Blogs from New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 15

On our virtual walk today was to Freshwater Beach, wedged between two headlands, Freshwater is a short walk north from Manly. A coastal walk further north will take you to Curl Curl Beach. Swimming at Freshwater Beach started back in the early 1900s when campers would holiday close to the beach. A small creek running out the north end of the beach provided fresh water for the campers and gave the beach its name. Freshwater's unique claim to fame is that this is where surfboard riding was popularised in Australia by Hawaiian "Duke" Kahanamoku. Duke famously carved a board from a piece of local timber and demonstrated surfing for an enthralled crowd on 10 January 1915. A life-size statue of Duke Kahanamoku on the northern headland commemorates the historic day. The Park and mosaics are also ... read more

Bourke is the last town we will visit in NSW before we cross the border into Queensland. It appears to be a big town but does not boast a great deal in the way of its shopping precinct. We arrived late Saturday morning, stopping first to refill a gas bottle as we came into town. It was not surprising to find most of the retail outlets had already closed or were about to. What struck us though was all of the roller shutters over windows; there were only a few shops without them. John wanted to buy some of his favourite brew (not easily available in Victoria) and as we approached the drive through bottle shop noticed that all the stock and the attendant was behind a substantial wire cage – there was a small gap ... read more

Thursday, 17thJune 2021 - en route to Cobar The distance between Hillston and Cobar is 255kms – not a great deal in the grand scheme of things really. The topography changed from flat sparse country to heavily vegetated hills, most of them not tall enough to be called mountains but they were steep at times and stretched out in long climbs. We don’t know why but we both thought we would be travelling along flat roads all the way. The road itself was extremely good, it being the main freight route through to Bourke and then over the Qld border, so it carried constant traffic. The scrubland either side of the highway was perfect for wild goats – they were everywhere! There isn’t much between Hillston and Cobar in the way of infrastructure. Every so often ... read more

The tour started in the China Town district of Sydney, it was early morning so was pretty quiet but there were some restaurants open preparing dumplings for that all important breakfast. On the walls of the Novotel hotel is a 10 storey high portrait of Aboriginal elder Jenny Munro. We then approached Darling Square with an amazing building Created by Kengo Kuma, this library called The Exchange has 20,000 meters of ribbons of wood wrapped around which Kuma arranged in "a dynamic and exciting manner" to offer passersby glimpses of activity inside. Two more interesting architectural buildings came into view, Frank Gehry designed the headquarters of UTS Business School, the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building. The first with its undulating brickwork reminded me a little of some of the Gaudi buildings in Barcelona. The second with ... read more

Monday, 14thJune 2021 & Tuesday, 15th June 2021 HAY We crossed the VIC/NSW border at Echuca/Moama and after a brief stop for lunch and a refuel at Moama continued on to Hay. It was an easy 355kms (200miles) from home and being the end of a public holiday weekend the bulk of the traffic was all heading toward Melbourne. The Cobb Highway follows The Long Paddock – an historic web of tracks and trails linking the stock grazing lands of NSW – and it takes in part of the Hay Plains. The tourist information booklets will tell you the landscape is “unique” – we both agreed it is boring, being totally flat and covered in low-lying drab grey/brown saltbush – very uninspiring. As we approached Hay we passed by 2 large cotton gins; tufts of crisp ... read more