Bondi Beach

A bus journey out through the city & the pleasant  suburb of Paddington to the iconic Bondi Beach.   I guess not the most beautiful beach we have seen in Australia but certainly full of the most beautiful people! We were the oldest people by far on the beach & we felt we should have worn overalls to cover the surplus flesh!!! ( All the cakes have suddenly reformed around my middle!!) We have never seen so many gorgeous figures & six packs in one place.

Check out the pecs!

The very cool life guards in their beach buggy, patrolling up & down to make sure that people were swimming between the flags & not in the surfers area. I say swimming, but actually it is impossible to swim as the surf is so powerful.

Bondi's surf champs of the future.













We took our last evening walk to Darling Harbour. We just had to have our last taste of the wonderful lemon meringue ice cream from our favourite place called   -18 degrees.

Well, all good things must come to an end & regrettably  our amazing journey is drawing to a close.
We leave this most beautiful & friendly country to travel on to Bali for a week's chill out before we return to the our former life in England.








THANK YOU to everyone along the way who has made this such a memorable trip, but especially to Joy & Barrie.

Thanks also to everyone for following our travels & if we have internet access in Bali we will continue to blog. x x

Manly & Chinese New Year

Over to Manly today, across the bay on the ferry.  Down the main streeet called the Corso, lined with cafes shops & bars. A street art & craft market to browse round before heading to the surf beach to watch the professionals in action & have a lazy day on the beach.

Strict rules apply about swimming between the flags where the lifeguards patrol, as the rip either side will pull you out to sea. Frequent announcements requesting inexperienced  swimmers to stay on the sandbank & not attempt to go in deeper than waist high. Surfers who continually stray into the swimming area are fined $110!






Back for a quick change & out again for the Chinese New Year twighlight parade, celebrating the Year of the Dragon.
The main roads closed off to traffic with crowds lining the pavements.

Lots of marching bands, floats, dragons & costumes.

The front of many buildings  projected with an assortment of changing designs.

The evening culminated in.......you've guessed........more fireworks!  This time to Chinese music with speakers all around Darling Harbour & the display set off from pontoons on the water as before.   Tremendous!

Sydney obviously has a large firework budget!

Taronga Zoo

Taronga Zoo is on a beautiful site overlooking Sydney Harbour, a 15 minute ferry ride away. An interesting day out, the animals are mostly part of conservation breeding programmes. The habitat areas are large & the talks & shows infomative. We loved the gorillas in particular.

After a ride on the City monorail, not as excitng as we'd anticipated as the views were limited to the middle of buildings & partly screened windows on the monorail itself, our evening walk took us back to Darling Harbour & Cockle Bay. The place was buzzing, bars & restaurants busy.  Lots of street entertainment - we were amused by "Beat the Street"  a great combo of comedy, street & break dancing. Then to our surprise MORE fireworks!

We love you Sydney !

Thank you to two very kind Sydney residents who have restored our faith in the city! We must have picked the wrong people to ask for directions / help previously because today two unprompted acts of kindness have warmed our hearts. Firstly a lovely lady offered to help us if we needed directions, when we were looking at our street map - we had a great chat about the city & were thankful for her kindness even though we knew where we were going (this time). Secondly, as we passed one of the Sydney Festival booths, a young man gave us two tickets to the open air cinema on the harbourside by the Botanical Gardens, for tonight's showing of Crazy Stupid Love. He explained that he had bought the tickets ( $33each) & now couldn't go - no catch - didn't want anything for them! We went & it was great - a good rom/com, beautiful evening, lights of the city as a backdrop & fruit bats for company!   WOW!                   (The screen lifts up for viewing the film. )

 Our  day was spent firstly in the Botanical Gardens, verdant lawns, mature trees of every description, exotic flower borders & wonderful views of the harbour.

It is home to a vast colony of fruit bats -  grey flying foxes (22,000). They are causing so much damage to the trees that they are seeking permission to relocate them. (Rather them than me !) They are huge!

  Next a short tour of The Governor's House in the grounds of the Gardens. Very interesting history of the house built on the site of the first home  of Admiral Arthur Philip, the first Govenor of New South Wales, who had been sent in charge of the first convict fleet of 11 ships to colonise Sydney. He landed on 26 January 1788 with the marines and convicts at Sydney Cove, which Phillip named after Lord Sydney, England's Home Secretary at that time. It is this event that is celebrated on Australia Day & last night we saw the present Govornor of New South Wales, a highly regarded lady called Prof Marie Bashir, open the Australia Day evening entertainment.

Walking round the harbourside to the Rocks. In the earliest history of the settlement, the area had a reputation as a slum, often frequented by visiting sailors and prostitutes. Now a trendy area of bars, shops  & cafes, but some old buildings are still preserved.

CIRCULAR QUAY

After a rather delicious cake shop visit (got to keep up the tradition), on to Harbour Bridge for a walk along its length & some stunning views.
























Up to Observatory Hill to overlook the other side of the harbour, back towards Darling Harbour. Then as we headed back towards the Botanical Gardens to have our picnic tea & to watch the bats at dusk, our benefactor with the cinema tickets.......talk about being in the right place at the right time!

Australia Day

Everyone  dressed for the occasion

Flotilla of boats accompany the "Ferrython" race to the Harbour Bridge

            Plenty of street entertainment

Several fly bys throughout the aftrenoon & parachute drops.

                                  Tall ships race

 

Rounded off the day back at Darling Harbour where there was  2 hours of entertainment on Cockle Bay, culminating with a lazer, music & firework display.

AMAZING!

Sydney

A very wet but warm day in Sydney. A walk down to Paddy's Market where you can buy anything from a boomerang to a banana. A vast indoor market, close to Sydney's Chinatown & just a few minutes from where we're staying.











