Blue Mountains

We set off on our adventure into the wild! I’d booked 2 nights in a B&B in Leura, a very pretty village in the Blue Mountains. A gorgeous retreat away from it all and a good base to explore the sights. Two nights obviously isn’t long enough in the Blueys, but we crammed as much in as we could. We went to Wentworth Falls first which has impressive lookouts across the valleys and a great walk which takes you along the top of the waterfall before descending on a very narrow path that hugs the cliff side – not good for those suffering from vertigo. The next day was a biggey – the walk into the Grand Canyon. The trek takes around 3 ½ hours (the guide book says) and we did it in 3 ¾, which is good going to say mum and dad aren’t used to that kind of hiking and also allowing for all those photo breaks! It was a hot day too, making it even more tiring.
But it is an immensely rewarding trek! You gradually descend through the tall, ghostly gum trees and the surroundings becoming greener and more tropical until you get to the bottom. Then you’re clambering over the rocks and fallen trees dotted all over the river that runs through the bottom of the canyon.

Here is a picture of dad, the intrepid explorer with the camera that was never very far from his side - hence all the great photos! After we crawled out the other end gasping for air and water, we decided we should see some more of the Blueys.

We called at Hargraves Lookout, recommended by our B&B hosts Libby and Robert. It was a very prominent headland that jutted out into the landscape with great views of soft rolling hills on one side and the more rugged mountains on the other. Then just to finish us all off completely, we went to the Three Sisters. There is a lookout from the visitors centre across to the Three Sisters, which is pretty spectacular.

We walked down to the first ‘Sister’ which had very steep and scary steps descending to an overhang that you could take shelter under. It was great to get back for a well earned shower and aperitif!!

This is the B&B, 'White Gables', that we stayed in. The next day we had to say goodbye and leave lovely Leura to head for Jervis Bay – what a hard holiday! See next post!

Northern Beaches

On Saturday it was off to the Northern Beaches. This area is where we stayed on our very first trip to Australia so it always has a special kind of attraction, plus the beaches are less crowded and have less of a city feel and more of a ‘surfing dude’ type feel to them…..very relaxed way of life, filled with beautiful people.
After a quick visit to a recommended bait and tackle shop in Narrabeen (where Dean and dad armed themselves with frozen prawns and sand worms – for fishing!), our first stop was Avalon for a spot of lunch and a quick look around the town. After feeling some what refuelled, we headed out to Palm Beach with the full intention of doing bugger all and hopefully a spot of fishing to satisfy dad’s hunter tendencies!
Palm Beach was a bit too windy and with a lot of surfers and swimmers would prove to be a bit too problematic for fishing. We decided to drive back down the coast 5 minutes to Whale Beach, which is actually our favourite beach up north. This managed to put big ticks on everyone’s list, lovely beach, great for swimming, rocks to fish and not crowded at all…..perfect!

This was the first opportunity for dad to try his new fishing rod too, but didn’t have too much success – I think he needed a different rod or different bait or different line – I know there was some excuse!!?? The water had been tested though (literally!) and dad gained some useful knowledge chatting to the locals who seemed armed to the teeth with rods and tackle. They also appeared to be having some success catching Atlantic salmon.
We took these photos, intending to use them as Christmas cards this year. But because we were so busy enjoying ourselves, we didn't actually get round to printing them - sorry everyone. But here are the images anyway!

After a lovely relaxing afternoon, we headed back to Avalon for an end of day coffee. It turned out to be a fish and chips trip from a highly recommended ‘chippy’. Yum!!
As a side note…..we just want to add that mum and dad are a jinx when it comes to being served in restaurants!! On this occasion ordering coffee and cake was an hour experience which resulted in luke warm coffee 30 minutes later. To add to this, cake arrived at least 10 minutes after coffee was finished. The start of what was to be the Linda and Chris cafe curse!!
As an extra note, the curse has been lifted now that mum and dad are back in the UK!!

Relaxing first week

The next week was a lot of pottering for mum and dad while Dean worked his last week before his hols and I finished my job off for the Australian Registrar’s Committee. Mum and dad couldn’t help themselves though – as usual they found something to do in the house (well the garden actually). We didn’t think they’d find anything, as our gardens are minute compared to what we had in Bromley, but low and behold, they cleared all the dead leaves from the front and weeded in between the pebbles in the back courtyard! Thank you so much!
They also found time to visit a few of the closer beaches like Coogee, Bondi, Tamarama (or Taramara, as mum keeps calling it!)! They were just itching to get to a beach!

But they also went into the city one day, dragged there by me! They walked through Hyde Park and went to see the bats and all the exotic plants in the Botanic Gardens.

I took them to see the Christmas tree in the Queen Victoria Building and all the lovely shops there.

In the evening, after Dean got back from work, we went to our local bar, the Different Drummer where we sampled their modern tapas and wine – delicious!

