Hi folks
For a change, I thought I’d write instead of Lizzie.
You
may remember we bought a return ticket to
We
were ready early and Mark had agreed to drive us to the airport so we got there
with bags of time to spare and two hours before our
After
returning home for 3 hours, we made our way back. Fog was still bad and
we expected the worst. This time we were already at the head of the queue
when the announcement was made and we quickly got to the counter. They
told us that because the afternoon
The
next day we eventually took off (after another hour delay) some 28 hours after
our original flight time. On landing in
After
welcoming us with some fizz we were soon chatting and having a great time with
our hosts. Lizzie worked with Michy in
We had a Thai
meal and went for a little walk into the grounds of their lovely apartment
(view from back here) and then out along the harbour where their little (well
48 foot) yacht is moored. It was soon bedtime and when we woke the
sun was out and it was a beautiful day. Paul had agreed to help his
son with his house and so we went out in Michy’s
open topped sport’s car down to Bondi
beach. Here’s a picture taken when we got there. We went for
a swim in a natural rock pool and had a nice walk along the sea front before
driving back to
When we got back, I spent a little time sorting out some problems with Michy’s computer and then Paul was back and we were off out for the evening to Darling harbour. We didn’t have the camera, but I found this picture on the internet. What a place it is! There are countless bars and restaurants here and it is just throbbing with life. The buzz was fantastic. We met up with a few of Michy and Paul’s friends and had a nice meal and a few drinks.
It was quite late by the time we got back and we were more than ready for bed.
The next day,
Michy’s mum, who’s called
‘Moon’ (for some reason) as she doesn’t like here real name
joined us. Although in her seventies she’s
quite a sprightly woman and quite petite like Michy (pic above shows them both). Taking our picnic
and lots of booze in a wheelbarrow we headed through the gardens and down to
the yacht. There was virtually no wind that day
(not like
After sailing through the harbour, we moored up at Quarantine point (where the convicts were brought on arrival) alongside some billions of dollars worth of boats. You can only get to the beach there by water so it’s quite an exclusive place but speedboats regularly drop by with ice creams and coffee! We had a swim to the beach and when we got back Paul’s brother and his family arrived on their boat and came aboard for lunch and a few drinks. It was a shame to leave but once the sun goes down it does start to get a little chillier and so we motored back a couple of hours later.
On
Monday morning, Paul and Michy were off to work so we
left their place and headed north on the freeway towards
Ruth had told us we’d see 8 acres of lawn as we arrived and it was quite a sight. Here’s the view taken as we drove in through the gate. You can just make out the house among the trees. The house is large with two annexes. One by the swimming pool (Ruth called it the folly) has been claimed by Bronte; the other is the guest house where we stayed. We had our own kitchen, bathroom and living room as well as a bedroom. It was truly a home from home.
After chatting for a while over a cup of tea it was off to collect Bronte (pic above) from school. Just down the road said Ruth as we roared off a great speed down the dirt track! After a half hour drive or so (!) we arrived at Bronte’s school and took her to her horse riding lesson. On the way we spotted two wallabies in a field. They just looked at us warily and then hopped off! We went to the nearby town at Kurri Kurri and visited Ruth’s friend (and gardener) who was celebrating her birthday. After drinking quite a lot of bubbly, off we went again and picked up Bronte. Ruth doesn’t like slow so being the nervous passenger that I am, it was quite scary, but we got safely back to Ruth’s in time for Jeremy’s return from work. Over dinner we all got to know each other better, helped no doubt by the consumption of large amounts of champagne and red wine.
The
next day, Lizzie woke me up to see three wallabies hopping around the
gardens. They are very much in the country and have peacocks as
well as many parrots around all the time. At night, the sound of frogs is
almost deafening and the weather was amazing (30 degrees in the day and around
20 at night).
Mandy joined us on our trip to the
After
goodbyes, we drove off to the
The valley floor is 900 metres down from the plateau on which Katoomba stands as there is a train and a cable car to get down there. It’s a breathtaking view and the picture does not really make you realize just how far down it is to the bottom. If you look to the gap before the first sister you can just make out the little footbridge and someone standing which helps to get the scale.
Whilst I took some photos, I asked Lizzie to go down to the platform below and she posed for me. She was wondering why everyone was also taking her photo before she looked down and saw a huge python a couple of feet from her!
We did quite a bit of sightseeing and the next day we took the railway down and the cable car back up after walking about in the bush below. Luckily there is a raised boardwalk down there as I don’t think either of us would have braved the snakes and spiders that are crawling about in the undergrowth! The railway was built for a coal mine but as this is now disused it has been turned into a tourist attraction.
After
that we hit the road and headed back to
On Saturday, we visited the market at the ‘Rocks’ after a stroll through the botanical gardens. We saw 60,000 bats hanging upside down from the trees. We then took the ferry to the zoo on the other side of the bay and Lizzie got to see Koalas, Wombats, Kangaroos and Platypuses, which made her very happy. It was colder than it had been and we had not taken enough warm clothes, thinking it would warm up but it didn’t. They have a sky rail thing which was closed because of the wind.
That
night we met up with Daniel (our hairdresser friend from
It
was a wonderful trip and I certainly think that we will be returning to
Lizzie's bit
Can
you tell that Dave really loved
As for the rest of our news, I am not working again, my job was short and sweet whilst someone was on holiday. So I am back to looking after Dave and trying to find some voluntary work.
Last week we went to our dancing classes twice, as on Saturday we had entered in for a bronze medal. Dave wasn’t nervous of course before, but he was on the day. We were dancing 2 dances (though not together) and in the evening, after eating too much at Dave and Wendy’s house warming, we returned to see how we had done. Our teacher Michael had already told us that he was immensely proud of Dave for doing so well. When the time came, we were both presented with our certificates and we were both highly commended. Oh I was so proud of him, tears were in my eyes. We continue tonight in the intermediate section.
Mark
has moved back in this week as on Thursday he is leaving
We
have bought an Entertainment book which gives us lots of money off vouchers to
sample all the culinary delights of Wellington we will be enjoying more of
Wellington has to offer for less dosh, always a good
thing. And this weekend we are off again to celebrate Easter in the far north
(hopefully warmer than here but no guarantees about that). After that we have
no firm plans, so we will be consulting the guide books to see where we will be
going next.
Happy Easter to all. They do chocolate here in a big way as Cadburys have
a factory here on the
Thanks
again for all the messages we love reading them so keep ‘em coming.
Dave
& Lizzie