Tag: australia

Apparently it is called New South Wales here because that’s what it looks like. It has rolling hills, little streams for swimming in and European trees that were planted by early settlers. It is wonderful here for those that wanted to get out of the cities here and try the countryside.

And so to the home of my gilfriend, a place called Bellingen in New South Wales. It is a green and pleasant valley that is so unlike the dry and arid Oz of my imagination.

Things can get a bit confusing here. For instance,  I sat on a train from Sydney central that went through Newcastle on it’s way to the rural idyll of North Queensland. This train didn’t leave from Paddington as inter city trains don’t leave from Paddington even though these trains are the same trains that leave from Paddington to go to Cardiff. I don’t think there is a Cardiff here although I bet there is. I just don’t think there is.

We headed back up to stop off in a Sydney suburb for Gregs 40th birthday party.

Here is a Kookaburra that sat on the back porch of Greg and Kerry’s house checking us out, when you went to tickle it under the chin it would shuffle an inch along the balcony, but no fear at all.

And on to Kiama by train for more great Aussie hospitality.We stayed in a beach side house with a swimming pool that overlooked the sea. The weather had taken a turn for the worst but it didn’t matter as the company was so good, we just ate and drank a lot.

After supping on our wine and frollicking with the locals we tied the jungle hammocks to a couple of trees and had a good nights sleep. We woke up at 11am with some shade from the trees, but it was still hot. We then went to the local swimming pool that ovelooks the harbour for a swim. Happy new year.

Having enjoyed some more famous Aussi hospitality beyond the Blue Mountains we returned to Sydney for the New Year fireworks.

It is difficult to get to the harbour side and more so if you have two bottles of wine in your paws, so we found a great grassy spot where the locals are spread out with picnics and tents in what seems like the best spot in Sydney for the evening.

We travelled back from Manly beach yesterday on one of the Sydney Ferries. It was the perfect end to a good few days ‘chooking around’ the harbour. Sydney is more complex than I wanted it to be at first, but this has grown into a comfortable warm feeling of being somewhere where the weather, the food and the company is great.

I arrived in Sydney drained physically and emotionally. I had been on a ‘memory lane’ trip in Hong Kong that wasn’t healthy, I had spent my time retracing steps and sometimes it’s best to see things afresh but there is a lesson learned, but it did mean that I arrived in Sydney without that wide eyed wonder I normally bring to the party with me.