Day 270 - Sydney, Australia

SYDNEY (28/09/09)

Having planned a day of outdoor activities only (a very risky move) we were delighted to wake up to glorious sunshine. The Botanic Gardens in the centre of Sydney has fantastic views over the Harbour of both the Bridge and the Opera House.

Even more exciting, the Gardens are home to thousands of Fruit Bats, or Flying Foxes as they are known as in Australia.

We were surprised at how active the usually nocturnal animals were. They were constantly flying from tree to tree and making a deafening racket.

Occasionally one of the Bats would try and land a little to close to one of the others and a brief, but noisy, scrap would take place.

The view from the headland across the Harbour.

As dusk approached we crossed the Harbour Bridge on foot, appreciating the golden late afternoon sun on the Opera House and this old factory chimney.

On the other side of the Bridge is a the well known entertainment park, Luna Park. Here is the Big Wheel at dusk, wittily (he thinks) christened by Adam 'The Sydney Eye'.

The Harbour Bridge at dusk with the Opera House underneath on the left hand side.

Sydney Opera House, spectacular in the night lights.

As we sipped a coffee in one of the many cafes surrounding the Harbour we looked out at the lights reflected in the gently rippling water.

Day 269 - Sydney, Australia

SYDNEY (27/09/09)

The famous Bondi Beach, not best enjoyed with cold, gale-force winds.

We travelled round to the other side of Sydney. Here is a view of the whole city centre.

Liz and Alice trying not to get blown away by the strong winds.

Day 268 - Sydney, Australia

SYDNEY (26/09/09)

A walk over the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was a little too expensive for us so we climbed to the top of one of the large pylons at either end of the bridge where the views are almost as good (and you are allowed to take photos). It was extremely windy at the top, hence the crazy hair.

One of the World's most famous views - Sydney Harbour and the Opera House.

Looking out over the steel expanse of the bridge gives you a real idea of what an engineering feat it was nearly 100 years ago. It is still the heaviest and second longest bridge of this type in the World.

Adam shortly before he took to the stage to perform Pavarotti's greatest hits- "Just one Cornetto, give it to meeeeeee! Delicious Ice Cream from Italeeeeee!"

Late Afternoon on the Harbour.

What better way to end the day than with coffee and cake? These cake slices were HUGE! Adam was the only one to finish but unusually was completely unable to finish everyone elses.

Day 267 - Sydney, Australia

REPTILE WORLD SYDNEY (25/09/09)

Back in Sydney the weather once more became what we expect from Australia rather than a bad day in England in the winter. Our friend Alice had taken the day off work and decided to take us to Reptile World, knowing how much Liz loves reptiles. Adam reluctantly came along too.

We (Adam) were delighted to find that as well as lots of reptiles they also had several Funnel Web Spiders, probably the most dangerous of all the World's spider species. This male (five times more deadly than the female) was aggressively running around an empty glass tank having just been milked for his venom, which will be used to produce antivenom which, in turn, will be distibuted to hospitals.

Believe it or not this is not a Muppet but a real animal- a Tawny Frogmouth. We saw a wild one of this small owl species on the south coast but obviously not at such close quarters.

Alice with a free roaming Emu. If Adam was his Dad he would quip that the Emu is the one on the right but unfortunately he does not possess that kind of rapier-like wit.

The highly endangered Tasmanian Devil. Sadly a highly contagious facial tumour disease is wiping them out in the wild not, as one might think, confused fundamentalist Christians.

The park's enormous resident Saltwater Crocodile. The largest species in the world this male is about 7m (20ft) in length and represents probably the most dangerous animal in Australia. He is called Elvis, must be the curled lip.

Green Tree Frog.

This Tiger Snake ranks about 5th on the list of the World's most venomous snakes, of which Australia has the entire top 10, although Adam's best efforts still have not managed to seek out a wild one.

Liz was initially worried at the prospect of visiting Reptile World for the day. However her fears were soon forgotten when she realised she could hug a live Kangaroo.

Days 264-266 - Blue Mountains, Australia

THE BLUE MOUNTAINS (22/09/09 - 24/09/09)

Unfortunately on our visit to the Blue Mountains they would have been more aptly named the Grey Mountains. Apart from the late afternoon walk we had on the day we arived we had rain and storm strength winds. We should have appreciated the brief spell of sun while it was there but we were tired and had no idea what was to come. This is the famous Three Sisters cliff formation.

There are many beautiful walks and waterfalls in the area but we just didn't have the weather to appreciate them. If you look closely here you can see Adam about halfway Katoomba Cascades as they are called.

The view on the second day taken whilst almost being blown off the cliff ourselves. The storm was the same that caused the incredible red dust storm in Sydney (which we missed). We just got the rubbish bits with no apocalyptic red sky.

Day 263 - Sydney, Australia

MELBOURNE TO SYDNEY (21/09/09)

Our time in Australia was flying by at an incredible rate and we suddenly found ourselves leaving Melbourne and catching a flight to Sydney where we were staying with a good friend of ours, Alice. She's the one with no beard that's not Liz.

Day 262 - The Daintrees, Australia

THE DAINTREES (20/09/09)

We had planned to travel back fairly slowly to Melbourne but we received a message that Olie was picking some furniture up from the Daintree Rainforest area and we decided to rush back and join him for the several hour round trip. Up in the Daintrees we visited the William Ricketts Sanctuary. William Ricketts was a clay sculptor and made many Aboriginal figures whilst championing their cause. He died in the 1990s but the sanctuary is still open and looking at the moss covered sculptures set in dense rainforest is a fascinating experience.

