In what is quickly becoming a weekly tradition, on Monday, Wes and I went out to Wollongong to clear out some more garbage from the townhouse and to do some shopping. I've mentioned previously that the drive down has some really gorgeous scenery; this time, Wes decided to show me a park near Bulli Overlook so we could take them in the views in a bit more leisurely fashion.
We stopped at the Sublime Point Lookout, a little park that looks over the cliff with views of the ocean, forest and city below. As we wandered up and down the clifftop, we also found a little hiking trail through the bush and took a (very short) walk. Neither of us was particularly well-equipped for hiking, but braved the path, anyway.
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| Welcome to your doooooom. |
I'll mostly let the photos speak for themselves, just this once.
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| I was having a good time, I swear. There was just sun in my eyes! |
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| There's a reason it's called "Sublime Point". Look at that view! (And the color inconsistency, whoops. My bad.) |
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| On top of the world? Yup! |
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| Quite high up, in fact. |
The path that we found was mostly composed of very steep rock steps set into the cliff bank, surrounded by trees and supported by a trio of chains to use as railings. The sign at the head of the trail described it as "strenuous" and "not suitable for children". I very thoroughly agree with that sentiment and would like to add that it wasn't particularly suitable for girls in slick tennis shoes with a camera.
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| Steeeeeeep! |
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| "I have to climb down that?!" |
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| The view from below. |
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| The trail provided more great scenery. |
Most of why we decided to explore the trail had to do with that sign, actually. It claimed that there were "steep ladders" on the trail and to be prepared. Wes wanted to see one of these ladders. After about a quarter of a mile, we realized that a "ladder" was actually a set of steps in the rock. While they weren't rungs as such, they were definitely too steep and shallow to be considered real stairs. Curiosity satisfied, we climbed our way back up to the top of the trail.
As we were leaving the park, I saw my very first wild Kookaburra. I'd been hearing them almost nonstop since arriving, mixed in with the lorikeets, rozellas and miner birds, but I finally got to see one. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo because of how far away he was. Sigh. We also spotted some HUGE ants. Which I did get photos of.
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| These guys are about as long as a single finger joint, each. |
After we had gotten our fill of the overlook, Wes drove us down to the townhouse where we discovered that he'd forgotten the keys back home. Rather than worry about it, we cleaned up the back patio area and still filled up a garbage bin. He toted the bin to the corner while I put a few things in the car and we went for yet another walk, this time to Wollongong's downtown and a bit of shopping and dinner. After grabbing drinks at a 711 corner store, we hit a craft shop.
Now, for this bit, I didn't really take any photos, so you'll just have to imagine it.
Wes took me to Spotlight, a sewing and crafting store in three levels. THREE.
The ground level, where we entered, is primarily pre-fabricated items like sheet sets, duvets, cooking pans, pots and bowls, as well as party supplies. We wandered around (searching for a cheese slicer) before we moved on upstairs, where they store tables and racks and rolls worth of drapery and upholstery fabric.
This floor, with its freight elevator, gave Wes a clue into its origins: he bet me it was a factory at one point and, looking around it, I'm inclined to agree. The ceilings were very high, the elevators obviously large and the stairways very wide. I wouldn't be surprised if he was right.
Anyway, on the third level, we looked high and low for a wall-mounted coat rack. We found hooks. We found racks. We found screws, hangers and all kinds of related paraphernalia. We did not find an all-in-one device with hooks on a rack, however. I may have to find a new friend with power tools and just make one at this point, I think. We'll see, I guess.
After finishing a perusal of the hardware on the third floor, we decided it was time to brave the most dangerous regions of Spotlight: the first floor, home to crafts, notions, machines and fabrics.
They had just about everything one could ever want in terms of crafting goodness (minus the hematite beads I need to fix the Jesus Machine Rosary). Wood forms, birdhouses, miniatures, dolls, beads, felt, galore. It was like cramming all of a Hobby Lobby into about half the space, but with aisles that were double-wide. There was a section of yarn all to itself, in different colors, styles and weights. There was a massive display of Gutterman thread, rows and racks of trims and more.
As we entered the floor, the sewing machines greeted us. Most were Brother machines, but they had a few Elna and Toyota machines mixed in as well. Since I know very little about the models being offered (I should do some research, clearly), we didn't linger, but moved on. I picked up a really cute measuring tape (shaped like a tabby cat's face) along the way.
After we browsed through the craft goods, we came at last to the most dangerous part of the store: the fabric section. Spread before me were scores of patterns and prints and materials of all different sorts. They had dobby cotton from Japan printed through with kokeshi dolls and other traditional motifs. They had fine cotton lawn for blouses next to the stretch poplin. They had dozens of taffetas, three types of chiffon and dotty tulle coming out of their ears.
In short, I was rather giddy while Wes gloated over how superior Spotlight's selection is to Hancock's.
Eventually, even I tired of meandering the aisles and taking in the tables and we decided that it was time to get something to eat.
Originally, we had decided that we would hit up Food World Cafe, a local Chinese restaurant that has amazing won ton soup. Sadly, their website and storefront lied to us--they were not open on Mondays. Instead, we crossed the street to risk the Saigon Noodle Bar, as it was open and fairly quiet inside.
... we were very afraid that we had made a mistake.
The hostess/waitress who led us in not only was very rude, but entirely stony-faced about it. The restaurant was absolutely empty inside, yet she corralled us to a table and told us we "must" sit there. It also took forever to order because she promptly disappeared after bringing us water (we think she was avoiding us on purpose, really). She spoke only rarely and glared a lot.
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| Where we wanted to sit, in order to people-watch. |
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| Where we actually sat and Wes' reaction to a bully of a waitress. |
When we finally did get the chance to order, another member of the other staff who came to help our waitress with the task. We're not sure if she was new, incompetent, afraid of us or what, but we finally got to place our order. We got two bowls of the short soup and an opener of rice paper/combination spring rolls. Wes got a lemon-lime soda (made fresh!) and I ordered Chinese tea.
Once we had ordered, things went pretty smoothly. Our drinks arrived promptly. Our food came out quickly and tasted great.
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| Totally worth it. |
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| Even Wes admitted that it was pretty tasty. |
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| I was still hungry after the soup ... | ... just kidding. |
All in all, the food was fine; it was that one member of staff that was a problem. The man who had assisted her was much friendlier and actually checked us out at the counter when we left.
Having gotten in "a good feed", as Wes is fond of saying, we meandered next door to a local Vietnamese grocer to pick up light soy for a recipe Wes wants to try out with the mud crabs his sister gave us. From there, we walked back to the townhouse, loaded ourselves into the car and came home again (jiggedy-jig).
