Sydney to Hong Kong

On Monday, we left Sydney, heading for Hong Kong. We had spent nearly 8 weeks in Australia and very much enjoyed the experiences.

This was our final view of Sydney from the plane. The view is of the harbour inland a few km from Sydney. You should be able to make out the bridge of Victoria Road which joins Drummoyne to Huntley's Point. In the foreground is Hen and Chicken Bay, Chiswick, Wareemba and Russell Lea.







and this our final view of Australia (the north of Queensland).








We arrived in Hong Kong at about 6pm and, after a long queue to enter the country, buying phone and iPad SIMs and train tickets, we reached our hotel at about 7pm by train and hotel bus. We are staying in luxury at the Harbour Grand hotel on Hong Kong island. There is a harpist in the hotel lobby in the evenings and large chandeliers.














Hong Kong has a height population density, so there is only one way to build ...up. We are on the eighth floor and the top floor is 41.

We left our cases and wandered out to find something to eat. Just round the corner, there is a Chinese 'fast food' restaurant. It was full of locals and so we thought that it would be good. We then hit the first hurdle - how to order. The staff spoke very few words of English but there were pictures on the wall, and a certain amount of hand waving was needed. We were soon eating the same as the locals: soup, rice and an omelette for Pat and chicken for John.






We wandered around the immediate neighbourhood of Fortress Hill, briefly and then retired to our luxurious hotel room which looks onto the harbour and the main motorway along the coast. At first we didn't think that we had a shower, then we realised that the room with the bath was a wet room and that the shower was enormous.





Pat and John on tour

Weekend with Nola & Graeme

Our journey on Friday afternoon from Katoomba to West Pymble just managed to miss the rush hour and it was only the last part were we experienced crawling traffic. Nola and Graeme were the perfect hosts and we spent an enjoyable evening on their veranda overlooking their pool.







Their bungalow in at the edge of a park which is a steep valley of bushland. They have been twice threatened by bush fires which have come right to the edge of their garden. The neighbourhood is now well prepared for fighting fires. Nola and Graeme have firefighting suits and there are water pumps available so that pool water can be used to fight fires. No rubbish or garden litter is allowed to accumulate at the edge of the bush or gardens.

On their terrace is like being in the bush and the birds are all around. Nola and Graeme like the Kookaburras but you have to guard your meat when using the BBQ or they will steal it. We saw sulphur-crested Cockatoos drinking from the pool and Kookaburras diving into the pool for a bath.







On Saturday Pat amused herself with laundry, packing and blogging, while Nola and John went through Nola's large box of family photos. It was a real treasure-trove of Stewart photos. There were many photos of John's aunt May who came to Australia in about 1929. These were the first photos of her that John had seen. In addition there were many photos of other members of the family. These had been sent to Australia or taken by Nola's Family when visiting Ulster. They added enormously to John's collection of Stewart photos. He was over the moon. During the day he scanned many photos which are on a USB memory stick and he is also bringing many prints back to France. Here is one of these photos which is of his Grandmother Martha Stewart, Nola and his Great Uncle Sam who lived on the family farm in Donegal.








This photo is of John's Uncle Bobby who played football at a professional level - again John had hardly any photographs of him before.






In the evening Nola and Graeme took us to a local Japanese restaurant were we had a lovely meal.





On Sunday after a leisurely breakfast by the pool John and Nola had another session when even more treasures were discovered. After lunch we said goodbye to Nola and Graeme and headed for the airport. Being Sunday the journey went smoothly and took about a third the time of the previous trip we made.

On Monday we will be flying to Hong Kong and so the next entry will be from there.

Pat and John on tour

Blue sky in the Blue Mountains

We were staying at Lurine House in Katoomba. Our 'spa' room was independent of the other rooms and had a small garden by the side, which would have been lovely without rain. We had a four poster bed.




We awoke to blue skies and another delicious breakfast (mushroom omelete for Pat this day). We drove a short distance to Echo Point to view the Three Sisters only to find no one at home. The valley below the cliffs was full of mist after the previous day's rain.





Slowly they began to emerge from the mist




but it was obvious that we couldn't expect any good photos for a while.

