Blogs from New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 1213

I made sure I was up early this morning, as I wanted the chance to say bye to everyone. Some of the others had gone on an optional hot air balloon flight, which they had to get up at 4:30am for. I had another shower before I went to see the others, who were having their breakfast. I sat and had mine with them, and we were all chatting about how we wished we were all going up to Darwin together. Anyway, not long after they had loaded up the entire luggage into the coach, and were now ready for the ‘big off’. I said my farewells to the group, in particular my better friends Edwin, Anne-Marie, Jacqueline, Miriam, Kim and Marjon. Marjon had earlier complained about the price of film whilst in Alice ($35 for ... read more

Easy day today, as I’ve had a really busy couple of days back-to-back. We drive to the Warringah Mall today, so that I can get some bits and pieces for my tour. At Big W, the Australian equivalent of Woolworth’s, I bought a rimmed akubra hat to keep the sun off. Also in the shopping basket were some batteries, a water bottle, and two more triple-packs of camera film. From the Angus Robertson book store I got two videos, The Odd Couple and The Odd Couple 2. Then we stopped off at the Australian Geographic shop where I got a hat net to keep the ‘mozzies’ away from my face, an ‘Olgas’ poster, as it looked brilliant, and some ‘Bush Blends’ scented candles for Mike, as it would ‘chill’ him out. Whilst in the mall, I ... read more

I woke up this morning, still a little depressed after last night’s mauling, but I decided to cheer myself up, and book up to do the BridgeClimb™ this morning. I was to be climbing tomorrow at 11:05am, and it would cost $125 (£41). It was yet another early start this morning, as we were to go to the Blue Mountains today. We drove through the Harbour Bridge and then joined up with Great Western Highway (M4). It was a long drive, during which we travelled through Glenbrook, Blaxland, Springwood, Faulconbridge, Linden, Woodford, Hazelbrook, Lawson and finally Wentworth Falls. We then drove a further 5 km (3 miles) west and arrived at the beautiful settlement of Leura, where we drove down the ‘Corridor of Oaks’. In the Australian Spring (October) there are many private garden displays of ... read more

Woke up at about 8am this morning, which is late for me. Eileen and Vic were both up and dressed, so I thought I’d better get up too. We started the day off, with a long morning walk to Narrabeen beach, which I suppose was about a brisk half-hour walk away. Narrabeen Beach is famous in it’s own right, being the only Australian beach mentioned in the lyrics of a Beach Boys song! On the way back we walked along the picturesque Narrabeen Lakes, and go to the local supermarket. It was to be a nice day today, and it was already very warm and humid. Bryan and Damon came round after lunch and today’s aim was to do the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. We drove southbound through the Harbour Bridge, and started the Eastern Suburb ... read more

Today was more of a relaxing day, especially after such a hectic few days. The weather was not so good. Very gloomy with rain in the air, so it was a good day to not go out too far. Sure enough, midway through the morning, the rain fell, and it was the only bad day’s weather I experienced in the whole three weeks. I needed to get a few bits and pieces, so we went to Warriewood Shopping Centre, on Jacksons Road (just off Pittwater Road) in Warriewood. Danielle was home today, so she drove Damon, Bryan and myself in her car, which was Vic’s old ‘Holden Commodore’. Holden’s are basically the Australian version of Vauxhall. Whilst in the shopping centre, we took a look around a book sale set up in the main centre. There ... read more