Sneaking into the 'Gong

Monday, I had my first experience with Wes' old place in Wollongong. We drove down briefly after feeding his sister's fish to take out the trash, pick up his old toaster and drop off a present for his friend Sal.

I was still feeling a bit unwell, but we figured a bit of fresh air might do me some good, considering how nice the weather outside was.

First of all, we had to fulfill his promise to feed his sister's fish. Amanda and Nick have a really lovely tank of tropical fish in their house and, since they're away for two weeks visiting family further north, Wes volunteered to feed them this week (his dad handled it before we got in town). So we went over around one in the afternoon to sprinkle some flakes in the tank before heading down to Wollongong to take care of some errands there.

While we were there, I snapped a few photos of the fish. And Wes.

"Woman, what are you doing?"

"Fish, you ridiculous man! Don't be so suspicious."

Mostly, Wes wanted me to see the views on the drive from Sydney to Wollongong and to get out of the house. I took along a box of tissues (and a bag to dispose of them) to keep my nose from dripping its way down to my chin. The trip actually did me quite a bit of good, which surprised me a bit (in a good way, of course).

Not one of the lovely views, but a sign of things to come.

The drive down really is a lovely one. There are several points at which you can see the ocean and the area that the highway goes through is a strange mix of alien and familiar, for me.

Looooots of hills.

The road itself cuts clean through rock and forest, much like the highways in St. Louis, but the plants that loom over your car as you drive couldn't be more different. The trees twist and contort their way up the rock faces and into the hills, topped off by little stiff puffs of leaves. Sometimes, there's a burst of bright color where early-spring blossoms have decided to open up.

A brief burst of the coastline.

Once we arrived in Wollongong, we passed a few local landmarks before arriving at the townhouse. Among these were a few restaurants, local shops and a very, very tall hill.

Delicious irony

There, we disposed of a garbage bin worth of empty DVD and video game covers (long since transported to the new place in CD-sleeve books), cleaned up a few things inside, picked up rice, the toaster, some Strepsils (which are great throat lozenges that make your nose tingle and drip even more than before, yay) and other odds and ends which had been left behind.

See? Red lid's trash. Yellow lid's recycling.
(P.S. The townhouse is for saaaaale. ;D)

Don't worry, these games all sucked.

... this movie, especially...

Just kidding. The cases are all empty.

During our cleaning binge, I found a total of $27.60 Australian scattered through the house. Five of that was in the form of a single note, which went into Wes' wallet. The rest was crammed into my front pockets and now inhabits our change bowl (with the other loose coins that I keep finding in the laundry, in pockets and dropped here and there on the floor).

 

I'd guess we'll easily have $80 or more in that bowl by the end of the month (if not sooner). Change does rather quickly accrue, however, given that many of the coins I found were $1 and $2 denominations and pennies simply do not exist. At home, I'd have $25 US in a jar after perhaps a year of collecting my loose change (for comparison's sake) because most of it would be pennies.

Right. So.

After we finished cleaning up a bit, we wandered (I use the term loosely, as it was rather a straight shot) across the street and left the skirt for Sal that Wes had had delivered to my house. She wasn't home, so hopefully it was still at her door when she arrived. Probably. I'm sure no one bothered it...

Door-drop deliveries make me nervous.

"Woman, what ARE you doing?"

Present delivered, we headed off again, this time to the local Chinese grocery to pick up some Mi Goreng (spicy, instant noodles not unlike Pancit Canton) and other snacks and things. We ended up with a large bottle of soy sauce, char siu bao (sweet barbecue pork buns) and egg custard buns as well as the Mi Goreng.

Sadly, my hunt for hydrangea tea still continues.

Technically, we could have paid most of the bill with the change I had crammed into my pockets, but we didn't want to be that crazy couple, counting coins on the counter top one by one.

Shockingly common.

Thus, with a carload of goods to take home, we headed on back to the 'burbs!