Day 140 - Mona Vale and Bilgola Beach

After the past few days' excitement, a quiet morning followed by an afternoon swim at pretty Bilgola Beach just along the bay; first in the seawater-fed pool

then (lots of fun, and spending a fair amount of excess energy), splashing about in strong waves ("Bilgola" apparently comes from the Aboriginal word Belgoula meaning "swirling waters" - and they weren't wrong!).  Isn't that golden sand gorgeous?

Day 139 - tourist Sydney part III

Welcome to the Chinese Year of the Horse!

Another great day in town : after lunch, we went to the Art Gallery of NSW 

for a combination of some old masters, some interesting Australian art and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art

and a few too many of these modern stuff...

Then to the Opera House and SHB for a sun-downer, 

where a liner was obligingly ready to leave and gave us a masterclass in reversing out, turning on a sixpence and heading onwards...

It being nearly Chinese new year, we ate in a super waterside place, complete with seasonal entertainment

though in truth we could have done without the (very very loud) drums and clashing cymbals percussion... Just as well no one appeared to be there on a quiet romantic first date.  

The noise is apparently supposed to drive away last year's bad spirits to allow the new year to afresh - it certainly drove us away but that was timely because the fireworks started right on cue, just as the SOH was turning a pinkish hue

and closer to lucky red by the time we called it a night.

Day 138 - fantastic day's sailing in Pittwater

Gordon and Fiona are enthusiastic sailors with whom we've enjoyed many a sailing trip so it was excellent news to hear that they'd rented a 32 footer for the day to explore Pittwater (staying within the confines of America's Bay so as not to stray too far).  A gorgeous day with still calm waters

to come aboard (though you'll be relieved to hear this is as close as I came to steering)

Tranquil and warm, with the odd burst of action to come about

but as ever our duties were primarily enjoying the views, admiring the sea eagles and jellyfish, preparing the picnic and fetching the beers.

At one stage, we caught some frisky winds and were careering along (picture by Duncan, manfully holding on to the deckropes as the yacht catches an impressive angle in the water!) 

Day 137 - Nowra back to Mona Vale - trip south part VII

We started the day with breakfast by the beach

and then went into a rainforest park called Minnimurra, for a 1.6km Rainforest Loop boardwalk stroll 

crossing the odd suspension bridge.

Duncan took a detour to a waterfall of the Minnimurra river

and made friends with some local wildlife.

And then "home" to Mona Vale, to the good news that we're going sailing tomorrow

Day 136 - Canberra to Nowra - trip south part VI

The excellent National Museum of Australia covers history, anthropology, natural history and Aboriginal art.

The Old Parliament is also a cracking building

and opposite sits the self-styled "Aboriginal Embassy", originally dating from the 1960s and the fight for recognition of the treatment of indigenous people and the fact that, being disenfranchised and disowned of their traditional land, they felt like foreigners in Australia ...

Other top spot of the day was at Goulburn, which boasts a Merino wool museum housed in - what else? - a 15m sheep

with a viewing point through its eyes...

In passing, some woolly, ovine facts for you (1) in WW2, Britain pre-bought the total Australian wool "crop"; (2) no Aussie sheep shearer was allowed to enlist, such was the importance of their job; (3) sheep numbers peaked in 1970 at 180m (to put that in context, the two-legged population was shy of 13m!).

We finished the day admiring Kangaroo Valley and the Illawarra Escarpment, and gorgeous Fitzroy Falls, where the river falls 82m over Hawkesbury sandstone rocks. 

Day 135 - Canberra (happy Australia Day!)

Canberra's 1927 Parliament (the "Old Parliament", now museum - hopefully on tomorrow's list) was deemed too small by 1988 and a new, bigger Parliament was opened by HM on 9 May. 

And very fine it is too, with its columns 

and marquetry,
 

as well as being run by a very tolerant bunch who positively encourage photography and random wandering about to admire the exhibited artwork

Following London's tradition, the lower (Representatives) chamber is decked out in green, in a shade echoing the colour of gum leaves

with the Senate in "red" (well, pink, for the gum blossom at various points in its maturity

Each has a version of the Australian coat of arms : roo and emu.

We then crossed to the no less impressive War Memorial, for an informative guided tour

The view on the city from nearby Mt Ainslie is also very nice indeed

and this Australia Day ended with fireworks on the lawns opposite the Parliament - bonzer!

Day 134 - Thredbo to Canberra - trip south part IV

Business as usual with the sunshine first thing, thank goodness. Onward through Kosciuszko NP (the eponymous mountain apparently named for an American Independence War general)  

and through golden hillsides

rather spooky forests of petrified gumtrees

And into a new State (well, Territory),

and of course Canberra - Australia's capital. After the various States came together to form a Federation in 1901, a site for the new capital was sought, and Canberra was selected. The ACT was actually declared on 1 January 1911 and an international competition held to design the new capital city. It was won by a an American architect Walter Burley Griffin (with drawings drafted by his wife Marion Mahony Griffin) and the lake which runs through the city is named after him. We headed up the Telstra Tower in Black Mountain NP (195m though obviously the viewing platform is nowhere that high)

 for some views and orientation

And to our cabin for the night, with kangaroos and galahs in the fields behind