Back to UK

The last couple of days in Sydney were just as good as the rest. On Sunday we went to The Rock which is by the Harbour Bridge. Generally every Friday there is a farmer's market there and over the weekend there is a general market. This Sunday there was the annual coffee festival. There were rows of stalls with lots of local produce - coffee, tea, honey, baking, fresh food etc. I found a stall of a company called Disaster Bay Chillies. They had all the usual sauces and spices for cooking but what caught my eye was they were the company who did the Hot Chillie Wine (I had seen this at Melbourne airport but had been unable to buy). This is a wine made from chillies - well more of a liquore with a sweet taste with a kick of the chillie as it goes down the throat. Had it chilled - mmmmmmmmmmm nice.

There were also stalls for local arts and crafts and jewellery which were interesting. The weather was nice warm and sunny and all of Sydney was out in full force enjoying the fun and sun. Spent a quiet evening after all the walking about in the morning. Did the same on Monday as we were flying at night.

Return trip was not too bad but 24 hours still seems a long tiring journey. Getting back into UK time has been hard and we are just about in this time zone. Have started sorting the photos out and doing the captions so that I can put them up here.

Blue Mountains are beautiful

Yesterday we had a trip to Blue Mountains! The day before we planned to get to Kusum's place by 8 am so that we could make an early start. However when we got to the station we found that weekend there was track work and so no trains from Kings Cross!!!! So instead of doing a long winded trip by bus in the morning we just took a taxi.

Drove down to Parramatta and then on to the motorway. The climb starts almost as soon as we were out of Parramatta. The day was glorious sunshine but with a nip in the air. First stop was at Wentworth Falls. Coffee and hot choclate were consumed and went lookng for the lake there. There were some strange scupltures about and lots of ducks, geese and morehens. If course we missed the truning to the waterfall itself... what we had actually turned into the town to see!!

Next stop was Leura cascades... wandered down to the side and saw a small fall and apprently one had to walk another 20 mins to see the rest... The we went to Echo Point... now there is one place that takes your breath away! there is a blue haze to the mountians and hence the name. Saw Three sisters and other peaks, the mountains rolling away as far as the eye can see. Wind was chill even without any snow.

Then we stopped at Katoomba and had lunch! Small tourist town with plenty of people today as its good weather and school holidays. As you can guess there were plenty of Indians about too. The town is more or less a couple of streets and saw the YHA where that backpacker had stayed!! Next we moved on to the Scenic Point. This place has been truely commercialised with rides on skywalk (big trolley with see through floor), cable car, railway (actually a roller coaster) and some broad walks. The massively expensive souviner shop and resturant. We did the skywalk and saw the Katoomba waterfall, three sisters a little bit up closer and also various peaks. There were cockatoos, parrots and lorrikets and other birds we just heard.

Left the Blue Mountains to return to Sydney at sunset which was beautiful with pink skies. Got dropped off at Beverley hills to get into the city and take bus back. Memorable trip in many ways.

Back in Sydney

Flew back Quantas which was slightly delayed but arrived in only 50 minutes.
then train back to Kings Cross which cost $14:60.
We went whale watching finally and saw 4 humpback whales and a dolphins wonderful 3 metre swell.
Mriga found the motion a little unsettling but for me no problem.
The harbour is much wider and bigger than i had imagined and going out to the sea showed what a Sunday is
like in Sydney, sailing on a wonderful sunny afternoon as Clive James has written.
The whales were generally balck in colour but would surface every 3-6 minutes and you could see the dorsal fin as they
drived down again, one whale had a yellowly white underbelly, we only saw a tail fin once as one of the second group of
whales drived down to eat krill.
the second pod also mugged us by going under our boat.

Watson Bay and the Gap park, we travelled to the end off the line on the 324 bus, the Gap is the the sea facing side of Sydney
Harbour, with huge river deposited sandstone cliff and huges crashing waves, we think we saw a fairy penguin in the surf.
We has fish and chips once again, but were not attacked by the nasty sea gulls who will try and steal the chips from your mouth.

Greetings from Melbourne

We had a nice 5 day drive down to Melbourne from Sydney... stopped over at Murramarang Beach, Merimbula, Metung, Philp Island and then Melbourne. Saw lots of wildlife on the way - kangaroos, possums, wombats, koalas, deer, dingoes, emus, dolphins and fairy penguines. Not a single seal at the supposedly biggest seal colony in Oz at the Nobbies... yes thats what the place is called and its on the Philip Island. the drive was wonderful and the roads are good with some fabulous scenery. Took lots of pics and they will be here soon.

In Melbourne there is lots to see. We are staying in the city centre and so took advantage of the free city centre tram and saw lots.... wandered into the Melbourne Central mall, Crown casino, Erueka Tower to see the city from high up. Queen Vic Market is the best... can not get over the size of the fruit and veg! Went down the Ocean Coast road till the Airyes Inlet and its lighthouse. Saw the Dali exhibition yesterday. Also saw how opals are cut, facinating gems with the colours.. Naturally moi liked only the most expensive ones - $8000 a carat...

Tomorrow we fly back to Sydney and do some more site seeing. The pace of life here is much slower and nicer than back home. The weather has not been too bad.. been hindered by rain only for a couple of days... as it has rained around us and at night most times. The temperatures have been a nice 17 - 20 degrees C and so have managed to catch some sun and natural vitamin D. Hurrayyyy !!!!!