First Melbourne then on to Sydney

A quiet weekend at home was called for after our trip to Yackandandah. We spent Saturday in the city stopping at Fed Square for a look at Disney's 'Dreams do come true' exhibition. This was held at ACMI and was a fun exhibition showing all the Walt Disney stories you know and love. Telling the Walt Disney story from the start it went on to take a look at Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog, right up to 2011 with the newest movie Tangled based on the story of Rapunzel. It was a lovely step back into childhood for a little while.

After lunch at the ACMI Cafe we wandered on to have a look at the newly finished MYER store. Over the last 3 years the renovation has been in progress and at last it has finished. Everything has been transferred to the one store now and the other old building has been sold and will be redeveloped. The last thing we heard was Hotel/apartments/shops. We'll have to wait and see. The new store is very impressive and I guess will continue to pull the shoppers in for a long while yet. After our 'big' quiet day we finished off with dinner downstairs and come home to watch a movie.

Sunday was another fine morning and we decided that we would catch a tram to St Kilda for brunch. Something we hadn't done for a long time. We found a new cafe and had a yummy brunch before we had a look at the Art Markets along the Esplanade. No shopping just looking. Our adventures kept us out until mid afternoon and then it was home to get ready for the week ahead.

The following week Bill was in Sydney and I flew up to join him on Friday for a Trade Show Dinner. We had a great night at the Crowne Plaza at Coogee. Dinner was fun with a progressive theme for the night. Each name tag had 3 numbers on it and you had to move tables for each course. A fun way to meet lots of people and escape from a boring neighbour if needed. Not that it was. We were staying in a apartment in Randwick and had decided that as we had 'done' Sydney a couple of years ago this time we would venture out and see some other parts of the state. We did look at going to the Blue Mountains but thought that would need a trip to itself so instead decided to go and see Audley Weir in the Royal National Park.

What a great day. The National Park covers a huge area and the road cutting through the middle of it is a tourist drive in itself. Audley Weir was a lovely place to visit with many picnic areas around the Hacking River and the weir. The Old Boat shed is still there now hiring canoes & mountain bikes for the many people who visit. We spent the day exploring lots of tracks and trails along the river. So many Kookaburras all sitting in trees over the picnic tables waiting for their chance for a free feed. We had lunch in a quiet sunny area and within a couple of minutes had 5 of them waiting in trees nearby. We had a wander along one of the tracks which was very popular with people on Mountain Bikes. Lady Carrington Dve is a great walk with lovely views of the river below. The 32 km walk was a bit much for us city slickers to contemplate in one day so we just strolled along for about 30 mins and then came back. It was fun and who knows we might even go further another time.

After exploring much of the area around the river we decided that we would continue on the Grand Pacific Dve to come out at the other end of the National Park. During the drive there were some side roads to the coast and we took one of these to an area called Gogerlys Point. This looks across the bay to Lilli Pilli & Willarong Point. It was a pretty little picnic spot with a table under a big tree and a great view across the bay. There was the remains of an old jetty and also the remains of old houses and boat sheds down near the water. It must have been a spectacular place for a house once upon a time. Just some stone foundations and some European Trees there now. We left there and drove on to Waterfall Creek where we had to make a decision to take shortcut home or continue on. We continued on and were we glad we did.

After a drive through the forest here we came out and around the corner to the most amazing view. The road runs along the coast from here to Coalcliff where there is the most amazing seacliff bridge. The road has been built like a bridge above the sea and hugging the cliff face. We stopped at Bald Hill for a look at the view and the wind here was so strong that it nearly blew us over. Getting a picture was a bit of a challenge for Bill but with dedication he managed to get lots for me to choose from. We arrived at Coalcliff and drove along this amazing road just as it was getting dark. We went over and back and then did it again this time to get some photo's from the other side. A real engineering feat the bridge was opened in 2005 as a safer option to the road that used to run along the base of the cliff. We finally had to stop playing and turned around to head home for the night. We had dinner in a nice little cafe in Randwick and then took ourselves home to the bed that calling me by then.

On Sunday we decided that we would go to the Zoo to see the Baby Elephants. Getting there early we spent lots of time watching the 3 little elephants playing with each other and their Mums. They are all different sizes with the newest little baby just 4 months old. So cute. The rest of the Zoo is very nice too and of course the views across the Harbour are amazing. The day was showery and during one heavy shower we sheltered just beside the elephants again. Here we had a treat as two of the babies decided that it would be fun to swim in the pool. They ran in and played and played finally being joined by two of their Mums and looked like they were having so much fun you couldn't help but smile. Once the rain stopped we had to leave the cute little babies and head to the airport for our flight home.

Only one more week at work and we are off to Darwin for 2 weeks in a campervan. Mmmm, I'll let you know how we get on.

until next time...........