South Coast NSW. Tripping along

November 10, 2018November 11, 2018 / brisbanefrannie / 3 Comments

Breakfast with a view is always a good idea. It sets you up for the day.

We picked up a car and headed off – south past the airport.

Down towards Cronulla , an area referred to as ‘The Shire’. It’s a beach area with comfortable bungalow style houses and access to the beach via a long Boulevard.

Onto the road through the National Park and then we wound down towards the Sea Bridge Cliff drive. This road is an engineering feat. It’s about 700mt long and goes out over the water. It’s not attached at the bottom of the steep rock cliffs as there are the dangerous boulders will break loose and roll onto the road.

It’s a cameramans delight! The clouds in the sky made it more dramatic.

We had to stop at the Scarborough Hotel for a reviving coffee and were tempted to share the gorgeous home baked carrot cake. Definitely no lunch needed.

Then the trip took us past little seaside places of our childhood. My parents had their honeymoon at Kiama and our family had holidays at Gerringong, Steve’s family at Austinmer, Erowal Bay and Huskinson. So we had a little trip down memory lane.

We continued south past Berry, Molleymook, Batemans Bay. Then into Moruya, took a left turn and onto Bingi. There’s no town there. It’s a National Park with some acreage land with home. Built in secluded spots. Jan & Stuart live there in a house designed by Stuart.

The floor of the outdoor terrace is actually the top of an enormous water tank. The mosaic floor has been designed as a map of the area with their house shown as the white pebble circle in the photo above. Quite stunning.

There are big kangaroos grazing just outside and if you ignore them they’ll ignore you. You don’t want them coming over and boxing you!

We walked through the trees to the beach. It’s secluded and very special.

Home to many birds, you have to respect their habitat. We climbed up the hill to the side and spotted The Pinnacles sitting in isolation on a small beach.

Dinner was prepared by Stuart a man of many talents. He’s an architect but paints wonderful scenes of the area and designed built and ran The Rivers at Moruya, a great restaurant- the first to get one hat on the South Coast.

The night was dark, the frogs croaked the kangaroos stood on hind legs boxing and we slept in peace.

Sydney, Canberra Adelaide. A short break.

November 10, 2018 / brisbanefrannie / 3 Comments

We love the idea of a mini holiday. Especially when our house has been under siege from builders, painters and floor sanders. Combined with November heat we were only too pleased to plan an escape.

First stop, Sydney. We usually stay at Coogee but my sister has her daughter’s family staying while their apartment is being renovated. So we are staying in the city just near Circular Quay.

We arrived Wednesday evening to light rain and cooler conditions. Perfect after the heat of Brisbane. We walked to the Opera Bar for dinner and decided to see a late movie on the way back.

We went to Bohemian Rhapsody, the Freddie Mercury movie at 9pm! So late for us. The music 🎶 was great. Loved it.

We walked back to our club in the cool and enjoyed sleeping under a blanket!

Steve left early the next morning for work and I wandered down to Customs House at the Quay for coffee in the morning sun.

A walk around the city streets feels so strange when almost everyone is walking to work with the one hand salute! That is the take away coffee cup. It takes me back to a few years ago in Italy. I was telling a young man about the coffee culture in Australia where so many people walk around the city holds take away coffee. ‘Why would they do that?’ He asked , ‘when they could stand at the bar for a quick espresso or sit and enjoy a cappuccino , crazy!’

I went into David Jones and I was so disappointed. They are renovating! Everyone is renovating! And most floors were closed. So I gave up and headed to Paddington where I was meeting up with the family. My sister Catherine, nieces Clare, Helen and Pip and littles ones Zali 4 years and Max 4 months.

It was so lovely to sit and chat and enjoy the salads at Jackie’s in Paddington.

After lunch we did a little retail therapy. There are some lovely boutiques in Paddington and we had fun trying a few things on.

I walked back into the city and decided to call into the Museum of Sydney.

It has an excellent exhibition on at the moment called the Artists of Lavender Bay. The highlights included Brett Whitley and the Wendy Whitley Secret Garden which his wife Wendy started when he died. It’s beautiful and peaceful and I must go there next time I’m down.

Back to the RAC to freshen up for dinner at Chop House. It’s a restaurant for meat lovers. I had a steak which is rare for me and it was delicious.

It’s good being a tourist in your home city.

Tomorrow another adventure as we head down the South Coast road towards Moruya.

Opals: Fossicking in Lightening Ridge.

September 20, 2018 / brisbanefrannie / 2 Comments

A little nightcap last night gave us s reason to have a sleep in so we wandered to breakfast around 8.30.

The town was waking and the sun was shining. Breakfast was at the Green Gecko 🦎. Another success! Delicious and served with a country smile.

We made our plans for the day and started with the Art Gallery across the road. The John Murray Gallery is a popular stop on the tourist trail. And with good reason.

The building itself screams outback. The paintings on the shed wall capture the outback in a humorous way.

Inside was just as interesting. We watched a movie with John Murray talking about his arrival in the Ridge and starting an art gallery. We saw his home with its natural materials. His art is colourful and fun and I couldn’t resist buying one or two small pieces.

No photo inside. 😫

We crossed the road walked past the emus on the wall and went into the opal cave. A renowned shop selling the famous black opal.

The shop is done out like a cave full of treasures. I spotted a beautiful black opal reflecting the most gorgeous colours. Not in any setting. A single opal for $12,000. Wow.

The sales people patiently explained how to spot a good quality opal let us look, examine and try various pieces of jewellery and good naturally farewelled us after we didn’t buy anything.

We tossed up over the next stop and decided on the underground mine. It was a few km out of town.

We hatted up and down we went. It was cool and a little claustrophobic. But fun. Another little movie explaining how to fossick. I think you’d have to be determined!

And you’d have to like being underground!

The owner of the mine was from Shorncliffe Qld. He told us if you worked hard mining you would make a good living. There are opals to be found. Perhaps a career change?

Above ground we decided it was beer o’clock. Michael promised us a tour of the 3 pubs in the scrub via the underground sculptures.

Today we could see the yellow car doors so followed them to the sculpture underground. Sadly closed for lunch. For 3 hours! So we continued heading out of town. Past the big emu.