Back in Perth

The events in Perth have been many and varied and I have been privileged to see many beautiful things and experience new things. For instance the first week I returned we had extreme temperatures of 40+ degrees. This meant that I was unable to visit places as the sun was just too punishing. As I had been round and about Oz the fortnight before I decided that I could really do with resting my body and mind. In a way this wasn't meant to be. Lee works in a health gym as a nutritionist. They had a challenge on for their clients which meant she had to go to the gym herself and work out both with a personal trainer and also with her challenge group on most days in order to collect points. She took me right out of my comfort zone. Took me down the gym and put me on the treadmill, bike and cross trainer. I had never been to a gym before and definitely never inside one and it is one of those things that I thought I would never do as it isn't really me. How wrong can you be!! I really enjoyed it and have been quite a lot with Lee. I am now onto resistance training as well, which means the machines with the weights. I've also been to a couple of body balance classes which were a cross between Thai Chi, Pilates and Yoga. None of this activity has changed anything about my body or weight but I have to say I feel tons better.
Also, as a nutritionist, Lee keeps a good diet and if I've wanted to eat I have had to follow this diet. Australia appear to have the world's spinach mountain and I've eaten a lot of this and I've eaten a lot of fish. Both these things I have to say have not been my favourite in the past, but I have a theory! I think that the weather here is kind and that the Pacific Ocean is warmer and much calmer than the Atlantic. I think this makes for much sweeter tasting produce. Our produce has to struggle to survive the icy temperatures, winds and storms which makes a much more acidic, stronger tasting and tough product.
...and so I spent my first week back at the gym.

Marsupial Park

The morning before I left we visited a small wildlife park which housed Australia's favourite marsupials. It was the koalas at close range that I was particularly interested in as I hadn't had this experience before. Koala is an aboriginal word meaning does not drink. They rarely come down from the Gum Trees and obtain their water from the leaves they eat. If they are found on the ground or drinking it normally means they are ill. They spend much of the day and night sleeping, about 20 hours of the 24 hours and they sleep this amount of time because the Eucalyptus leaves do not provide the amount of nutrients necessary to give them any energy. The young, like kangarooos, are called joeys. They stay inside the mother until a month old and then make the long journey to the pouch, which in the koala has a central opening. The joey stays in the pouch for about another 6 months where it develops. Koalas have five digits on each hand, two opposing thumbs and three fingers, all lethal looking with very long sharp claws which help with climbing and clinging on to branches. They were lovely animals and I enjoyed the opportunities to see them up close and to touch them.
This concluded my time in Turramurra and it was back off to Sydney on the train. I had planned to have a final look at Sydney before my flight back to Perth, but when I arrived in the City I somehow managed to get off the train at an alien part of the city station, then I couldn't find the lockers to store my bag and then finally, it started to pour with rain. So...I decided to get straight back on the train and go to the domestic airport, have something to eat and wait for the plane!!

Narabeen Lagoon

The trip from Turramurra to Narabeen Lagoon took about 20 mins in the car using Ocean Highway. It is a beautiful beach and sea area. Stan and I had visited with Diana before, but it is one of her favourite places so we took a picnic and spent much of the afternoon there. Narabeen Lagoon is the largest coastal lagoon in the Sydney region. It contains important plants like seagrass and saltmarsh and provides a home for many animals. It is a haven for birds and we saw a wide variety. It is also an important recreational facility for the local community. The water levels in the lagoon are maintained by rainfall (not much of that) and the ocean conditions. The local council monitors the water levels to maintain a healthy habitat for animals and humans and sometimes they have to open the lagoon to minimise the risk of localised flooding.
Because of the rock formations under the water you are able to walk ankle deep quite a way out into the ocean, this gives a sense of real freedom. We walked for a while before going to sit and watch the swimmers in the natural/man made swimming pools. There are two rectangular pools set into the sea. Man made because they have edged outlines. Natural because they have have a natural base and because the tidal water flows into them. After our picnic we walked some more on the beach area, watching the surfers at their craft. Not something I think I would be very competent at! There were few people around, it was hot and it was just such a delight to be there. The one downside (and it wasn't really a downside) was avoiding the little stinging jelly fish on the beach. I was told they would give a nasty sting and would make you quite poorly for a while. They were only about 2 cms across, coloured blue or white and just looked like a small pebble, very innocuous to look at. Apparently, in the water, they have tentacles about a metre long and they are the bits that are likely to give you the nasty sting.

