Back to Blighty!

Well, we're back.  And it's cold!!!  And dark!!!!!  And Christmas is in four weeks time.  Yikes!  Somehow I thought we'd be coming back to early summer here.  But evidently I was wrong!

Jet lag abounds, but we're being stoically English and soldiering on regardless, though I haven't got the composure to post anything sensible today.  You might have to wait a few days for any sense to come out of here!

Radio silence

Well, would you believe it, this has been our last day. (Picture my sad face.)

Our cases are packed and weighed (just scraped under weight). We've checked in online. Uncle Wilf is playing pool. And we're dragging out the inevitable for as long as we can.

No more posts 'til we're back in Blighty. See you in GMT!

Didn't we have a lovely time...

...the day we went to Manly!

This was possibly my favourite day in Sydney. We caught the ferry on a beautiful blue skied day and enjoyed all the views. Disembarking half an hour later we mooched around the streets and shops, which cater for all tastes and pockets.


Then we bought fish and chips and ate them out of the paper by the beach before mooching back to the ferry and coming home slightly sunburned and tired out by all the sea air.

Footsore

We have walked miles and miles round Sydney! On one day we walked eleven miles - over 26,ooo steps. I was pooped.

Sydney was all hustle and bustle, lots of people and traffic rushing everywhere - standstill too long and you get knocked over in the rushing. But still there were beautiful things to see, from the old to the new. The skyline is high.

So high that when the clouds were low and stormy we lost the tops of some of the buildings.

This was taken in Darling Harbour which now is full of cafes and restaurants - something there for every taste.

But the old was still there too - this was the Queen Victoria Building, built in the 1880s and restored in the 1980s. Today it houses smart shops and cafes and attracts a well heeled clientele - we possibly lowered the tone somewhat!

The Rocks was the first part of the harbour to be settled, and had a reputation for being the roughest and unsafest part for many years. It's completely changed now, and houses some very smart and expensive restaurants in some of the old warehouses on the right of this picture.

These days people emigrating to Sydney are likely to come by air rather than by ship. But the old overseas passenger terminal is still in use, for the many cruise liners that begin and end their journey in Sydney. The one you can see on the left of the picture was the second of three that we saw in as many days.

And for those of you concerned that I've not shown you any food for a few posts - here's a sample of one of the meals we had in Sydney - John Dory for Uncle W and lobster for me. (I spared you the raw fish starter!)

Picture Postcard Setting

Honestly, the pictures don't lie - Sydney Harbour really does look like that. Stand on Circular Quay and the bridge is to your left and the Opera House to your right.

Close up the bridge has a tendency to look like the Tyne bridge, think you need to be further away to really appreciate it. Get out on the water and it's even better!

Wrong on all counts!

Australia is the place to get good coffee. We've had cup after cup of steaming strong black coffee no matter where we've been.

There are lots of individual coffee shops around and so no need to go into one of the coffee chains that you find everywhere these days.

But, knowing the red cups were out, and Christmas blend was in, we thought it would be somewhat surreal to enjoy a cup in the hot sunshine, in front of Melbourne's Christmas tree.

Reader, we only drank a third of it. I assume they were having an off day.

Mabel and Wilf go mad in Melbourne

Everything we'd read said that Melbourne is the most European of the big cities over here, and they were right. There were lots of wide roads lined with trees, old characterful buildings and lots of Italian restaurants, as well as a skyline full of skyscrapers. I loved it!

We said goodbye to Mr & Mrs Oldest Cousin - they'd been fantastic hosts, and left us with a wealth of recommendations of things to see in the city. Then we started walking. We looked at the national gallery, complete with water wall and stained glass ceiling.

Then we spent hours walking around the streets, looking at shops, going down little arcades and lanes until we were so worn out that we collapsed in a heap for the evening!

The following day in the bright spring sunshine (but it was chilly in the shade) we set out for the Shrine of Remembrance - an imposing structure in the King's Domain. It managed to be both moving and informative - particularly as the emphasis was on Australian troops (as you'd expect) and so showed different battles and conflicts to those we're familiar with.

After tramping through the Botanical Gardens we came to Wilf's treat for the day. The MCG - or for the uninitiated out there, the Melbourne Cricket Ground. As there was a match on (being watched by one man and his dingo) we could only go round the museum.

There was plenty to see - though we skipped the Aussie Rules section on the advice of one of the guides (he'd marked us out as poms straight away). Wilf was particularly interested in the cricket section which was full of memorabilia - though strangely quiet on the 2005 Ashes series! The cleverest bit was a talk being given by a hologram of Shane Warne - it really did look as if he was there. The little boys in front of us (and the old man next to me) thought it was really cool!

To make the most of our last night in Melbourne we went to a Chinese restaurant that had been recommended to us as being really authentic for food, if a little dodgy in the decor stakes. The food was excellent. But I had to use chopsticks. Can you imagine? But, I was amazed at my dexterity, the food ended up in my mouth rather than on the tablecloth or worse!