Bit of a delay

It looks like I shall not be coming home at the time I should.  Like everyone else who is trying to get back to UK, we are unlikely to be flying tomorrow.  So we are flying to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to wait to be called forward for the second part of our flight.

We have booked a nice hotel, sorted ourselves a guide book and intend to make the most of the delay. 
At least I might get a tan..............so are I have not got one from Oz!!

More later....................

Where have I been?

You may well ask!!

It has been a busy week or so with trips to the City - looking at the old part called the Rocks, a day out on the beach at Bundeena, a visit to the Sydney Opera House to see a show and finally, the best part of all, a day out in the Blue Mountains.

 

Bundeena is a lovely part of the coast which can be approached either via a relatively lengthy drive by car, or you can just hop onto a ferry and enjoy the trip across to the white sands.  Of course we opted for the ferry ride and enjoyed looking at the fabulous houses etc on the way.  Just who are these people who earn enough to buy such fantastic places???  We are talking hundreds and hundreds of appartments and houses all costing 1,0000GBP or more. 

Anyway, we had lunch over there - I had a very naughty but nice plate of nachos with guacamole, sour cream and lots of melted cheeses and then we walked along the white sands in front of gorgeous houses which look across the water to the main part of Sydney.  There are such beautiful birds and flowers here too.  I know everyone complains that they are noisy but I still think that the parakeets are stunning and love watching them. 

I know that a place like this would be high on the consideration sheet when my brother comes to retire.  It would be on mine too if I lived over this way!!!

This is the autumn here but the termperature is like a warm summer's day in UK.  We have had some rain but in the last few days the weather has been really lovely and I have even contemplated having a swim in the pool in the garden!

As I said at the beginning, we visited an area of the city of Sydney called the Rocks.  This area is the first part which was colonised and is full of history of the lives of the convicts and their families.  It was a tough place and I am very much impressed by the lives they lived and the way they carved a society out of nothing.

Here is a picture of me, just to prove I was there!  The weak pound that exists at present is really making life a little difficult.  Coffee and a cake (small, nothing to write home about!) cost $18 (approx 12 GBP) so I have had to be a bit careful with my spending.  Of course I have bought the odd thing or two but in general, I have had to be a lot more careful than I thought.  Now is the time for anyone wanting a holiday in Europe from Australia to go!  I stood for 20 minutes in a queue to change money the other day and 3 people changed about 7,000 GBP each so I can only assume they are all going to have a wonderful time in Europe!

Whilst at the Rocks, we visited a couple of Galleries and I came across a technique called Nuno.  It is a technique which bonds felted fibres onto Silks and Georgettes etc and then garments, shawls, hats etc are made from the resulting outcomes.  They were stunning and I shall be trying to find a workshop to learn how to make this fabric.

Finally, yesterday I drove my mum up to the Blue Mountains for the day.  It takes about 2 hours and is very accessible from the city.  What a stunning place!  I can see me wanting to return for a holiday in the area, possibly bed and breakfast and lots of walking.  I just loved it.

The bit which is hard to describe is the sheer vastness of the vista.  The dense bush just goes on for miles and miles: thick conifer-type trees (Australian varieties of course!) which are so close together that it is as easy as anything to be lost and never found again!!  And it does happen.

This is in an area close to a town called Leura.  It is a very very pretty place and also boasts the best stationery shop I have ever been into - bar none!  Unfortunately I could only look and admire.  My purse did not stretch to buying anything but nevertheless it was very impressive!

   This picture below is of a rock outcrop known as the 3 Sisters.  Very impressing and awe-inspiring.  The feeling you get is that it is just at hand and you could reach out and touch it.  But in reality it is a steep climb and not easily attained by the likes of me!  I hope it gives some perspective of the vastness of the landscape........................and there is nothing - I mean NOTHING other than bush as far as the eye can see.

Our landscape is beautiful but different.  We just don't have the scale of Australia.

I hope you have enjoyed these photos.  I don't want to bore you all rigid.  Nothing worse than other people's holidays if they go on and on about them!!!

Thanks for your comments.  It has made me feel at home reading them!

A week of lazing

And where nicer to laze than in Sydney?

On Monday we did a tour of the area near to where we are staying and had lunch in a lovely cafe but the weather was disappointing and wet and we did not venture out to the beach or to the local area.  Very reminiscent of England and not at all what I had expected but the weather improved as the week went on and soon we were hopping on and off buses and visiting local shopping centres like seasoned pros.

Yesterday we had a wonderful cruise in Sidney harbour and enjoyed views which I have become so familiar with through TV and so on and probably the Sidney Olympics in 2000.  The weather was glorious and the food on board was superb - smoked salmon, prawns salads etc etc - even oysters which I hate so avoided like the plague!

The harbour is beautiful and the weather was just glorious.  We sailed for about 2 1/2 hours around the wonderful islands and coastline, looking at world-famous landmarks like the ones on the left and also admiring some on the really contemporary and gorgeous developments on the water.

Sydney seems to be a fascinating mix of the old and the new which rather than vying with one another to reign supreme, sit comfortably next to each other and show themselves in their own best light.