Turramurra

Sydney Central is a vast old, possibly Victorian station. It houses all the local trains and bus services. I have found all Australian transport exceedingly easy to work with. There appears little chance of getting lost or getting on the wrong service. Turramurra was no different. It was easy to find where I needed to go to catch the train and it was 15 stops from Sydney. Stan and I had done this journey several times before on our last visit. The train arrived. The trains have an upstairs and a downstairs and I decided to go up. I soon realised that I had no idea where I was stopping, from upstairs you couldn't see the station signs and there were no announcements about ... the next station is... Australian rail had let me down!! After I counted about 10 stops I thought I had better make a move to somewhere I could see so I went down the steps and stood with all the school children in the standing area and a few stops later on I alighted at Turramurra, where I rang my friend and she walked round to the station with her dog to meet me.
Turramurra is a leafy suburb of Sydney, expensive, quiet and green. Sulphur crested parrots, gallahs and lorikeets fly freely among the many trees. these flashes of bright colour entice you to spend a long time looking up. The Pacific Highway also runs through Turramurra, the only sound of noise apart from the parrots. This is a busy, busy road, which runs along the Pacific coast from Sydney to Brisbane.
The house I stayed in is worth a mention and a look at the photograph. It is a long low level property with reminiscences of hobbits!!

The last of Sydney City

I spent my couple of days wandering between Chinatown, Darling Harbour, George Street, Pitt Street, the Rocks and Circular Quay, must have covered some miles. I really enjoyed it, seeing the sights, watching the city, watching the people. The weather was great for walking, not too hot, somewhere around 30 - 32 degrees C with plenty of shade and air conditioning available, which is always a blessing. One of the things that caught my attention were the amount of eating places there were and lots of them underground. You could see a little opening as you are walking along a street, you would go down a few steps and this vast cave opened up full of eateries, all full at certain times of the day, people queuing for food from all over the world and particulaly Asian styles of food. Suited me fine.
It was time to leave this cosmopolitan city and make my way to Turramurra to visit yet more aquaintences.

...still Sydney

Walking round Circular Quay you come to the spectacular Opera House. The first time I saw this, it was not as I imagined it from the television and pictures I had seen. On seeing it this time it still did not fail to amaze me. Although only having been open since 1973, it is as representative of Australia as the pyramids are of Egypt. The Opera House is situated on Bennelong Point, which reaches out into the harbour. The skyline of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the blue water of the harbour and the Sydney Opera House is dramatic and unforgettable. The Opera House was designed by renowned Danish architect - Jorn Utzon (1918–2008). Its roof is evocative of a ship at full sail.

In the late 1950s the New South Wales (NSW) Government established an appeal fund to finance the construction of the Sydney Opera House, and conducted a competition for its design. Utzon's design was chosen. His design was, arguably, beyond the capabilities of engineering of the time. Utzon spent a couple of years reworking the design and it was 1961 before he had solved the problem of how to build the distinguishing feature - the 'sails' of the roof. There were problems, mainly budgetry, and he resigned from the project. It was finished by others in 1973. The roof has on it 1 million tiles. There is a special feel as you walk around it, purely the fact that on the other side of the world is this beautiful building and you have the privilege of seeing and feeling this master of architecture at close quarters.

There are two main shopping streets in Sydney, both run parallel to one another and go from circular quay where Sydney Harbour is. These streets are Pitt Street and George Street and my hotel was at the far end of Pitt Street. There is another street, Sussex Street which runs all the way down to Chinatown. All the streets are about a mile or a mile and a half long. Walking up and down, up and down those streets is an interesting and satisfying experience. In the middle of the streets where the shops are, you would not be aware that you are in the middle of Sydney, you could be walking around any High Street in any city in the world. Similar merchandise, similar consumers. Workers turning out at midday for a mass movement for lunch in the many city cafes and bars. My main lunches consisted of sushi and a freshly squeezed vegetable and fruit drink. Not being fond of queues I tended to wait until mid afternoon when it was quieter.
My first walk down George Street led me to Circular Quay, an area on the waterfront of Sydney Harbour which houses all the ferries that go to various locations round the harbour which may be otherwise difficult for the tourist to be able to get to. To the left are The Rocks and Sydney Harbour Bridge and to the right The Opera House. Both are spectacular monuments for Sydney and they never fail to take the breath away.
My first port of call was The Rocks. This is the oldest part of Sydney, the first part to be settled. It is nestled among the rocks that lead to the bridge. The rocky promontory where convict tents were erected in 1788. Despite generations of change, traces of early convict settlements can still be found. Pubs and churches, archaeological digs and houses all evoke memories of past lives and ways. The city’s oldest building, Cadman’s Cottage (circa 1816), is located here, along with the Argyle Cut, excavated by convicts in the 1840s. It is now more of a place for artisans. There is beautiful local artwork and there are craft markets at the weekend which unfortunately I missed (next time!). From here you can get to the Bridge. This offers you the chance to walk across or walk up, neither of which I did. As I walked back to Circular Quay, berthed alongside at the rocks was the P&O ship Aurora, so I knew that the harbourside was going to be inundated with Brits at Play - often not a pretty sight!