We went on more expeditions...... including to the waterfalls at the settlement of Great Falls to the south of Rock Hill, where she lives. The waterfalls is a major energy vortex as well as being quite spectacular. The trail took us along the river to the bottom of the falls. Then of course this intrepid little adventurer just had to climb to the top of the falls, the views are great.
Afterwards we went further south to a State Park on Wateree Lake, another artificial lake on the Catawba River assumedly designed to control the flooding. A lovely little spot even in mid-winter. The forests of trees are devoid of leaves so seem such a surreal scene, all these trees without leaves, except for the pine trees which are actually imported. Pine trees are not native to South Carolina, but like in Perth, there are pine plantations and introduced pine trees in parks. Of course back home our trees remains green during winter.
Today we went to York. Oh yes there is a town called York here, the capital of the York County which Rock Hill is situated. A fascinating little spot, and historical like the York back home near Perth. The York here is less than 30 minutes drive from here in Rock Hill, while the York near Perth is a 90 minutes drive. Everything here is so close together, there is nothing isolated, and while we may drive through forests, there are always settlements every few minutes, never more than 10 minutes between settlements. In contrast, to get to York from Perth, there be Mundaring and Sawyers Valley on the outskirts of Perth, but after that for the next 45 minutes essentially no more settlements until you get to York.
The weather here has been very cold, what to expect being mid-winter. On a couple of mornings there has been massive frosts, well more than what we may occasionally get in Perth. Indeed the whole cars covered in up to perhaps 1/2 cm of ice in places, as well as all the grass and shrubs. Our lows has been as low as 5 degrees Celscius below freezing. Out highs varies from just 4 degrees Celscius up to about 10 degrees. Much colder than what I am used to in Perth. But surprisingly little rain. Indeed it has rained on only about three days thus far, a bit like in Perth, sunny days inbetween the rains. Like in Perth, the nights tends to be warmer when it rains or when cloudy.
I hired a car to get around, and as always, run into problems when it is time to fuel up on gasoline (petrol). The pumps has card facilities where in theory you just swipe the credit/debit card prior to filling up, and it is all charged to the card, so no need to go into the shop. Except if you use foreign cards. At some stations they require you to enter the ZIP code (post code) linked to the account on your card, which automatically excludes foreign cards. Even when the ZIP code is not required, the machines still doesn't seem to accept foreign cards. So I am forever having to go into the shop to pre-pay for the fuel, the pumps won't work without a card, you essentially have to pay first before filling up the car. So I go in and ask to have a certain amount billed to my card, so like at any store, I swipe my card on the machine in the shop and the amount is charged to my card. Then the pump is released and I am able to use it. However it always surprises me how very cheap gasoline (petrol) is in the USA. While it typically costs about $60 to fill up a vehicle equivalent to my rental hatchback in Perth, it costs only $20 to fill it up here!!!! So I often over-estimate and use less fuel than what I paid for before the tank is full. In theory the excess amount should be refunded back to my account but that rarely happens. The usual amount of over-estimation is about $5 as I try to get the feel of how cheap it is to fuel up the cars here in the USA!!!!
The full set of pixs are available below......
https://taygetasoul.imgur.com
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