Out and About

On the Sunday of our long weekend away, the younger Hoppers went to The Hole in the Wall beach whilst Roger and I went round the Booderee Botanic Gardens.  It was a very hot day and the Botanic Gardens were much cooler, thankfully.

We all went to Cave Beach.

On Monday it rained!!!  We all mooched about doing whatever it was we were doing!

We packed up the house on Tuesday morning and Andy drove us into Huskisson where we visited the Maritime Museum.  The kids had a treasure hunt to do and I took photos of a decaying boat.  As you do!

After lunch we went whale waatching.  Fortuanetely the whales put on a show for us.  I didn't bother to try to get photos of them.

On the way home we stopped off at a bike park.

The last 3 days of the holiday were really hot.  We made one last visit to the Wollongong Botanic Garden on the Wednesday.  There was a beautiful Arts & Crafts style building at the top of the garden.

We went to watch the eldest grandchild play in a soccer match on Wednesday and I went to see our granddaughter's gymnastic session on Thursday.  Apart from that we spent the last three days resting and reading and generally sharing life together.

On Saturday we got the train to the airport and our flight home.

Armchair travelling is over for another year.  I hope you enjoyed the journey.  I took over 450 photographs during the 3 weeks - I've only shared a very few over the last few posts.

Back to textiles next time 

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice 

The reason we came

I loved the road trip but the real reason for travelling all the way to Australia is to spend time with the family.  Although we get sent messages, videos and have FaceTime calls it's always good to be in the same place together.  

We had a quiet day on Monday.  On Tuesday Roger and I took ourselves to the Wollongong Art Gallery. There was an exhibition of Aboriginal Bark Paintings.

 
We walked along the beach to a seafood restaurant we had eaten in last year.

On Wednesday the whole family went to the Illawarra Fly Treetop Walk.  We didn't do the zipline!  We climbed to the top of the tower - 105 steps each way.
 

The view from the top over Lake Illawarra

 

 

We went for a walk along part of the shore of Lake Illawarra and the kids rode their bikes.

 

 

On Thursday Andy took us to the Mount Keira Lookout which overlooks Wollongong.

The three of us went to have lunch at a Filipino restaurant at Towradgi Beach.

 

On Friday, Andy drove all of us south towards Jervis Bay.  We stoppped off to walk the Grotto Walk, North Nowra and to have a picnic lunch.

 

After lunch we continued south to Sanctuary Point and the holiday accommodation we had booked for a long weekend.  It was on the shore of St. George's Basin.  There was a path along the shoreline that the children could take their bikes along.

 

We spent the next day mostly lazing about.  I read two books and Roger went for two walks.  It's not often we just do nothing.

 

The clocks changed that night so we 'lost' an hour's sleep.

 

See you next time for the next part of our holiday.

 

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Driving South

We continued our drive south via Urunga, Nambucca Heads, Scotts Head and Stuarts Point to South West Rocks.

At South West Rocks we asked at the tourist information if there was anything interesting to see but we told there wasn't apart from the beaches.  Fortunately we found otherwise and visited Trial Bay Gaol.

 

 

 

It had a really interesting small museum.

Continuing our journey we visited Smoky Cape Lighthouse, Cresent Head and arrived in Port MacQuarie.

The next day we walked along the Promenade in Port Macquarie and visited the museum in the town.

Driving further south we saw yet another lighthouse.

And then drove along the Lakes Way Road to Bulandelah. 

Saturday was our last day of wandering around.  We went to Fingal Bay and then drove into the centre of Newcastle.

On Sunday morning we visited yet another museum. Then drove out to Newcastle Beach along with what seemed to be the rest of the world.  As we sat in a traffic jam I spotted this guy on a lamp post.

We drove to Hornsby for a late lunch and then along various motorways around Sydney to our destination near Wollongong, to stay with our son and his family.

Thank you for joining me today
Bernice

Armchair Travelling for You

We've been on our travels again.  I hope you will enjoy our escape to the land down under.

We started by flying from Heathrow to Brisbane where we spent our first night at a hotel at the airport.  We picked up the hire car the next morning (Monday) and we were off on our road trip.  Six days travelling from Brisbane to Cordeaux Heights - a journey that takes just under 11 hours if you drive the direct route.

Which obviously we didn't!

We drove inland to avoid Gold Coast and drove along the Scenic Rim Way.  We stopped off at Natural Bridge on the way.  We had booked to stay in Brunswick Heads and the Motor Inn was a short walk across the river to the beach.

 The next morning it looked like this

Tuesday
Brunswick Heads to Grafton via Byron Bay and Ballina

On Wednesday morning we drove around Grafton to find its historic buildings.

We drove to Coffs Harbour and walked through a cemetery to the Botanical Garden.

 

 

We drove on to Bellinger where we stayed in a 'tiny house' - a deluxe one.  I dread to think how small the standard version was.

It's not really designed for those who need to go to the loo in the middle of the night - especially with a television sticking out of the wall.  Plus the light switch was somewhere near the kitchen.

 

Never mind - next time I should read the description of the accommodation properly.

 

I think that's enough for now.  We're almost half way through the road trip.  More next time! 

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Hooray

Sara-Jane Arbury is back with the zoom poetry workshops.

Theme poetry was about driving and her presentation was about the history of driving.  However as ever, when it came to writing a poem I took a different approach to the the topic.

Being Driven 

What’s driving you?
Is it success – a good job?
A fancy car, a business czar?
Status, money?
People pretending you’re funny
and laughing at your dubious jokes?

What’s driving you?
The need for admiration
The positive strokes?
The recognition of peers
despite the aversion colleagues feel
towards the version of you 
that you promote?

What’s driving you?
What’s this compulsion
to achieve such commendation?
Where is the humility,
the self-awareness
and the compassion?

Write Poetry was about telling a story through poetry.  The second suggested exercise was to write a monologue.

In Residence 2026

My dearest friend,how I appreciate
your prayers. In the night’s almost silence
they comfort me. Unknown rustlings
in the shrubs and trees surround me.
I’m alone in this apartment, alone in the park.
Only the twinkling lights across the river mouth
assure me that human life continues.
Sleep comes slowly. Reading past midnight,
in the hope that sleep will overcome
the apprehension of living companionless,
in an unfamiliar apartment,
in an unknown city, in a foreign land.
Daybreak. And messages from home.
Early morning risers jog past my balcony.
The café next door is open for breakfast.
The anxiety of the nighttime has passed.
The curtains opened to another day
of unexplored creativity. 

Looking forward to the next session.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice