Anzac Day weekend

What a lovely weekend! Saturday’s weather was warm and sunny so Clive and I drove to Palm Beach and climbed up the track to the lighthouse at Barrenjoey Head for some wonderful views of the coast down to Bungan Head in the south and across Pittwater to Pearl Beach and Ettalong in the north. On the way up we watched pelicans gracefully enjoying the thermals, para-sailors showing off in the strong breeze and flotillas of yachts, tiny in the distance. It was all incredibly peaceful and we felt a million miles away from Sydney, not just 25.

Sunday saw us up early to watch Rebecca play soccer. The wind howled across the pitch and none of the girls really looked like they wanted to be there – and nor did the adults! Kick off was at 8:20am and the final score was 3:2 to Rebecca’s team, so the goals made it all worthwhile in the end!

In the afternoon, we adults decided to take a 10 minute drive to Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden, of no interest at all to the girls. Clive and I aren’t gardeners, so we weren’t drawn by the flora, but as we’d never been there before, we thought we’d take a peek. Situated just off the Mona Vale Road near St. Ives, the garden is really just a series of paths, some more accessible than others, through bush at the edge of Ku-ring-gai National Park.

We parked the car and set off, deciding to take the Solander Trail with a walk-length of 40 minutes. We took a detour onto Bentham Track which was not a sealed road like the Solander, but a rough path over rocks and sandy shrubland. Within five minutes we stopped to investigate a rustling and saw a beautiful echidna passing the time at the side of the path! Echidnas are a bit like large hedgehogs, with orange tips to their spines (see photo!). They’re a protected species in Australia and not often seen in their natural habitat, so we were very lucky!

We had the camera with us and started photographing our small friend. I’d noticed movement in the leaves and twigs and assumed it was a little gecko, which are everywhere, but then it struck me that this particular gecko was very long – it was a snake! Pretty small for a snake (about 12 inches long and narrow-bodied), but a snake nonetheless, the first we’ve seen in our 2 ½ years here. As I was trying to photograph it slithering away, something closer to my feet caught my eyes – it was another snake, again a baby. I started to take its picture, then noticed it had a distinct red belly. When the penny dropped and I realised it was a dangerous red-bellied black snake I couldn’t get away fast enough!

After those sightings, Clive and I lost interest in the flora (of which there was little – apparently, we should have come in the spring) and were concentrating on the fauna, eyes glued to the path and rocks for Mummy or Daddy snake. We decided to cut back onto the main sealed path and hugged the middle! There were a few other people around, mainly families, enjoying the beautiful bush on a perfect day. But they weren’t the only ones.

Yes, we saw another snake, very well camouflaged in the leaves at the side of the path, slithering quietly past us. Clive spotted it and we both froze. Had to get the camera out though and took a couple of pictures before moving quickly away. Thankfully, this was another baby, a little bigger than the red-bellied snake, but still only about 18 inches long, mainly brown but with pretty black and white head markings. Doing an Internet search later, we’re pretty sure this was a young brown snake, the deadliest kind in NSW!

We’d had enough excitement in one hour to last a week – I wonder at what age these babies would be dangerous? Must look it up sometime...

Parramatta by ferry

We have been meaning to visit Parramatta ever since we arrived in Sydney and Saturday seemed to present the ideal opportunity – not too hot, not too cold, just right! Rebecca decided she would come with us and so we caught the ferry from Old Cremorne mid-morning and then had a twenty minute wait for our ferry to Parramatta.

Parramatta is 23kms west of Sydney’s CBD and was explored by Governor Phillip on 2nd November 1788. He had been looking for land that was more fertile than that in Sydney Cove where the crops he had planted had failed. Soil near the coast was very sandy, but Parramatta had richer soil which was more suited to crop production. In the early days, the journey to Parramatta from Sydney normally took several days with the passengers sometimes having to pick up the oars themselves. Luckily, our journey took much less time – just under one hour on a fast jetcat!

The journey was quite different to what I’d expected. Turning left and passing under the Harbour Bridge we passed residential areas on both sides of the wide river and several islands, including Cockatoo Island, which we had visited several months ago. Quite soon, however, the river narrowed.

