New South Wales

We spent the weekend in Sydney staying with our nephew Dan and his wife Kerrie in their apartment by Sydney harbour bridge - if you crane you neck you can see the bridge fom their window! The weather wasn't great, so we did city stuff - ate dinner at Darling harbour and went shopping in Bondi with Kirsty and friends.

On Sunday we picked up a rental car and took off to the Blue Mountains with Dan and Kirsty to do some walking. It was a beautiful sunny day, but the air was cooler than anything we have experienced here in Australia - more like spring in Norway. Just perfect for walking. The Blue mountains are spectacular and there really is a blue haze over them. Once you get away from the crowds they are still an almost untouched wilderness. However, it does feel like upside down walking - all the roads and settlements are at the top of the mountains and you have to walk downhill first! We spent the night in Katoomba having put the others on a train back to Sydney, and carried on exploring the area the next morning. The views around Blackheath, another small village in the area, were even more spectacular. It also has an enormous Rhododendron garden, which was in full bloom at the moment.

After that we drove inland though the mountains into sheep and cattle farming country to a farm near a small town called Dunedoo. The farm is owned by some friends of my family, and we were made welcome in true Aussie fashion by Gail and Ross. We spent a very interesting couple of days there being shown around the farm, herding sheep on motorbikes and generally learning a bit about farmlife in Australia. They primarily produce lambs, but also have cattle and crops. Harvest-time starts in the next couple of days, so they have plenty to keep them busy now. On our last night there we had one of their lambs roasted in a wood oven outside - mmm!

After leaving them we drove south through New South Wales and more heavily populated farming country (though not by English standards). The towns are larger and closer together, still with the distinctive Australian one-storey buildings. Lunch was in Cowra by the rose garden. Cowra had a massive Japanese breakout from its POW-camp during WWII and many prisoners died. They have since made great efforts to achieve a reconciliation with the Japanese people.

Then on through Cootamundra, the birthplace of the legendary Don Bradman (Australia's greatest cricketer), to Wagga Wagga, Austalia's largest inland city, which just happens to have the National Art Glass Gallery. Wagga is a pleasant town based around the Murrumbidgee river, where the trees are full of cockatoos.

Today we head on down though the Yarra valley vineyards to Melbourne and the state of Victoria.