Out & About beyond Sydney

Our last 3 days in Australia were spent at Whispering Pines, Middle Arm near Goulburn.

There was this guy there to welcome us

And his friend.

Goulburn had a Lilac festival going on over the weekend although there were no longer any lilac trees in the vicinity!

We visited the Roundhouse Museum in Goulburn where there were beautiful, but decaying, old locomotives and the remains of the Roundhouse.

A photo of a photo of what the roundhouse looked like in its heyday.

The next morning we woke up to these guys outside the kitchen window.

Roger managed to get this shot of them before they jumped away.

We went to the Bungonia National Park where Andy, Roger and I walked on what was supposedly an easy trail. Ha!

Like father, like son!  Hands in pockets!  Meanwhile I was flailing my arms in order to keep upright.

Back in Goulburn Roger & I went round Riversdale, a heritage building.  It is very odd seeing English heritage in an Australian building.

It had a very pretty garden.

Our last day was spent visiting various places on our way back to Brighton-Le-Sands.  It was a public holiday so lots of traffic about.  We stopped off at Fitzroy Falls - along with what seemed like the rest of the world.  Sadly there hadn't been much rain over the last few months so the falls weren't as full as they might have been.

Someone offered to take our photo!

This should have been the view of 2 waterfalls!

The view at lunch in Burrawang.

And a couple of the buildings in Burrawang.

We finished our day with dinner at the Hopper Juniors and then Andy took us to the airport for our flight home.

Thank you for joining me from your armchair.  I hope you enjoyed our visit to New Zealand and Australia.   There are so many photos I haven't shared with you but I hope I have given you a flavour of our trip.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Sydney

We have been fortunate to visit Sydney several times.  When I looked for things for us to do on web pages like '30 things to do in Sydney' I found that we had done almost all of them.  If you discount anything that involves getting wet or hanging off a rope then we've probably done all of them.  Or so I thought.

We took the bus from Sydney north to Palm Beach.   We had done this journey with Andy once before but then got on a boat.  This time we went to the end of the bus route and got off at this beautiful beach.

If you are in to Australian soaps, this is where the outdoor shots for Home and Away are shot.

We walked alongside the beach and started the steep walk up to Barrenjoey Lighthouse.  In fact we didn't choose to go up this way but did come down it.

We chose instead to take the sloping zigzag track.

I found it quite hard and we had to stop quite a few times so I could catch my breath and let my aching calf muscles calm down.  However the views were spectacular so it was worth it.  (I had to keep telling myself that!)

We took the bus back to Sydney and met up with the Hopper Juniors at Circular Quay.

The next day we visited Parliament House Sydney.

This is the library.

Then we went to the Hyde Park Barracks museum.  We hadn't visited it before because I thought it was going to be about soldiers and horses.  I really should read the guidebook.  It was an amazing building full of the story of the convicts sent out from England.  If ever you are in Sydney it is a must-see.  I can't believe that we have been going out there since 2008 and never visited it.

We took the train out to where Andy & Naomi live and had dinner with them.  In the evening we went back into Sydney.

We went to a concert by Postmodern Jukebox at the Sydney Opera House.

A final photo was taken of the band by the stage manager.  Can you spot us?  We're in the middle of the Circle!

On our final day in central Sydney we took the ferry from Circular Quay to Taronga Zoo.

We walked from the quay for the zoo to Chowder Bay.  We had walked before with Andy from Chowder Bay to Bradleys Head.

We saw quite a few of these guys sunning themselves.

The view back to the Sydney skyline

A kookaburra.  I wonder whether he was the same one we saw last time we took this walk?

We took the train again to Brighton-Le-Sands where the Hopper Juniors live and took a walk along the promenade before dinner.

Later that evening the five of us set out in the car for Goulburn where we had booked an Airbnb place for three nights.  More on that next time.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice