Australia

I love a sunburnt country,  a land of sweeping plains, of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains. I love her jewel-sea, her beauty and her terror - the wide brown land for me!  Dorothea Mackellar

Australia has been my home since 2006 and I have been gifted with the opportunity to experience and celebrate much of its beauty through travels, hikes and photography outings.  It is a country of exquisite beauty and wondrous things and I will never grow tired of exploring it.

Sydney

Landmarks

• Anzac Bridge  
• Chinese Garden
• Chinatown
• Circular Quay
• Cockatoo Island
• Darling Harbour
• Glebe Tram Sheds
• Harbour Bridge
• Luna Park
• Nan Tien Temple
• Opera House
• Queen Victoria Building
• Royal National Park
• Rookwood cemetery
• Sea Life Aquarium
• St Mary's Cathedral
• Sydney Botanic Gardens
• Sydney Fish Market
• Sydney Olympic Park
• Taronga Zoo
• The Metro
• Waverley Cemetery
• Wendy's Secret Garden
• Sydney city

Museums and Art Galleries

• Australian Museum
• Maritime Museum
• Museum of Sydney
• Elizabeth House
• Contemporary Art Museum
• The Powerhouse Museum
• Art Gallery of NSW
• The Hyde Park Barracks
• Graffiti

Reserves

• Ball's Head
• Barton Park wetland
• Berry Island
• Kuring Gai National Park
• Malabar Headland
• Muogamarra Nature Reserve
• West Head
• Lane Cove National Park

Parks

• Bicentennial Park
• Brennan Park
• Centennial Park
• Milson's Park
• St Leonards Park
• Sydney Park

Events

• Fireworks
• Mardis Gras
• Sculptures by the Sea
• Sydney Vivid Festival

Beaches and coast

• Avalon Beach
• Balmoral
• Bondi
• Botany Bay
• Bronte
• Clontarf
• Collaroy
• Cronulla
• Flint and Steel Beach
• La Perouse
• Long Reef
• Manly
• Maroubra
• Monavale
• Narrabeen
• Northern Beaches
• Palm Beach
• Rose Bay
• Turimetta
• Watsons Bay

Suburbs

• Auburn
• Bankstown
• Burwood
• Campsie
• Chatswood
• Cremorne Point
• Darlinghurst
• Drummoyne
• Edgecliff
• Glebe
• Green Square 
• Greenwich
• Hurstville
• Kings Cross
• Kogarah
• Liverpool
• Martin Place
• Newtown
• North Sydney
• Surry Hills
• Tempe
• Walsch Bay
• Waverton
• Woollahra

Visits

• Jo visits
• Mum's visits 

AUSTRALIA

NSW

• Barrington Tops
• Blue Mountains
• Bowral
• Capertee Valley
• Carcoar
• Dubbo Zoo
• Dunn Swamp
• Eden
• Kangaroo Valley
• Kiama
• Forresters Beach
• Hawkesbury
• Hunter Valley
• Jamberoo Water Park
• Jervis Bay
• Mudgee
• Mermaids Pool and Tahmoor Canyon
• Mount Kosciuszko
• Mullumbimby
• Newcastle
• Newnes
• NSW Central Coast
• Port Stephens
• Southern Highlands
• Sydney
• Terrigal
• Warrumbungles
• Waterfall Way
• Windsor
• Wollombi National Park

Queensland

• Brisbane
• Cape Tribulation

Victoria

• Great Ocean Road
• Melbourne
• Snowy Mountains

Tasmania

• Tasmania

NT

• Kakadu
• Litchfield National Park
• Uluru

Western Australia

• Perth
• Western Australia

Merewether Baths (Newcastle)

George and I went to Merewether Baths to do some photography on Sunday morning.  A lovely spot but too chilly for a dip.

Windsor Junk Yard

This was part of a photography trip to Hawkesbury including Windsor Junk Yard, Ebenezer Church, Richmond and autumn leaves

The junk yard in Windsor is a veritable treasure trove of the widest assortment of junk you can imagine. Old appliances, bicycles, pots, bottles, signs, wheels and whatever else you can think of.  Whoever started this place had a serious case of squirrelitus.  It was fun to take photos and peruse all the old items, wondering at the stories they could tell if they could only speak.

  

 

 

Ebenezar Church

This was part of a photography trip to Hawkesbury including Windsor Junk Yard, Ebenezer Church, Richmond and autumn leaves.

Richmond

This was part of a photography trip to Hawkesbury including Windsor Junk Yard, Ebenezer Church, Richmond and autumn leaves.

Waterfall Way

As the rivers journey from the high tablelands of New England through the rainforests and down to the Coffs Coast, they create some spectacular waterfalls along the way.  As we drove inland and upwards, through the towns of Bellingen,  Urunga, Dorrigo, Uralla and Armidale, we stopped to admire the waterfalls and hike in some of the beautiful national parks.


Here are some of the highlights:

• A delicious Mocha coffee in great surroundings in Bellingen, followed by a perusal of the local shops including the impressive Emporium Bellingen.
• The waterfalls of course.  Ebor Falls was my favourite.
• A gorgeous (though longer than expected!) hike through the rainforests of Dorrigo National Park. The rain had just stopped and the forest had that amazing fresh smell.  We were in awe at the huge vines which in places, seemed to have completely devoured the trees they clung too.  The undergrowth abounded with all sorts of different fungi and the hike ended in the climactic spotting of a large Carpet Python.  A very exciting moment!
• Listening to the blood soaked audio book of World War Z in the car all about a zombie apocolypse. It's been adapted into a movie starring Brad Pitt to be released later this year - it will be very interesting to see how it's been done.
• A delicious steak sandwich in Ebor.  As they say, hunger is the best sauce.
• Camping and hiking in The Cathedral Rock National park (somewhat basic in it's amenities) and doing an amazing hike up to the top of Cathedral Rock for spectacular views.
• Getting to drive Dani's car - what trust!  Especially when she let me take it off road for the drive into Cathedral Rock.  It's going to be hard going back to my little Toyota! 

Waterfalls of Waterfall Way

Dangar Falls

Ebor Falls (Upper)

Ebor Falls (lower)

Wollomombi Falls

Dorrigo National Park

The highlight of our hike: a Carpet Python

A viewpoint on the way

Great letter box

Next stop on our trip

• Cathedral Rock

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Robertson

On Sunday, I went on a drive to Robertson with some friends from Sangha, namely Ava, Stephen and  Richard.  Robertson is about 2 hours South of Sydney.  It was a great day with lovely autumn colours and it was so lovely to get out again into the country side.  It wasn't a photography outing so I didn't take too many photos.  The Farmer's Market was fun and I got to try some exotic fruit which I've forgotten the name of.  Fitzroy Falls was beautiful and very impressive.  I'll have to come here again some time and explore the nature reserve - the terrain reminded me a lot of The Blue Mountains.


Autumn colours

Farmers Market

Kangaroo Valley

Fitzroy Falls