Day 132 - Ulladulla to Cooma - trip south part II

Relief to have some sunshine again after a couple of grey days. After a look around town, including its ANZAC memorial, commemorating all of the services

we continued South from Ulladulla on the Princes Highway, with a brief stop at Murramarang NP (spotted four wallabies) and Bateman's Bay, and on to pretty Narooma

and lunch by Lake Coruna.

The factory tours of Bega Cheese weren't operating so we satisfied ourselves with the museum

and then cut inland on the Snowy Mountains Highway, via Fred Piper's memorial park (28 years a Bega-to-Cooma bus driver, he keeled over whilst digging a path for his bus through a snowdrift...)

Day 131 - trip south part I - Mona Vale to Ulladulla via Botany Bay

After another great fruit breakfast, we hopped into our rented Toyota and, having set up to pay tolls with an "Emu" Pass, headed over the Harbour Bridge

and detoured to Botany Bay NP for an interesting exhibition (did you know that, on 28 April 1770, when he stepped onto Australian soil, he wasn't Captain Cook at all but Lieutenant Cook? Poor sod, sent off to find a land that might not actually have been there and not even promoted beforehand! or that his wife's cousin, Midshipman Isaac Smith, was actually the first of the crew off the Endeavour?) 

Naturally, there are a couple of monuments on the landing site (including some to the poor Aboriginals who unsurprisingly weren't all that chuffed to see the visitors).

Onward down the Princes and the Pacific Coast Highways, stopping for some cracking sea views

and a look around pretty seaside town, Kiama, with its gracious buildings dating from the 1830s

and impressive blowhole (the town's name comes from the Aboriginal word Kirama : "place where the sea makes a big noise")

Day 130 - Manly

Hot news of the day - yesterday, there was a card from the postman to say that he'd called to deliver our passports and we safely collected them today from the post office with their Myanmar visas. Hurrah.

At lunchtime, Fiona and we went into Manly to have a fish and chips catch up with Frida, Gordon's mother, 

followed by a wander around Fairfax Walk at North Head in the Sydney Harbour National Park, with views back towards the city (you can just make out the SHB but the opera house is hidden - still a very good view though).

There are also obviously some more native marsupials who are liable to be run over...

Day 129 - back in Mona Vale

After last week's excitement, a quieter day; a trip into town, espying BBQ offers for Sunday's Australia Day celebrations

and planning our next excursion - a week going down the south coast to Bateman's Bay, inland via the skifields of Kosciuszko NP (and Mt K, tallest in Australia), and to Canberra (hopefully for Australia Day on 26th), and at long last an Aussie swim (having checked those shark sighting reports...)

Day 128 - weekend trip to Mudgee part II

Another day, another winery (or four, one of which specialised in Italian-style wines and served great pizza).

We also briefly explored Mudgee centre, first settled in 1823 and still boasting some early settler buildings, 

and of course the war memorial on the clocktower

Day 127 - weekend trip to Mudgee part I

After a last breakfast with John (et al),

Gordon and Fiona picked us up and we waved goodbye to the wallabies, heading 126 miles (202km) north-east via Lithgow to the town (and wineries) of Mudgee ("nest in the hills").

We stopped en route for a short wander down to Evans' Lookout for a glimpse of Grose Valley, Australia's answer to the Grand Canyon

and then briefly to admire the rock pagodas and cliffs at the Garden of Stones NP

and passing Windermere

Once in Mudgee, we found our comfy little (dog-friendly) cabin (with resident wallaby in the neighbouring woodland - he hopped off as we pulled in) 

and headed out for the afternoon's tastings, and purchasing - we've got our work cut out for our last two weeks in Oz!

Needless to say, it had been 35°+, leading to a perfect evening for an alfresco BBQ dinner and finally we spotted the Southern Cross

Day 126 - Blaxland part III

Another bright morning and the parrots and lorikeets were out...

And a few others

After another good catching-up lunch with (other cousin) Lauretta and her husband Eric, John took us for a spin around the 2000 Olympics regatta park (now called the Penrith Whitewater Stadium). It was constructed in 1999 for A$6.5m and was certainly still popular and well used, and the white-water kayaking looked very good fun