Sydney - 28th Dec 2009 to 18th Jan 2010 - PART 1

As previously posted, we flew to Sydney on 28th Dec to stay with Nesta and she had generously invited us to stay with her and her family for 3 weeks, so we had a wonderful long time with loads of entertainment and excursions she had arranged for us. It was great to meet her husband Richard and their children Ruben and Natalie, who were all amazingly welcoming and hospitable to us. Richard and both children are all keen musicians, so we were frequently treated to spontaneous and accomplished live music in the house, usually guitar and voice. They live in Killarney Heights, about 15km drive from the city centre. Although still a suburb, their house borders directly onto and above a piece of national park next to the Middle Harbour waterway. We were therefore treated to a lovely view over the quite tropical vegetation and to eye-level displays by the White Cockatoos, Kookaburras, Lorikeets and others along with their raucous cries (the birds not the musicians).

Socialising on Nesta's balcony. L to R: Ruben, Tyson, Richard, John (neighbour). Parkland in background.

It was interesting for me to see Sydney again, having last been there in 1971, when the Opera House was still being finished and there were many less skyscrapers. Otherwise it was still recognisable, though the famous harbour bridge was even bigger than I remembered. We explored the city sights such as the huge fish market and the Chinese quarter.

Doing the tourist thing at "The Rocks".

 Ibis helping to tidy up at the fish market

Indian Mynah helping to tidy up at the Art Gallery

Fruit bats, also called Flying Foxes, in the botanical gardens. These have become so numerous (in the thousands) they are destroying the trees and the authorities are trying to find a non-destructive way to deter them.

Nesta and Richard took us to many of the beaches and coastal walks near Sydney. I was disappointed not see the huge surfing waves that coast is so famous for, but it did mean we could have a good swim at Bilgola beach and tried some body surfing. As well as all the beaches there are so many rivers and inlets around Sydney in addition to the main harbour that it provides wonderful water front locations for many of the residents to live near and of course a multitude of water based actvities. The waterways do make it quite complicated to get from one place to another, but there are ferry options as well and a very good suburban rail system that we used a lot.

We also had a chance to visit my friend Rich (Bonniface) who used to work at Roke Manor and usually joined the lunchtime walks there. He emmigrated a couple of years ago and now has a great house at Berowra, one of the furthest North suburbs, overlooking extensive forested park land. He is very settled there now and had some good recommendations for walks around Sydney and elsewhere.

View from Rich's house in Berowra

Nesta had organised two 3-day trips for us during our stay, one to the Blue Mountains to the West of Sydney and one a few hours down the coast South of Sydney.

BLUE MOUNTAINS:

On our trip to the Blue Mountians with N&R we stayed in a luxurious but very affordable holiday cottage at Blackheath. Very comfortable and nicely furnished, which was very welcome when we had been out all day. (No - it wasnt on a slope, I just didnt have a tripod).

We visited some popular lookouts, local sites and small towns.

I could imagine the early sttlers trying to find a way through and coming across this - 'Oh $#!£'

The highlight of the trip was a long walk in the "Grand Canyon" (it is very grand, though not on the scale of its USA namesake) as recommended by Rich. N&R had not done the walk before so it was very nice for all of us and took us right down into the gorge. We were walking beside the streams that have carved it all out, along rock ledges and paths and amongst the tree ferns and the amazingly balanced gum trees whose roots seemed to grow from solid rock anchoring them to impossible slopes.

It was all well marked with steps where needed but nicely done without concrete or ugly safety fittings. You could start to imagine how impossible it must have been for the first explorers to find their way through the Blue Mountains from Sydney to the pastures they sought in the West. Some of the tracks were built by convicts and are still there, albeit now much safer. These days the materials for track building are delivered to the gorge by helicopter, not an option available to the original builders.

Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos were much more common in that area and could be seen gliding over our house or shouting at each other in pairs in the trees. They are large birds, mostly black with a cry like a low pitched sea eagle, so can be mistaken for a bird of prey (by me).

