We had a bit of a rearrangement of plans today as we had hoped to meet Colin's cousin Gordon and his wife Jane in Sydney. Colin hadn't seen Gordon for over 20 years but sadly Gordon is now very ill and was not up to the journey. Some quick rethinking and Colin came up with the plan of picking up our hire car a day early and driving down to Exeter (about an hour and a half out of Sydney) to see them at home.
We caught the train to Kings Cross to pick up our 5th and final hire car (another silver Toyota Camry - Eco car) and headed through heavy traffic and a lot of tunnels to Exeter via a place called Mittagong which I had Googled and found a florist. It was a lovely place which had superb bouquets which we wanted to take for Jane.
We found their home with no problem using my phone and Colin and Gordon had the opportunity to catch up on decades of news. Although I have never met Gordon or Jane, they felt like old friends or even my own relatives. I was so sad to see Gordon so poorly and trying to be strong. Jane reassured us that our visit would be so good for him and I hope it took his mind off his illness for a while.
We enjoyed a lovely lunch and Gordon managed to eat some and enjoy a little of the wine we had bought. I took photos of Gordon, Colin and Jane and I felt very sad to say goodbye and we both know that we will not see Gordon again. He is a lovely man who has had a very hard childhood so I am pleased that he and Jane have been happy together over 40 years.
We headed back to Sydney and I managed to catch the 'blue hour' for some night photography in the hotel roof. We cooked our own steaks in a local restaurant (that closed early again) and watched fireworks by the Opera House.
