Sydney
Here are the photos that you have to take of Sydney!
Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Sydney Opera House.
I finally got a great photo of the Sydney Opera House with the sun rising behind it at 6am. To get this photo, I'd hung around the harbour from about 4:30am! I had serious jet lag!
Sydney Botanical Gardens. I love the fact that the authorities which, in the UK would be busy banning you from ball games, are encouraging the general public to talk to the birds and hug the trees!
Sharks in the Sydney Aquarium.
The Blue Mountains
The Blue Mountains get their name because of this blue haze that hangs over the landscape. This is caused by eucalyptus oil evaporating from the eucalypt trees.
Pictures of the three rocks, known as the Three Sisters. The third photo here is taken looking down at the Three Sisters - you can see just how far down in to the canyon it is behind Mike.
Jenolan caves. The one with the red lights is very impressive - eh? The third photo is of a formation that looks a bit like a dragons head.
Small Towns in New South Wales
We stayed in a classy joint in Orange - one that couldn't spell "desert" (sic). It's OK though - dessert is only likely to be "a piece of cake" anyway! Imagine our excitement at the range of "specials" on offer
Orange is in the middle of one of Australia's best wine regions - hopefully, I asked the barmaid in our hotel - "what red wines do you have?" The answer; "well all we've got is a red lambrusco - it's a nice light French wine" arrrggghhh!
A farmers market - where all the men wear cowboy hats!
You could say Gulgong was a one horse town! It does have the claim to fame of being the `town on the back of a ten dollar note' (the Motel in the third picture is named after this particular claim).
Jane realising we'd just drunk an award winning bottle of wine - you can see I was quite pleased with this discovery!
The local petrol station for local people in a town mysteriously known as `The Entrance'!
Fossicking
Ophir Gold Mine
This is John, our guide, holding up the phial of "Ophir Mine" gold that we bought from him.
A general photo of the `camp'. Notice John hiding behind the building!
One of John's peacocks - sadly, this is one gene pool which is going to die out - the peacock was busy displaying to one of the geese!
Lightning Ridge Opal Mines
Maj explaining how the dirt (hopefully containing opals) is brought up from the mine. Whilst she was demonstrating the lift, her son's head popped up from a nearby hole - saying "Oy, what you playin' at!"
Maj arrived from Sweden in 1966 for a two week holiday. Sadly the glamour of opal mining was too much for her to resist, so she never went home!
The centre of Lightning Ridge and a BA concorde in the local supermarket! Mike wanted me to sit in concorde for a photo - but as I pointed out to him, once in there, I'd probably never be able to get out!
Wildlife
Some emus at the side of the road.
A koala.
Kangaroos.
A pelican.
A dog!
Me standing nervously beside a `warning - crocodiles' sign. Look closely at the water and you'll see a crocodile.
A crocodile (It's okay - this was taken in an aquarium - from the far side of very thick glass!)
A scary cassowary - this is not a great photo - but you have to understand that we were on the run from it!
Weird Stuff
We found these remarkable exhibits in Gulgong Pioneers Museum. I think they need no introduction!
We resisted the aluring temptation of Ameralia's Plate World - maybe we missed out!
Man breaking into house!
Father Christmas - and all his Father Christmas friends - go fishing!
??? (Do you have any idea how many times Mike made me do this before he remembered to take a photo at the exact moment where I began to drown!)
The road signs in Australia (and as we later saw, New Zealand) are very specific. These two signs are a warning against cassowaries crossing, combined with a `warning - bump' sign. If you look really closely, you'll see that some comedian has amended the bump sign to look like a dead cassowary, and written `before' and `after' on the respective signs!