'Roos and emus.
|
We packed up, ate breakfast, then
Bob walked to the downtown Hertz to pick up our car. I sat in the Y Hotel with
our luggage.
Bob braved downtown Sydney traffic
driving on the left-hand side of the road! He found his way back to the hotel
where we loaded the luggage and set out on our adventure. Hertz gave us
directions to get on the Expressway toward the airport which would take us out
of town. We missed the turn and ended up driving around a completely different
neighborhood, Kings Cross. We finally found our way back to where we were
supposed to turn and made the turn this time.
The Expressway is a tunnel that goes
for miles under downtown Sydney. The Expressway took us to Hwy 5 and that turned
into Hwy 31 which took us to our Bowral (pronounced bear-o) exit. EXCEPT we
decided to turn off the road and explore a little town called Picton. We
stopped to look at a viaduct arch bridge and walked across a wooden bridge to a
park where there was some history of a swimming hole that used to be in the
river, but nothing about the beautiful stone bridge.
From Picton, we took Scenic Rd #12
south through the countryside and made a stop at Wirrimbirra Flora and Fauna
Sanctuary, incorporating Bargo Dingo Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is free, but they
ask for a $1 donation per person to walk through the animal enclosure.
When we walked through the gate, we
were in the midst of wallabies, including momma and baby. We walked a bit
farther on the path and we saw what looked like mule deer lying under a tree.
Being from the Pacific Northwest, we’re used to seeing lots of deer, so that’s
immediately where my animal-identification brain went. However, they were
kangaroos! Upon our approach, they stood up and eyeballed us. They’re very
curious. After watching us for a few minutes, they hopped off to consult with
the emus about these intruders. (See first photo above.)
Wallaby mom and little one (hiding behind her). |
Kangaroos. |
The bird enclosures were next. As we walked up to the cockatoo cage, one of the cockatoos came immediately over to the cage gate, climbed up the chain link door and said, “Hello.” Impressed? You bet we were. An outgoing cockatoo! We talked to it for a while. When we walked away we heard, “Good-bye.” Cute bird.
Sulphur-crested cockatoo. |
The next bird enclosure had six
types of birds in it including a tawny frogmouth which we did not see. The least
afraid birds were the Superb Parrots.
Superb parrot. |
After walking through the enclosure,
we walked over and talked to the people who ran the place. One of the ladies
asked me if I’d like to see and feed the possums. I said, “Sure.” I was
surprised to see the darling possums they have in Australia. They certainly
don’t look like our U.S. opossums which look like big rats. The Australian
possums come in two kinds: brush-tailed and ring-tailed. We saw the brush-tailed
variety. The pictures may convince you that they’re better looking than North
American ‘possums.
Brush-tailed possum. |
Mmmmm...peach! |
Sleeping wombat--didn't even wake up when a chunk of apple hit his head. |
The Dingo Sanctuary was not open
yet, but we were told that if the sun shines just right, you can see through
the privacy fence they have up. Dingoes are very noisy! We got to hear them
yipping and screeching a couple of times while we were there.
As we drove by, not only could we
see them through the privacy fence, but I was able to hold my camera up over
the privacy fence and snap a photo of a beautiful dingo.
Dingo. |
We continued our drive south on
Scenic Drive #12 and hooked up with Hwy 31 which we followed to our Bowral
exit. I was happy to see that Australian highways have Rest Areas.
For lunch, we stopped in Mittagong
and chose a restaurant called Kebabs. Bob had a falafel and I opted for their
chicken snack pack. Bob enjoyed his way more than I did my meal.
Onward to Bowral and our timeshare,
Accord’s Grand Mercure Bowral. We found it without too much fuss. We drove past
it, but we were on the right road. The problem was their sign was very low
profile…in fact the timeshare name was covered by plants. We had to call their
office and ask for directions.
Bowral, New South Wales, Australia |
Our first week timeshare. |
We checked in, relaxed a little,
found out internet access costs $50 for 72 hours or 1,000 MB, whichever comes first.
BUT when you use more than 250 MB, they slow down your internet connection, something about a “Fair Play Rule.” With all
the photos I post (even resized), I would use that up pretty quickly. And Bob
needs to use the computer too! We will be looking for the McDonald’s in town.
Hopefully they offer free wifi!
In Australia, Woolworth’s is a large
grocery store. Bowral has one and that’s where we shopped to stock up on
supplies for cooking in the timeshare. Tonight for dinner, I made broiled
salmon, mashed yams, steamed broccoli and a large salad. We figure that the
money spent (for the week) at the grocery store will save us a lot of money
that would have been spent at a restaurant in one day. We will buy more fish
for dinners, but we found two servings of salmon for $10.99 ($5.50 each
serving) which is way cheaper than a restaurant sells them.
We love Australia and we’ve only
been here four days! Can’t wait to see what the rest of the trip brings.
Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla
are in Sydney today. They went to the Opera House, the Contemporary Art Museum
and some other sights around town. Big thunderstorms rolled in putting a damper
on some of the festivities. The Australians love their royals! The news showed
the crowds lining the streets to cheer for the Prince and Duchess and at the
venues where the Prince showed up. We’re glad it was today and not yesterday or
we would have been in the midst of all the brouhaha.
In one of my future posts, I will try to remember to put in some of the headlines about the U.S. presidential elections. The newspapers here are very clever.
Time for bed. Tomorrow we’ll be up
early, eat breakfast in our room and then head out for waterfall hiking at
national parks.
It’s so weird...When I booked Bowral,
I booked it because it’s between Sydney and Canberra, so I thought we could
sightsee easily in both those cities. What I didn’t realize is that there are multiple
waterfalls to hike to in this area (not to be confused with Waterfall Way up
north where we will be next week.)
Plus the town of Bowral is famous
for Corbett Garden. I will go to the gardens while Bob visits the Cricket Museum. It’s
springtime here and rhododendrons are in full bloom.
I keep trying not to write so much
but I also want to document our trip and not forget what we saw and did.
All for now. Travel Bug out.
Ooh this is fun! Keep us posted...
ReplyDeleteLove all the new animals. Your travelogue is great! I am learning about Australia. Maybe I can get there someday after all
ReplyDeleteKeep writing ... I'm enjoying the virtual trip even if I have to catch up after the fact since preps for fulltiming are taking up so much of our time right now and there's not much time left over for blog reading.
ReplyDeleteIf you are coming to Waterfall Way let me know when you are here and we will try to meet. You are welcome to come to our property, we grow macadamias and hand feed some kangaroos and wallabys that come right up to our back door. We are about 49kms before the Waterfall Way on the Pacific Highway
ReplyDeleteLib and John,
DeleteWe will be in Coffs Harbour for a week as a base to travel to Waterfall Way; then we will be in Hunter Valley for a week to see what's around there.
We'd love to meet you. How do we set it up?
Susan & Bob
Where are you staying in Coffs Harbour and what dates. We will make some plans from that to drop in and see you. Bellingen and Dorrigo are on the Waterfall Way and are interesting towns,Bellingen is and alternative lifestyle area with lots of arts and crafts with a particularly good market on the third saturday of the month.
DeleteAdditionally my wife and I grew up in the Bowral District many years ago.
ReplyDelete