The atmosphere of Besain is amazingly tranquil, and we slept soundly. On checking my emails this morning, I saw that, after several weeks of toing-and-froing, CommBank had finally accepted my accountant's confirmation of my income sources (superannuation pension and dividends from our company) in my application for a Platinum credit card, which will give me automatic travel/health insurance while overseas (since Medibank Private does not cover us when we are overseas). Now all I need to do is upgrade the Platinum card to a Diamond card, which gives 12 months insurance coverage instead of 6 months (as required for a Carte de Sejour application).

But that administrative victory was to be the only one for the day! We learned the other day that as Europe strives to introduce a digital Covid Vaccine Certificate, which would be required for access to many establishments, the vaccine papers issued by our doctor would not be sufficient evidence for us to obtain the Digital European Certificate. We would be required to obtain a Vaccine Certificate issued by the Australian Immunisation Register. This can be done online by linking your Medicare Online Account to the myGov website. Rita managed to do this OK, and I was able to establish a myGov account. But when I tried to set up my Medicare Online Account via the myGov website by entering my Medicare card number and details, it said that "Insufficient details are held by the agencies you have selected for you to prove account ownership using this service. Please contact us to resolve this problem". No reasons were given for the problem, and when I tried to "contact them" it just gave a generic Medicare postal address, with no advice as to how to resolve the problem. In searching the web for others who experienced something similar, I found a common response was that many who got this message were those who had not recently made a claim against Medicare. This seemed to make sense because the instructions on establishing a Medicare Online Account stated that "We may ask questions about your last visit to your doctor such as the date of your visit, the location of the medical practice and the name of your doctor". Since I have not been to a doctor since 1977, apart from the two visits to get my Covid jabs, I apparently don't exist on their system. It looks like I am being penalised for being healthy! All other attempts to contact them or to register online have proved unsuccessful, so I guess I will go without the European Vaccine Certificate and just not go to bars or restaurants while I'm over here.

So having wasted half a day with Australian bureaucracy, we decided to just enjoy the rest of the afternoon, by going for a walk on a trail in a local forest area, named Sentier Karstique, just a few kilometres north of Besain. The term "Karstique" describes a type of porous limestone in the Jura, which is famous for its caves, waterfalls and sinkholes. As we began the walk, which was officially closed for the day, the first thing we noticed was the plethora of moss-covered trees and rocks.

But as we continued walking, we discovered a multitude of sinkholes, where the land had subsided anywhere from one metre to over 20 metres. In one of the largest sinkholes, we were allowed to walk down some steps into the sinkhole. But after descending about 10 metres, we decided it was too wet and slippery to safely continue, because a mis-step down there could make it very difficult to get back to the top again. The photos below show the view up and the view down from the steps.

We continued walking for over an hour, enjoying the mystical environment, but mourning the mature pine trees that had been felled because of an infestation of Bark Beetle. As we were about to leave, we spied what looked like the entrance to a cave, and on closer inspection we found a sign confirming our impression and telling the story of a hermit who lived in the cave for many years in primitive conditions. So our curiosity got the better of us and we explored a little, eventually finding a chimney hole near where the hermit undoubtedly set up his fire for the winter months.

                          The cave entrance                                              The chimney hole at the rear of the cave

After we left the forest, we drove a little southwards towards another favourite spot, but had to give way to some cows as they crossed the road to go for evening milking.

Just 10 minutes north, we pulled over at a lookout, with a great view over Les Planches des Arbois, with the Cascades des Tufs at the rounded head of the valley (the circ). Unfortunately, the adjacent cafe was closed (well, it was Monday!) denying us the opportunity of a cool drink. But the view was spectacular, and is not done justice by the panorama below.

We then headed home, where we knew we could get a cool drink. And while enjoying that drink, I checked the webcam at Auxonne to see whether conditions were as bad as rumoured. And yes, the River Saone was a trifle high and had swallowed the pathway and cut off Pontoons A and B from the mainland. Maybe we will have to wait a while to barge.

Later that evening I noticed something very strange in the garden at Sarah and Albon's house. I know this part of the world is upside-down, at least compared to Australia, but even the flowers seem to be confused. Most flowers I know (e.g. sunflowers) open during the day and close up at night. But the yellow flowers in Sarah's garden do the opposite. During the day they are mostly closed and somewhat shrivelled (below left) but at around 2100h they spring to life in brilliant yellow, and stay that way until mid-morning the following day (below right). Very strange indeed!