A large clay arch made in William Ricketts' huge kiln which is now part of the exhibition.

Having enjoyed the sculptures we went for a short excursion into the rainforest proper.

Probably the defining characteristic of Australian temperate rainforest is their immensely tall, towering Eucalyptus, or Gum, trees.

The boys in the bush.

Back in Melbourne it was time for Liz's first Aussie Barbie. Being veggies there wasn't much in the way of shrimp throwing but it was a cracking meal.

Even more exciting (for Adam) than the barbecue was finding his first deadly Australian animal - a Redback Spider. Having captured her in a pot he could study and photograph (quite unsuccessfully through the thick plastic) her as much as he wanted.

Day 261 - Grampians NP, Australia

THE GRAMPIANS NATIONAL PARK (19/09/09)

We awoke early in the morning to the distinctive call of the Kookaburra. For anyone who has never heard one it is a sort of bizarre combination of cackling old woman and jabbering monkey.

Leaving the paved highways we took to the red rock Grampian back roads. Not only was there far less traffic (none) and better scenery but it also gave the driving a much more Aussie flavour.

We had planned to visit some Aboriginal art sites which are all fairly inaccessible but as a result of this, untouristed. Both those we visited were ancient shelters, rocky overhangs where nomadic Aborigines would spend the night leaving their mark in paint before they left. This large, isolated rock in the middle of the bush has one such site underneath it.

The first shelter we went to was called Manja Shelter and the main feature was these hand paintings. The artists would mix crushed red ochre with saliva and animal fat before blowing it through a tube over their hand while it was pressed onto the rock.

These symbols represent the footprints of an Emu (single print on the left) and a Kangaroo (the two in the middle). Footprints were very important to the Aborigines who are famous for their tracking abilities (see Crocodile Dundee II).

Not far away is the Billimina Shelter where human figures feature prominently. These two were probably the easiest to make out.

The most striking thing about Billimina Shelter is that the walls are almost completely covered with neat rows and columns of small vertical lines. Every time a person visited the shelter they would leave one of these small marks, a kind of tally chart documenting the number of people passing through this way. Judging by the number of marks there it must have been a very busy place.

We decided to try and skip the highway as much as possible on our way back and take our Australian looking track instead. Due to the bad condition of the road we had to go at much slower pace, but we were in no real hurry.

Several times the track went through fords and several times Adam had to get out and check the depth in the middle wasn't going to engulf our tiny hatchback hire car. Somehow we managed to reach the other side of this raging torrent.

As if to confirm that our decision to avoid the highway was the correct one this Echidna crossed our path and we stopped to annoy it by photographing it and following it around for a bit. Echidnas appear very like a hedgehog but are in fact very different and unrelated. They, along with the Platypus, are the only surviving members of a group of mammals called the Monotremes and these two species are the only mammals in existence to still lay eggs.

Day 260 - Grampians NP, Australia

GRAMPIANS MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK (18/09/09)

At Port Fairy we left the sea for the time being and headed north inland away from the cold wet coastal weather. Our destination was the Grampians National Park, a range of mountains bordering the desert and as a result considerably warmer and drier than what we had got used to. The drive was spectacular as the temperate seaside climate gradually gave way to arid bush land and dust strewn road sides.

We stopped briefly at a picnic site for a bit of a break and were delighted to find the trees around inhabited by a great number of these extremely vocal Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos.

The cockatoos seemed a little shy and couldn't be coaxed from the trees. However within minutes several Roseate Parakeets had arrived and proved themselves to be considerably bolder.

As long as we made no sudden movements and kept feeding them the parakeets were pretty fearless.

They really are striking birds and can often be heard and seen squawking their way through the sky in large flocks.

Adam had promised Liz lots of Kangaroos and on arrival at our campsite she was not disappointed- this picture was taken about 20 steps from our tent.

Having arrived early from Port Fairy we decided to make the most of the beautiful afternoon and were soon back in the car and on our way to McKenzie Falls. The bright sunshine was making rainbows in the spray further adding to the idyllic setting.

Rough hewn stepping stones crossed the river at the bottom of the falls.

A short distance along the twisting mountain road brought us to this strange mushroom shaped rock on the path to the well known Balconies rock formation.

The Balconies, not really difficult to see how they got their name. For safety reasons you are not allowed on the ledges and they are fenced off. However there was no one around and it was quite tempting...

Boroka Lookout, giving an amazing view of the valley in which we were staying. Our campsite was right next to the lake nestled between the mountains.

Someone in the area obviously has a sense of humour as well as a lot of dedication and a lot of time (presumably of the hammer variety) on their hands. For those older readers this is a reference to the late 80s rap sensation MC Hammer.

As we were driving we had to be extremely careful as the Kangaroos had a habit of jumping out in front of the car. Unfortunately with a brain the size of a pea they don't seem to have picked up on the danger of roads.

Late afternoon in the campsite we went Kangaroo watching again and spotted several mothers with joeys in their pouches.

Dusk is when most of the Kangaroos begin moving around and leave their day time sleeping spots to graze for a few hours.

As a treat, and in recognition of the fact that it had been the first day in several months that we had actually been warm, we got ourselves ice cream.