AUSTRALIA

October 10 – 13, 2023

We landed in Sydney in the evening. We rented a hybrid car for 24 days. We planned on putting LOTS of miles on it! Off we went to our guesthouse. We had some trouble finding it, and entering the property. There were three different doors with three different pass codes.

The next day we drove out to the Canadian Exile memorial. In 1840 a bunch of French Canadians were shipped of the the Australian penal colony for revolting against the unfair political, social and economic discrimination toward the French Catholics in lower Canada (Quebec). Initially the revolutionaries were hung, but the government realized they were making martyrs of these men, so they decided to ship them off. Out of sight, out of mind. Within a few years the changes the revolutionaries were fighting for came to pass in a newly united Canada and many were allowed to return home. One stayed.

We then went to The Rocks., the area in current Sydney where the convicts arrived. It was frequented by sailors and prostitutes. The area was soon dominated by gangs. It was rough neighborhood and had a reputation as a slum. The government began to demolish the buildings in an attempt to rebuild. However in the mid 1970s a group managed to save the remaining buildings and converted the area into a commercial and tourist district. We toured a small museum that showed the history of the indigenous people and the settlement of convicts. Many of the convicts were tradesmen and women with high literacy and business savvy, but were ignorant of colonial life and farming. They eventually made their way and opened businesses.

I needed a new belt and went into a leather shop. They had no belts on hand but the salesperson did try to sell me a $600 change purse! It had an opal snap. Needless to say, I didn’t buy anything.

From the Rocks it was a short walk to the Harbour and the iconic Opera House. We didn’t take a harbour cruise, as it seemed expensive and redundant.

We walked around and looked at it from different angels and catching the Sydney Harbour Bridge at the same time.

There were markers on the walkway as to where the original shoreline was on certain dates.

We got a nice view of the Sydney skyline and some of its unique skyscrapers.

As always, I was drawn to the flowers and the purple trees. I laughed thinking a kindergarten kid will draw a purple tree and the teacher tells them that trees are not purple. Goes to show that teachers don’t know everything!!

Speaking of flowers, I saw a hedge – a HEDGE – of bird of paradise! There were many other lovely blossoms, but that hedge was definitely unique.

As we made our way back to the car we had to go up a staircase that had a face painted on it. I didn’t realize it was a staircase until I saw someone ascending it. Part of the face was on the back wall and the other part of the face on the front wall. Very cleverly done!

We got in the car and drove across the Harbour Bridge and back. It was an impressive bridge but had no view from it. I suppose if we had walked across it, we would have seen more and paid less in tolls.

Much of The Rocks was demolished to make way for the bridge construction. Here is all the official information about the Bridge:

We drove around a bit, bought some groceries and some on-the-road supplies at a mall near our guesthouse. That evening we took the metro back to the Harbour as driving was not as much fun with the crazy traffic and driving on the left side. It took us an hour to drive and about 20 minutes by train. The train was a double-decker.

We walked through The Royal Botanic Garden

to Mrs. Macquaries Park. I had read that there is an excellent night view of the Opera House and Bridge. We thought the bridge was going to light up with a million bulbs, but we had read an article that was months old and was talking about the anniversary of the bridge. It was lit up for the anniversary, not an everyday event. Damn it. But it was lovely, none the less.

We stayed a bit too long and the gates to the Botanic Garden were locked when we tried to return, so we had to go the long way around. It was still a nice walk through a different park.

We were not enamored with Sydney so we headed west toward the Blue Mountains. During the summer I had met some people from Australia and picked their brain for the best travel destinations. The Blue Mountains came highly recommended. We stopped at a tourist information station and got a map. We told the man that we only wanted to spend a day or two and to give us the highlights. He circled the best hikes and lookouts and gave us a good rundown of where to go first, where to park, etc.

While in the gift shop I spotted a unique coaster. I asked about it and the clerk said it was from a huge pine cone kind of thing called a banksia pod. They cut them into coasters, candle holders, and vases. They are very porous and you can put essential oil on them to give off a nice scent. Sold!

We drove out to see what we could see. Remember, we live in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, some of the best mountain views in the world. It takes a lot to top them, and to impress us. These were not mountains in our estimation.

We headed out on the hike to see Wentworth Falls.

Empress Falls

The trail was beautiful. There were places where there were huge slabs of rock to guide us over swampy areas. Other places had us walking under huge rock overhangs.

I saw the Banksia tree with the big pods.

The mountains and various waterfalls were, to us, disappointing; but we really enjoyed the long hiking trails. We had brought a packed lunch and ate it in a small park with picnic tables. Within seconds we were inundated with cockatiels swooping down and landing not only on our table but on us!

We came to a lookout point and there was a sign that said we could go up another 900 steps to a higher lookout. We decided that the day had already seen us hike several kilometres, over many ridges and valleys. We decided that 900 steps was too much. We had one other lookout to go to. Govetts Leap. It was kind of Grand Canyon lite.

We saw a sign that said Bride’s Veil Falls – 15 minutes. It was on the recommended list of things to see, so we headed off. Very quickly we were going down many, many, many steps. Oh, crap! 600 steps later, we came to a waterfall that was about a foot across (30 cm) drizzling down about 3 metres of rocks (10 ft) Are you kidding me? 600 steps for this?!? We laughed all the way back up. At least it was not 900 steps.

We went for beer and pizza while waiting for our guesthouse hostess. Liz was a professor at the University teaching childhood development and specializing in speech therapy. She was very interesting and we chatted the night away like old friends. She had an amazing back garden full of unique flowers.

Before I retired for the night, I checked my emails and found one from my sister saying that our Mother was on her deathbed. I quickly got on the phone with United Airlines, who managed to get us a return flight to Canada in 36 hours. The next day we returned to Sydney, where we stayed at our original guesthouse. When we returned the car, we were informed that we would still have to pay for the full 24 days. I told the man why we had to return to Canada. He took pity on me and refunded the balance. United managed to put us in business class for the same price as economy. It was very nice for the upgrade, but sad for the reason we had to be flying.

When we landed in Vancouver, I called my sister immediately. Mom had died while we were in the air. She died on Friday October 13. I was and am so grateful for our last visit. She was coherent, laughing and chatting. A pleasant visit compared to her usual dementia confusion. My sister-in-law picked me up from the airport. Funeral arrangements and phone calls took over the next few weeks.