Election Night!

As I write, the result of the election is perilously balanced. Penny Wong is describing how the Labor party has taken a hit in Queensland, and I must say, if those bogans lose us the election, I may boycott the place and refuse to go there. Fran is being very pessimistic, just as she was on AM this morning.  Hope she's wrong. At this stage the only thing I am pleased about is Adam Bandt's win for the Greens in the seat of Melbourne.

We are in Byron Bay and tonight went to a pub in Suffolk Park, looking for a working TV and the company of some other voters to watch the coverage. But the place was full of unthinkers, people who care for nothing but balls being kicked or which horse is faster. I despair. We asked if just one of the dozens of screens in the place could be tuned to the election coverage. Nah, mate, sorry. There'd be a riot. Footy's on. So we are back in the van,  listening to ABC News Radio.  Thank heavens for the ABC. A hung parliament does not sound good at all.  Hope the Independents can step up and support Julia.

While I'm having a whinge, let me tell you about the lunch we had at the Kempsey Golf Club. Dubious decor was a warning, and the people at the next table returning their food and walking out, but we were still willing to give them a chance. Then it became apparent that our hamburgers had no hamburger, and when we told them, the chef materialised, with two burnt offerings.  Sorry, he says, I left 'em on the burner. He dropped them on our plates and disappeared. Aah, Australia's regional cuisine...

Friday night we were at Emerald Beach, just south of Coff's Harbour, having driven over some of the most shamefully bad roads ever to be mis-named a highway. The climate is getting warmer the further north we go, bananas and sugar plantations starting to appear. The towns are mostly rather desperate and messy looking. It's a fairly degraded environment compared to how it must once have been.  Perhaps that's just the coastal strip.  But the beaches themselves are still glorious.  At Emerald Beach we took off our shoes and paddled in the surf for the first time on this trip.

Today, Saturday, we travelled to Byron Bay and enjoyed the trip a lot. Black cows and white egrets and vivid, vivid greens. Morning coffee at Ulmurra, a heritage port town on the Clarence River. An old hotel with a fantastic beer garden facing the river. A brick dunny in the park next door with the same astonishing view.  Lots of small shops selling old wares and collectibles, including one where I got my hands on the shop cat.  She is, for those cat lovers among our readers, a lilac, banded oriental. She was a real trollop, too. Loved a back rub and followed us around the shop saying maaaah, reminded me of Pixie.

Lunch at Maclean.  Bit of a historical connection here. Turns out Maclean's sister city is Portree, on the Isle of Skye.  As it happens, that's where my forbears on my Mum's side come from.  In fact I saw the remains of the McKinnon castle there in the 70's. Skye was Bonnie Prince Charlie territory, so I was dismayed to see that among the tartan painted lamp-posts of Maclean, the Black Campbell's was included.  Those murdering swine betrayed the highland clans and the Bonnie Prince himself. I remember visiting the battle ground of Culloden where so many highlanders were massacred by the British.  It had the most powerful effect on me, as if the pain and loss were imprinted on the soil.

Here is a more pleasant imprint, this is David's grateful foot.  Liberated at last from the prison of its shoes and socks.