Southern NZ

Time to bring this a bit more up to date
Did a cruise on Milford Sound a couple of days ago, after traveling all down the west coast of South Island. Absolutely beautiful and awesome. (pics of) Now in Dunedin, interesting place but not easy to find one's way around first time visiting.
The weather has been showery but not too bad, a bit cool. Oh yes.... went right to the southern tip of NZ yesterday morning but couldn't see the South Pole :)

Welcome Wall

Was at Darling Harbour today and took some photos of the "Welcome Wall" There are thousands of names of people who have come to Australia from all over the world (over six million in total) and there are comments from a few of them regarding their lifestyle change. Interesting reading.

info signs

Wandering in the Sydney area I often see signs giving information on what I'm seeing, or on what used to be on that spot. I think one could write a history of Sydney from all these snippets of information. I think may have posted some much earlier in my blog.... must go look sometime :-) Anyway I'll show a couple of recent ones here. I hope they are readable. More to come probably

interesting rock

We were at a beach near Manley yesterday and in places erosion has left the local sandstone showing. Many buildings in the Sydney area are built with this very attractive rock, also sidewalks use lots of it.
Every Sunday hundreds of kids take part in "Nippers", which is initial training for the surf rescue organisation. I guess from the hundreds at this young age the service gets enough trained life-savers to man the beaches. The group in the photo is just a small section of what I saw yesterday, and the kids had a ball.

More Sydney Wanderings

Took another trip today and this is what Saturday afternoon on Sydney harbour looks like. Also the ferry I had just got off on my way home heading out for it's next stop

Maritime Museum

Went through the Maritime Museum this morning, which meant a trip on a ferry. Anyone visiting Sydney and not experiencing the Sydney ferries is missing a great part of their visit. Lots of interesting stuff at the museum, including a tour of a destroyer and a submarine.(pics of both if you can see through the forest of masts) The destroyer seemed small, but after being in the submarine I knew what small and confined really meant. Lunch in The Rocks, a wonderful part of the city, and then another ferry ride and a walk home.
Watched "The Bucket List" this afternoon. If you haven't seen it make a point of doing so.

Enjoying Sydney

So there we were... my daughter Sarah and I, seeing who could make highest score on the golf course, and what catches my eye better than wild flowers. So now you can enjoy them too.
I like going for a stroll before dawn and there is a collection of Flying Foxes or Fruit Bats (not sure which they are) just a few yards down the road. Scary if you don't like wild creatures; noisy too. Sure not scared of me :)