Being So Well

To find an ideal picnic spot, we drove from Queanbeyan to Bungendore. The initial destination is Lake George. On the tourist map, the lake looks quite big and attractive. Bungendore is not very far. We’ve been there a couple of times and we also used to pass by on the way to Batemans Bay. I tried to point an appropriate road for my husband as written on the guide book, but very soon we found whichever the way we go, the Lake George won’t show up anyway. What the hell is wrong?

We had to drive into the nearest winery to ask. Mind you this is 29th of December. I felt lucky that there was a winery open to the public in such a remote area. We entered the cell and pub room, no one was there. We can see all the wine making equipment displaying in another room, and all kinds of wine on the counter ready for tasting, but there was no people up there doing the reception. 10 minutes later, we got bored with what we see and decided to head off. At this moment, the wine maker, Ian, a 40-50 years-old man came out with his sandals and dog. We pretended to be interested in his wine, tasting 3 different things from the bottles, but I know our true meaning was to ask him the way to the Lake George. I brought up the question after having my second sips. Here was the answer I’ve got from him: “Lake George has been dry for 3 years. There is no water any more….” What?)(*&^^%$$#@!+=???? Oh my God! The lake does not exist any more???? I can’t believe that this is how we started our picnic day L I felt embarrassed for my pretending and bothering him in the holiday time, so I bought a bottle of (out of label) 2003 Pinot Noir (cost only 5 bucks) to express my thankfulness.

Okay, Lake George is the past. Where else can we go? After a while, I pointed another direction on the map, Namagi National Park. But guess what? We went all the way to Tuggeranong, but the road to Tharwa has been closed on the half way. Oh man, shall we get back to somewhere really close to home? People in the car got disappointed. Lily didn’t feel well because she has got motion sickness. I was thinking about tonight’s dinner, so I started to blame my husband for his idea trying to take us so far-away. Lawyer Wang kept being silent. I strongly suggested that we headed back and settled ourselves down the riverside of Fyshwick, then we did, and everybody was happy about my suggestion.

We picked a shady table, had our lunch, watching young and energetic people playing the water in the river. The sun came out, I felt sleepy after the meal. My choice has been proved a wise one, but this morning’s short trip to Bungendore and the intention to other places were not all bad. At least we saw some typical inland Australia farm view….and the sheep

You won’t believe this. Two hours after we got back home, when we all were together preparing the dinner, we had a hail storm. My husband thought it was going to rain, so he took the car out of the carport to leave it in the open air waiting for the rain rinsing before it happened. But he realised soon after we heard the sharp noise from the ice balls hitting the roof. He rushed out to protect his car and relocated it into the car shuttle. This is the biggest hail storm I have ever seen in my life. So our day ended up picking up the ping-pong-sized ice balls as the souvenirs. We thought the car was hit badly, but it looks okay, not really got damaged. It’s a miracle! The evening news reported that the roof of National Museum was damaged by the storm

We bought a 35 litre cooler and lots of fish, vegetables and things we hardly can see in Canberra. My husband got so excited to fill up the cooler with a 4 kg bag of ice. What the fun in doing that sort of thing? I don’t understand. I can only see the picture that I am working hard to clean the melting water and strange fish smell in the cooler box. We also bought a 28cm fry pan which is also something my husband wanted to get always and some kitchen ware, like glass bowels and sugar canisters. Except electronic products, kitchen ware is the only thing that can keep my husband’s feet on the run in shops. Other stuff, like clothes, shoes, books, bed linings, gifts, chemist….all make him exhausted.

I was really sleep on the way home. I kept shouting, singing, pinching myself and going mad in the car to keep me not fall asleep. The 5 days visit in Sydney has come to the end. It was one day longer than we initially expected. But we had a pretty good outcome, eating so much delicious food, having been to so many places include the luxury mansion of Jessy’s sister-in-law-to-be, Ikea, Fish Market, many great restaurant, cinema, and catching up with friends long time no see.

But to be frank, I felt tired and stressed two days ago already. I used to like Sydney so much, but now it seems too much for me. I felt I was overloaded everyday, busy on doing this and that. I wanted to get back to the quiet home in my Queanbeyan’s country home and get a good sleep without noise to be heard until the noon time. I wonder when this kind of changes happened in me. I have gotten used to Canberra and QBN’s quietness and boring life that I used to hate so much.

My current situation is: I don’t mind get away for a weekend or several days’ holiday playing in Sydney, but I kind of don’t feel like living and working there any more. I am totally finished, for the modern life. I am deteriorating bits by bits……silently