The next day we had a look around in Kings Park. Here is a short impression:
Peter and Lia had lots of fun ;-)
Besides flowers of course some birds and some views too:
In the far distance you can see the (earth digging) work to build the new Elizabeth Quay.. In about a year or 2, the Swan River (on the right) will be 'invited' into the city:
Another day out to Mundaring Weir Dam. This is a dam east of Perth, in 'The Hills', where drinking water is collected. There is a nice hotel / café there as well:
The local birds are fully adjusted to the local (read: pub) food:
Of course, kangaroo watching was not to be omitted:
Peter is a professional pastry chef. He loves teaching pastry cooking, and Ellen loves being taught :-). Ellen also happened to have had her birthday this month. Peter and Lia gave her a cook book "Rudolph's Bakery" by Rudolph van Veen (famous in the Netherlands and Europe) with Rudolph's personal signature.
Creating an orange cake was on the to-do list (don't try this at home based on just the photos!!):
One of our favourite walks is from East Fremantle to Walter Point, which is mostly along the Swan River:
With views like this:
You can marry pretty much anywhere in Perth, if it is your favourite spot, you can marry there:
End of the walk (or half way if you're walking back to the start where the car would be parked :-)), POINT WALTER:
Another day, another look... this time Cottlesloe, a well known beach location:
A very nice lunch too:
Sunday lunch at Blue Water Grill Steakhouse. Lunch was again very good, and what about the location:
Afternoon walk in East Perth:
Our dance friends Edith and Jeff invited us to visit her sister's (Marycke) apartment, which has a great view to Perth CBD. Marycke and Louis were great hosts!
Of course a visit to Rottnest Island could not be missed out on. We were a bit late getting to the island, so could not really go around the entire island. Instead we walked to the southern part, Kingston town and to a nice little look out for our (this time home-made lunch: sandwiches:-)):
This is where the boats / ferries arrive at Rottnest Island:
The reason for the name of the Island (although slightly incorrectly assumed these quokkas were rats):
And one more time, these are why the island is called Rottnest (ratten nest):
Of course the Quokka's are not the only 'beggars' walking round the island:
In portrait:
Do you remember the story about cooking and being taught? Part of the orange cake is essentially a custard cream which pretty much is the exact same stuff that is used in a typical Dutch cake called: Tompoezen. So lesson 2 (again, don't try this at home just based on the photos!):
Eind result: TOMPOEZEN
A typical industry in Australia is the wine industry. Wineries all around, so also in Perth. We had a look at the Sandalford winery not too far away from us. Besides actual wine there are usually restaurants and also shops where all sorts of wine related stuff is sold. Do you remember the comment about marrying wherever you'd like? A winery is often the choice for weddings and/or wedding photo shoots ...:
If the shoe fits ..... :
Another way to get into the heart of the city is to take the ferry from South Perth.
Arriving at the Barrack Street jetty. Lots of work going on to build the Elizabeth Quay - expected completion in 1.5 to 2 years:
Oh yeah, and of course getting close to Xmas, so Santa's helpers are out and about:
November 24th, 2014 - SYDNEY:
When Peter and Lia planned the trip to visit us we advised them to include a stay in Sydney together. Yes, another near 5 hours flying, but if you are in Australia for the first time Sydney can NOT be missed!
Here is an impression of our stay in Sydney.
You can travel around Sydney with public transport (bus, train and ferry) for a very acceptable price (just over 60 dollars for 7 days - all zones and all types included). These 'Mymulti' cards are sold at convenience stores throughout the city. The only challenge is that not all have them in stock. But at the third one we tried we were successful:
Preparations for Xmas were in a final stage:
Although tempted, we only had a look in this store, we did not actually buy anything:
Just to prevent confusion in some traffic situations, there are some helpful signs on the street:
Typical Sydney, a mix of high rise buildings, lots of people but also green..
