Bloody amazin it still works

Hi Suzy

You are probably the last person on the planet that reads this blog. Do hope you and yours are all well. A couple of weeks back I got an early Chrissy present a Panasonic FZ28 camera. As they say in Oz, "She is alittle ripper." It is one notch down from an DSLR and is very versatile. Soon as I got it the weather turned rotten so was taking indoor shots.

I think I was sold on the Leica lens, the camera can go from macro 1cm to x18 zoom. It also has shakeproof mode which for for a semi-senile gent like myself who at at one stage helped the brewers at Boddingtons work double shifts is essential.

So here are a few photos for you

Love Bob

More of Darling Harbour

I guess this photo says it all, Ken Warby achieved the the water speed record in 1978 in this jet powered boat.

This shot is of the replica of Captain Cook's ship the Endeavour. It is not that big and to think he sailed around the world in it is quite amazing. His voyages have been compared to the Space Shuttle missions. There is Yues planning a world cruise!

Not sure of the story of the lighthouse that has been relocated to Darling Harbour along with the lifeboat, but they look good.

Here we have the HMAS Vampire which I think is a destroyer and the submarine HMAS Onslow, we have been on the Vampire which not that big considering they had a crew of around 200.

So there is a piece of our Darling Harbour, further towards the city is the exhibition halls and shopping arcades and then the Chinese Gardens next to China Town. It is hard to imagine what this place was like in the old days, shunting yards and docks. Darling Harbour was opened for our bicentenary back in 1988.

Visit to Maritime Museum Darling Harbour

Our planned trip to Canberra did not happen due to Yues's run-in with the Tooth Fairy. The new cap was fitted last Wednesday and now all is well. The Maritime Museum had an exhibition of French model boats, Bateaux Jouets for our froggie readers. North of Sydney is a popular holiday spot called Bateau Bay. I would bet quids that no one knows the origin of the name, i'm going to ask a few of the Old Cobbers.

We took the train in to town and visited the nut shop in the Strand Arcade, this is the last of the arcades from the Victorian days it is quite elegant, nut shop closed, too early.

Here we are crossing Pyrmont Bridge, this was once a very busy road bridge when travelling in to the city from the west. The centre section swings around to allow ships in and out of Darling Harbour, the green building is the the control room. It was chaos in the old days when this bridge was in operation. The funny bit over the bridge is the rail for the monorail train.

Here is a reflection of Darling Harbour in a glass facade to the Maritime Museum, folk passing by must have thought I was a bit crazy when taking this shot.

These are a couple of photos of the model boats, the workmanship that went in to these models is quite remarkable.This model is definitely not French, it's Captain Cook's Endeavour an ex Newcastle to Whitby coal boat. There is a replica of the Endeavour moored outside the museum, they are always looking for crew, anyone interested? By the way nice view of Yues in background.

Bye for now and love to all.

Hill End Trip

Hill End is a couple or so hours drive out of Mudgee the roads are good and not so good. Once out of town there are several long stretches of unsealed road. It is a bit like driving on a pebble beach and you leave a trail of dust behind you. We were lucky and did not have to follow any other vehicles. The bull dust as we call it is very fine and gets in to everything. This post is mainly photos of the countryside and the town of Hill End. Expensive place, a mug (chipped) of tea is $3.50 say seven quid!

So there is Hill End once a thriving place in the 1850's goldrush and now a ghost town. This neck of the woods is getting close to the Black Stump and in Oz parlance there is nothing beyond that.

Bye for now, we have had 11 days of rain, a 75 year record for April, I'm starting to get homesick, NOT.

On Saturday we were visited by the Dubdidges [nick name from a long time ago] As the weather was bright we decided to go for a walk in the dell. Ben was not enthusiastic but soon cheered up and enjoyed the freedom [no traffic, just water to fall into - but he didn't]The waterfalls were lovely as we had had a lot of rain. Kelsie was with us too which was nice. When we got back we were hungry and tucked into Spaghetti Bolognaise and Apple and Blackberry pie. Mmmm

Last week we were able to enjoy a visit to Trentham. The beautifully restored garden is lovely. We were too rarly for the newest plantings, but will go back soon

Trip to Mudgee

After seeing Helen off to Queensland we were off on our trip to Mudgee which is about 150 miles NW of Sydney. It has quite a bit of history being the second major rural centre to be founded in NSW. It is cattle and sheep country with quite a number of vineyards just outside the town. They produce some very nice wine. You just rock-up at the vineyard and head for the tasting room and sample their plonk. To get to Mudgee you have to cross the Great Dividing Range and the Blue Mountains National Park. Here is a shot of the park, it is huge, nobody knows for sure what is down there. A few years back a botanist found the Wollemmi Pine, this tree goes back to the dinosaurs! That flat topped moutain does look a bit like "The Lost World". Just out of interest England will fit in to NSW about four times and the majority of us live on a narrow coastal strip.

