Saturday 29 October 2022

Triple Airbnb

Another day. Another Airbnb!

It was a holiday of airbnbs.  We stayed in 3 altogether.

Previously when we've gone to Australia we have visited another city or part of the country rather than go straight to Sydney.  However this time because different states had different Covid rules we just went straight to Sydney.  I booked us a great studio walking distance from Andy & Naomi's so that we had somewhere to recover from the flights without interfering with Hopper Junior life.

Andy had booked a long weekend at a cottage on a farm where we got to meet the animals - goats, sheep, lambs, chickens and a horse.

From this base we had several trips out.  We went to a place called Sofala where we spent some time in a secondhand bookshop.  The village was a rust lover's heaven!!




Sofala had been prosperous during the 1850s because gold had been found there.  Andy took the children panning for gold.  I think he probably enjoyed it more than they did!

We also visited Hill End another gold mining town.  Only a few of the buildings remain.



We also visited History Hill Museum and Mine.

The next day we went to an amazing fossil museum in Bathurst.

The next day's outing included a 4.3km walk on Peel Common.

On the way home on our last day we went for a walk at Walls Lookout.  You really needed your mountain goat certificate for parts of it, despite what the website says, so I didn't do all of it.  However the scenery was magnificent.

After going back to Ramsgate Beach for a couple of days we went off to Joadja where Andy had booked River Cottage - airbnb number 3.  I'll tell you about that in another post.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Tuesday 25 October 2022

Flying at last

The last time we were on a plane was March 23rd 2020 when we arrived into London Heathrow from Sydney, via Singapore.  We arrived into lockdown without knowing it had been announced.

Sydney in the distance from Ramsgate Beach where we were staying.

When we booked our flights to Sydney for last month, Singapore Airlines were insisting on face coverings on every plane.  Two of our flights were 13 hours and two were 8 hours plus the airport in Singapore.  However at the beginning of September this requirement was removed apart from the flight from Singapore to Sydney.  A week before we were due to fly, Australia removed the requirement and a couple of days before we arrived , NSW removed the requirement on public transport.  I was so relieved.  This sounded more like 'living with Covid'!

On our first day we took a leisurely stroll along the promenade to meet Andy & Naomi at a local sailing club for lunch.

Our second day involved taking public transport including the ferry to Manly.  Roger & I love going on the ferries.  You get to see so much of Sydney without paying the price of a tour boat.

We have visited Manly so many times that I didn't take many photos.  We walked along another promenade to Shelley Beach.  There were some interesting sculptures along the way.



The sky was rather grey over Sydney as we came back on the ferry.

The next day was much brighter with blue skies.  We went into Sydney again and wandered through the Botanic Gardens down to the harbour.  I spotted this Kookaburra on the way.


We have visited so many times that I have numerous photos of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.  But another one never hurts!

We weren't the only people.  It was the school holidays for the two weeks we were there!

Our treat for this day was to go with our eldest grandchild to his swimming lesson.  He's really rather good - although I am probably biased.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice


Saturday 22 October 2022

The Last Word

Here are my last sentences for the 21 word challenge


Discordant
I like the harmonious sounds of ballads and lullabies rather than the discordant sounds of heavy metal.

Dislocated
Many people have been dislocated by the war in Ukraine. 

Bewildered
I am totally bewildered by the current woke movement where only their opinion has any value

I hope you have enjoyed thinking about these 21 words even if you haven't joined in.

I will be back with posts about creative work and my trip to Australia.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice


Tuesday 18 October 2022

The end of the challenge

Our last 3 words for the 21 word challenge.


19. Discordant 

20. Dislocated

21. Bewildered

And of course my sentences from last week

Redolent
The smell of ironing damp clothes, which I don’t do very often, is redolent of my mother ironing when I was a child.

Serendipitous
Much of my artwork contains serendipitous moments when different media, that you wouldn’t usually associate with one another, work well together.

Sublime
There are so many sublime pieces of orchestral music. I think my favourite is Mozart’s overture for The Magic Flute.

Thank you for joining me today.
Bernice

 

Saturday 15 October 2022

I'm back!

Normal service is resumed.  The 21 word challenge is almost over and I'm back from my travels.

I've been to Australia and I will be sharing photos of our visit over the next few posts but not necessarily in the order they were taken.  I know many of you enjoy seeing the places I've visited.

We were visiting our son, daughter-in-law and 3 grandchildren.  One of the things that Andy arranged for us was a visit to the New South Wales Rail Museum.  I love steam railways and we got to ride on a steam train!











This was a great thing to do on a very rainy day.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Tuesday 11 October 2022

The penultimate week

How are you getting on?  I hope you are joining in.  If so please put your sentences in the comments below.

Last week's words

Halcyon
As we get older we remember the halcyon days of our carefree childhood, especially summer holidays, when it never rained, and the sun always shone.

Lissom
As I’ve got older I have become less lissom although I do wonder if I was ever agile and supple!

Resplendent
In all the formal processions for the Queen’s funeral the military all looked resplendent in their uniforms.

And words for this week

16. Redolent

17. Serendipitous

18. Sublime

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Tuesday 4 October 2022

Still more words

We're over half way through our challenge.  Yeah!

Let's start with last week's sentences

Luxuriant
Television adverts for shampoo and for colourants always offer the promise of luxuriant hair.

Compelling
I found the television coverage of the Queen’s death and funeral quite compelling. Britain does ceremony so well

Evocative
The smell of lavender is so evocative, bringing back memories of picking lavender stems and weaving ribbon to make them into lavender wands.

And now on to this week's words:

13. Halcyon

14. Lissom

15. Resplendent 

Thank you for joining me today.  If you are taking part in the word challenge, do leave your sentences in the comments.

Bernice

Saturday 1 October 2022

Along the canal

After the PoliNations garden and the not-so-raging bull we strolled along the canal to the Roundhouse, where there was a lovely cafe. Hot choclate all round!

I had thought the Roundhouse was for stabling horses that worked on the canal.  It turns out that it was where Birmingham Corporation stabled their working horses in the early 20th century.




After we had watched lots of archive film of Birmingham we strolled along the canal back towards Snow Hill Station.

Who knew that a landlocked city had need a Harbour Master?


We wandered off the canal to a fabulous Italian restaurant on Ludgate Hill for lunch.  Then walked through St Paul's Square to the station arriving with 3 minutes to spare for a train home.

 

It was lovely to be out and about again.  Looking forward to sharing more adventures with you soon.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice