A few weeks ago Luke had to go out of town to meet with a client up in Newcastle. They played golf one day so I got to explore another new city. Except this time, I had to DRIVE to get back into the city!!! I drove for a short distance back in December on one of our little out of town trips but this was my first time driving in full on traffic in an unfamiliar place…on the other side of the road! ;) I don’t know why, but I was a nervous wreck thinking about it. Thank God for our Garmin! It was helpful to hear directions especially when going around the numerous roundabouts when there were 3 or 4 lanes of traffic all at the same time and I needed to take the correct exit.
Luckily, it was a successful day! I made it into the city and found free parking at a park so I could walk around. I found a coastal walk to do and then came to these “baths” which are just natural pools that are attached to the ocean. It was sunny and warm so I enjoyed the next few hours. Part of my job that day was to also find an accommodation for us for that evening. We really wanted to stay in the Hunter Valley Wine Country but they were sold out everywhere because Lionel Ritchie, Santana, and the Doobie Brothers were all doing concerts there over the weekend. We ended up finding a great little hotel with an ocean view.
This sign was serious the next day when Luke and I did the walk out here! Waves really were crashing up on the footpath. Kind of felt like standing on the bridge waiting for the Monsoon to splash you at Worlds and Oceans of Fun! 
The baths
The ocean still crashes into the pools
We decided to drive back early the next afternoon. We had a fun, short trip! When we got back home we picked up a friend and went to dinner. We took advantage of still having our rental car and drove to dinner. On the way back home we were stopped at a light and the car behind us slammed into us. We were so relieved that no one was injured. Then both of us pulled over to the side of the road. The guy that hit us admitted that it was totally his fault and then told us in a very arrogant tone that, “In Australia, we just exchange info and then our insurance companies sort everything out.” Well, that wasn’t going to work for us so we told him we wanted to call the police. By the way, the number isn’t 911, it’s 000. Again, the gentleman informed us that, “In Australia, you don’t call the police. They will be upset that you called if everyone is ok and both cars are drivable.” Again, we told him we would like them to come. After standing in the rain talking to this guy for about an hour, we realized he wasn’t so bad and that he just wanted to get home after a long day of working at the hospital. And, yes, he was very aware of who Cerner was and so that topic was discussed for a bit. He asked us several times in that hour if we could just all leave and he promised everything would work out. Luke was so good! He stayed calm and patient and said we weren't going anywhere until we talked to the police.
In the time we waited for the police to show up, a tow truck came by to see if we needed help, a guy handing out fake tickets for having our hazard lights on since it was Earth Day during Earth Hour, was less than humorous to us, and then many people passed by with looks of horror of what the back of our car looked like. The guy who hit us was driving a BMW that barely had a scratch. When the police arrived they gave us the same info about not needing to be called in a car accident without injuries. At least they were nice about it. Then they informed us that they don’t like to come to the scene of an accident because “that’s when we give out tickets and people go to jail.” Then they gave Luke and the other guy a breathalyzer test where they had to speak into a device. We were all thankful that no one had a drink! The police gave us all of the info to call and get a police report for us to finish out the insurance paperwork with the rental company and the guy who hit us.
By the time we made it home it was after 10pm. Luke walked into the kitchen and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” I came around the corner and saw puddles of water all over the floor, water streaking down the walls from the ceiling, lots of our belongings soaking wet, drawers were filled with water, and no power. There was a large caved in hole in the ceiling, too. Luke immediately unplugged the microwave as we were assuming all of our appliances had kicked off the power when they got wet. We decided to go upstairs to the apartment above us to see if we could find out what happened. The woman that came to the door acted shocked and said over and over that her kitchen was fine and she didn’t know why we would have a flooded kitchen. Hmmm…so frustrated and exhausted, we headed back to our apartment and called our real estate agent because he is our contact for dealing with the landlord. We were so glad that they called us back and said they would come by early the next morning to check things out. So we spent our Sunday with them coming to survey the damage, Luke dealing with returning a wrecked rental car, and me cleaning and drying out our whole kitchen. Our fridge had been off for too long so I spent a long time throwing out everything from the fridge and our very stocked freezer after my last big grocery trip. I wasn't a fan of this part at all! The landlord and realtor went back upstairs to check with the apartment owner above us. When the woman told them that nothing was wrong they asked to actually see the kitchen for themselves and she finally fessed up that her dishwasher flooded her whole kitchen, too. UGH! Why she couldn’t have just said that in the first place is ridiculous!
A week before, we had some major storms with very strong winds. This created a bizarre leak in our bedroom on the wall. The water literally was coming through the paint on the wall and streaming down soaking the carpet! When they sent someone out to look at it, he said it was from the direction of the strong winds and the outside of the building and roof would be repaired and fix the issue. So we have two major projects coming up that the landlord is trying to set up. Someone came a couple of days after the flood and repaired the ceiling but our landlord has decided she wants a whole new ceiling put in. We have requested for all of this remodeling to take place when we are back in the U.S. so we don’t have to live with the extra chaos.
notice the water streaming from the middle of the wall
Weird!!!We’re pretty sure that our share of the black cloud has got to come to an end! J
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