," I answered in my annoyed voice.

"This is JB, but I was formerly JW." The first name didn't didn't register. I was coming to grips with the fact that this was not Merle ringing me. The second name instantly made me aware who the caller was.

"You're kidding me," I said.

"No."

I had not heard from her or seen her for more than fifty years. She was my childhood sweetheart. My first love. Yes, it was love, as far as love can be for a boy of ten years old to whom such emotions were new and not understood at all. Way back in the very early 1960's we declared that one day we would marry.

J went on to explain the why and wherefore of her call, while I listened almost incredulously. Twenty two years ago I had written a letter of condolence to her mother after I had seen in the newspaper notices that J's father had died. Her mother did not pass on the letter, in which I had included some basic info of my life and situation and my contact details, until earlier this year. J had not acted straight away as she'd had a difficult year and then hesitated, as anyone would, before dialing the number, asking herself , 'Will I or Won't I?' I am so happy that she did.

Not having received a reply to my letter of 22 years ago, I didn't know if it had been received. I had no contact details when I wrote it. I sent it sealed in an envelope in a letter to the funeral director who put the funeral notice in the the paper, asking him to forward the letter to Mrs W.  As years passed I forgot about it.

But I didn't forget J. I often wondered what life had brought her, was she alive still, where did she live. I knew from the death notice that she was alive twenty two years ago and she had four children, nothing more. Our childhood romance did not endure into a new year after we were put into different classes, but for a couple of years we were close friends and shared an important part of our early lives. She told me she still had a post card I sent her from a holiday my family went on in 1961, and a handkerchief from Sydney that I brought back for her from the same trip.

For the past week we have been exchanging emails and learning of each others lives. She lives interstate and has a truly amazing story which I do not feel at liberty to speak about publicly, but the renewed contact, and the fact that I have found this lady who had  a significant impact on my life in childhood, and that my longstanding wondering is now resolved, has brought me great joy.

I'm still smiling all day long.

A Week at Merimbula

I spent last week at Merimbula. We left on the Sunday in two cars, Lib and Rob in the Hyundai and Gord and I in my van. We stayed that night at the Lakes Entrance house and next day crammed into the i30 wagon, dog Pip on the back seat between the boys and our bags and 'stuff' in the the rear cargo hold and in a bubble on the roof. I left my van at the Lakes house after we mowed the grass and got away before lunch which was had on the way, delicious it was too, lamb, from a joint we had the previous night, in rolls with salad.

We'd booked at Beach Cabins, a pet friendly park, and arrived about 4.30pm. Merimbula is in NSW for readers in foreign lands and those Australians who don't know, between two larger towns Eden and Bega, and is about half way between Melbourne and Sydney on the coastal route. The management offered us an upgrade to a 3 bedroom cabin which had become available and we grabbed it.

We had 5 relaxed full days exploring Merimbula, Bega and Eden and the various beaches and attractions. By day 3 Lib announced she had found the place she wants to live in her retirement in the not too distant future. I can understand this. The beaches are great and numerous and the general feeling of the area is one of relaxed contentment. The locals are happy and friendly and I could not but be impressed by the engaging staff in the shops, the young people in particular smiled a lot and engaged in conversation readily and were helpful.

I walked early down to the point each morning and on day 2 saw two whales. Three times I saw them spout and break the water a number times as they headed south, before giving a flick of their massive tail fin and disappearing, to come up up minutes later further along. I had a good pair of binos so I had a good look at them. Humpbacks.

After they stopped appearing I walked along the rocks watching birds flit about in the trees and shrubbery at the base of the cliffs. At one point I leaned with my back against a large rock for comfort and waited patiently for a group of small birds to sit still for long enough in my view so that I could get a good sight with the binos. I could hear them busily talking to each other most of the time and would see movement but they'd move on before I could get a good look. Just when I was about to give up one appeared quite close on a small dead branch. It had what looked like a moth in its beak and was quickly joined by two others. These new two must have been fully grown juveniles as the first bird presented the moth to one then the other, each in turn taking some of the moth from the parent. It was wonderful to see and kept them in the one place sufficient for me to have a good sight. I think the were thornbills, perhaps striated, they had streaks on their breasts and were light brown, pale underneath.

So from whale watching to catching good view of small birds, I considered myself privileged. Another day I saw dolphins. Another day while walking with the boys on the scenic walk we stopped to watch a bloke casting a lure repeatedly in the shallow river below, curious to see if he caught something. A bird flew out of the bank a few feet below where we stood on the track. The another.
These little birds darted about in the tree above us for a while the one returned to a twig about 8 feet in front of us and about five feet above the ground. It stayed there for a good minute or so, with an insect in its mouth. It was a spotted pardalote, and continued to eye us off until it flew done into a hole in the ground close to our feet. Another did much the same and flew into a different hole. Robbie got a good photo of it with his smart phone, but he and Lib are still away at Lakes, while Gord and I came back yesterday (Sunday)to get back to work. I will put up the photo when he sends it to me, if he still has it when they come home.

So we had a great holiday, dampened only by the fact that Lib got booked by the cops for speeding enroute Merimbula to Lakes E, a $180 fine plus he got her for not wearing her glasses, $140, which is a condition of her licence. She was fuming. I was having a little kip while Lib drove so as to keep myself fresh for the afternoon drive home.