Monday 5th - wet & woolly

We were a little bit slow getting moving in the morning and then the rain started pouring down. I had an appointment to meet my friend Stephanie at North Sydney Station at 9:00 and then my brother David at 9:30 (same place). Kazuko was going to drop us at Artarmon Station, but when we went to leave, her car wouldn't start. She had run the kids to school 40 minutes earlier and had left the lights on. Doh! Some huffing and puffing in the rain to push that car out of the way so we could use their other car. In the end we were more than 30 minutes late.

We spent a very pleasant hour-and-a half with Stephanie and David, and soon had to be on our way again. We caught a train out to Beecroft where Alastair (ex-boss) picked us up and we went to my old workplace at Forests NSW's research facility in Cumberland State Forest. The organization has been radically re-structured and left with some kind of convoluted arrangements, so that took a bit of getting my head around. Still, it was great to see the old faces and enjoy another BBQ.

After that we took another train to Newcastle and were met by my brother Peter. After the two trips by train that day I was left in no doubt about the aspects of life in which Japan enjoys a clear superiority over Australia (well, New South Wales in any case). Our train system is, to put it succinctly, simply abysmal. There is no point wasting words describing our experiences and trying to justify this opinion. I think it would be self-evident to anybody who has to use the system.

At Peter's we enjoyed dinner with his and his wife's adult kids (second marrriage for both of them) and some of the kids' kids. Yet more catching up. So ended Day 2.