 On our last day in the Blue Mountains we visited Mount Wilson. The weather had become quite cool and misty, so we did not get the views we hoped for, but it made our short forest walk very atmospheric.

Sydney visit to be continued in Part 2....

Back in Castlemaine - Dec 19th to 28th

After returning from our tour of Victoria, we spent an enjoyable warm Christmas with Sarah and James as previously posted and continued to enjoy the rural life of Castlemaine and the company of Sarah and James and their friends. Their sons Nick and Sebastian stayed a few days longer and we enjoyed a good cycle ride out to the Golden Point lake, where some had a swim.

Christmas meal

Christmas day. Evening socialising at Sarah's house.

Cycle ride and swim near Castlemaine and gold diggings which are still visible as deep pits, gullies and man-made heaps.

This steam engine runs 2 days a week between the old gold mining towns of Castlemaine and Maldon. Shown on a restored wooden viaduct, typical of the later settlement times (1880).

Composite view of the centre of Castlemaine.

On 28th Dec we flew to Sydney to stay with Nesta (friend from Brighton student days) in time to see the famous Sydney new years eve fireworks (see previous posting).

(UPDATED) Tour of South East Victoria (Dec 8th - 19th)

In the first half of December we went on a tour of Eastern Victoria with Sarah and James in their car and took 3 bicycles (James not interested in cycling). We had booked our first stop in a self catering holiday cottage in Mallacoota at the far Eastern corner of Victoria. The location was wonderful, even though in a residential street. It was on the side of a hill overlooking a large sea inlet and surrounded by forest. The owner had several properties and encouraged lots of birds to visit them by providing large bird feeding troughs, so we were treated to a very close up view of Rainbow Lorikeets, King Parrots, Galahs, Superb Fairy Wrens and a few other visitors like bush rats and brush tailed possum. Pelicans regularly flew overhead and nearby we were also able to see Lyrebirds and hear them mimicking all the other birds. We could hear and see many other birds, some familiar and some we could not identify.

King Parrot - a less seen visitor to our holiday cottage

Rainbow Lorikeet - the most commonly seen at the bird feeder (and elsehwere in Australian residential areas). Quite agressive in hogging the bird seed. Very high pitched and noisy. Usually paired and in groups of 6 or more.

Galahs waiting their turn at the food, Lorikeets permitting! These are entertaining birds. They rush about in large groups, flying rather chaotically and squawking and jabbering to each other. Sometimes 6 or more at the feeder would eat communally, with a clear ring leader, who appeared to verbally orchestrate the eating. None could start until he (she?) said so and there was always lots of chat at the trough. They also happily waddled about, rather pidgeon like and pidgeon shaped, on the ground eating the dropped seeds.

Native Bush Rat - more like a mouse, but not a pest in houses - happy to hoover up all the seeds the birds dropped. Meant to be nocturnal, but these ones seem to have forgotten.

Superb Fairy Wren (male) - the blue markings were even more striking in real life, almost like Kingfisher blue. Not at all shy like British wrens and quite commonly seen with their less colourful mates all over suburban areas in this region.

From Mallacoota we were able to walk into the Croajingalong national park.....

.....and down to the sea. Very few people around (this is Liz, Sarah and James exploring the beach).

On the same walk we came across Goannas or Lace Monitor Lizards. They are 2 or 3 feet long with some nice markings which camouflage them nicely when they stop moving. This fellow was intent on digging for ants (or something) at the side of the footpath. Barely bothered by our presence at all, so we could photograph it as close as we liked.

THE SNAKE:  On this same walk we had our first encountter with a snake. A Red Bellied Black Snake was sunning by the path. These are poisonous but not aggressive unless threatened. James met it first and it quickly slithered away, but to the surprise of Liz and Sarah behind us it moved towards them and underneath the walkway they were standing on. It clearly was not just running(?) away and had a very specifcic destination in mind! Liz and Sarah were very calm about it.

