Postcode 2108... Palm Beach Paradise...

Beautiful Palm Beach is Sydney, Australia's northern most suburb.
It's 40km north of Sydney CBD.
It takes 1&1/2 hours on a fast bus that weaves it's way through continually built up housing and commerce. At the far end of the beach is Barrenjoey Headland with the lighthouse on top.
It's a beautiful beach.
The tv program 'Home and Away' is filmed here.
At one end is the salt pool for safe swimming.
It's a very popular spot with all ages.
We went to Cafe 2108 in the morning for coffee, beautifully served.
We went back again in the early evening for a swim and the sunset.
Palm Beach is near the top of the list for expensive outer Sydney suburbs. There is a beautiful old house at the pool end of the beach with an amazing garden... for sale for... $25,000,000. In case you can't decipher all the 000's that's 25million dollars!
I've looked through it...
It's like walking into a different era...
Reminded me of being in an Agatha Christie movie - time warp.

Touch Down In...Palm Beach, Sydney...

I have taken flight...
With wheels of a different kind.
I left my home in Paeroa...
And embarked on a long, long journey...
Well not really but it did take most of a day.
I got a public bus in Paeroa to Auckland...
2 hours.
Stayed the night with a friend then...
A bus from Ponsonby to the city...
1/2 hour.
A bus to the airport...
1  hour.
Sat around for ages, had lunch, read a book...
As you do at airports.
Then wheels and wings to Sydney...
3 hours.
Sorted out my phone with an Aussie sim card so I'm up and running online...
Then a train to Sydney city...
1/2hour.
Waited around - again...
The bus to Palm Beach...
1&1/2 hours.
I finally arrived in this paradise to stay with my daughter.
This morning...
So typically Australian.
It's warm and sunny and as you can see in the photos the deck overlooks the vast Pacific Ocean mixed up with the Tasman Sea.
There's been a storm here, gale and rain and lightening which has left heavy swells and pounding noisy waves.
The guests of the morning are the coloured Rainbow Lorikeets, we fed them powered nectar so they come in flocks.
Also the big white Cockatoo's they like a cracker for breakfast.
We, us mere humans, are having pancakes...
Yum.

Remember this?... It's Worth Complaining...

Remember me writing a few days ago about meeting with Prejudices...

Well here is the outcome to my complaint to the council with which I am delighted. 
 

 (Steve Hart, TCDC Bylaw Contract Officer) said:

I have read the officers report and also considered the views submitted by both yourself and your friend. There is a significant disparity between what was said by all those involved.

The Officer involved is employed by a contractor who provides parking control services to Thames Coromandel District Council. I will be meeting with the contractor and will pass on your comments. Rather than get involved in who said what at the time I will firstly withdraw the parking infringement and will ask the contractor to discuss several issues raised with the officer as I feel it could have been handled better.

The key point that was confirmed in the photos provided was that the carpark was virtually empty at the time. If the car park was full then perhaps there may have been some merit in trying to accommodate the bus in an alternative location.

For this reason I apologise on behalf of Council as there was no "Inconsiderate Parking" parking offence committed and we discourage our parking officers (whether contracted or staff) becoming involved in verbal altercations.

The Fashion Department...

To continue the tour of my new home...
Between the kitchen and bedroom and opposite the bathroom is my wardrobe.
It's a bit smaller than the 6ft one I had in my previous life but...
It's surprising what fits in there.
I'm well set up for mirrors, I can look at myself from every direction...
A bit scary sometimes!
There is a shelf at the top for jackets and jerseys.
 Smaller fold up things are in my drawers...
A basket on top for make up and titivating essentials...
It's very important to me to maintain a feminine standard.
Just because I have chosen to live an alternative lifestyle doesn't mean I am going to embrace sloppiness or beach bum looks...
I still wear my pearls and diamonds.
There's also a fire extinguisher.
A couple of other things you might notice...
The broom and tucked in the back my boogie board.
Strange place to keep such things?
Well it's the tallest cupboard I have.
My friend who is a huge advocate of lateral thinking encourages me to think differently...
outside the traditional square...
So that's where they now live.
Just like the currently being drunk bottle of wine lives under the sink with the dish wash...
For easy access.
But more about that tomorrow when I show you my kitchen.
This is a gorgeous little home.
I am totally self contained and could survive for a long time off grid and in the wilderness or at the beach.
I'm sitting inside in the sun, snug and warm writing to you on a cool crisp autumn morning...
Breakfast now...

But... Is There Room To Swing A Cat...

That. of course, is the criteria...
I was talking to a friend yesterday who thinks she would like to come and stay...
She has concerns about my bathroom facilities being adequate!
Well everybody's needs are different but mine are well met
in my little abode.
But just to set at rest the minds of those prospective visitors...
First you need an invitation...
And yes there is room for two in the bathroom...
And here are some pics ...
It's close by the bed for the middle of the night...
There is a dearth of towel rails and no toilet roll holder or shelves...
Those things are about to be rectified.
On the floor is a mat for the comfort of feet...
My laundry buckets also live in the bathroom.
But...
Most important...
The toilet itself.
It's a marine toilet that is pumped with water to flush. You can see the handle.
Underneath is a 135litre holding tank.
There is only one downside to this toilet, it uses too much water, when water is always used sparingly.
I'm making enquiries about changing to a dry composting toilet.
The cylinder that the toilet roll is sitting on holds 7 litres of water and has a bilge pump at the bottom...
For a shower...
That's the hose you can see in a couple of pics.
So...
As you can see, all mod cons for the discerning visitor.

The Back End... My Bedroom...

I'm settling in and making my new home 'mine'.
Across the back of the bus is my bed. It has a window so I can see the stars, otherwise I am tucked in to a cosy little space.
The bed is big enough for me or two...
The little shelf has doors that lift up and storage underneath.
It's been  very cleverly built and every tiny space utilised.
Under the bed is more storage, cupboards that open with sliding baskets that pull out, so very easy to access.
You can see a tiny little dressing table, a corner cupboard, mirrors, lights everywhere including both ends of the bed so I can sleep up or down or whichever way. 
The guitar - I want to learn to play it so I got it out to either do that and use it or give it away.
The foot end of my bed also has a shelf with storage underneath. I have stacked books here...
I love books, looking at them, reading them, just having them around me.
As I settle in and find a home for everything I am making a list of little things that I want done.
When I move everything not secured falls down...
So I am going to have a little edge built along the edge of the dressing table and the books on the top shelf secured somehow, so I can leave things where they are when driving.
Under the foot end of the bed is more storage space, to access it I have to  lift up the mattress and move a large length of ply. That's hard for me to do so I'm thinking of an alternative - gas struts maybe...
Any ideas welcome.

Another driving lesson meets officious prejudices...

I've been parked in one place at the Paeroa RV Centre while unpacking and moving into my new home.
Decided another driving lesson was in order too.
Going into town, in this case Thames, 35km away,
would be good practice.
So I set off with a friend with several instructions about  coping with gear changes, the indicator, using the gears to slow down at corners and intersections and the caution not to drive too fast...
Stay in control...  
So off we went, merrily along the road...
Not too fast...
Not too slow...
A bit hard to tell really as I'm new to driving this vehicle, also I don't have an accurate speedo, it needs re-calibrating, so a bit of guess work is needed.
We were nearly to Thames when I heard a siren and pulled over
expecting an ambulance to pass me but no...
It stopped behind me and a traffic officer got out of a plain unmarked car.
I knew everything about the bus and my licence was in order so...
I came face to face with the first prejudice of the day.
I don't know what this young man expected or who he thought might be driving this lovely old Bedford but he certainly did not expect me...
White hair, mature, make-up, well groomed, gorgeous...
Need I say more?
Well he shuffled around and all he could come up with was I needed to pull over more often and let the traffic behind me past as other drivers get impatient and do silly things...
If I don't let them past.
I pointed out that the roads are narrow, there is seldom room on the side of the road for a bigger vehicle to pull over and also I am not responsible for other peoples, feelings, attitudes and behaviour.
Suitably rebuked with a warning he sloped away...
And on I went into Thames to a virtually empty car park well out of town where I practiced U turns and backing and parked out of the way, not bothering anybody...
And had lunch.
There I met my next prejudice - another traffic enforcement officer who stopped on the road beside me to tell me I was illegally parked in the way I was parked and the particular park I was in.
If I took note...
I was told...
Further along the car park were 4 parks allocated for self contained vehicles parking overnight and I should park nose to the kerb.
My friend who was with me, who has parked in this car park before in a similar size vehicle, pointed out that there are 2 allocated parks, we were in town to shop not park over night and that as I was 7.2 meters long and the allocated parks 4 meters long, I would protrude 3.2 meters over the end of the car park and over a fire hydrant,which it is illegal to do.
I also pointed out that the large breast screening vehicle was also parked parallel over several car parks...
Was that vehicle also illegally parked?
The dialogue got heated, as Number 15, her name when asked...
Was not going to discuss anything in any reasonable fashion...
The end result...
My friend was deemed rude so she would give me a parking ticket...
For inconsiderably  parking...
Such was her anger, rudeness, aggression.
Well...
No such word so an invalid ticket.
So off we went to town and just  happened to pass the office of the local newspaper...
A paper for the voice of the community, it said...
We had a story we thought...
The editor just happened to be another bus dweller and very empathetic...
My photo was taken, photos we had taken at the 'crime scene' were handed over and...
Yes...
Front page news in next weeks edition.
The heading:
Little old white haired lady takes on local bureaucrats!