The Sapphire Coast--Feb 5 to 12, 2010

The South Coast, also known as the Sapphire Coast because of the color of the water, is a jumble of cute cabins, little colorful cafes and shops, beautiful vine-covered homes with the curved roof rolled on the edges and lacy porches called "bull nose verandas" that are so typical of Australia. These are set in among bright green, rolling hills with cows and sheep for neighbors, or along golden sand beaches that have tumbling, foamy waves sizeable enough to surf. We can look down from our deck to see surfers as they rock about and skim atop water the color of aquamarine that flows into forest gree, lapis, sapphire and, finally, indigo. Around these rise rocks of various colors and shapes, some just plain huge and others fantastical with names like Camel Rock that looks like its namesake, complete with tail, on which 3 cormorants sit.

And Speaking of fantastical, the names of some of these communities are other-worldly, names like Ulladulla, Burrewarra Point, Mullimburra Point, Narooma, Bermagui (where we are) and Merimbula, among many others that are Aboriginal and very fun to say. (We passed through Tumbarumba and Wagga Wagga on the way south from Wodonga).

In fact, Aussie English is a story of its own. We are learning lots of slang from our hosts Margot and Denis Hudson and Elaine and Brian Gilby and are having a great time with it. We're constantly looking at them with quizzical expressions or asking them to "translate" for us. Finally, Margot found, in Tilba Tilba, and gave to us a little slang dictionary which we now carry with us, leaving them to speak in peace without being interrupted too much. It's pretty funny just to read. They say our English is more correct, but we think their English is just plain charming and fun, much like they, themselves, are.

There is abundant bird life here. We've already heard and seen probably more than 50 species of birds; some look very much like ours, such as their magpie with black bodies and white marks in the tail and wing feathers, and small wrens and finches. But others look very different like the one that I saw on a walk earlier this week. It was mostly black with a white breast, brown head and a bright yellow beak. Or black cockatoos that flew over our house just yesterday. And the songs they sing! We wake up to a warble that sounds like a synthesizer and walk along among trees that hold very tiny impossible-to-spot birds that tinkle like dinner bells. Magnificent! And we haven't even gotten to Tasmania yet, where we understand the bird life is even more plentiful.

However, this Sapphire Coast chapter of our trip comes to a close tomorrow when we board first a V-Line Bus, transfer to a train and head farther south and west to the state of Victoria, stopping overnight in Paynesville (then on to Melbourne the next day) to pay a visit to some koalas living in the wild on Raymond Island. We sure hope they're home!