SYDNEY.

After 7 days of driving along the coast and 5 different motels, we are now in Sydney at my friend Mahendra`s house in Castle cove, a suburb of Sydney. A hugh house overlooking the inlet and the marina and very comfortable for a good rest.

We met up with my old mate Ellis David , still looking very good, and went for short tours with him around Sydney.

The life style of what we have observed so far, here is great. Everyone seems so relaxed and cheerful and all have a smile on their faces. I guess the weather has something to do with this. Also there are not many people around in this hugh country. I think they could do with 30 million more people.

In the evening and weekends almost the whole of Sydney is either on the beach swimming and surfing or playing outdoor sports. Good weather always helps and I thing the good weather here has a lot to do with the attitude and friendly nature of the people.

Old favourite the opera house


Would have loved to climb, but was told to act my age.

with Ellis David

HUNTER VALLEY.

Hunter Valley is Australia`s oldest wine producing region and is set in a beautiful lush green surroundings with characteristic landscape. Along the way through the valley you visit the various vineyards and taste the wines produced by them, at no charge . In our case the tasting had to be restricted as we were driving and did not want fall foul of the law.

As it turned out one of the very beautiful vine yards we visited was owned by and Englishman who had emigrated from the UK 35 years ago and happened to live in Pinner , not too far from us. He was very keen to know about Harrow and Pinner and talked quite a lot about what he did in the area. He spent over an hour explaining to us the different types of grapes and the different processes of making different wines. A very interesting couple of hours.

Also interestingly along the Wine trail, in the vineyards there are various sculptures in contemporary style dotted in the vineyards and one can simply wander through the vineyards and observe the sculptures set up in specific places along the picturesque valley. There are quite a few pictures posted on the blog.

Also many of the buildings in the region were built well before 1900. The general store where we had coffee was built in 1860 during the construction of the road in the valley by convicts shipped from the UK.

a cottage in the vineyard for the night stay

with the man from Harrow

more statues,found them interesting

tell the difference

Hunter valley

statues in the vineyard

BRISBANE & THE GOLD COAST

South of Brisbane, a stretch of coast line , know as the Gold Coast is very much like any other sea side resort except the coast line, the beaches and off course the weather makes for a completely new experience.

Driving down from Brisbane along the coastal road we spent a week at different resorts. Most Gold Coast beaches are great for a dip. The area has the best selection of surfing beaches with huge waves. One can spend hours on the beach watching people surfing.

Whilst we were there Australia`s equivalent of O level exams had just finished and about 20,000 teenagers ,what they called the schoolies, descended on the area. Every hotel and motel rooms were fully booked. At night time , the area known as the Surfers paradise became a no go area and some people advised us to be careful and be on the guard. There is lot of drunkenness, fighting and vandalism. We off course quickly moved on.

Australia`s most easterly point is called the Byron Bay with beautiful beaches and high cliff coast line. Perched right at the top is Byron Bay Light house. The walk along the coast line to the light house and back through the rain forest, about 3 hours, is spectacular with great views. In the evening , to avoid the hot sun , the walk should be attempted anti clockwise so that you can see the sun set in the sea, we off course not knowing did it clockwise, which seemed the logical thing to do and ended up in the forest after sunset and got lost along the way with no one in site. It was a little scary in the dark and all alone, so we were so glad to hear the car noise in the distance that we literally ran across the forest toward the car noise and were very very relieved to be on the road.

beach along the gold coast

along the coast line

most easterly point of Australia

Byron bay coast line

BRISBANE.

Like any other city, nice shopping malls and sea side walks. Nothing special.

a lovely Church in the middle of the city

Statues in Brisbane street

Brisbane sea front

Brisbane`s big balls

Brisbane city centre