Walking along around Circular Quay we ran into a famous Ozzie (Lleyton Hewitt). He was being interviewed about his future plans. Check this article by The Herald Sun if you're interested:-)
I did plan to zoom in a bit more to have a more 'portrait' style photo, unfortunately though this was the moment that my zoom lens decided to quit zooming :(. It spoiled my fun that day.... I was able to take a few more shots (without much zooming), but after that day I had to decide to move to the camera that everyone uses these days ... my smartphone :p
As you can see, Peter (our guest:-)) does seem to have photographer genes .. always looking for interesting angles when taking photos:
A few shots taken in the Botanical Gardens:
Another item on the 'bucketlist' were the Blue Mountains, again not to be missed. They are a bit away from the city so we decided to book a guided day-tour. We were picked up at our hotel at 7.00 am. The first stop on the way to the Blue Mountains was a stop in Blacktown at the local wildlife centre. Besides the wildlife, they also sold coffee there which we definitely needed (the coffee place where we planned to have our morning coffee, just before being picked up, was not open). Remember I now only had my phone camera to 'shoot' with? Only two pictures worthwhile sharing for now:
After this break, we drove further and arrived at the Blue Mountains. As always a very nice area to be in. Take a look:
Without going into too much detail, those of you that remember our very first visit to the Blue Mountains, where Ellen broke her ankle... Look at that last photo above, the place where she broke her ankle was along side the creek that ends in that waterfall you can (just) see:-)
After this little stop we drove on and got to the Three Sisters area (near Katoomba). There are a couple of options to spend time: taking the 'vertical' train down to the valley; going in the cable cars (the yellow one in the photos below); taking the stairs (up and / or down) to the valley; any combination of these... We chose to walk down and take the vertical train back up:
One of our favourite activities in Sydney is taking a ferry to Watsons bay, and then walk around the point. Remember the comment about marrying? You'll see another example below:-)
Back in the city (Darling Harbour) we had a nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant. And walking along the harbour after that spotted these Santas:
Another day, another walk. This time probably our most favourite walk in/around Sydney. Taking a bus to Bondi beach, then walk along the shore to Coogee (and take a bus back from there). Prepare to see some SUMMER .. :-)
Destination: Coogee Beach
Oh, yeah I think I did not tell you where exactly we were staying in Sydney did I? We were staying in a serviced apartment on Pitt Street. Our apartment was on the 46th floor. Which meant a pretty nice view across the city, including a peek view on the Botanical gardens (on the right of the middle, between the two tall buildings). Also visible is the roof of the supermarket where we did our almost daily groceries (Woolworths, bottom middle on the picture), and to be mentioned the Queen Victoria Building (the building in the middle of the middle on the photo, with the green domes on the roof - picture from inside this building below as well).
The Queen Victoria Building (4 stories shopping mall):
One of the many beautiful windows:
And just to prove we really were there, can you spot Peter, Lia and Ellen in the next shot?
Then the night before Peter and Lia left we went to Darling Harbour again. We had arranged fireworks to say goodbye to them (really?? no, but there was fireworks :-))
Finally the day arrived that Peter and Lia had to go back home to The Netherlands (back to the cold!). We walked with them to the train station (Museum Stations for insiders:-)) and said our goodbyes.
Ellen and I had booked a few more days (in a different hotel this time, in the middle of The Rocks) so we could catch up with some of our colleagues). With our colleagues we discussed the elephant in the room (or was it elephant in the mall??):
Monday we had lunch at a little café in the Rocks.
We also took the opportunity to do two more walks. Both walks were new to us. The first one was meant to be a walk we did before (around Mosman Bay), but unknown to us the usual jetty where we would start from was closed for maintenance. So we got off the ferry at the next jetty. Then we walked across to walk along the other side:
On the ferry back to the Quay we passed (as everyone always does on the ferries:-)) the Opera House again:
Back in the Rocks we thought we deserved a treat:
The next day we took the ferry to the Taronga Zoo (no, we did not actually visit the zoo) and then walked along the waters edge to Taylors bay (and back).
And we could not resist to go back and get one more of the 'best-ever' lemon-merengue cakes from Zumbo as a way of saying goodbye to Sydney (for this time)... Luckily there were exactly two left!!
So, the final goodbye pictures, including the final two cappuccinos (can you spot us on the ferry?):
We had a great time (in Perth AND Sydney). Big thanks to Peter and Lia for their lovely company!
And we are looking forward to our next holiday (we will start planning soon .... :-))