Middle Harbour Cruise

We decided to go on one of the longer ferry journeys around the harbour – the Middle Harbour Cruise – which takes 3 hours! It’s a fantastic way to see the harbour and all the amazing houses on the water’s edge and a great introduction for visitors. You also forget about the sun due to the constant breeze blowing through the boat, so Dean and I ended up with red faces!!

Mum and Dad arrive in Sydney!!!

Well, excited or what!!?? Mum and Dad (or Linda and Chris to everyone else, apart from brother Jon!) arrived this morning!
We got up in plenty of time, safe in the thought that getting through customs takes an age. Then we checked the arrivals on the website and realised they’d landed ½ hour early!! So panic stations and off to the airport! Those early morning landings are manic at the airport – they all seem to come in at the same time. We had been waiting about 15 minutes when Dean decided to look outside, and what do you know – they were waiting there! It took away all that anticipation I had been building up for that initial tearful reunion that you see all families go through (and that I usually join in on, ‘cause I’m a sentimental old bugger). I feel cheated!! But then I soon forgot that, as excitement took over again. They were feeling obviously tired, but holding up well. We whisked them straight off to the Opera House for that usual baptism of the sights for new arrivals! Then back home for a quick freshen up before taking them to Glebe Market down the road. We hadn’t planned anything too hectic on their first day. A spot of lunch at our favourite café, lounging around, then to Darling Harbour for a drink in the evening. It wasn’t long before they needed their bed!

The next three and a bit weeks were jammed packed, but I’ll try not to go into too much detail otherwise you’ll be here reading for a year! I’ll just try to pick out the highlights from the main trips and sights. Most of the photos we've used here were taken by mum and dad, by the way!!

The Basin

We decided to head out to a place called The Basin today which is situated in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. We'd heard it was a great place to go and picnic, so we wanted to check it out for ourselves.

The first port of call was Cottage Point for a coffee!! We'd been here on holiday and it's a little cafe which is built right on the water's edge overlooking the water and moored boats. It's a great relaxing place to enjoy a coffee while watching the boats and the occassional seaplane taking people to the posh restaurant next door. The seaplanes bring people from Rose Bay in the city and fly along the coast to the restaurant. Very expensive, but maybe a special treat one day.

This photo is of the fish that were hanging around the bottom of the boats. The water was so clear and the sunlight was bouncing around the surface.

After feeling recharged we headed off for The Basin, driving the scenic route along the waters edge and over to the other side. After parking up, we unloaded the gear and all the picnic stuff and headed off along the track. It was a hot day (as usual) and we didn't realise what a long walk it would be!! Bloody tourists! I think it was a total of 3km, which seemed like miles while loaded up like a carthorse with drinks and goodies to eat.

The last of the track was a steep slope which made it's way to the Basin itself. We had a sneak preview between the trees of what was in store and we were so looking forward to a refreshing swim by this stage!

We made our way down and the path became steeper and steeper, knowing full well that we would have to walk back up! I was determined to eat everything and drink everything while down here to make sure things were lighter to carry.

As we entered the place it was definitely worth it. We also found out that you can catch a ferry from Palm Beach which brings you straight here and avoids the steep track! D'oh!! So the only people here are those that have arrived by ferry or have dared the track. It was very quiet and a peaceful place. On one side was the sea, while on the other side was a stretch of water which looked like a lagoon. This water was amazingly still and lovely and warm.

We camped by the tiny little beach on the lagoon end and relaxed away the afternoon and ate and drank. Lots of swimming to freshen up and make another great day exploring. We of course stayed as long as we could until we felt ready to tackle the steep climb out. It took us a lot longer on the way out but there was no rush and there were lots of wildlife on the way too.

All around The Basin live quite a few Wallabies and their babies. We saw some on the path coming down and later on as the sun went down, a few came out onto the grass to feed. You could get quite close for a photo, but they soon scarpered if you invaded their personal space. This one in the photo is carrying a young and you can see his little head just poking out. How they get in there, I'll never know, but it's spring time and lots of babies were being carried around.

Amazing Australian Wildlife!

On the way back from Middle Cove, I stopped and had to take this photo. Not sure what the sign is meant to be warning?
That there is wildlife around?
Caution- you may see some amazing wildlife?

Any way here it is....

suit yourselves!! :o)

Middle Cove

One thing that we will never tire of while being in Australia, is the absolute natural beauty which surrounds you whereever you go. Whether it be local beaches or out in the 'bush' you will always be confronted by amazing trees or spectacular viewpoints which take your breath away. This is topped off every now and again by wildlife popping it's head up to say hello! This trip proved to be no exception.

On the way to Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, we decided to stop off at a little place marked on the map called Middle Cove. It didn't look like a massive area of land and so we weren't sure what we were going to see. But it looked like it overlooked middle harbour, and we've yet to be disappointed with off the cuff decisions to try new places out.