There were some fantastic flats overlooking the harbour with their own moorings and my brother told me that Russell Crowe owns one of them.  When we found an enormous yatch named Oscar we rather wondered whether that might belong to the man himself.  Anyway, for interest only, I post a picture for you:

Not bad for a guy who wore a skirt in a film!

The one thing I found fascinating about Sydney is that they have enormous casinos and although I have not been to Las Vegas, I can only imagine that they are of a similar style to there.  Of course the Chinese were very much in evidence with their national love of gambling, but we walked through and I was pretty impressed with the whole set up!  Didn't bet a thing though!

Today we are off to have breakfast in the National Park.  It should be lovely if the weather hold.  Great to have a relaxing weekend with everyone at home!

Absolute Heaven!

We have just returned from our weekend away in a lovely cabin in an area called Turon Gates.  It is about 3 hours drive from Sydney and we have had the most wonderful weather.  Located right at the top of a hilltop, overlooking wide-open spaces, I don't think anything could have been more lovely and peaceful and a week there would have been idyllic but sadly others have to work so we were only able to manage 3 wonderful days.  As you can see the place was huge and surrounded by a wonderful verandah which enabled us to just sit and chill and enjoy the views.

I could not believe it on the first night when I spent about an hour watching 6 kangaroos in the grass in front of us about 300-400 metres.  I missed them when they appeared early in the morning at the back of the house but as we drove away this morning, 3 of them (a mother and 2 joeys) bounced away to our left at fairly close proximity.  If you look carefully at this photo you will see 6 kangaroos there!

There are wonderful birds out here too - lorakeets and rosellas as well as other birds whose names I don't yet know.  Their early morning song was quiet deafening. 

On Saturday we drove down through the Turon Gates area along tracks and roads which needed 4-wheel drive (fortunately my brother has a 4-wheel drive vehicle) and we lurched our way down through stunning scenery,  along river beds and eventually out onto a road which led to the wine area.  Seemd like to good an opportunity to miss so we did a little wine-tasting and stopped in a village called Sofala.  It is a very quaint old Gold Rush town which looks much as it did in the 19th century.  We stopped and bought home-made jam from one inhabitant and drank lemonade at the post office.

As you can see it is delightful and very little moves at a fast pace or changes I suspect.

We have come home now, sadly but this week promises a little shopping and exploring of Sidney itself.  We also have a cruise booked around Sydney harbour on Friday which should be lovely.  More information to come!

G'day Cobber!

Cheesy but all I could manage, given the effects of jet lag!  Actually to be truthful, if has not been too bad.  I managed to stay upright until 9 pm on the day we arrived and then woke up at 5.30 am the following morning.  Those of you who know my waking habits will realise that it is not too awful as I am usually up by about 5.45!  Yesterday I still managed a full day and again was awake about 5.30 so it has been a breeze!

So here I am in Australia.  So far I have visited a small part of the outskirts of the City of Sydney.  My brother lives in Sutherland Shire which is a very attractive part of the world.  All manicured lawns and well cared for properties of different shapes and sizes.  Their own home is beautiful and with the added attraction of a pool to plunge into at moments of high heat!  The temperature is around 27 degrees so a real change from the weather in UK.

Yesterday we did a quick trip around some of the local areas.  We visited Botanty Bay (site of the first landing by Captain Cook) and Cronulla - lovely beach are where we had coffee and sat looking at the surfers bobbing like seals in the water - you can understand the mistake that sharks make occasionally!!

The Australians are just as I imagined - friendly, relaxed and generally nice people.  They have a fabulous way of life and are happy to share it with anyone who is visiting. 

We went for lunch to a lovely art gallery and sat outside in the gardens eating some of the most delicious smoked salmon I have ever tasted.  All very non-fattening and totally gorgeous.  Sadly the gallery was closed as they were mounting a new exhibition but we shall return to see it when it is done.

Every evening we have seen two beautiful kookaburras who live in the trees behind my brother's house.  The are gorgeous birds and seemingly mate for life.  They sit on the fence and show off to us and we, in return, admire then and think how lucky we are to be able to see such lovely creatures so close up.  

  

Isn't he just gorgeous?  Or maybe he is a she????

This weekend we are going to Turon Gates which is an area in the Blue Mountains and which could be described as "bush".  It is about 2.5 hours drive from Sydney and we shall be staying in a cabin there so we are packing food and dog beds and loo rolls etc so we can have a weekend of walking and chilling.  I think an evening camp-fire will be essential and it could be a fabulous weekend.  I am so looking forward to it.

Just one fina note before I leave you.................I have managed to book myself into a quilt workshop with Lisa Walton in her own studio at the end of my time here.  She is a world-renowned quilter and I think I am so lucky to have found a workshop going on while I am here.  I am hoping that she will forgive me "stealing" her photo of her workshop to publish here, especially as I am putting a link to her lovely shop which sells all hand-dyed fabrics. http://www.dyedheaven.com

 

 This is what we are working towards.  I am fascinated by the idea of layering fabrics to create different effects and this workshop should set me off exploring that avenue.

See you all in a couple of days.