On past the Chinese Gardens, beautiful & serene in the centre of the busy city.

Along Cockle Bay Wharf at Darling Harbour to get the ferry to Circular Quay. Past all the bars & restaurants - a lovely area. Along here are the Aquarium & Wildlife Centre & across the Pyrmont Bridge is the National Maritime Museum.

  Ferries are to Sydney what gondolas are to Venice, they are part of everyday life & thousands of people commute to work on  them daily.

SYDNEY - A  CITY OF CONTRASTS!

 Out on the ferry to Circular Quay & our first sight of the two Sydney icons - the Harbour Bridge & the Opera House.





The Sydney Opera House tour proved to be fascinating. An inspirational piece of architecture designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon that was deemed to be a $7million, 3 year project in 1957. By 1966 construction was still proceeding slowly & the design was fraught with difficulties, Utzon was forced to resigned. The building was opened by the Queen in 1973, 15 years after the project was started & at a cost of $102 million. Utzon never returned to see his completed masterpiece, before his death 4 years ago, but he & his son were invoved in designing future upgrades to the Opera House. The building contains a Concert Hall & 5 theatres & has wonderful views over the harbour.

An evening walk to the Queen Victoria Building, built in 1898 & now completely renovated & housing designer shops & cafes. A lovely building  inside & out. On to Hyde Park, where the fruit bats were flying around the trees at dusk - huge - easily the size of a large crow! Sydney Festival has events on around the city over a 3 week period in January & we spent a pleasant hour having a drink & listening to a singer called Ngaiire, who has a unique jazz style voice.

Sydney here we come!

Another grey & misty morning in the mountains & goodbye to the 5 star smiles of Mark & Darren who run the 3 Sisters Motel with such cheer. (Shame the place is a little shabby around the edges & the walls between rooms are paper thin !!)
A last attempt to see the Grand Canyon & Govetts Leap before our drive to Sydney, but so misty we gave up....oh well, we'll be back!


Onward to Sydney, a straight forward route on motorway / highway, detouring via Parramatta to post all our maps & leaflets back home. Then to the airport to return the car - we've grown quite attached to      555 RBJ, but surplus to requirements in Sydney.

Get a taxi or use the train?  Let's give the train a go!  Purchased our week passes, but they don't cover the trip to the City from the airport. OK, never mind, purchase extra ticket & on our way on a double decker train - well, that's different!  All seemed fine until a youngish guy started talking on his mobile phone to his kids & started getting irate & verbally abusive to them! Guess who was standing next to him & who he started moaning to.... I always get the nutter on the train!

Having a small map of the city, but not sure of the distance to walk from Central Station, attempt to track down the "Light Railway" which turns out to be a tram! Tram driver very helpful & suggests we walk across the park to the street we are in search of, no need to get the tram.....no worries (as they say here), but now it's  pouring with rain! Get a cab, he says, it will only cost you a couple of bucks......$8 dollars & a hopeless & rude taxi driver later, we arrive at our apartment block, cases dumped unceremoniously on the pavement!!
WELCOME TO SYDNEY! Let's hope first impressions DON'T count!





Thankfully our apartment is terrific except for having to pay extra for internet access - everywhere else we have stayed it has been free! To quote Tyson on reception "You're in Sydney now, expect to pay extra for everything!"

Well, we didn't have to pay extra for a wonderful stroll round Darling Harbour, right on our doorstep. A lovely cosmopolitan feel to the city, loads of bars & restaurants & well cared for open spaces. A heavy downpour & tired feet sent us back to the apartment to chill out in our posh pad.......hope we just got off on the wrong foot today & will find that Sydney is a great place to be.

Katoomba Falls

Better visibility today although still overcast & cool. A walk down through the rainforest following the Katoomba Falls into the Jamison Valley, starting at Katoomba cascade.

Into the cool temperate rainforest - Coachwood & Sassafras trees, Cyatha & Dicksonia tree ferns, Fishbone water ferns & King fern. Damp, cool & spctacularly green, mosses & lichens flourishing in the rock crevices.

Witches Leap    (leap  - a scottish dialect word for waterfall )

Lookout points along the route giving panoramic views across the Jamison Valley, back to the 3 Sisters & across  the falls.            

 The Blue Mountains are part of a dissected sandstone plateau composed of many layers deposited by rivers, tidal lakes & lagoons 250 million years ago. There are unusual clay layers formed where fine silts were deposited by tidal lagoons.

The Caley Formatio

The clay erodes more readily than the sandstone, forming caves & overhangs. The vertical cliffs are formed by block falls & landslides occurring because of the many horizontal & vertical fault lines in the sandstone. As the claysone bands  are sapped away, the fault lines weaken & drop their enormous weight into the valley below. The 3 Sisters are remnants of this activity & wind & water erosion over thousands of years will cause them to crumble & fall too.

Vera's Grotto

Vera's Grotto, where water from Witches Leap joins Katoomba Falls Creek & after its descent down these glorious 800ft falls, becomes the Kedumba River.

The Katoomba Falls 

Descending further via the steep stone & steel  Furber Steps
constructed in 1908. Reaching the valley where, from the late 19th century until 1932,  40 coal mines operated. Horse drawn tramways transporting the coal, oil & oil shale (from which kerosine is produced) to the inclined railway. Conditions for the miners were dreadfully poor & boys were sent to work from an early age.

The area has been turned into a tourist attraction with cable cars & funicular railway taking people across & up & down the valley. A ride back up on the Scenic Railway, the steepest incline railway in the world wiith a 52 degree incline & a 250 m vertical drop.