Plant Watch 3

As you can see E.T. is dying. He was great while he lasted and delighted us with his little yellow flowers. On the other hand Chopper’s condition has not really worsened or improved.


Last rites needed for ET

Think Dave has been sneakily watering Chopper?

Easter Weekend

We got the Friday and Monday off work but unfortunately the weather was not up to scratch with the rest of March. But on Easter Sunday we decided to get out of the flat no matter what the weather was like. It actually turned out a pretty nice day in the end despite the weatherman forecasting rain. We went back to the Royal National Park because we were eager to have a swim. We got the train to Heathcote and dandered down the Karloo Trail which was mostly down hill. The cooler conditions made it easier to walk from last week. When we got to Karloo Pool Dave got straight in while Chris waited it out with Dougal as Dave said the water was BALTIC! But eventually she went in as she knew she would regret it if she didn’t. Despite the cold it was actually nice to swim in fresh, clean water. Being chlorine and salt free you could open your eyes under the water and not get smashed about in the waves. Also there was no fear of sharks but Chris has recently been informed that you can get sharks in rivers. Is this true?






We tried to walk a different way back but once again the map tricked us so we ended up backtracking up the hill which took twice as long. When we got home we cooked a proper chicken with stuffing. It was delicious!



The next day we saw Chris’ childhood friend Doireann McKenna and Stephen at Bondi. They are just settling in to Sydney so I hope they like it here. Once again the weatherman tricked us. Sydney was supposed to be a “mostly overcast day with showers”….. Yeah right! It was gorgeous with not a cloud in the sky!



Easter Gallery

Red sky at night

Do you have this in the Northern Hemisphere? We can't remember. Pretty.

St Patricks Day

After having survived the Royal National Park we decided to have an easy day and go and see the St Patrick's Day Parade. There were loads of eccentric and crazy Irish people.



The city centre bars were full of course and there were some drunk people on the streets. Very much like home in some ways especially with the floats consisting of trucks and vans and a crane at one point. We'd plans to go out after work on the actual St Paddys Day but we felt a bit left out and did not stick around for long. Instead we decided to go to our favourite place in Chinatown, Paddy's Market (coincidence!) which sells everything and we mean EVERYTHING.



We got a classical suitcase for $20 and then got a huge ice cream from Hungry Jacks (Burger King) for 60 cents each - bargain or what. That afternoon we chilled out in the sun with a nice cold beer. Life is great! Also HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY TO WEE SHAUN PATRICK O'HEA XOXO


St Paddys Day Gallery

Royal National Park

We really and truly caught the outdoor bug with our visit to the Blue Mountains (loads of outdoor bugs caught Chris too, them seem quite fond of her) Sydney's packed full of National Parks, there's 23 nearby and we've only been to a few. We had to put this right. We checked out our still very useful Sydney Guide books and learned a bit more about the Royal National Park just south of the city.

Hacking River, much more tranquil than its name suggests

There's some incredible looking beaches on the coast there but from the map they were a bit out of our reach as we have to depend on public transport. The trains drop off at the western side of the park, the beaches are 35kms away. There is a hike from south of the park, where the train stops, along the coast to Bundeena in the north which sounds amazing but that takes 2 days. We're still at the novice stage with outdoor adventuring but since watching Into the Wild especially we wanna get out there and try it.

Crazy tree, could lightning have split it in 2?!

We had to walk 3kms from Loftus train station to the visitors centre at Audley to get a map of the park and some advice on where to go. The guide lady was discouraged by our lack of a vehicle. We were kind of disheartened, the park had loads of interesting stuff to see like waterfalls, swimming holes and odd shaped rocks but on foot we were advised that it would take us 10 hours of hard walking to get there and back to the train.

The trail goes cold

We poured over the map and decided that as it was our first time here we shouldn't do anything too wild, like go against the park rangers instructions, and settled on a seemingly short walk through the park to the train station south of where we got off.

Can we just call for a helicopter?

It was roasting that day, at least 27 degrees but we'd come prepared with water and food. We definitely could have done with more water though. The trail we took back seemed straightforward on the map but we ended up getting lost at one point due to some deceptive signposts. We had to double back after 45 minutes of uphill walking across some uneven ground because the trail on the map ended where it shouldn't have.

Lovely Kanagaroo Creek. If we weren't exhausted we might've spent more time here

It was hard work, especially in the heat and we heard a news story from a couple of weeks back in our minds about a couple getting stranded in the national park overnight. That would not have been any fun. We didn't see any wildlife which was a little unexpected but it's probably a whole different story at night! As we were doubling back we passed an Asian couple on their way to the waterfalls seemingly woefully unprepared for the 10km, fairly difficult walk. We wished them good luck, hope they got out alright.

Nice veiws, Kangaroo Creek from a height

Once we got back on the correct trail the walking was still pretty tough. We crossed a river and stopped for a paddle, if we hadn't taken so long to get there it would've been fun to stop for a dip but the place was monopolised by a group of people with canoes. The 5km walk took us about 4 hours not because we're useless. No! Most of it was uphill. We were very relieved to be back to civilisation when we emerged at Heathcote, near the train. Hard work but well worth it. We're planning to go back.

See the hike on a Google Map

View the hike and the park in Google Earth

Royal National Park Gallery

The Blue Mountains

We have been wanting to go up to the Blue Mountains since we arrived in Sydney last June but apparently it gets pretty cold up there in the Winter and there can be bush fires in the Summer. Being Autumn we decided to get an early train to Katoomba and make the most of the day. Katoomba is an old fashioned and pretty town full of cake and tea shops - McDonalds is banished from the area! Jonny and Edele had recommended we start the day with a BLT from a nice wee Cafe which was delicious and well needed! (Thanks for the tip guys.)




The Blue Mountains - so called because of the blue haze from the oil of the Eucalyptus Trees, are spectacular. We could not believe how massive the land is. It just goes on and on. It is hard to get a grasp of the size of this country with all their open land.



We walked down through one of the many trails into the forests. But as we were making our descent past The Three Sisters we met our friends Gemma and Matt! It was so bizarre as we were saying we really need to meet up with those guys again. Of all the places to meet someone! It was very funny.


Going down the trails was more challenging than going up the other end. Our wee knees kept shaking and buckling going down the steep steps which was very annoying. The sounds of the forests were class. We practiced our Coo-wee and heard our echo which was fun. People even responded but they couldn't manage it as good as us. We also climbed up to Vera's Grotto for Dave's mum. Going to the Blue Mountains was only our second time out of Sydney since we got here (the first was The Hunter Valley wine area in October). It was nice to take in the fresh mountain air. It felt so clean compared to the city's. We only got to walk through one main trail so we would love to go back and explore a bit more. If we were rich and were a Sydney resident we would love to stay up in the mountains for ages! Instead we went home and ate the nicest curry EVER!



Blue Mountains Gallery

Plant Watch 2

Under our watchful care the two plants have flourished. ET in particular is doing a good impression of that bit in the film which gave him his name where the flower bursts into bloom when the alien lad comes round from his illness. He's a trooper. Chopper has been acting quite aloof actually, pretending he doesn't really care about his new surroundings.

ET - how's he's grown!

Chopper - meh!

Worst promotion ever

How cynical can you get?