{"id":1480,"date":"2019-03-02T20:25:24","date_gmt":"2019-03-02T20:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=1480"},"modified":"2026-08-20T09:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T09:40:12","slug":"myanmar-oz-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=1480","title":{"rendered":"MYANMAR & OZ. 21"},"content":{"rendered":"

We haven’t seen my sister for many years.\u00a0 The week before our last scheduled visit, she fell off a ladder and really, really hurt herself.\u00a0 Now, a couple of years on, she’s recovering well.\u00a0 We haven’t even seen their new house which they have been been building for the last 6 or 7 years.\u00a0 Their houses have always been largely self-built and delightfully quirky.<\/p>\n

Bij has worked for many years drafting plans for alternative-style houses for other people.\u00a0 On a scale of quirkiness from 1-10 their first house on 40 acres of dry bush with a leaky dam and a dubious borehole rated about 9.\u00a0 Their second place, on a more sensible sized block had a stream running past the bottom of the garden.\u00a0 Very pretty.\u00a0 Score about 7.<\/p>\n

Their current house is MUCH more conventional – say about a 6.<\/p>\n

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It’s more compact and sits on a tidy-sized corner plot with a fabulous view of Lake Wallaga.<\/p>\n

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It still has a lot of curvy features<\/p>\n

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and some work is still being done.\u00a0 But it’s a really practical space – provided you don’t fall off the loft ladder onto wooden furniture and the concrete floor!<\/p>\n

Chris has built a very professional pizza oven …<\/p>\n

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… and the deck is shaded by vines growing over a cunningly designed reinforced concrete structure.\u00a0 The supports were built, in place, as catenary structures.\u00a0 They look like parabolic curves – but actually aren’t.<\/p>\n

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A catenary curve is the shape that a chain would adopt when suspended from two points of equal height.\u00a0 When inverted, this shape becomes optimally self-supporting.\u00a0 Allegedly!\u00a0 The trick is to determine the exact proportions and curve shape.\u00a0 Well done Bij for designing and drawing it – and well done Chris for actually building it – twice – once at each end of the covered area!<\/p>\n

At the bottom of their garden there is a boat launching beach…<\/p>\n

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… and a wide band of open access along the shore of the lake.\u00a0 We wandered along this for about a kilometre before a couple sitting on their deck shouted at us to ask if we wanted a cup of coffee.\u00a0 At least that’s what we thought they said!\u00a0 Anyway, we were a bit busy tracking a pair of not very frightened kangaroos through the trees.\u00a0 So we didn’t take up their offer.<\/p>\n

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For lunch we were going to have pizza.\u00a0 So before we went out for coffee Chris lit a bonfire inside the oven.\u00a0 Apparently it takes hours to get up to temperature.\u00a0 So we had plenty of time for breakfast at a coffee shop in Tilba run by a French lady.\u00a0 Excellent pancakes!<\/p>\n

Back home and with the pizza oven up to speed, the lunch guests arrived.\u00a0 Keith and Trish.\u00a0 The same couple with whom we had been invited to have a walk-in coffee earlier!\u00a0 Coincidence or what!?\u00a0 Anyway the pizzas were probably the best we have ever eaten – anywhere.\u00a0 \u00a0Brilliant.<\/p>\n

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Next day, the place we were going for coffee at Cuttagee Beach advertised it would definitely be open.\u00a0 ALWAYS worth checking!\u00a0 The beach there was lovely – and deserted.<\/p>\n

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Well it is the weekend, so it’s going to be as busy as it gets around here “out of season” as it is.\u00a0 And of course, the cafe with it’s panoramic view of said beach, was seasonally CLOSED.\u00a0 Well, it is February and two weeks after the schools went back.\u00a0 Welcome to the Sapphire Coast!\u00a0 Still, we had a good tour of Bermagui including coffee at the harbour with this view …<\/p>\n

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… and a sticky beak at the “Blue Pool” – a semi natural coastal swimming pool.<\/p>\n

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Us on the viewing platform.<\/p>\n

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We visited a number of beaches while we stayed at Bermagui.\u00a0 Each one better than the last.<\/p>\n

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A number of years ago, on the recommendation of some locals, we had visited a small beach called Nelson Bay.\u00a0 Here we could drift lazily down the creek behind the sand spit and out to the sea.\u00a0 We eventually “re-found” the cove a few miles north of Tathra, about 40 kms from base.<\/p>\n

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It was larger than we remembered – and, we discovered, the drifting thing can only be done towards the end of the ebb tide.\u00a0 This time we would have floated upstream!\u00a0 However we still had the place to ourselves.\u00a0 That day we hit five beaches, walked six or seven miles and saw a total of about six people!<\/p>\n

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Boring, boring.\u00a0 Sorry!<\/p>\n

Some of these magnificent beaches had the highly threatened Hooded Plover raising their young on the sand above the high tide mark..<\/p>\n

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We clocked three of the fledgelings – extraordinarily well camouflaged!\u00a0 Camera Anne would have loved it!\u00a0 But, the more I think about it, the more certain I am that the rest of you wouldn’t like it here at all!!?? ?<\/p>\n

So – onward plans have to be made.\u00a0 We chose a couple of nights at Nelligen in the Clyde River Cottage.\u00a0 But that’s another story.<\/p>\n

PHONE ETIQUETTE<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

After a tiring day, a commuter settled down in his seat and closed his eyes. As the train rolled out of the station, the young woman sitting next to him pulled out her cell phone and started talking in a loud voice:<\/em><\/p>\n

“Hi sweetheart.\u00a0\u00a0It’s Sue. I’m on the train”.\u00a0 “Yes, I know it’s the eight thirty and not the four thirty, but I had a long meeting.”\u00a0 “No, honey, not with that Kevin from the accounting office.\u00a0 It was with the boss.”\u00a0 “No sweetheart, you’re the only one in my life.”\u00a0 “Yes, I’m sure, cross my heart!”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Fifteen minutes later, she was still talking loudly. The man sitting next to her had enough, he leaned\u00a0over and said into the phone, “Sue, hang up the phone and come back to bed.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Sue doesn’t use her cell phone in public any longer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We haven’t seen my sister for many years.\u00a0 The week before our last scheduled visit, she fell off a ladder and really, really hurt herself.\u00a0 Now, a couple of years on, she’s recovering well.\u00a0 We haven’t even seen their new… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-myanmar-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1480"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8150,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions\/8150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}