We headed off round the cliff and took a trail which would give us views of the Leura Falls. There are plenty of walks around the cliffs from short walks to ones which would take all day.

This stone was at fossil rock lookout and is what we took to be the "fossil".




Our view into valley was still a bit misty from there.




Soon we could see Leura falls.



We walked towards the cascades higher up the cliff which feed the falls. The photo covers about a quarter of the cascades.



When we reached the road, we turned back to pick up the car, then drove on to our next walk.

By now the cloud had cleared and we could see just how steep the cliffs are.







We stopped further round the cliff and headed for the Pool of Siloam. Along the road some of the telegraph poles made from gum trees are covered in colourful lichens.




and we passed this handsome creature


We could see the Bridal Veil falls in the distance



We reached the Golf links lookout from where we could see why the Blue Mountains are so named.



this lizard looked very sleek




We walked down many steps on our way to the Pool of Siloam




From which we climbed to the top again. After a long hot walk back to the car, through the Gordon Falls Reserve and some beautiful residential roads in Leura . We stopped for lunch and then drove back to Echo Point for the photos of the Three Sisters









and a short walk to Kedumba view overlooking Mount Solitary



It was then time to head back to Sydney and West Pymble for a couple of relaxing nights with John's cousin Nola and Graeme




Pat and John on tour

The Blue Mountains in the rain

We awoke at Katoomba to heavy rain with no likelihood of change that day. There were two items on Pat's 'must see' list: the Jenolan caves and the Three Sisters. Over a delicious breakfast we decided to head for the caves. It took about an hour and a quarter to get there from Katoomba over increasingly narrow and windy roads and through cloud in places which reduced visibility to 100 metres. It wasn't a nice drive for John and, with the exception of this butterfly,







There wasn't much of interest to take photos of.








This is the entrance to the caves.





The car park is through the arch, where the cafe, hotel and ticket office are to be found.








The first guided tour available was to the Chiffley cave and so we decided to join that. There was a pause in the rain, so we wandered around taking photos while we were waiting. The Nettle cave is just to the right of the entrance.







The guided tour passed through the Imperial cave and then through various parts of the Chiffley caves. Some images




















This is the Lucinda cave, part of the Chiffley caves







We were told that this lightbulb made in 1920 has been in operation since 1975. They don't make them like that now!







When we emerged, it was still raining so we had lunch and then returned to our hotel.

We were invited to Gabrielle and Gavin's house in Lawson for dinner (we had met at Lord Howe Island). Lawson is about 20 minutes drive away.

Gavin has built their hexagonal house himself. A cupola lights the living room.






The house, garden and other buildings merge together to make an unusual and interesting home






As well as the house itself, there is a car port, an office and 'the bus stop'







We returned home, still in the rain, hoping for better weather tomorrow.

Pat and John on tour

The great Ocean Road (3) and on to the Blue Mountains

Our flight on Wednesday was due to leave Melbourne Avalon ay 2.40 in the afternoon but a day before the flight we found that that both the time and the flight number had changed and we were leaving an hour later. This had both pros and cons: we had an extra hour to finish the GOR but we were arriving at Sydney airport later.

The last two stops we had planned were the Bay of Islands and the Bay or Martyrs - back to shipwrecks.

The Bay of Islands car park was 100m from our hotel and was the site of 3 shipwrecks, The Newfield in 1889, The Schomberg in 1855 on it's maiden voyage and The Young Australian in 1877.

It's easy to see why they came to grief in this bay.







We moved on a short distance to the Bay of Martyrs where there were more walks than we could manage in the time available, but we spent a happy hour walking on the cliffs above the sea.











The new Holland honeyeater lives in this area. We had seen one on the GOR at the Split Point lighthouse



We found our own little (almost) island with plenty of stones and shells to interest John.



Soon it was time to head for the airport, so we moved away from the coast and travelled through scenery that reminded us of the UK




Our flight was trouble free, but we were leaving Sydney airport in the rush hour, so we were bumper to tail for a long time and our journey took about an hour longer than we expected mostly in heavy rain and roadworks.




We arrived at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains just after 8pm and in time to get cheese fondue in the Swiss Cottage restaurant about 2 minutes walk from our hotel.

Pat and John on tour