This is the main drag in Mudgee some great old buildings and nice wide streets, it is quite a laid back place, everyone says "G'day" to you on the street.

Here is a typical country road around this area and was taken on our way to Hill End a couple of hours out of Town.

This picture was taken near one of the vineyards, the windmill is made by the famous Southern Cross Pump Company and is used for irrigation.

Here is one of many of these signs out in the bush, you have to be careful when driving in the early morning and at dusk, a hitting roo can make a real mess of your car. The animal on the bottom of the sign is a wombat and the white stuff on the grass is frost. The photo was taken early morning on our return to Sydney. It was quite foggy in places with heavy frost on the paddocks.

Bye for now and next time will post some pics of our trip to Hill End famous for it's gold rush days. To Suzy, your photo of the viaduct at the Dell is great, you are sure enjoying your new camera.

Daughter got wings then flew the coop

It has been a couple of interesting weeks for us as Helen was due to migrate north to Queensland and greener pastures. This was delayed as she had to be re-tested on some aspects of aeronautical navigation like, how not to get lost! Well last Tuesday on Yues's 60th she passed the exam and we went out to Hoxton Park Aerodrome for a photo opportunity. That night we celebrated at a local Thai curry shop. Next morning at around 4am we set of for Mascot to put Helen on a flight to Coolangatta which is south of Brisbane on the Gold Coast.

Helen and her boyfriend are renting a flat up there, it will be interesting to see what happens, watch this space. It is all a bit like Ramsey St as you know it on the TV.

Here are a few photos taken out at Hoxton Park. In September this will not exist, it is to be re-developed by one of the big banks who bought it cheap.

So after seeing Helen off we took a trip to Mudgee which is about 150km NW of Sydney it has a lot of history, that will be my next post.

All the very best to you all until next time.

Middleton-in-Teesdale

Geoff and I spent a few days in the North East recently. We had weather of all sorts, but being March we went prepared and our enjoyment was not spoiled. We revisited Durham, and were pleased that they now have an excellent Park and Ride. We also went to see High Force waterfall, billed as the longest drop in England. I must say I was a little disappointed as it did not appear much more of a drop than our own waterfall, but it was lovely all the same.The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle is wonderful inside and out. It was built by a Mr Bowles as a museum for his great collections, so that the public could get pleasure from them too. Unfortunately, he died before the building was finished, which was rather sad after all the work he had put into the project.

Something nice for a change

Hi everyone, we are now coming in to autumn downunder and it is still pretty hot and humid. Temperatures on some days are in the low 30's. We have had a fair bit of rain which has brought the Sydney dam levels to over 60%. To the north of the state and up in Queensland they have copped severe floods.

We have put in some native plants and shrubs in the garden in order to conserve water. Now the things are in danger of being drowned. This is a photo of a Bottle Brush it's an albino variety as they are normally red in colour. The native birds love them for their nectar. Have been trying to get a photo of the Rainbow Lorrikeets that have started to visit a tree next door. The things are a bit skitzo so its hard to get a shot of them. You just would not believe their colours, just like they were painted.

Here is a photo taken ealy one morning looking south from our back verandah, I was hoping the balloon would come our way but the wind had a different idea. We get quite a few hot air balloons passing overhead some are higher than others. A couple of years back one came over so low I thought it would land on our roof. Luckily, it was some other poor sods roof over the back of us.

Bye for now, and enjoyed your photos of Crosby Dorothy. I just hope that guy in the water has steel capped safety shoes on what with ships propellers and windmills milling around the place. I reckon he should have a little more protection than a hard hat.

Last week we went over to Crosby to see Andrew Gormley's iron men. They looked fantastic, just like real people on their way to the sea. The sky was a real blue one, so all pictures came out very clearly. There was lots of shipping to watch and windfarms operating, but it was absolutely freezing!
I am hoping to be able to attach some photos - if I can't, my Personal IT Consultant will get another call!

Just when you thought it was safe - Tarantula

Australia Day, just got out of bed went down the hall and spotted this little chappie hanging around. We call them Tarantulas, but I think they are Huntsman. These little critters, big as your hand, fair-dinkum are fast too. Got to be fast on the draw with the old insect spray.

Here he is on the move, he's spotted his prey, me! Going as fast as he can, see those hairy legs go. At the last moment I quickly replaced my camera for the spray can, and it was all-over red rooster for the spider.

The spray only stunned the spider, which enabled me to catch it. It was later returned to the garden. Next doors not ours! Not nice our neighbour, hope it bites on his big toe.

Was hoping to take some pics of a Blue Tongued Lizard that visited our garage last week. It's about a foot long, could still be hiding behind my workbench, not sure.

Bye for now from Bob