Friday, November 16

Spent the day in Blaxland doing nothing.  Nothing except knitting!  It was a rainy day, a 'tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwich' kind of day.  Very unusual for November here... but par for the course at home.  Except for it being about 20 degrees!

Shaun got called out to three separate MVAs... he is on the fire department here.  One was a fatality, and had the traffic blocked up along the highway.  We walked out to pick up Ali and Brad from school, and there was a news helicopter circling the area.  The accident happened right in front of the pub where Drew and Shaun were going later in the evening.  The wreck was still there in front of the pub.

The rain pounded down later in the evening.  It caused such a roar that I couldn't believe it was rain.  It was torrential... like that rain we had in January 2007 when our house flooded!  The thing is, here it stops after a bit, and does not continue on for four or five months like it does at home.

Max in the rain

You can't tell in this photo, but it was just bucketing down!  The mist forms in the valley below and rises, which is very pretty!

In the evening, we watched 'The Blues Brothers'.  For Drew saying he doesn't have a good memory, he could pretty much recite the dialog of the whole movie.  Ali and Brad seemed to love it!  Leanne... not so much!  But it was a fun movie night.  And we discovered a new junk food... twisties!  Think Hawkins Cheesies with a bit of... vegemite.  Surprisingly good!

Thursday, November 15

After breakfast at the Travelodge, we spent our last morning at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Drew onboard the replica of the Endeavour.  The barrel would have held beer back in Cook's day.  Each sailor got a ration of one gallon of beer a day.  Mmmmm!

Decommissioned destroyer HMAS Vampire.

 

A very good replica of Endeavour.

 

 

Engines on an Oberon class submarine.

We had lunch at the museum's cafe in Darling Harbour. We did a brief afternoon walk through part of the Botanical Gardens, to the Opera House for a couple of picture, back along Circular Quay to the trains. 

 The grid in the middle of the bridge has just been set up as part of the NYE fireworks.

 

Government House, in the Botanical Gardens.

 The opera house looks like a hat on me!

The obligatory PHOON.  Pity about my finger!

Most people don't see this aspect.

The train back to Blaxland was an express, and when we changed at Central, we had to sprint to make it!  Last ones on, but it sure save alot of time!

We were exhausted after a whirlwind three days in Sydney, and were actually looking forward to doing nothing for a couple of days.

Wednesday, November 14

The Travelodge in Sydney was our home away from home for two days.  They weren't kidding when they said Twin/Double.  At least breakfast was included for $140 a night!

These ibis are everywhere.  Kind of like pigeons.  That's a big fancy Catholic cathedral in the background.

 

 

 Drew laying in a convict hammock at the Hyde Park Barracks.

The Australia Hotel... one of a number of pubs that say they're the oldest in Australia.  We had dinner here.

Public art in The Rocks.  This depicts what an average terrace house would have been like, size-wise.

Panoramic view from the Sydney Observatory, towards the north. 

 

Drew eating the 'coat of arms' pizza. That's what I called it, anyhow... kangaroo and emu meat!  Rich and good.

A big giant christmas tree had just been installed over three days.  I still find it funny to see christmas decorations with such a warm climate!

The christmas tree was made up of piping, metal dish scribbies, and LOTS of succulent plants.

Nighttime view of both icons and a large cruise ship.

Drew and I in front of the Opera House.

Tuesday, November 13

Shaun was arriving back at the airport at 0715 this morning, so we headed out at 6 ish to meet him and leave him the car, and we grabbed the train into the city. 

Big giant christmas tree outside the international arrivals are at SYD.  It still seems funny to me to see all the christmas decorations in a very warm climate.

Our first stop was to the YHA travel office to book all of our arrangements for Melbourne.  Then we sprinted up to the Town Hall to catch a free walking tour of Sydney.  A three hour walking tour!  We did pretty much all of the CBD, with the guide pointing out important buildings along the way, and giving alot of history of the city. 

Queen Elizabeth Building.  Very posh shops in here.  Through the two archways in the background is a tree that goes the whole three stories up!  It completely filled the space.

And quirky things, too.  We ducked through an archway in Martin Place to a back alley, where there was an art installation of bird cages, suspeded on wires between the two buildings. 

 On the ground were noted the names of various bird species that used to be in Sydney, but are either extinct or have been pushed to outlying areas. And a recording played with various bird calls. Things like this are interesting to me, and we would have never known it was here if it wasn't for a local, knowledgeable guide.

Our guide pointed out the Sydney Tower, a popular place to go for a drink in the revolving restaurant. BUT... at a minimum charge of $25 per person, it ends up being an expensive view! She gave us an alternative at Australia Place, another big building with a revolving restaurant on top with a minimum charge of only $8 per person! We intended to go later, but it's one of the things that we just couldn't fit in. In the Customs House, there is a scale model of the Sydney CBD, set under thick glass in the floor. Interesting to walk over top of Sydney! We went into the Rocks and looked at all the old alleyways and houses dating back to the very early 1800s... old by Australian standards! 

Drew with a familiar little pig outside the Sydney Hospital.

After our walking tour, we were both pretty nackered since we were up at 5, so we took in a harbour cruise so we could get off our feet. I had done two harbour cruises the last time I was in Sydney, so I knew it would be worthwhile for Drew. We did a 2 hour 'coffee' cruise to the tune of $78 for both of us, thanks to the YHA discount. The cruise went way, way out to the North and South heads, where Sydney Harbour opens up to the South Pacific. Cook missed this entrance on his way to Botany Bay... and he was the worlds best navigator for his time! We popped up into the bay south of Manly and had the 'coffee'... undoubtedly the worst coffee I have ever had in my life! Yuck. At least the views were spectacular! The narrator pointed out the expensive real estate in the Eastern Suburbs... one house listed for about $34M. Some of the houses were on cliffsides so steep that they had little trams on rails to get to the lower levels of the lot, or down to their boat houses. 

An interesting shaped house.

Fort Dennison, in the harbour.  HA-ba.

Check out the monorail between the two white houses.  This is common for the houses in this neighbourhood.  I can't even imagine what real estate prices would have been.

At one point on the cruise, I heard Drew snoring... yup, he fell asleep.
 

 Sunny view of the Harbour Bridge as we left for the cruise. 

(pronounced HA-ba if you're in Sydney!)

 Sunny view of the Opera House as we left on the cruise.

 

 

Not so sunny view of the two as we returned.  It was pretty windy, and even a bit cold.  Drew had a coat.  I did not.  And my face got windburned.

Once the cruise ended, we headed to the hotel to check in and crash.  Later that night we went out in search of dinner, and grabbed some Korean food in a plaza in the theatre district. 

Monday, November 12

Just relaxing today, updating the travel blog and doing some laundry.  It's nice here today... 22 right now, heading to a high of 31.  It's a bit breezy, so it probably won't feel that hot.  We are heading out somewhere for lunch, to a place that evidently makes excellent pies.  Leanne got called into work today, so Drew took Brad & Ali to school.  He's been oustide with Max the retriever, reading on the veranda, while I've been updating the travel blog now that we have consistent internet service! 

We headed up to Wentworth Falls to have lunch, and then took a quick walk to some viewpoints of the falls. 

Wentworth Falls.  If you look carefully into the limestone cliffs to the right, you will see a number of different bushwalking tracks at various levels.  These trails go throughout the Blue Mountains. 

 

Drew checking out the view.

 

Sunday, November 11

Remembrance Day.  ANZAC Day is the big remembrance holiday here, in April, which lines up with the Gallipoli landing in WWI.  Remembrance Day isn't so big, but every year attendance at ceremonies increases. 

After our obligatory McD brekkie, off we went to park the car in advance of the remembrance day festivities.  The car park (where we had got rock-star parking for two days!) was closed, but they seemed to be organized for large crowds, so we got directed to park in the Mt Ainsley Reserve... basically right behind the ANZAC hall.  Drew drove in, and realized almost immediately that we were sinking.  Right up to the axles in mud!  I had to get out and push, and got covered in mud. Then the parking attendant came to help, to no avail.  Luckily a nice young fellow named Brendan got his 4x4 and pulled us out.  No harm done!

 

We attended the Remembrance Day ceremony, with about 4,000 other folks. This was the national ceremony, and was attended by the Prime Minister, the Governor General, the Chief of the Australian Defence Force, the three heads of the military branches, the chief justice of the supreme court, and a whole host of others. (In the States, you would NEVER see this same mixture of leaders in one place at the same time).

Exotic fresh floral wreaths... except for the UK, which was made of their paper poppies.

 

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  The fresh wreaths around it are in remembrance of the most recent 9 additions to the Roll of Honour.  Note the sailor and the soldier standing sentry at the two corners.

After the ceremony, many folks went into the memorial again, as did we.  We finished off our visit with the World War I and World War II galleries, then headed off to Parliament House.

 

The Australian Parliament House is fairly new from 1988.  It's very modern, with a large amount of the building appearing to be underground with a grass roof.  There is a free public parkade under the building... could you imagine doing that in Washington, DC?  There is a huge amount of public space in the building with lots of informative displays.  They even have one of four copies of the Magna Carta.

 

Me with a copy of the Magna Carta.

 

 

The Great Hall.  The artwork at the end of the hall is a tapestry made from a painting by a famous Australian artist.

 

The mosaic plaza.

 

From the actual roof of the building, there are great views of the city.  It's pretty much exactly opposite of what we saw from Mt. Ainsley.

 

View over the mosaic plaza, to the old Government House, with Anzac Parade and Mt Ainsley further on.

From the roof, this is the massive flag... the brouchure said the flag was the size of a double decker bus.

The coat of arms

Parliament House from the mosaic plaza.

 

About 4pm, we left Canberra for the drive back to Blaxland.  I even managed to drive for about half of the trip!  We pulled into the driveway just as Leanne and the kids were coming back from grocery shopping... good timing!