as high as the heavens: August 2023

We made it to Sydney, or rather, a suburb north of Sydney called Warriewood Beach, just in time to meet the lady, named Julie, who was letting us stay in her downstairs "granny flat," unload our things and go to the grocery story to get some food so we could make dinner for another friend named Julie who was coming to see us that evening. It was good to see her again and we were delighted that she was willing to brave Sydney rush-hour traffic so we wouldn't have to.

We had chicken and roasted veggies with fruit and biscuits (cookies) for desert.

The next day, Saturday, John met a friend, also named John, in the city for lunch. I used the "time off" to catch up on various chores: dishes from the night before and laundry and a couple of other little jobs. I also went across the road to see the beach. I only made it part way down the steps though as some of them were steep and my balance was a little off so I decided to wait until John came back so I could use my hiking poles--which were in the boot of the car--or lean on John's shoulder to steady me.

This was the longest steep part. Part of the stairway was easier going.

I snapped a few flower photos while I waited for John.

By the time John got back it was cold and starting to rain a little and I wanted a rest. So we decided to visit the beach another day.

Later I had a little alone time reading and having a "cuppa" on the covered porch.

This interesting plant was on the table where I had my coffee.

Sunday was busy. John spoke at St. Ives Community Church. Afterwards there was a potluck. Then we had afternoon tea with a friend, Juliette, and then ended up staying for "tea" (dinner) with her family and a few friends. Her husband Andrew grilled up some delicious Aussie burgers. We had all the proper Aussie burger toppings complete with fried egg, bacon, sliced beetroot and pineapple. There were a few other things including, I think, spiral cut carrot which was surprisingly good on my burger too and lettuce and tomato. Sorry I don't have a photo. Juliette made experimental gluten free buns for me. They tended to fall apart as gluten free things often do, but I appreciated her effort and it beat eating my burger like a salad on my plate with a knife and fork which I think would take the fun out of it somewhat. In my humble opinion Aussie burgers have to be eaten by hand in a bun to get the full delicious experience.

Two of the ladies at the St. Ives church potluck. I first met the lady on the left, Heather, back in 2016 when we were last in Australia. It was fun to see her again and have a chat. I'm afraid I don't remember the name of the lady on the right.

With Juliette and Andrew

Monday we did finally make it down to the beach together. It's spectacular as you can probably tell from the other photo. But of course I took lots more photos. Here are a few:

Monday evening we had dinner at the home of friends, John and Eva. It was good to catch up and dinner was a real feast. Sea bass, roast veg, crispy smashed potatoes, salad and for desert: carrot cake. It was all delicious. I got the recipe for the carrot cake and hope to make it soon. (In case you are wondering it was gluten, dairy, nut and coconut free. But believe it or not still very delicious!) I raved about it so much that Eva very kindly sent the rest home with us which came in very handy over the next few days.

I forgot to get a photo but Eva sent me one later.

Tuesday friends, Graham and Faith, came to "our" place for tea (dinner). We served sausages and roast veg. And for desert we had some of the carrot cake that Eva sent home with us the night before.

Wednesday we didn't have any meetings scheduled so John took the day off from programing and we went hiking in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Faith told us about it at dinner the night before. She highly recommended we go. She said it was an easy 30 minute drive from where we were staying and that the West Head Lookout has spectacular views of the ocean and other headlands.

When we looked it up Wednesday morning we discovered that the the West Head lookout was closed for repairs but since there were a lot of hiking trails that were still open we decided to go anyway and check it out. We packed a picnic lunch and set out. The drive there turned out to be a little trickier than we expected, I think we took the scenic route. It was very winding and narrow and went right along the water. Coming back we found a more direct way which cut down on time and stress.

The map they gave us at the info booth when we entered showed what looked like a very short little loop called the Koolewong lookout trail. We decided to try that first and have our lunch if possible at the lookout. It turned out to be a fairly long and moderately challenging hike with a spectacular view and lots of flowers along the way. It was well worth the time and a delightful place to have a picnic.

This "cheeky" bird came right up to our car while I was putting on my hiking boots. He was likely hoping I would share my lunch. If so he was disappointed.

We were amazed to see so many plants in bloom in the winter time.

Golden Wattle in front of some sort of pink flowering bush.

There was a well-placed bench at the lookout where we ate and enjoyed the view.

This tree appeared to be growing out of the rock on the edge of the cliff in front of our picnic bench. It gave nice shade and had beautiful bark so I didn't mind too much that it blocked some of the view of the water.

Here it is again at the right and top of the photo.

Our last evening we invited our hostess, Julie, to have "supper" with us. In Australia supper is a late evening snack after the evening meal. It's what Americans might call a bedtime snack. Though we didn't have ours as late as Aussies often do.

Anyway it was a fun informal chance to get a little more acquainted and express our appreciation for her hospitality. We also got to share the rest of that delicious carrot cake and a few other nibbles.

With Julie, on the left.

We left for Melbourne the next morning. Stay tuned ...

But first here's one last photo from the beach in Sydney--this time with blue sky:

As I wrote in the previous post, we left Armidale for Sydney last Thursday morning (due to interruptions and delays it's longer ago now). Our plan was to stop for a night at a motel near Newcastle. We took our Armidale friend Mark's suggestion and went The Bucketts Way road. He said it's more interesting than the New England Highway.

It was a pretty drive. It only got very steep and winding in one place that I remember. John may remember more.

Not the steep winding part

This was half way down the steepest part. It was steeper than it looks here.

Some of the pretty scenery along the way.

Those little dots are cows

Here's an enlarged view.

In the afternoon we stopped in the town of Gloucester for a walk and to try to find the loo--we did eventually.

They have a beautiful park along Gloucester River.

I was surprised and delighted to see by this sign that there are platypuses in the river. I didn't see any but still it was exciting to know that they are there. I've only ever seen them in captivity.

These were the only duck-billed animals we saw. Not as exciting as sighting a platypus would have been but still cute.

We also wiled away the time while we drove by singing hymns and choruses and trying to listen to an audio book on-line. The internet was spotty so the book stopped every so often. Then we sang for a bit until the book came back. Our memory of the hymns was a bit spotty too. We sometimes had to look them up on line. But it was a delightful way to spend the time.

We stayed the night at The Sir Francis Drake Motel outside of Newcastle.

A large room with comfortable seating, table and fridge.
It also had wifi so I was able to download the audio book to make it easier to listen to. (it is "Love Among the Chickens" by P.G. Woodhouse. It's funny so far. We haven't finished listening to it yet.)

The next day we only had two hours left of our trip to Sydney. But we stopped to hike in Strickland State Forest along the way. It looks close to the motor way on the map. But the way to it once we were off the main road was so convoluted, narrow and winding that it was rather hair raising and we were beginning to wonder if it was worth the trouble.

I'm glad we didn't meet any on coming traffic.

We hiked the Strickland Falls Track. The hike in and out was more interesting than the actual falls.

John was not ready but hopefully the scenery makes up for it. When I showed him he quipped, "Every prospect pleases, only man is vile."

The waterfall. It was more like a trickle when we were there. The water doesn't show in this photo. The part on the right that looks like water is actually a dried palm frond.

We went back a different way that was higher and got more light. I was delighted to see so many flowers. It was good that John had allowed plenty of time for this part of our trip!

This is a very enlarged photo of a wattle flower. Wattles are the floral emblem of Australia. They were even embroidered onto Queen Elizabeth II's coronation gown in 1953. They are often brighter yellow. I love them in any shade!