This was one of a big group of grazing kagaroos we came across. One of his group had a strange fit of macho aggression with a bush while we were watching. It reared up and then forced its whole front into the bush and shook it and rubbed against it for about half a minute, even rearing right up onto its tail. Presumably some kind of scenting activity, but very aggressive. The one in this picture was glancing at it and then at us with what looked like embarrassed apology for his colleague's bahaviour (excuse anthropomorphism).

 From Mallacoota we went on a river trip inland where, amongst other things, we could see these sea eagles and watch them catch fish thrown from the boat (quite sensitively done, just one small fish per bird, so they dont become dependant). Quite amazing to see them grab the fish from the water as they flew past at full speed.

After Mallacoota we moved West half way back towards Melbourne to stay at Cape Conran in a forest cabin run by the forest park authorities. These cabins were scattered through part of the forest a one minute walk from a beach which is at the Eastern end of the '90 mile beach'.....

......this is one tiny part of it. There were other people staying in cabins and tents but most of the time the beach looked like this. At night you could stand there and see nothing but stars - incredibly bright and numerous. The constellations were of course either unfamilar or hard to recognise because they are upside down.

Kookaburras were living all around the cabin and often came to have a look at us. I suppose some people had been feeding them, but they are not meant to. Lovely to hear their cackling 'laughter' and see them so close.

these wallabies occasionally passed by the cabin, but much more shy than the birds.

We had a number of walks and cycle rides around the area. These Water Dragons could be seen in a few places, sunning themselves on rocks around small streams.

Another local resident.

Some of the very Australian road signs (Lyre bird)

(Wombat)

After leaving Cape Conran James and Sarah went back to Castlemaine by train and generously left us to continue our travels in their car for a few more days. We went to Paynesville further towards Melbourne, a more touristy but pretty boating and fishing area with some nice waterside places to cycle.

We planned a return trip through the Australian alps. Nothing like the European alps, but still high enough to ski in Winter.

Much of the higher slopes of the mountains were covered in bare white trees, so that the overall landscape looked very bleak and wintry. This was due to forest fires that had passed through the area in the previous summer. The gum trees had survived as they usually do and were now regenerating from the bottom.

In the high plateau of the Alps near Bright we had a very good cycle ride, 30km each way, on a 'rail trail' which meant it was nice and flat, also with tarmac so we could look out at the mountains and fields on either side without fear of hitting a pothole. Our accommodation was near the start of the track and we were told about a bridge near there where we might see a Platypus. We strolled along there not really expecting to see one and were treated to a view of one that lingered on the surface of the river just below the bridge. It seemed to have come up just for our benefit, since they normally just take a breath and dive down again. Very exciting.

We finished the tour by calling in at a winery and a cheesery(?) of which there are many in the area between the Alps and Castlemaine. All in all a pretty good exploration of Victoria! Then were back to Castlemaine for Christmas - hmm - that seems a long time ago now.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from us in Sydney

(Jumping the gun here, chronologically speaking, but I could see I would be describing new years eve some time in February otherwise! We will go back to describe our travels in Victoria in December and tell you more about what we got up to in Sydney, where we are as I write).

As you may know, new years eve is a very big event in Sydney, based around the harbour bridge and viewed by tens of thousands. Nesta and Richard who we are staying with in Sydney booked us into a great spot for this on a nice little island in the harbour with a great view of the bridge and close to one of the many barges that launch the fireworks. The shoreline was jam packed with people so we were glad that Nesta had suggested the island - of course the jam packed people did not have to pay, but some would have been waiting since early afternoon. We went over there in the evening along with Nesta's neighbour's family. Only a single ferryload of about 400 people is taken there which meant we had plenty of room to walk around and have a picnic. On the water there were of course hundreds of boats of all sizes with more spectators.

There were some early fireworks at 9pm to for the younger spectators and while we waited for midnight there were big and small boats parading round the harbour all decorated with coloured lights, some in shapes like sharks etc. so we had plenty to look at while we waited. Quite an experience.

Spectators waiting for the fireworks

On our island. Fireworks were launched from a barge out of sight to the right of this picture and the same display on at least 3 more barges down towards the bridge, so we got the show in several different perspectives.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !