More from New South Wales

This is my last post about our trip to Australia.  In between the 2nd and 3rd Airbnb Roger and I spent a day in Cronulla.  It's built on a promontory

On the left as you look at the map above was a marina.

We walked along the shoreline from the marina and then walked over the hill and down through the park that you can see on the map to the right of the name Cronulla.  This side of the town had beaches.

We took the ferry to Bundeena which was described in the guide book as having been an artists' colony.  It was a disappointment to me that it wasn't an enclave of little gift shops and art galleries.  We had lunch and walked on the beach.  Then got the ferry back to Cronulla and took a train back.

Next day Andy drove us to the New South Wales Rail Museum and then on to River Cottage.  This was a fabulous cottage right in the middle of nowhere overlooking the river.  It rained for hours on end and river rose 3-4 feet in 24 hours.

Fortunately the cottage was high up overlooking the river so there was no possibility of being flooded.  However I did wonder whether the track to the cottage might get washed away by the rain.

We visited the Book Barn which was amazing and then drove on to a pub for lunch.

We had a restful last full day at the cottage.

On our last day we packed up the cottage and drove back to Andy & Naomi's.  After lunch Andy took us to the airport and we came home.

Thanks for armchair travelling with me today
Bernice

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

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