Tuesday 29 October 2024

New South Wales

Our son picked us up from Sydney Airport and took us to his new home in Wollongong.  The family had only moved in properly the evening before.

Our first outing was on the Monday when the whole family went to a pretty town called Berry.

On the way back we went to Kiama to see the Blowhole.


The next day Roger and I took the train from Wollongong to Hurstville.  We had views of the coast and of the Royal National Park.

The centre of Hurstville has some Art Deco buildings.

Plus a small Museum and Gallery housed in a Tudor style house built in 1929.

In May I had applied to the Artist in Residence programme for a place in 2026.  I heard at the beginning of September that I was successful.  I will be the Artist in Residence from 7th September to 2nd October 2026.  The museum provides a self-contained apartment which provides accommodation and a studio.

The purpose of the residency:
The Georges River Artist in Residence program allows artists time and space to explore new ideas and create new works, to experiment with their art forms and to interact with the local community through public programs. This residency aims to provide opportunities for artists to develop their work, while also contributing to Georges River Council’s cultural programs.

I have offered to run two mixed media based workshops on Identity.

We walked down to Carss Park where the apartment is.  It's the top floor of this building:

And this is the view from the apartment

Next door (an 85 metre walk) is a fabulous cafe that is open for breakfast and lunch.  I will need a lot of self-control to not eat there twice a day!  We had lunch there.

We got the train back to Wollongong and after picking up the grandchildren from their various holiday clubs we went to Shellharbour where we ate Sushi in a park. Of course, I couldn't resist taking photos of this rusty sculpture.



Plus the views on the way home.



Lots of adventures to tell you about on Saturday.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice


Saturday 26 October 2024

Last two days in Queensland

Our penultimate day in Queensland started with another fig tree.  This time the Cathedral Fig Tree.



Next, we went on a boat trip on Lake Barrine.


We walked the Mobo Creek Crater Walk.



We drove to Tinarro and walked along the dam

Our final day was spent driving from Yungaburra to Clifton Beach via Kuranda where we went on another boat trip and saw another waterfall.



After checking into our last night's accommodation, we drove further north to Port Douglas where we saw the sun set and we eat a Thai meal.


We got up early the next morning to get to the airport to fly to Sydney.  More on New South Wales next time.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Tuesday 22 October 2024

So many waterfalls

On the second full day of our road trip in Queensland we first went to Paronella Park.  Do go to the website and find out about it.  It's a really interesting place.

We then drove to the Skywalk with some magnificent views.

After finding our accommodation for the night we drove to Ravenshoe and the Big Millstram Falls

 And Little Millstream Falls

The next day we went to the Millaa Millaa waterfall


Also the Zillie Falls and the Ellinjaa Falls.

We moved on to The Dinner Falls.  This photo shows one of the three waterfalls that made up the Dinner Falls.

As if all these weren't enough we then visited the less spectacular Malanda Falls

The highlight of the day was seeing the Fig Tree Curtain


We ended the day in Yungaburra where we checked in to a lovely motel for a 2 night stay.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Saturday 19 October 2024

Day 1 Down Under

Welcome back to armchair travelling.  We left Heathrow on Saturday morning and flew with Singapore Airlines via Singapore to Cairns, arriving late afternoon on Sunday.  We picked up the hire car, drove the hotel and then had a walk round and dinner.


The next  morning it looked like this.


Before leaving Cairns, we first went to a Mangrove Boardwalk.


Then on to the Botanic Garden.







We drove from Cairns to Innisfail, stopping off at The Boulders.



Innisfail was a disappointment.  There were lots of cars and some interesting buildings but hardly any people.


The most people we saw were in the Imperial Hotel pub and restaurant.  It was the only place that was open on a Monday night.  The next morning the only place to have breakfast was in the Italian restaurant next door.

We were glad to move on.  Come back on Tuesday to find out where we went next.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice