Day 28

Today was a very sad day because of it being my last day here in Northern Beeches with Sam and family. I spent some of it looking after the children and participating in homeschooling. Conor was doing Ocean Science. He and Amber made a beech and calculated the impact of the waves on the sand. Great fun.

Paolo wanted to do something out of cardboard and designed a very neat building.

Later as it was pouring with rain I started packing for the return journey tomorrow. 

I've had a wonderful time in Australia and quite understand why people come to live here. It is a vast country. Tomorrow I will begin the return journey going back through umpteen time zones. Eight hours from Sydney to Singapore then 13 hours to London. 

Day 27

Today we have sadly returned home from the Blue Mountains but not before we took another look at the amazing scenery and bush at Blackheath. The area is designated as a. World Heritage Site, see 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Blue_Mountains_Area for more info.

The canopy of trees goes on for as far as the eye can see but as you go further north this turns increasingly to desert in the outback. The roads become narrower and population scarcer. 

The waterfalls are fantastic.

Can you see the stone steps cut into the rock to create a path down the mountain?

I think I can just see someone in the middle of this photo.

Sam says the Aborigines use the red seeds of this plant and grind them to make a flour.

Marcus and I travelled back from Katoomba on the train. It seemed to be a fast train. We went to Central Station and then to Circular Keys to catch the fast ferry to Manly which was the scenic route back home.

This is the slow ferry. Once on the fast ferry I went out to take some shots of us leaving the wharf and got caught by the spray.

Farewell Sydney!

Farewell Sydney Harbour Bridge! We caught the bus from Manly Wharf back home to join the others.

Day 26

Today we went to Scenic World in the Blue Mountains.

  

This meant that I went on a cable car three times and the steepest railway in the world once!

Sam and Amber are on this cable car! We are standing below Katoomba Falls.

This is the cable car down the mountain. These are not things I normally do but I'm getting braver! A lot! After a picnic we walked down to the Falls and the boys and I decided to walk down to the railway station rather than go in the cable car. 

This is the start of the Falls. Little did I realise that this was a sharp 50 minute descent like coming down Snowden 700 meters involving hundreds of stairs and mud through the cool rainforest canopy. 

Pausing for a rest 

The boys were very good natured throughout it all and we were encouraged by other climbers coming up. We managed to finally meet up with the others after a scary train journey back up. The sandstone of the Blue Mountains is famous for The Three Sisters and the oil of the eucalyptus tree causes the blue mist of the mountains. 

We also walked through an interesting Scenic Sculpture trail. 

Back home the owners had text to warn of an intruder reported by a neighbour lurking around! Unfortunately I think it may be me as I was lurking around taking photos this morning and they may not be used to strange UK woman with a camera lurking round the bush! Anyway lock up your doors! 

Day 25

Today has been exceptionally busy. We drove over to Manly to pick up Paolo and then he and I went on to Sydney and Pitt Street Uniting Church. I would be our last Sunday there. I was beginning to feel sad about this.

The service was a recognition of ANZAC Day but also recognising the uncritical acceptance of war as a necessity rather than remembering the unnecessary loss of life on both sides. for me too there's remembering the importance of diplomacy and mediation. 70 % of the current world population have been destroyed in wars over the centuries of human existence. Mindless deaths. Mindless destruction to people and habitats. When will we grow up as humans and find a better way to resolve differences. Maybe there are other species, other cultures that can help us.

We sang a beautiful New Zealand hymn about ANZAC Day. Paolo and I were once agin made very welcome and I feel like part of this congregation after only 3 weeks. And they have a lot of integrity. Brian who sleeps on the steps of the church, a veteran of Iraq never recovered, has gone to Adelaide in this continuing bad weather. 

Paolo and I enjoyed tea and cake after the service said our farewells and left for home. 

Once home we had lunch and packed. We were both going by train to the Blue Mountains The rest of the family were following in the car. So we made our way to Central station in Sydney once again over the Sydney Harbour Bridge 

 and on to the train to Katoomba. The trains are double deckers.

On the train we met a civil engineer from India who explained to Paolo how the train was powered and a family from the Blue Mountains with their nanny. People got on and off with walking shoes and wooly hats ready for hiking. We went on to Katoomba having climbed higher and higher into the bush into a tree clad landscape with mountains in the distance, climpsing  a kangaroo foraging. At Katoomba we were happily met by the family, who went to Woolworths to buy provisions and on to our timbered cottage which is like a lodge.

It is much colder here despite having travelled towards the equator because of the height above sea level so fleeces and warm clothing have become necessary. The temperature will dip to 5 degrees and not rise above 13. 

Day 24

Most of this morning was spent at the ANZAC commemoration inManly as Paolo was in the choir. It was rather lengthy and failed to mention the 75,000 Turks who were slaughtered! But it is a pivotal moment in Australian history because it was their first step on to the world stage I think. There was a reenactment of 1915 participants and lengthy laying of wreaths, songs, hymns.

Doves being released

This woman wouldn't get out of the way! 

And we've got hailstones, electric storms and rain again!

We are off to the Blue Mountains north of Sydney, after Paolo and I return from church tomorrow.

Exciting. But there will be no posts as we won't have any internet! See you in a few days. 

Day 23

Today it was warm and sunny. I went into Sydney to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Australian Museum. It is organised by the Natural History Museum in London with international entrants of 40,000! There are also categories for young photographers. These were some of my favourites.

The penultimate photo is of a fox cub taken from its mother and sold in Italy. The photo was taken to try to highlight and stop this practice.

On the wat to the museum people were enjoying the sunshine after the rain. Sydney is a vibrant ethnically diverse population including many Malay Chinese and people from South East Asia. There are lots of young people and it feels a cool place to be.

Including street artists...

I stopped and had a coffee at St James and as it was lunchtime there were lots of people in the park including a woman doing exercises that looked like Pilates. 

There were lots of Australian Ibis. This one was scavenging food from a bin.

He found a chip!

There are many buskers..

And skyscrapers...

This fountain in a pool is over a car park.