Nov 18th 2011

Bit of a lie in today - -left our accommodation at 10am. Had a look around Kiama. What a beautiful place - -some rocky coast but also lovely bays with golden sand. Saw the 'blow hole' - this WAS what we thought a blow hole should be like. The promontory was made of volcanic latite and basalt. As the basalt is softer, over millions of years, it gets weathered away eventually creating a cave with a hole in the 'roof'. Although there wasn't much of a swell today some of the 'blows' were pretty impressive.

Stopped at Wallongon for lunch - lovely sandy bay but sadly there was an oil refinery, steel works, BOC and others in the background. I suppose they have to be put somewhere!

Then we drove on to Sydney to our apartment. A bit dated compared to the ultra modern one we had in Adelaide but we have everything we need - washing machine, Dryer, full cooker, microwave, dishwasher etc. We are right in the centre of Sydney too which is handy. We took the car back to Avis and then had a walk around. Went to see St Mary's RC Cathedral. Beautiful building & stained glass. Then strolled into Hyde park which had a beautiful fountain with some interesting gargoyles. Next to Circular Quay we found some lovely water features made of metal with cormorants, frogs, lizards etc on it.

We were both quite tired so decided to call it a day & nipped into Woolworths for our dinner - - -curry, rice & Naan & fresh fruit for 'afters'. Then we watched some TV which was nice & relaxing.

Nov 19th 2011

Walked down to Circular Quay & got tickets for the ferry to go to Manly. While we were on the boat it got really foggy & it was foggy when we arrived at Manly. This was so disappointing 'cos it had been a wonderful morning and the weather forcast was excellent. There were lots of brave souls stretched out on the beautiful sands of Manly Bay but we felt we should do something that involved some moving around. So after consultation with the tourist information prople we set off on a walk which turned out to be a four hour treck!!It was lovely though & we did enjoy it & it was probably better for us than sitting on a foggy beach. The scenic walk took us out onto the North Head, a peninsula which had been the base for the Australian School of Artillery. Much of the land was undistrubed bush and some very good paths had been laid through it which made it a very pleasant walk with great views back over to Sydney and the Bridge. The barracks and parade ground are all still intact, in fact in very good condition, but unused which seems a waste of a great facility. We walked down the Memorial walkway which was built to commemorate Australia's involvment and losses in all world conflicts. many of the stone blocks of the path are inscribed with the names of donating organisations and we found one donated by the Jaguar Drivers Club of Australia! There are special areas at the side of the path that are dedicated to specific wars. In the 2nd World War section, the British 10th armoured division are mentioned, my father fought in this division in North Africa, from Alamein to Tripoli. The walk eventually took us back to Manly beach where we had a well earned ice cream! We then caught the ferry back to to Sydney.

We got back into the City to find that the supermarket had closed - -so uncivilized! So we had to scrub up & go out for dinner - -life's tough. It was good though 'cos we went out to the 'Rocks' area (the old bit of Sydney) & found a lovely Italian place where we had some excellent delicious food & wine. The place was queued out into the street all the time we were there. It had a lovely atmosphere & the staff seemed to enjoy their work. We met a couple of girls and one of them was English but didn't sound like it. She'd done Physio at Liverpool University & knew Southport well!! Small world!

Nov 20th 2011

Walked down to the 'Rocks' again. Fabulous weather and and there were markets on in the 'Old Quarter'. Lots of really interesting, crafty things - -not your usual junk from China! Expensive for us though. Then we caught a ferry to Balmain. Took a quick walk around the town - v attractive old houses with balconies & decorative wrought iron work. Also some old colonial style business premises in the main street. Also many beautiful Jacaranda trees in full (lilac) bloom. Hopped back on the ferry & got off at Woolwich. Caught a bus up into the town for a 'donation'!! Again some really nice residences in the old colonial style. They had a celebration picnic on in the park and they had some vintage buses doing free trips around the town. Then it started to rain but a kind bus driver took us down to the quay to catch the ferry to Cockatoo Island. By the time we got there the rain was coming down heavily and the ques to get on the ferry were a mile long. There had been a special event - -an Art Exhibition- on the Island which had attracted hoards of people & now they were ALL trying to get back. We swiftly changed our minds and got back on the Ferry & headed back towards the Circular Quay. The plan had been to 'do' Darling Harbour but we weren't prepared for wet weather so we headed back to the appartment.

We Skyped John, Em & George. It was good to see them & George seemed to be on good form & was waving to us & talking to us on his phone!!

We plan to go to Bondi beach early tomorrow so best get off to bed!

November 21st, Monday

Weather not good, overcast and much cooler with forcast of rain showers - just like home!! Bondi plan scrapped, walked to Darling Harbour, fabulous place. Lots of cruise boats lined up on the jetties including some copies of Missisippi stern wheelers. Cafes line the harbourside and we walked right down to Tumbalong Park which has some impressive water features in it. We then went into the Chinese Garden of Friendship(not quite in tune with current relations) which is beautiful, very peaceful and many lovely lakes, streams and waterfalls. Also the place was full of Ibis's, quite large birds with very long curved beaks. They were also wandering around the harbourside and park, which was very strange to us as they are exotic looking birds. There were also turtles swimming about in the chinese ponds and some sort of water dragon( well a big lizardy thing)! The Koi carp were huge, big enough for fish and chips! We returned to Darling Harbour to munch our sarnies and then went to the Australian National Maritime Museum. The main attractions were a Submarine, HMAS Onslow, a British designed and built Oberon class sub considered to one of the most advanced of it's type, a Daring class destroyer, last of the big gun armed destroyers, in fact it is more like a light cruiser and a 3 masted Barque the James Craig, formerly the Clan McLeod, built in Sunderland, for a Scottish merchant Sir James Dunlop, for the UK to Australia trade run. We had guided tours of all 3 ships which was facinating. The confines of the sub and the amount of machinery it contained were particularly impressive. I could never have fitted into a sub and commented as such to the guide - he replied that the last captain was 6ft 5in and they had to modify his cabin so he could sleep in the bunk!! The deck height in the destroyer was better but the working and living space for the crew was still minimal in the extreme. After all that we had a quick look at the main museum before it shut and then went back to our apartment for din-dins and a few beers.