Since having the car it's been great for getting out of the city and exploring all the parks and beaches which are actually not that far away.

The small park itself was nothing exceptional and it more or less was a loop in the road. In fact we drove in and out without realising on our first attempt. We decided to go back in and park up and have a look around.

There were a few walking tracks around and we decided to take one which looked back onto a peninsula called Castle Cove. This photo is from the walking track looking out onto the water and the cove. Typical bushland which is looking very lush and green. After a short 20 min walk or so, we came to a lookout which overlooks Middle Harbour. If you look on a map this is a pocket of water that seems crowded by lots of peninsulas which can be sailed to by going through Spit Bridge.

We can never get enough of trees while being out here, so here's a few more to keep you going too!

The first one is a scribbly bark gum tree, which is caused, I think, by some creature crawling around just under the bark. One of the many many variations of gum trees along the way.

On the way out of this little oasis of bush, in what seemd like a housing estate, we chanced upon this Kookaburra who was not phased with us pulling up as close as we could in the car and trying to take a photo. In fact he seemed like he wanted to pose for us.

There's something about these birds which makes it special every time we see one and of course their call which has become that very Australian sound when we go walking.

We took quite a few of him as he sat contentedly in the tree as we sat in the car trying to position the camera for the best shot. I think Lisa took this one, or so she will claim!! :o)

But then every where is very photogenic which makes it a bit more straight forward to get a good shot. Especially when the wildlife is so accommodating!

October Long Weekend

The first weekend in October was a bank holiday, or ‘long weekend’ as they’re called here – it was Labour Day in New South Wales. There was a milestone (deadline) at TeamBondi on the Friday and luckily Dean was a good boy and had completed all his work. Unfortunately, many other people had to work the weekend to get things finished.
Anyway, we were able to take full advantage of the weekend and we explored the north shores of Sydney in search of some top beaches!

On Saturday, we went to Tania Park which the Spit to Manly walk goes through. There are some nice views and it is a fantastic walk to take. We saw a Kookaburra, well he actually came straight over to us to say hello! Here he is!

We weren’t in walking mode this weekend so we carried on with our search. We went through Balgowlah to the North Harbour Reserve which looked like it had a great beach according to the map. It wasn’t! There wasn’t really any sand – it was more of a watery inlet. But it did have some nice rocks which we perched on to eat our lunch!








We actually walked further along the rocks for a while and discovered that there are more ‘designated’ walks to explore. Again, we stored this information for later, as walking was definitely not on the agenda this weekend!

We came back over Spit Bridge and called at Chowder Bay which had a really sweet beach and park. There were people fishing from the wharf (stored for when dad comes out), and it also had a place that sold coffee and nibbles – very high on Dean’s list of priorities!

Aware of the time, we set off again for Bradleys Head (just next to Taronga Zoo). This headland juts out into the harbour looking south and you can see the city in front of you with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge to the right. We stayed here and waited for the sun to go down. What a fantastic way to end the day! [the photo is under this post - I couldn't insert it here!]

This is Balmoral Beach

On Sunday we went to two gorgeous beaches – the best of the weekend in my opinion. These two were in Mosman (a very well-to-do area with some of the most stunning houses imaginable) and they overlook Middle Harbour. Chinaman’s Beach is just before you get to Spit Bridge. There were loads of boats moored off the beach with their occupants sunning themselves on the sand or playing in the surf with the kids. They were definitely not your Skeggy types!! It was so hot that we had to sit in the shade! After a lazy morning, we set off for Balmoral Beach – another gem (with another wharf for fishing)! This was like a posh Manly, but it didn’t have as many coffee houses. Many of the beaches around Sydney (these included) have green, park areas immediately in front of them with picnic tables and some have barbies too. It makes for a very relaxed and laid back environment!

We were sat on the wall drinking our flat whites, looking at the tide come in and we saw a pelican land on the wharf.

It was obviously waiting for any leftovers from the fishermen! We went round to see if we could get a good shot. The light was fading and because of it’s position, it ended up being a bit backlit – not the best photos in the world. I’m sure there’ll be plenty more opportunities!

On Monday we chose to go the northern beaches again – somewhere familiar! As usual, we stopped in Avalon for brekkie, but this time we actually spent some time on Avalon Beach. Dean went for a swim – mad if you ask me as the water definitely hasn’t warmed up yet! Then after a spot of lunch, we went up to Whale Beach. This is a much quieter place, but then it is about 4 times as long. Again, you get the most stunning houses overlooking the beaches here. We’re always blown away by the size of them and the fantastic views they must enjoy.
Well that was our weekend over – can’t wait to do it again!

Sunset at Bradleys Head

For some reason this image wouldn't upload into the post above, so here it is on it's own!!