Art's Farm - Day 7: Art's Farm to Kiama

The reconstructed main
street of Cobargo

We bid the farm goodbye a little later than we wished when the regulation lights check revealed a faulty tail light on the van. For those who know what a lantern fitting looks like in a tail light assembly, it was soon revealed that a combination of pot holes all the way from home to the farm, had conspired to work the small grub screws loose which hold the connections in place on the ends of the fitting. When I took the lens off, they fell to graveled driveway.

Now a normal person would have no hope of picking them out on that back ground but Arty did - well one of them at any rate. The other fix was a first class bit of MacGuyvering which I won't describe but suffice to say, it was very clever and typical of how Art's brain works as a problem solver.

Later than planned - we should get that written on the back of the van - but sooner than we thought, we were slowly bouncing up the drive, out the gate and on our way. 

The highlight of our day was a lengthy stop in Cobargo. We both had generous conversations with locals - me in the book shop and Sue in the art gallery - with people who lived through the hell of inferno. They didn't so much want to talk about the days of the fire itself, more about the recovery and varied responses of people in trying to, but in some case not, coping. The lady in the bookshop spoke bitterly about the intrusiveness of the media - their lack of compassion in getting the shot or the story they wanted yet dripping with care on air. She said there were a few exceptions, mostly but not all ABC types. She also said asking how you feel when you are standing in front of the smouldering rubble of your home or business was one question that particularly irked locals. The lady in the art gallery was full of praise for most locals, critical of a small few who she thinks have ripped off government assistance and still greatly distressed at the emotional damaged it has done to many people who are often later in their life and who will find recovery extremely difficult.

There were tears from both but a generosity in sharing what is still clearly front and centre in their mind. We were left amazed with the resilience that was evident in words, actions and the physical evidence of what we could see. We had thought twice about stopping but in the end decided the least we could do was spend a few dollars in a few local businesses. I'm glad we took the time to listen. You might spare a few dollars to assist them in their continuing recovery at the Cobargo Community Bush Fire Recovery Fund

Not long after, we had a near miss. A buffoon on a side road to the left, pulled out into traffic doing 80km/h, into my lane on the left ... and then stopped. It was all hands on deck and every brake on the combined rigs to maximum. We stopped - only just - about six feet from his rear bumper, just as he started moving again. I was on the horn for a bit.  

Today's photos

As the afternoon drew on, the weather closed down quickly on us from the west, with a big storm threatening. We just managed to outrun it and have it pass below us to the south and arrived in Kiama as planned. There was time for a walk on the beach and a few selfies.

We are in a big park which has both advantages and disadvantages but we are about twenty metres from the beach and most of the breaks going our way.