Finally had a near perfect day in sydney: my last. A cold and rainy start to the day - but they have all started overcast. Big breakfast at this strange hotel (a mix of cheap hostel and in demand lodge for couples who get the decent rooms) with a chat with a similarly travelling Pom. Took ferries from Kirribilli to Circular Quay and then to Manly ( Read more... )

Just remembered the book I read about Sydney when I was very young: the harp in the south

Yesterday was a difficult day. By the time I got to my extraordinary guest house/ cheap hotel, I was completely exhausted and very hot and bothered. I had tried two buses, the train and lots of walking before I got on a ferry several hours after I arrived back from Katoomba, Blackheath and the mountains, with heavy knapsack and no breakfast (my own ( Read more... )

Was a good break from the city. The train takes two hours and costs about a tenner: eat your heart out BR!

Katoomba itself was apparantly founded as a mining town.. now mostly tourism keeps it going nd it has in places a rather hang - dog look, with 20s buildings not restores and new brutalist concrete SOMEONE allowed to be built ( Read more... )

Igot here yesterday afternoon - after a thunderstorm delayed out departure from melbourne - and I swear the sun has shone for about ten minutes since then. And last night, out for a hot Thai meal in Victoria Street - the storms came back and we ( that's me, L and her friend and colleague T who lodges in Brisbane in R's house).. we sheltered for ( Read more... )

Another day which started cool, then got really warm and sunny. Flowers everywhere. Spent the morning having brunch  - huge fruit salad and yoghurt, then croissant with ham and cheese, coffee on the side.. a quick mooch in the op shop, then with Sue to The Botanic Gardens which are right in Melbourne and completely FREE: eat your heart out, Kew...

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... Where the weather changes from 10 degrees to 30 degrees in the course of a day! We arrived back in time for a huge shared indian takeaway together before people split up to go their different ways no doubt for at least another 25 years and to be honest some of us may never meet again if we don't arrange to do it sooner!
The Skene's Creek life ( Read more... )

Grey skies and rolling waves, grasses, many hundred - year old tree frens, sheoaks, parrots, wattle birds, blue wrens, yellow topknotted cockatoos. Scrabble, jigsaw, books and fine dining at home courtesy of Sue and Den as this household - on - sea continues. Muddles over whose specs and slow morning starts early nights and much ozone.Appollo Bay ( Read more... )

The sun is shining, the trees smell sweet (jasmine all over the place) and the colours are bright: ah! melbourne in nearly summer! The Marney Roades have gathered.. S has got us all: A and L and J and R and me, ready to head for the coast tomorrow. Today is the exact 25th anniversary of her stepping on OZ soil, so I can see why she's excited ( Read more... )

So I am in the international terminal of LAX and the only way to access an internet terminal is to p[ay $15 for an hour in a fancy lounge. You do get comfy chairs and free ccoffee and snacks but even so... May be the US like other paranoid places, is afaraid of the internet. It's interesting that it's cheaper and much more ( Read more... )