We passed next to the Olympic Park and after that we entered the narrowest part of the river, with no banks, just low trees with spreading branches growing out of the water. It was like we were in the mangrove swamps of the Florida Keys! We stopped just once and then arrived at Parramatta Wharf, a weir preventing any vessels continuing up the river and separating the tidal salt water from the fresh water of the river.

The sun was shining as we disembarked and walked the short distance along the path by the river to the main street. After a quick visit to the Tourist Office we decided that lunch was our priority and chose an Italian restaurant to give our business to. There were lots of restaurants to choose from, all ranged either side of the main street. We sat outside and enjoyed a club sandwich (Clive), spaghetti Bolognese (Rebecca) and delicious minestrone soup (me!). All very yummy and all for around £20 which was fantastic value.

Feeling very satisfied we set off to explore the attractions of Parramatta. It’s an important business centre these days and many of the streets, which would be heaving mid-week, were eerily quiet. We avoided visiting the shopping precinct (they’re all the same!) and instead enjoyed a walk through the park in Parramatta’s centre. It was beautifully peaceful, not what Centennial Park is like on a Sunday afternoon. Governor Phillip had a house built on the hill, which is still standing and was used as a retreat by many past Governors. It’s now a museum, restaurant and function suite – there was a wedding in the grounds as we walked past.

From the park we wandered through the town, checking out a few other original buildings, including the Town Hall and St John’s Cathedral. We ran out of time to walk back across the river to the other side of Parramatta to Elizabeth’s Farm (where John Macarthur had a pioneering wool industry) and instead caught the 4pm ferry back to Circular Quay. Clive got blown away in the cold breeze for the sake of some lovely photos and Rebecca and I kept warm inside!

Here are some photos from the day.

Easter weekend

It's been the Easter long weekend so a good break from work and we've had a quiet few days at home. Laura twisted her ankle on Thursday night wearing high heels, so was laid up on Friday, but Sue and I took Rebecca for a walk along Manly beach. The recent heavy seas have washed up lots of seaweed onto all the beaches in the area which doesn't make them that appealing at the moment! The council don't remove the seaweed and we have to wait until the next high tide takes it all out to sea again.

Sunday was a good family day and we relaxed at home and played some games, then had a roast meal in the evening, although Sue was frustrated by the oven which isn't working well at the moment (on top of the dishwasher which we are waiting to get replaced).

On Monday Caroline was working and Rebecca went with friends to the Easter Show, so in the afternoon Sue and I went with Laura (who was starting to walk easier!) over on the ferry to Sydney for a wander around The Rocks and the Opera House. The rain swept in while we were on the ferry back, however, and turned torrential. We had 2 small umbrellas and sheltered for a while and then decided to get back to the car but met a waterfall coming down the street and steps to the ferry wharf. Needless to say, we all got soaked and had very wet feet for the drive home!

World Cup football

Now that Rebecca's soccer season is about to start again, I took her (and Laura) along to see Australia's World Cup qualifying match at the ANZ Stadium last night. The 'Socceroos' have been doing well so far and are in the final qualification stages, with their game against Uzbekistan requiring a win to almost guarantee their place in South Africa in 2010 (dependent on the other match that's being played overnight in the Middle East).

Since the game was on at the Olympic Park the special bus services were active and we caught the bus with plenty of time to get to the stadium. However, we hit heavy traffic with several miles to go and had a slow crawl along with many cars who were heading to the area, plus there were intermittent heavy rain showers which had been happening over the last few days and slowed everything up.

We finally got to the ground and found our seats high up in the stadium with about 10 mins of the match gone. We had a great view although being so high up it felt a bit detached from what was going on down on the pitch, but the atmosphere was pretty good. The first half was quite uneventful but the second livened up with a headed goal and a penalty for Australia, so the match finished 2-0 and the crowd left satisfied, despite more heavy rain as the game finished.

This is a report of the match.

The girls enjoyed the game - and the Mexican wave - and it was good to be part of the partisan 57,000 crowd. It will be quite a change this Sunday when Rebecca starts her league games for the season!