We were glad we stopped in Canberra, but we were also glad we didn’t stay longer. Three days is about right. Our next stop, Jindabyne, is not well-served by public transportation. We were able to take a bus as far as Cooma but then had to rely on our next hosts to drive us the remaining 60km. Merrilyn was right on time to meet us at the bus stop and was kind enough to take us grocery shopping in Cooma where, she informed us, prices are a bit less than in Jindabyne.
She had to drive carefully as dusk was approaching and that is when kangaroos and echidnas tend to wander onto the road. We did in fact see a kangaroo in a nearby field and an echidna (a spiney, narrow snouted, porcupine-like mammal) shuffling along the side of the road. The echidna was thwarted in its attempt to move into the field ahead by a mesh fence. According to Merrilyn if one had sturdy gloves one could attempt to pick it up and move it the other side of the fence, but probably not successfully as the echidna has an amazing ability to burrow in and grip the ground and thus become virtually immovable. Another interesting and thankfully irrelevant fact about echidnas is that they have a four-headed penis.
Our new digs are a ski lodge owned by our hosts Merrilyn and David, who are originally from South Africa but have been in Australia for many years. Jindabyne is in the Snowy Mountains and is most popular in winter due to its proximity to nearby ski resorts. As it sits on the shores of a lake of the same name it is also a draw in summer for boating, fishing, swimming, and other aquatic endeavors in which I do not participate.
Merrilyn and David have a beach house they like to escape to in the off season and often bring in house sitters to look after the lodge while they are away. As it turns out they are hanging around here a bit longer as David has a case of the shingles he is trying to shake. (For some in the roofing trade that last sentence is a bad pun). In the meantime they are teaching us (well, Deborah really) how to run the inn. As Deborah and I have talked about opening a B&B someday, this is really good experience. Deborah calls it her B&B boot camp. She is helping to tidy up the rooms and learning from Merrilyn the tricks of the trade. Deborah is happy to have something to do while I paint, which should be most of the time while here in Jindabyne. This is my best opportunity to get a lot of painting done so I plan to make the most of it.
Our accommodation. 
Deborah in full battle gear.