Koala&Kiwi

After a fab night at the ballet it was an early call, 05.55, to get ready to go to the airport for our 10.15 flight to Auckland. We were slightly delayed in departing and arrived at 3.20pm local time. The airport arrivals hall seemed quite busy and we required some form of transport to take us to the hotel which we had pre -booked for our first night. We took the advice of a lady at the information desk and took an airport super shuttle bus, these are far less expensive than a taxi. They collect prospective customers, put luggage in a trailer and shuttle folk around hotels. We had the mini bus to ourselves save for a couple of German ladies. Once at the hotel we showered and set out to walk to Auckland harbour area, this proved to be further than we had anticipated and so we turned around and decided to eat in the hotel's restaurant.  There was a distinct lack of any atmosphere with only us and a couple of others dining & the waiter who was stripping off dinner settings and se...

The next few days were more relaxing before we headed off to New Zealand the following week. Friday proved to be very hot until mid afternoon when it became a shade cooler. This particular Friday is known as Christmas Party Day, and a day to have fun with work parties and the like,  before the Christmas holidays. We ambled to the village and after a coffee at Bread Works went to the Greenwood Mall for a little shopping. Once back at the apartment I stayed in whilst Neil went for a walk. I sat on the balcony and watched the party boats in the Bay and listened as the noise got steadily louder as the revellers enjoyed themselves, especially the guys in sombreros and moustaches. Quite a sight. After enjoying an evening meal at Blues Point, (as all the eateries were booked up), we had a long chat to a maritime lawyer, very interesting telling us about Capt. Cook and that one of his relatives had worked on  the construction of one of the stanchions of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. ...

 On Wednesday we headed out to the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium.  Apart from the exhibits that you would expect to find there are a few surprises, one being the Dugong. It is a big herbivore mammal and quite a sight, looking rather like a dolphin, but closely related to the elephant. living in its own tank and feeding voraciously on lettuce. We had a ride on the penguin expedition boat ride, but were rather unsure whether this was a step too far. As is usual in this kind of place, there were parties of schoolchildren enjoying all manner of sea life. It is worthy to note that all the children we came across during our trip were polite and courteous. We have been told that school children do not get on a bus until all other passengers in the queue are on. They will immediately give up their seats without question.  We had a latish lunch and to our amazement along came a thunder storm, the first serious rain that we had seen so far. Thankfully it didn't last too long and we w...

During the entire time that we were staying in the apartment building works were in progress further along the Bay. Each morning at 7am we were woken to the sound of a pile driver driving into the rock to construct foundations for a new apartment block.  Early start and early finish to get ahead o the summer sun and heat. On the Monday we got our laundry done whist we breakfasted and then did a little "office" work.  We headed to Bread Works in the village, a fairly new sandwich and "lite bite" shop. In fact we became quite regulars here! We had a walk to North Sydney and on to Kiribilli  and Milson's Point and headed around Lavender Bay back to the apartment. A welcome relaxing day. The following day we had arranged to meet a friend's daughter to give her Christmas presents, which we had taken with us. We caught the ferry to Barangaroo and met her and her young son at The Chinese Gardens of Friendship. How lovely it was to see them after quite a few year...

Pie in the Sky, Cowan Nobby's Head Lighthouse   Air BnB, Mereweather, suburb of Newcastle This weekend we all went to the Hunter Valley, staying in an AirBnB at Mereweather, a suburb of Newcastle. We headed out of Sydney taking the Pacific Highway, and very soon it was leafy suburbs such as Pymble where Jacaranda trees were in flower. How refreshing to be in the countryside. We stopped at Pie in The Sky on route, a noteable landmark which is a frequent stop for day trippers and bikers. Everything here is about pies: meat, veg or fruit or both! Duly refreshed we were on our way again and arrived at Mereweather at 1.30pm. After lunching in town we headed off to find the AirBnB - a well appointed property, complete with hot tub and soon we were in there relaxing. The air temperature was 31deg. We ate out at The Mary Ellen Hotel which looked to be more of a club with a dining area. Bed at 11.50. Another great day. Newcastle We were up early on Saturday morning re...

