MDF and her mum went to visit Uluru – formerly known as Ayers Rock. I didn’t go, so I don’t have much to tell you about it – except that MDF’s mum THOUGHT IT WAS AWESOME (not her exact words – but you get the drift)
They hired a car and drove around the rock. They also walked around the rock (5.8 miles – yes it’s a big rock). They also visited Kata Tjuta – which is a less famous bunch of rocks.
Here’s some nice pictures they took:
Census day in Australia today – they have one every 10 years just like in Pommie Land – in fact they have them in the same exact years – YES – they copy us Pommies for EVERYTHING…
MDF’s mum was still here so she had to go on the census form – immortalised in Australian history forever…
Hey a new bird! After 10 months in Sydney we found a new bird called a Corella – they look a bit like cockatoos, but without the yellow crests – so maybe we saw them before but didn’t notice. They are apparently Little Corellas – also know as Bare-eyed cockatoos.
There were a ton of them at Palm Beach on a golf course.
Summer Bay Surf Club
CLOSER EACH DAY…. Home and Away… LA LA LA (MUSIC) 🙂
Palm Beach is famous(ish) for being Summer Bay on the HIT TV show Home and Away. It’s a LONG bus ride from Sydney CBD – getting towards 90 minutes depending on traffic.
It’s a pretty relaxed scenic place in winter – but a bit rammed in summer. We are smart Pommies, so we went in winter.
We saw HEAPS of Birds. Galahs, Sulphur crested Cockatoos, Kookaburras, Little Corellas, Bush Turkeys, Lorikeets, Ibis, and Crested pigeons. HOW AMAZING IS THAT.
MDF’s mum was very pleased. But of course the highlight: Summer Bay Surf Club – WHOO HOO!
Time for a new animal! Down in the valley of the Blue Mountains there was a Lyrebird. Only one 😦
Also, this was an unspectacular one wihout an exciting colourful tail that they are known for – but hey – an ugly Lyrebird is BETTER THAN NO LYREBIRD AT ALL!
Technically speaking, we are talking about a Superb Lyrebird – which is so famous it’s even featured on the money! (10c coin)
Our Superb Lyrebird picture won't be winning any photography awards.
Yes! Back to the Blue Mountains! It’s lovely up there. This merits a third entry because we did a bunch of different things. First of all we went with MDF’s mum. Second of all we had an AWESOME breakfast. Third of all, we went to Scenic World.
Scenic World is essentially two cable cars, a train, a gift shop, a cafe, and some boardwalks in the rainforest at the bottom of the valley. You can get one ticket for all the options, so you take a horizontal cable car across the gaping crevasse, then a train down to the valley, then you walk on the boardwalk in the rainforest, then take a different cable car back up. It’s a bit touristy-tacky, but pretty fun. The rainforest down there is very nice – and we even saw a Lyrebird – YES HOW COOL IS THAT?!
The train down is well steep – like a ROLLERCOASTER – people even screamed (only the wimpy uncool ones – not us)
It took around 5 hours for the whole experience including the walk to and from Katoomba train station, and the compulsory coffee and cake stops.
We ended the day at the Carrington (this is mandatory on a trip to the Blue Mountains, as it’s by Katoomba station). It’s a great posh old-fashioned hotel/pub. We Pommies love that type of thing.
Summer time is HERE! Well, actually mid-winter, but it sure feels like summer. After the misery of last week’s rain, the sun has come out EVERY DAY. It’s around 20 degrees. YEAH MAN – we are happy Pommies.
We are blaming the great weather on the arrival of MDF’s mum, who has come over from Pommie land to visit for 5 weeks. In the end, it was actually sunny for nearly every day of those 5 weeks (this is not a ‘live’ entry of course). MDF’s mum initially refused to believe it was mid-winter – yeah it’s very confusing for us Pommies with this weird weather and backwards season thing. To make it more confusing, they have this thing called ‘Christmas in July‘… what kind of idea is that?!
As soon as MDF’s mum arrived we went on a tourism extravaganza. Each day we would expect the weather to turn crap again, but it just kept going. In less than a week MDF’s mum covered:
The Opera House, Sydney Tower Skywalk, Botanical Gardens, Walk to South Head, Manly and lots of ferry rides…
And still the sun shines… 🙂 🙂
Random picture of a fountain in Sydney
I went to Brisvegas (that’s Brisbane to you) for a work conference. To me, there is just something odd about Brisvegas (It’s odd that it gets called Brisvegas for a START).
Anyway, there was a weird spaceship tower thing near where I stayed. What the hell is it? I asked someone who lived in Brisbane – they said “I don’t know”.
What is this building?
It was my BIRTHDAY – Whoo Hoo! – and this Pommie was going Whale Watching. It very nearly didn’t happen due to the WORST WEATHER ever seen in Sydney – it was pretty bad – flooding, rain, winds – FOR A WHOLE WEEK. On the first day that it slightly calmed down – the day AFTER my birthday – we chanced it.
The seas were pretty rough still, and at the start they offered for anyone to re-book without cost, due to the high seas – GULP! However, we were taking no chances, and we took some seasickness prevention pills – this is the first time I’ve ever tried these – looks like they might have worked. There were definitely some seasick people on the boat – BUT NOT US 🙂
We went with www.whalewatchingsydney.net, and they were pretty good. Very excellent boat, good commentary, free coffee and biscuits. It departs directly from Circular Quay – so also convenient.
We did see whales – and some of them very close up – but they weren’t being very active – not even a tail in the air – LOSER WHALES. Still, it was great to see them, and we’ll surely go again to make sure we see them jumping out of the water. It’s called ‘breaching‘ – and apparently they REALLY DO jump totally out of the water! (This is Humpback Whales we are talking about – common around Sydney in winter/spring time)
It’s quite hard to take good pictures with a portable camera and no big zoom, so they have an onboard photographer who takes pictures and sells you a CD of them at the end – so you’ve got a picture of the whale that you actually saw 🙂
They also throw in some ‘highlight’ pics from other trips, so you can see just how unspectacular your particular whale was compared to other more exciting whales.
Our best picture of a whale
Their best picture of a whale
Very exciting whale from a different trip to ours...
Here's to the Pommies
Today we drank the champagne that we got from the Hunter Valley.
Why? – I hear you ask…
1) It was time for the final of the Apprentice UK
2) I had a good day at work – somebody bought something.
3) It was MDF’s last day at her crappy job that she didn’t like.
4) You don’t really need a reason to drink champagne – DO YOU?
A Pom in Sydney 