OK, the idea is for the Govt. to be able to show justice is being done but could you imagine a more sleep inducing spectacle than some dull old trial at the Old Bailey with barristers and judges "lawing" it up in front of the cameras? - - -
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OK then the 2016 Aus trip, when we decided to throw away the holiday budget for 2011 and go to Fiji it involved going to Hong Kong for a few days which is a fantastic place and then Sydney for a day. We had originally planned to go through New Zealand but that fell through.
Arriving in Sydney early morning we shrugged off the jet lag and assembled at the main train station for the hop on hop off bus to Bondi Beach, by the time we returned to Sydney it was late in the day and we just managed to catch the last hop on hop off ferry around the various harbour locations.
Jetting off to Fiji the next day we both said we fancied returning to Sydney for a longer holiday because there was just so much to see. This was further cemented by meeting "2 lovely Australian sisters Erin and Racheal Hives" on Malolo our Fijian island resort. We got on like a house on fire being the only people at the resort without kids in tow. They lived just outside Sydney and we promised to come and see them.
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2016 the trip out was via Hong Kong but with only an hour between flights there was no hanging around as the Cathay Pacific staff shepherded us between gates on the massive airport. I managed to spot the very Northern end of Australia as it slipped by underneath us and its then another 3.5 hours flying down the country until we arrived at Sydney. The pre-arranged limo was waiting and in no time we are raiding the mini bar at midnight (11:00 a.m. back in UK)
Knowing its going to be hot we choose to take it easy the first day and have a short walk around our bit of the city before visiting the Chinese Garden which like our hotel is just on the edge of China Town
Its a lovely garden except for the huge spiders sitting on their huge webs. We knew it was going to be "hot" and after leaving the UK which it has to be said wasn't all that cold the heat is still a surprise. We end the day early and tick off the garden from Sally's extensively researched list of "things to do" A bit of a downside to the day is Sally has a couple of blisters!
we take the Hop on hop off ferry only realising a few days later that the "straight there" ferry is much cheaper but hey ho we are on holiday. The familiar view of the bridge and Opera house is marred only by the hideously large cruise ship which is tied up at Circular quay
Neither of us are really into Zoo's but wanting to see all of Australia's indigenous animals it was the place to go. One thing Sally was keen to see was a Kookaburra and this wild one sitting on a wire above us was a treat. It even tried to peck the bloke as he stepped over it! the Zoo is on a rather large hill but thankfully the default way to see the place is to walk from top to bottom. Sally did however get another blister, we were hoping that the problem wouldn't restrict our itinerary
the free firework show on Cockle Bay from outside our hotel bedroom window was pretty impressive
A day trip to the Blue Mountains was well worth the journey the Blue bit comes from the haze produced by the Eucalyptus gum as it evaporates in the heat.
i had organised to lay a wreath i brought with me at the ANZAC memorial which was a great honour and the staff at the memorial were great
In the afternoon we visited Sealife World down on Darling Harbour, once again neither of us are into looking at fish in tanks but being able to walk through the underwater tunnels was fantastic. This being our first day where we did 2 "visits" we finished off by having a couple of beers in the famous Cargo Bar which became our regular haunt after our daily excursions. Its a lively place and great for people watching
we visited a place called Manly twice during our stay it is such a nice place almost like a British seaside resort huge curved bay with lots of places to eat. Here Sally dips her toes in the Tasman Sea
a feature of walking from Manly to Cabbage Bay are a number of "Eastern Water Dragons" who normally are shy in the wild but these guys have become photo opportunities alongside the pathway
i was leaning with my back against this gate on the ferry when it swung open and i nearly ended up in the harbour!!
A walk around "Rocks" lets you delve into the past with some of Sydney's oldest building on show
this was also the day i had decided to climb one of the Harbour Bridge pillars, great views from the top. I had contemplated walking the bridge like the blue clad figures in this shot but at £150 plus a throw and No you cant take your camera i decided to give it a miss
the middle weekend of our trip coincided with the end of the Chinese new year celebrations and 3000 paddlers turned up in Cockle Bay to take part in a weekend of Dragon Boat Racing, great spectacle
taking a quick ferry round to Circular quay we visited the Botanical gardens where i find a strange fruit under a huge tree
we were directed by an old dear towards a Tomato festival which was interesting
before walking down to the Circular quay area to look at the fountain we had spotted from the many ferries trips we did. We are right at the entrance to the Opera house but have already decided to cross it off our list of things to see
off the ferry back at Darling Harbour and into the Cargo Bar for a steak definitely the best steak ever! and it appears to be "Blokes day" whereas the previous weekend the place was crawling with stick thin Jillaroos either all in white or all in black taking numerous selfies!
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we did a trip to the Hunter valley to see the Hope and Mcguigan wineries and also an "outback trip" where we saw Aboriginal Art and a wonderful river trip spoiled only by a noisy American who never stopped waffling, thankfully he was only on the river part of the day
purely by chance and on what was our last full day we had booked a few days earlier a trip to Tobruk sheep station where the bloke in the photo is offering us Billy Tea and Damper straight off the "Barbie". Undoubtedly one of the most memorable trips we had chance to throw a boomerang failed miserably and crack a stock whip rather more successful. The sheep shearing and sheepdog demo's were great and we departed the experience with lots more knowledge than we arrived with
back in Sydney mid afternoon we have a couple in the Cargo Bar where the bottom figure on my watch is the Temperature with the watch just about in the sun.
A great holiday where we only missed out 2 things on our list of things to do, one was a walk from Bondi to Cogee beach which we decided would not have been a good idea because of the blisters and the heat and the second was to visit the famous Sydney Fish Market
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Oh! nearly forgot the "2 lovely Australian sisters Erin and Racheal Hives" that we promised to see from our Fiji trip. They said they were "too busy" the whole time we were there to travel into town and have a drink. - - -
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Wanting to get the tree i felled the previous day sorted
i had ago at it then felled the one on the right of this photo. Going to fill up with fuel and oil i noticed that the oil appeared not to have been getting onto the chain.
That put paid to the days work and on investigation it looks as if the drive to the tiny oil pump has broken. Its a couple of years since i had the thing serviced so thats where its going tomorrow, Monday no doubtit will take a few days to get repaired
That does however give me good reason to slip up to the Lakes and renew my membership with the Borrowdale valley and Scafell Pike!!
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we noticed the other day that the blossom on our nectarine
in the top greenhouse is just about out now. Last year it surprised us and we forgot to water it and it all just fell off. Since then i rigged up the green pipe in this shot to collect the rain water from part of the greenhouse roof. Lets hope for some fruit this year.
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The Temp is well on its way to the predicted 8c max today
The weathercam pic is as grey as ever, according to the forecast for the next few days its going to be leading up to a wet and windy Easter - - - hey ho!
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Enjoy the day
Follow this link to see Our weather website
Or this one just to see the Live Birdfeeder and Weather Webcams
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