When friends knew that we were planning a trip to Australia, we were asked if we could met up with people and maybe deliver a few Christmas presents to them - which we duly obliged - also an opportunity for us to acquaint ourselves with old friends again. Today was the day to meet up with a friend's son and a lady that used to work at a beauty salon here where we live. Feeling somewhat refreshed after the hectic few days, we were up and out early to meet Nikki for breakfast near to the salon where she now works. Then it was on to meet a friend's son, who works around the corner, managing a well known Sydney bar. Amazing that they work so close to one another in this wonderful city.    After the brief meetings we headed to the Museum of Australia, where we had lunch. The museum was established in 1827 and is at the forefront of scientific research, What an enormous site the museum is with 18 million exhibits.  We spoke to a couple of curators who were chipping away at...

This morning were were up early to catch the ferry and train to Sydney Airport for our trip to Uluru - a once in a lifetime experience for us. Australia is so vast that Uluru is one and a half hours behind Sydney time. We flew over the Blue Mountains and Broken Hill, a frontier mining town in the far West of NSW in the outback. Apart from these two focal points it was barren earth all the way until the wow factor of Uluru appeared. The journey seemed to reinforce just how vast Australia is. We arrived at Yulara airport at the same time as another aircraft. We were driven to the hotel by a coach, which goes around Yulara picking up and setting down passengers at various designated points. Our home was to be The Desert Gardens Hotel for two nights.  h ttps://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-8589-desert-gardens-a-member-of-novotel-hotels/index.shtml    After a light lunch we walked to the Town Square for a look at Yularu, the resort for Uluru. The square was shaded by s...

Snow Globe Sydney The Calyx, Royal Botanical Gardens, Sydney Botanical Gardens Pollination Exhibition Australian White Ibis Mrs.Macquarie's Chair Thursday was to be our day to visit the royal Botanical Gardens. A site of around 75 acres, so one that cannot be seen in one day. We walked around the side of The Opera House and caught the welcoming Tourist Train. The lady that took us around was an enthusiastic American lady with a high inflection in her voice. There were 4 or 5 stops to "hop on & off" on the way round. We visited the Pollination exhibition which was housed in The Calyx. A fascinating display with a wall of living plants and so much literature to read through.  our last stop was by a rear entrance and from here we walked to Mrs. Macquarie's Chair. This was hand carved from the natural sandstone rock by convicts for the wife of  Major General Macquarie, the Governor of New South Wales.  That evening went to The Blues Point H...

 The Welcome Wall stands in honour of all those who have migrated to live in Australia with registered names engraved in bronze. The wall is 100metres long and has space for 30,000 names. https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/landscape/settlement/display/98851-he-welcome-wall- https:www.us-lighthouses.com/cape-bowling-green-lighthouse On the first Tuesday we had a quietish day, walking to the local village of McMahon's Point and on to North Sydney. We visited the local shopping mall and did a little local shopping. In the afternoon, after unpacking, we ambled around Lavender Bay, Luna Park and met our daughter in law in North Sydney going to Billy Barry's for our evening meal.  The following day we headed to The National Maritime Museum, after overnight rain the day turned out to be, once again, sunny and warm. A replica of Capt. Cook's Endeavour is housed at the museum along with a submarine, HMAS Onslow and the Destroyer HMAS Vampire and a patrol boat. A great day ...

After an overnight flight of around 8 hours we landed in Sydney, hurrah how excited we were to be reunited with our son and his wife. The flight arrived early but was not allowed to taxi to the stand as the outgoing flight could not set off - the reason that the pilot gave was that "they had lost a passenger"! After showering at the apartment, we headed out by ferry to Darling Harbour.  This was all very exciting and new to us, a "pinch me" moment to see where they live and to see Sydney Opera House for the first time. The weather was sunny and warm as it was for the vast majority of our 8 weeks trip.   The apartment is well situated - opposite Luna Park - a heritage listed amusement park which opened in 1935. It is a rare surviving amusement park featuring fantasy architecture in the Art Deco style.  The trip, our first of many, across the harbour seemed magical. Hard to believe that we had left a cold grey England winter to be enjoying the Australian summer. ...